be forming small groups that

will explore this topic to-

gether. Each group will meet

three times over a ten week

period. I hope you’ll consid-

er being a part of this. It will

be a great way to deepen our

faith and our friendships as

we live into what makes us

different.

-Pastor Michael

Every so often it is good to

ask ourselves what it is that

the church does that no other

community can do. There are

countless places where we can

make friends, do good, and

stimulate the mind, so what

makes us different?

L. Gregory Jones puts it this

way: we are called to bear

witness to the in-breaking

reign of God that Jesus

announces and embodies, and

through which our lives are

challenged, changed and

transformed. There are many

other ways to state this, but

they all point to the same

thing. It is when we experi-

ence and express God’s love

that we move toward the full-

ness of what life can be. This

orientation toward God and

life is what makes us

different.

This still leaves a question.

Practically and concretely,

what does this look like in

our lives? For example, how

does faith affect how we form

friendships? We know that

faith draws us into friend-

ships, but sometimes we for-

get that faith also has the

ability to shape how our

friendships can challenge,

change and transform us.

To explore this potential, in

September I’ll be doing a

sermon series on “Redefining

Friendships.” After this we’ll

The New Thing by Pastor Jes

I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

– Isaiah 43:19

It’s a new school year and a new program year at church. I keep asking God in my time of prayer,

What is the new thing you are going to do this year? Will we have eyes to perceive you?

Here’s a great prayer for all of us to use this year: “God, what’s the new thing you are doing in our

life together? Help me to perceive you working in my life. Amen.” We need our church community

to help us discern how God is working in our midst. Consider one of the following activities to

jumpstart your faith in this new program year.

•Looking for fun connection? The first day-retreat of the year! Family Apple Picking at Pennings

Farm on October 1.

•Looking to serve? Check out one of the organizations we partner with at the Benevolence Fair on

October 2nd right after worship.

•Looking to serve? Email me to serve at our Soup Kitchen/Church on Tuesdays.

•Looking for Christian Education? Join us on Sunday mornings at 10:00 in Room 6 for a lively

conversation on the Scripture passage for the day.

•Looking for prayer? After church Pastor Howard and I are available to pray for you and encourage

you in your faith.

May God be gracious to you and me as we look for the new thing God is going to do this year.

Grace and Peace – Pastor Jes

Newsletter Title

4 — Worship, 11 a.m.

5 — Office and Building Closed in

observance of Labor Day

6 — AA, 6:30 & 7:30 p.m.

7 — Men’s Group, 6 p.m.

AA, 7 & 8:15 p.m.

11 — Adult Christian Ed., 10 a.m.

Worship, 11 a.m.

Wholeness Center, 1 p.m.

13 — Church, 4 p.m.

Soup Kitchen, 4:30 p.m.

AA, 6:30 & 7:30 p.m.

14 — AA, 7 & 8:15 p.m.

16 — Book Club, 7 p.m.

18 — Adult Christian Ed., 10 a.m.

Worship, 11 a.m.

WELCOME BACK SUNDAY

Children’s Worship Hour

Book Signing, 12:30 p.m.

Wholeness Center, 1 p.m.

20 — Church, 4 p.m.

Soup Kitchen, 4:30 p.m.

AA, 6:30 & 7:30 p.m.

21 — AA, 7 & 8:15 p.m.

23 — Mets vs Phillies, 6 p.m.

25 — Adult Christian Ed., 10 a.m.

Worship, 11 a.m.

Children’s Worship Hour

Wholeness Center, 1 p.m.

27 — Church, 4 p.m.

Soup Kitchen, 4:30 p.m.

AA, 6:30 & 7:30 p.m.

28 — AA, 7 & 8:15 p.m.

30 — Kids’ Club Kickoff Party, 6 p.m.

Youth Group Outing, 7:30 p.m.

Invite a Friend Sunday

Do you know the number one

reason people visit a church?

It’s because someone invited

them. As we kick off a new year,

invite your friends to

West End

on

September 18, 2016!

September 2016

What Makes Us Different? by Pastor Michael

with special guest ensemble

Metropolitan Klezmer. They

will play for morning worship

with the West End Choir, fol-

lowed by a Klezmer Jazz

Brunch. (Klezmer is a musical

tradition from Eastern Europe.

In the United States the genre

evolved considerably as

Yiddish-speaking Jewish immi-

grants, who arrived between

1880 and 1924, met and assim-

ilated American jazz.) This will

be a frolicking, rocking upbeat

service, so bring your friends!

“Excellent Klezmer…

impeccable yet electrifying

arrangements… delightfully

rambunctious….”

Richard Gehr, Village Voice

Grateful thanks to our wonderful

soloists for singing and leading

worship on the Sundays in July

and August. A fantastic season

of music and worship awaits us!

The West End Choir will be

back in the choir loft on Sunday,

September 11 at our 11 a.m.

service of worship.

Taizé services begin again on

Wednesday, October 5 from 7 to

7:45 p.m. and continue every

Wednesday through December

14. After a brief Christmas/New

Year’s break, we’ll resume on

January 11. These beautiful mid-

week services provide a peace-

ful and music-filled environment

to de-stress and absorb the

sacred atmosphere of our sanc-

tuary with some of New York’s

most accomplished singers and

instrumentalists.

The West End Concert Series

begins on Sunday, October 9

A special visit by the

Chamberlain Brass is

planned for Sunday, Oc-

tober 23 at the 11 a.m.

service.

Melodia Women’s Choir

returns on Sunday,

November 20 with a

concert of gorgeous mu-

sic for women’s voices

and strings by Vivaldi,

Gjeilo, and Dvořak.

Great music ahead!

See you in church,

Cynthia Powell

Minister of Music

Music Notes from Cynthia Powell

Page 2

Pub Theology

will begin again

in October.

See you then!

Follow us

on

Want to keep up with

what’s happening with

your WECC family?

Go to Facebook :

WestEndChurchNYC

and Twitter:

@WestEndChurchNY

It’s a great way to stay

connected to our

community.

We will meet on Wednesday, September 7 at 6:00 p.m.

Join us as we kick off the new year and deepen our faith

and friendships as we journey through life together.

NOTE: NEW TIME!

The Story of Joseph—Better than Game of Thrones!

After worship on September 25, October 2 and 9

The story of Joseph and his dysfunctional family has it all: teen fantasy, blind parental

favoritism, savage sibling rivalry, calculated seduction, political intrigue and family reunion.

Join Pastor Howard for these three classes as we explore Joseph's saga.

For this year’s VBS program-

ming at the church, we had 11

participants, more than half of

whom came from families that

do not regularly attend our con-

gregation. Our focus was the

story of Moses and the deliver-

ance of the people of Israel out

of bondage in Egypt. We dressed

up in costume to reenact the

story of Moses’ birth and deliv-

erance, and his later encounter

with the burning bush. We

learned the spirituals “Go Down,

Moses” and “Joshua Fought the

Battle of Jericho,” which accom-

panied us throughout the week,

sparking different discussions

about important themes through-

out the Exodus narrative.

We crafted crowns and painted

clay bricks, examining the power

relationship between those who

wear the former and those who

toil to make the latter. We ex-

plored themes of prophetic jus-

tice and talked about how God’s

love shows up for those who are

oppressed. This might sound like

serious business (and it is!), but

we found a lot of joy in the doing

this week. And we even related

the fate of Pharoah to the not-so-

nice Emperor Cusco of Disney’s

The Emperor’s New Groove (to

much laughter!).

If you walked by the church dur-

ing that week, you may have

noticed that after a tour of the

stained-glass windows of the

church with Pastor Howard, we

decided that the steps of the

church were entirely too dull and

undertook a beautification project

with sidewalk chalk. It was a

colorful week in many ways, and

as always I left feeling so grateful

for the chance to work with such

wonderful children. I look for-

ward to an amazing season of

programming this fall!

Vacation Bible School by Ian Carr McPherson Page 3

Take Me Out to the Ballgame…

Mets vs. Phillies at CITI Field on Friday, September 23

Meet at WECC at 6 p.m.

To sign-up email Pastor Howard at

hmajor@westendchurch.org

or sign-up in the back of the sanctuary.

Only $23 a ticket!

Pastor Michael’s second book has just been released, which was

written with his coauthor, Bill Sachs. Join us after the service on

September 18 when Pastor Michael will share more about the book.

It’s currently available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc., and copies

will be available at the church.

September 18

Children’s Worship Hour begins, 11 a.m.

September 30

Kids’ Club Kickoff Party, 6 p.m.

Youth Group Outing, 7:30 p.m.

SERMONS

September 4: Why Art, Faith, and Justice

Need Each Other

September 11: Looking Back to Find Our

Way Forward

NEW SERIES

“REDEFINING FRIENDSHIPS”

September 18: Part 1: What We Challenge

September 25: Part 2: What We Affirm

October 2: Part 3: What We Dream

A Neighborhood Church for all People

The September 16 book is…

The Book Club will meet at 7 p.m. in Rooms 1 & 2

The October book is Allegiance by Kermit

Roosevelt III. (400 pages—start reading early!)

The West End Book Group thanks Emily Simpson

for arranging for the author of All The Old Knives

to attend the July book discussion. There were

over 20 people present!

Join a Small Group!

Beginning this October, we’re launching

small groups. Over the course of ten weeks,

the groups will meet three times. They will

be exploring the topic “Redefining Friend-

ships,” which is based on a sermon series

Pastor Michael is doing in September. There

is a signup sheet in the back of the sanctuary,

or you can email Robby Davis, our Parish

Administrator (rdavis@westendchurch.org),

to let us know you’d like to participate. It’s a

great way to deepen our friendships and our

faith!