Community event: Tandem Friends School will host its second annual TANDEM Speaks! – Voices & Values Creating Community – event featuring John Hunter, a Charlottesville resident, TED Speaker, and current Founder and Director of the World Peace Game Foundation on March 13 at 7pm at the PVCC Dickinson Center. Mr. Hunter will share his visionary perspectives on the importance of engaging students in complex issues and preparing them to be global citizens. The conversation will examine the topics of peace, the power of empathy, and tools to enable children to have a positive impact in the world. Tickets available here. For more info contact Sarah Bedford.
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
Lenten Creation Care 2020
Lent is a time for prayer, fasting, and more intentional sharing. This year, our church is joining with many others in heeding the call to be stewards of God’s Creation throughout this season. May this calendar remind us to be more mindful of the ways that our daily habits impact both our common home and all those with whom we share it. On behalf of future generations and all living in poverty—those most harmed by our damaged climate—may we answer God’s call to be faithful stewards, speaking out for Creation care.
Renovations to Rugby Road Main Entrance
As you may have noticed, the brick wall at the public entrance to the sanctuary is overtaking the Rugby Road sidewalk and is in jeopardy of falling. The large ash tree, which is pushing the wall over, is in an advanced state of decline. A Session-appointed committee has worked diligently to develop a renovation plan to improve this area. Come to an information meeting to be held immediately following the 11 a.m. service this Sunday, March 1, in the library.
The project includes:
- Removing the dying ash tree and adding landscape plantings and a small ornamental tree
- Removing the leaning and bowed section of the wall and rebuilding it in line with the side sections of the wall
- Widening the entrance openings by 6″ to allow two persons to enter side by side
- Using bricks salvaged from the demolition so that at least the side of the new wall facing the public street matches the rest of the wall
- Sloping the sidewalk from the landing at the foot of the sanctuary steps gradually downward to reduce from four to two steps at the southern entrance from the public sidewalk
- Eliminating the steps on the northern entrance at the public sidewalk to provide a handicap-accessible ramp
- Adding sidewalk lighting for safety.
- Establishing a more identifiable and welcoming public pedestrian entrance to Westminster Presbyterian Church!
Classes Start March 15
Interested in becoming a member at Westminster Presbyterian Church? Want to get more involved in the life of the church? Looking for a place to call home and learn more about what it means “to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8) If you find yourself answering “yes” to any of these questions, then come to one or all of the following new member classes that will be offered during the month of March. All classes will be on Sunday mornings at 9:45 in Room 208
March 15
What is Westminster? In this class, Ken Henry will be talking with class members about the meaning of membership as well as the various ministries at Westminster Pres. Through handouts and discussion, attendees should leave this one hour class with a greater appreciation of how the church is organized to carry out its mission and purpose in the world.
March 22
What is Our Mission? In this class, Dorothy Piatt along with other church leaders will talk about our benevolence giving, our commitment to other non-profit organizations in Charlottesville, and how our church feels called to reach out to UVA faculty and students.
March 29
What is A Presbyterian? We are a congregation in the Presbyterian Church(USA). Being Presbyterian means being part of The Reformed tradition. For hundreds of years, our motto has been “Reformed and Always Reforming.” If you would like to learn more about the history of the Presbyterian Church, please plan to attend this class. Ken will give a lecture on the roots of the Protestant Reformation and the emergence of the Presbyterian Church in America.