Common Grounds
Home to UKirk at UVA (Westminster’s undergraduate campus ministry), Common Grounds is a space for UVA students to share meals and conversation, study, and enjoy coffee, tea, and snacks. The building is also the gathering spot for 20/30/40 CreW (Westminster’s ministry with graduate students and young adults), youth classes, and other community events.
Upstairs in Common Grounds, there are small offices for nonprofit organizations supporting the Charlottesville community. Current residents include BEATDiabetes, Habitat for Humanity’s Virginia Office, and Theological Horizons.
Over the decades, Common Grounds has been a space to share ideas, question, and connect. Within its walls, people have discussed important issues of each generation, called for social justice, raised prayers, and played music. Thanks to an innovative new community partnership, by fall 2024 the ground floor of Common Grounds will become a second location for Kindness Cafe + Play, a local coffee shop with an amazing mission. The space will continue to be UKirk at UVA’s home while welcoming the broader community to enjoy coffee and kindness for a good cause during designated hours.
Worship
Your pledge to Westminster supports our pastors who preach the Word of God, lead, teach and empower us to serve Christ. This stimulates us to grow as disciples and share God’s love. In response to the recent pandemic, your support has allowed us to provide regular worship services online and reach new worshippers seeking spiritual guidance during these challenging times. The church continues to welcome visitors and new members, while many church members assist with the worship services. Your generosity will enable us to return to worshipping in a well-maintained and welcoming sanctuary once it is safe to do so.
On March 22 at 9:30 a.m., come to the library, to hear Earl Swift, nominated seven times for the Pulitzer Prize, discuss his celebrated book, Chesapeake Requiem: A Year with the Waterman of Vanishing Tangier Island.
Tangier Island, located in the middle of Chesapeake Bay, has been called the “soft-shell crab capital of the world,” as well as being at the heart of Virginia’s oyster industry. Tangier was settled at the time of the American Revolution by families from Cornwall and Devon in England, and the people there still speak with an accent described as a “colonial-era Cornwall patois wrapped inside a Virginia twang.”
Unfortunately, its inhabitants might also prove to be among the first climate refugees in the United States. Tangier has lost more than two-thirds of its landmass to sea-level rise and land subsidence since 1850, and if current trends continue, and in the absence of expensive coastal restoration and protection efforts, the island will likely be uninhabitable within 25-50 years.
Now, with the help of community leaders on Tangier, arrangements have been made for church members to spend the weekend of May 2-3 on the island, staying in their community center and attending services at Swain Memorial United Methodist Church, before returning on the afternoon ferry to Reedville, VA. The cost for the ferry and car-pooling to Reedville is $50/person, and there will be an orientation meeting for the trip on March 25, at 7 p.m. in the lounge. If you would be interested in going on the trip, contact me or Ken before Earl Swift’s class on the 22, so we can reserve seats on the ferry soon.
Peter Gates
on behalf of the WPC Green Team
PACEM Men’s Shelter at WPC this Spring
This year Westminster will host the PACEM (People and Congregations Engaging in Ministry) men’s homeless shelter, March 9-23. Based on previous years, we will likely host 40-50 guests each night in Fellowship Hall. This ministry is one of the best ways that we can fulfill our Christian commitment to love all our neighbors. It’s a pleasure to get to know our guests and share time with them. To volunteer during PACEM, click here.