Jonah is one of the minor prophets, famous for living in the belly of a big fish for three days and being angry at God. But what else does his story have to teach us? Come this Sunday to find out!

We’re excited to welcome Everest Harvey, our Director of Youth and Social Justice Ministries to the Loft this Sunday while Rev. Dr. Carter is away.  

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Jeremiah is rightly considered one of the major prophets. He is prominent in both the Hebrew Bible and quoted extensively by Jesus and the authors of the New Testament. While he is often misunderstood as a doomsday prophet, Jeremiah should be seen as someone who embodies the alternative consciousness of Moses in the face of a denying king. Jeremiah helps his community move from order to disorder through prophetic criticism, forcing them to see the suffering around them that they are trying to pretend does not exist.

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The radical break of Moses and Israel from the Egyptian Imperial system is the foundation upon which Christianity was built. The radical actions of Moses and the Israelites can hardly be overstated. In liberating his people, he guides his community through a Spiritual maturation process of order, disorder, and reordering. These three steps are guideposts for the prophetic decolonization that we see in the ministry of Jesus and what ought to be the ministry of the church.

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The task of the prophetic community is to nurture, nourish, and evoke an alternative orthodoxy — a consciousness that sees the world differently from the dominant cultures around them. However, the challenge we face is that the structures of the dominant culture are designed to numb you from feeling your own or others' suffering and from developing the ability to recognize that suffering. How do we resist the temptation to avoid feeling such pain? Amos shows us that seeing the world differently requires vulnerability. Only when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable can we share in and with the suffering of others and see the suffering of the world as God’s suffering.

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We invite you to join us as we welcome Rev. Kevin Wright who will be preaching in The Loft this Sunday while Dr. Carter is away. In his sermon Rev. Wright will explore what it looks like for marginalized communities, particularly queer communities, to have hope during a time like this. 

Rev. Kevin Kim Wright is an ordained elder in the Baltimore Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church. Currently, Rev. Kevin lives in Los Angeles and serves in an extension ministry appointment as Chief of Staff at Point Foundation, the nation's largest nonprofit scholarship provider for LGBTQ individuals.

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The biblical witness is a book of hope. From Abraham and Sarah through the Apostles, people of faith placed their hope in the promises of God and God’s covenant with them. However, when Jesus’ spiritual path of radical compassion became overshadowed by the Roman Empire, God’s work of redemption was increasingly pushed aside. Too many Christians have embraced a secular version of hope that depends on a mythical idea of human progress. But this is not the hope seen in the Israelite community of Moses or the disciples of Jesus.

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Injustice is making itself visible in the streets of our city. Are we prepared to act with compassion and wisdom? Have we rehearsed our responses in a way that is faithful to the ways of Jesus? Join Rev. Blair for a conversation on “How Not to Be a Bystander”, based on James 1:19-27. Rev. Blair Trygstad Stowe serves as our Public Theologian in Residence, which makes her a regular on our The Progressive Christians Podcast. She is an ordained Elder in the California Pacific Annual Conference; while completing a PhD from the Boston University School of Theology, she serves as the Assistant Dean of Co-curricular Development and Assistant Professor in the Practice of Ministry at the Claremont School of Theology. Rev. Blair and her husband, Andrew, as well as their children, Ansel and Ellory, are regulars at Westwood UMC, most frequently in The Loft.

Dr. Carter will be away until July 9, while teaching a seminary cross-cultural immersion class in South Africa.

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In our final Sunday during Pride month, we look into Paul's letter to the Galatians, ready to liberate it from theologies and assumptions that have been used to devalue our bodies and lives, and find freedom in a gospel of embodiment and connection.

Dr. Carter will be away until July 9, while teaching a seminary cross-cultural immersion class in South Africa.

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Small groups were essential in the creation and maintenance of The Methodist Church. They remain the bedrock of how we sustain connectedness in our increasingly post-religious society. For the members of the Westwood UMC Queer Group, it has been a balm for the soul. Please join Rev. Dr. Carter as he is joined in conversation with members of our Queer Group to discuss their faith journeys, the role our community has played in their journey, and where we need to continue to grow in order to continue becoming the unapologetically inclusive community we hope to be.

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Trans identity is more than just what pronouns you use. For Christians, trans identity pushes us to wrestle with what it means to be created in the image of God and the transformation that takes place every time we celebrate Holy Communion. Join Rev. Dr. Carter and Everest Harvey as they explore what it is about being trans that isn’t clicking for people.

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