By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Friday and Saturday, Tibbetts United Methodist Church (WSB sponsor) hosts a regional event that’s billed as a “revival.”

Not the old-school fire-and-brimstone preaching-style revival.

The “ordinary revival” Love Thy Neighbor is more about reinvention – and it’s right in line with what Tibbetts’s new pastor, Rev. Sarah Casey, believes.

Rev. Casey is certainly one of West Seattle’s youngest pastors, at 30. But this isn’t necessarily a generational thing. As the daughter of a pastor, she grew up steeped in tradition.

Oh, before we get too far down the road – we should mention she skates with Rat City Roller Derby.

Read More

(WSB photos by Patrick Sand)

That group-photo gathering followed this morning’s service commemorating the 100th anniversary of Hope Lutheran Church in The Junction. From the bulletin for the “festival service”:

In the beginning … A small group of West Seattle residents who worshipped across the water at Trinity Lutheran Church decided to build their own house of worship. A charter group of nine men and four women organized Hope Lutheran Church in 1918. A new church was dedicated to the glory of God in 1919 at the present site of Southwest Oregon and 42nd Avenue Southwest.

You can read more about Hope’s history here. Below, five spiritual leaders who participated in today’s service:

They are guest preacher Rev. Dr. Dean Nadasdy, former Hope pastors Rev. Keith Eilers (pastor 2001-2011) and Rev. Clemens Pera (pastor 1963-1996), current Hope Pastor Peter Mueller (since 2011) and Deacon Daniel Jackson. After today’s service (and photos!), the celebration moved to nearby Seattle Lutheran High School for a festive lunch.

A partnership between a West Seattle synagogue and church will continue. Kol HaNeshamah has signed a new lease to continue being co-housed with Alki UCC at 6115 SW Hinds. In our photo above, from left, are Alki UCC board chair Rod Peeler, KHN’s president Jake Fawcett and executive director Sheila Abrahams, and Alki UCC business manager Kristin Michael. Their announcement:

Principals of Kol HaNeshamah and Alki UCC signed another lease agreement on August 29, 2018 for Kol HaNeshamah to rent space in the Alki UCC premises at 6115 SW Hinds St. These two organizations, a Congregational United Church of Christ and a Reform Synagogue Community, have been happily co-existing for 15 years. The core beliefs of these organizations are comparable while their missions and religious identities are different. This friendship and co-habitation have resulted in many joint events such as barbecues, luncheons, education, life-cycle celebrations, and meetings.

Said Rod Peeler, Chair of the Alki Board of Directors, after the lease signing: “We are proud of our 15-year relationship with Kol HaNeshamah synagogue. As we are in a transitional phase with our pastor’s retirement, this is a time for discernment of our place and purpose in the Alki community. We believe that providing a house of worship for both our Christian and Jewish communities supports our service to God’s will and we are grateful for our shared relationship and common bond.”

And Jake Fawcett, President of Kol HaNeshamah, commented: “Our relationship with Alki UCC goes far beyond sharing building space. Our shared values brought us together from the very beginning, when Kol HaNeshamah was founded in 2003. Both our congregations care deeply about standing up for justice and serving people in our communities who are most vulnerable. Alki UCC walks that talk. We’re looking back now at 15 years of friendship, and still going strong.”

Kol HaNeshamah holds Shabbat services twice a month and celebrates the Jewish holidays throughout the year. Education classes for students (Hebrew and Religious education) are held regularly September through June; and Adult education is offered throughout the year. KHN welcomes guests to its High Holy Services or at any other time.

Information about KHN can be found at www.khnseattle.org or by calling 206-935-1590. For information about Alki UCC, please contact office@alkiucc.org or call 206-935-2661.

(Video and photos by Leda Costa for WSB)

Just north of the West Seattle Junction, another celebration this afternoon – this one, at First Lutheran Church of West Seattle, commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. The movement began in Germany, so today FLCWS hosted German folk dancers from Enzian Schuhplattler, a club founded in 1965 by German and Austrian immigrants in Seattle:

And of course there was beer.

Also today, the church dedicated a plaque in honor of the anniversary:

FLCWS pastor Rev. Ron Marshall (above), designed the plaque, sculpted by Rita Marie Kepner, made from 65 pounds of bronze at the Port Townsend Foundry, and installed by Dale Korsmo. As noted on a banner outside the church, its commemoration of the Reformation’s half-millennium anniversary continues all year.

(WSB photo)

If you drove/rode/walked along the north stretch of Delridge Way SW earlier this evening, you might have seen Hate-Free Delridge‘s demonstration on the pedestrian overpass. They were there to express support for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), the program that has postponed deportation for undocumented immigrants who were brought into the U.S. as children. As this federal webpage notes, the program is ending, though members of Congress are working on alternative plans.

After six years without a permanent rector, St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church will have one starting this fall. And she has served this church before, according to the official announcement:

The Vestry of Saint John the Baptist Episcopal Parish today announced that the Reverend Kate E. Wesch has been called to serve as Rector of the parish. Rev. Wesch will join St John’s on October 2, 2017 and will deliver her first sermon as Rector on Sunday, October 8, 2017 during services at 8 and 10:15 a.m.

Rev. Wesch is no stranger to St John’s; she was ordained at this parish in 2007 and served as Associate Priest alongside the parish’s former Rector, the Very Rev. Peter DeVeau. Rev. Wesch and her family have called West Seattle home since moving to Washington State in 2006. Most recently, Rev. Wesch has served at Epiphany Episcopal Parish in Madrona in the capacity of Associate Priest.

Of her new parish, Rev. Wesch notes, “According to its history, St. John’s Parish was established ‘for a broad-minded and liberal churchmanship, which should not only develop the spiritual side of life, but also encourage the social welfare in the most thoughtful and progressive minds of this community.’ This parish has done that now for generations in a community that continues to grow and thrive on this peninsula across the bay. The holy ground at the corner of California Avenue and Hanford is a gracious and serene place to gather to praise God, share your lives, do good works, and study the Gospel.”

The community is invited to meet Rev. Wesch at a special welcoming event on Sunday, October 8, 2017 (details will be made available closer to the date). St. John the Baptist is an Episcopal Parish is celebrating its 125th anniversary in West Seattle, and is a member of the Diocese of Olympia of the Episcopal Church.

The previous rector, Rev. DeVeau, left in late 2011 for Kansas City.

In our first year of reporting West Seattle news full time via WSB, we received a calendar announcement from First Lutheran Church of West Seattle Pastor Ron Marshall, about a class he had been teaching for years:

Not a class about the Bible, nor anything related to his denomination. It’s a class about Islam’s holy book, the Quran (or Koran).

As far as Rev. Marshall knows – and, he says, others have researched to verify this – he’s the only Christian minister in the U.S. regularly teaching a course on the Quran.

So we interviewed him about it in 2008, and since then, we’ve included the quarterly announcements in the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar. With nine years having passed – and Islam remaining much-discussed – we decided to talk with him again before the next four-session class begins July 6th (one week from next Thursday). First, here’s the entirety of our half-hour interview, recorded on video, unedited:

As Rev. Marshall explains, this is a class he’s taught for 14 years now, in this format – he first took an interest in Islam in the ’80s, but getting people interested in a class didn’t happen until after 9/11, and since 2003, he has taught it quarterly. It’s now a four-Thursday format, usually taught four times a year, 7-9 pm each session, this time starting July 6th, $50 for the course, which includes a book and handouts.

He clarifies that he doesn’t promote the Quran’s message – “I’m a Christian minister” – but neither does he “bash the Quran.” The point of the class is to “compare and contrast between the Bible and the Quran … we’re on a fact-finding mission.” Questions explored include whether one part of the Quran means that it is intended to replace the Bible – scholars disagree, and it leads to “spirited discussions” in his classes, says Rev. Marshall. The class uses one of three authorized English translations of the Quran. The class is not “what (he) thinks about the Quran” – he points to “this is what the best Muslim teachers say the Quran is saying.”

He summarizes, “I want to try to provide a way to appreciatively, kindly, rationally approach a book that you may not like. Is there a way to do that? … I don’t think we have many models for this today.”

MORE INFO … is on his church’s website. He says the class has been taken by people aged 12 to 90+, and the students teach him as well as vice versa. “I have never taught the class without learning something.”

P.S. For groups interested in an abbreviated version, you can contact him about setting up an all-in-one-day course, as long as you have at least 20 people (who will be charged $20 each) – he’s done this all around Puget Sound.

(Photos courtesy West Side Presbyterian Church)

West Side Presbyterian Church is announcing the retirement of its senior pastor – who will be preaching just a few more Sundays – and inviting the community to a celebration:

June 12th will mark the end of 45 years of service and vocational ministry for Dr. Paul R. Smith of West Seattle. He has been the senior pastor at West Side Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) since 1981, when he moved with his family from Pennsylvania to Seattle.

In the 35 years since arriving in the NW, he has served as the senior pastor of West Side Presbyterian Church. A recent tally showed he had officiated 180 wedding ceremonies, led 256 memorial services, and baptized more than 430 children and adults. He has also been active in renewal ministries with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and has served the church both locally and nationally in promoting and equipping churches for evangelism. 

Born November 25, 1945, Paul is the son of a banker and one of six children. He grew up in a small ranching town in Western South Dakota near Badlands National Park. He graduated with honors from Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL, before marrying his wife, Carreen Armerding and earning an MDiv from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Boston, MA,

For the first ten years of his ministry, Dr. Smith served as Assistant Pastor and then Senior Pastor of Immanuel Presbyterian Church in McKeesport, PA.

He completed his Doctorate of Ministry from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School shortly after arriving in Seattle. And in the years since, he’s written four books: Jesus, Meet him again for the First Time; Close Encounters: Knowing the Savior; Enjoying God Forever; God’s Plan for our Good. He has also traveled extensively throughout Israel and Jordan and has co-led a half-dozen tours, in Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, and Greece.

Paul and his wife, Carreen are the parents of four children: Lucian, Taleigh, Lindsay, and Miriam, and grandparents of seven.

Following retirement, and a long-awaited trip to Africa, the Smiths will return to Seattle, where Paul plans to continue his writing and looks forward to spending more time with his family and grandchildren.
 
A retirement celebration for Dr. Paul Smith will be held:

June 12, Open House 1:00-4:00
(Special program begins at 2:00)
West Side Presbyterian Church
3601 California Avenue SW


The public is welcome.

More information about the celebration is on the WSPC website.