Building Beloved Community
Westwood UMC - Los Angeles, CA
Join us for our tradition of one, combined worship gathering this Sunday, as we celebrate generosity this Thanksgiving Sunday. With musical leadership from our organ, the Sanctuary Choir, and the Loft band, Pastor Molly will preach on our new Westwood UMC mission statement. It calls us to the work of growing Jesus' beloved community, a calling that unites us across our diversities in the shared work of justice and compassion. Our shared witness is a testimony of hope that has the capacity to change our world. Sunday, November 23, 2025 Rev. Molly Vetter
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Committed to Justice and Compassion
Westwood UMC - Los Angeles, CA
Our newly-adopted mission statement describes our values of justice and compassion, a pair of values that express our public and private commitments to Christ-like acts of mercy. These values are an expression of the ancient wisdom of scripture, including from Hebrew prophets and in Jesus life and witness. This Sunday, we continue a focus on our congregation's mission, as it invites each of us to be a part of this community and its "Chorus of Generosity." Sunday, November 16, 2025 Rev. Molly Vetter
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An Intergenerational Christian Community Committed to Radical Inclusivity
Westwood UMC - Los Angeles, CA
In this powerful sermon, theologian and author Kat Armas—drawing from her new book Liturgies for Resisting Empire—invites listeners to confront both the external and internal forces of empire that shape our imaginations, relationships, and faith. Reflecting on the story of the hummingbird and the mission of Westwood UMC, Armas reminds us that true liberation begins within: in the slow, sacred work of unlearning fear, hierarchy, and scarcity so we can embody God’s abundance and kinship. Through the stories of Exodus, the wilderness, and the early church, she paints a vision of...
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Weave After Weave of Blessing
Westwood UMC - Los Angeles, CA
We are pleased to welcome Sharon Rhodes-Wickett back to our Westwood pulpit for All Saints Day this year. Sharon was Senior Pastor of Westwood UMC from 1994-2006, and was a regular leader in our midst more recently in retirement. We are glad that she is returning to help us remember the saints who have gone before us. We encourage you to bring photos or mementos of loved ones you remember on this occasion to set on the altar during worship; you can bring them up to the altar before or during the prelude. After worship, please reclaim your items to take them home. Sunday, November 2, 2025 Rev....
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Anti-Hero: The Humbled
Westwood UMC - Los Angeles, CA
In our Gospel lesson, Jesus uses parables to give essential and needed reminders about how God’s dreams are different from our dominant culture. Jesus celebrates faithfulness that looks more like anti-hero than classic icon. This week, the gospel centers on and celebrates the great faithfulness that is shown through our vulnerable humility. Sunday, October 26, 2025 Rev. Molly Vetter
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Anti-Hero: The Persistent
Westwood UMC - Los Angeles, CA
In our Gospel lesson, Jesus uses parables to give essential and needed reminders about how God’s dreams are different from our dominant culture. Jesus celebrates faithfulness that looks more like anti-hero than classic icon. This week, the gospel centers on and celebrates whose great faithfulness comes through uncomfortable persistence. Sunday, October 19, 2025 Rev. Molly Vetter
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Anti-Hero: The Stranger
Westwood UMC - Los Angeles, CA
In our Gospel lesson, Jesus uses parables to give essential and needed reminders about how God’s dreams are different from our dominant culture. Jesus celebrates faithfulness that looks more like an anti-hero than a classic icon. This week, the gospel centers on and celebrates a stranger (a foreigner, an outsider) who shows us the greatest faithfulness. Sunday, October 12, 2025 Rev. Molly Vetter
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Stubborn Hope
Westwood UMC - Los Angeles, CA
Our Season of Creation concludes with a feast of grace - a celebration of World Communion Sunday, and a call to trust in our capacity to be a part of God's dream of flourishing for the world. Even when it's difficult, even when our efforts seem so small, we are called to work for the well-being of all creation. Sunday, October 5, 2025 Rev. Molly Vetter
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Healing the Wounds
Westwood UMC - Los Angeles, CA
Our Season of Creation continues with lament—honest recognition of environmental harm and heartfelt compassion. Borrowing words from the Hebrew prophet Jeremiah, our lamentations give way to healing as our repentance points us toward God's justice, and a renewed commitment to God’s vision for a flourishing world. Sunday, September 28, 2025Rev. Molly Vetter
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Earth Mourns
Westwood UMC - Los Angeles, CA
Our Season of Creation continues, with an ancient prophet's call to pay attention to creation, and mourn for all that has been destroyed. And still, we claim hope in a God who refuses to make a “full end." Peace with creation begins with repentance and the restoration of right relationships—with God, each other, and the Earth—heeding the call to live justly and sustainably in God’s world. Sunday, September 21, 2025Rev. Molly Vetter
info_outlineThis summer, we're diving into the New Testament letters—real, heartfelt correspondence between early church leaders like Paul and the communities they helped shape. Today we hear Paul writing to the Galatians, his handwriting literally on the page, urging them—and us—not to give up. He’s reminding us that we belong to one another, not because we’re the same, but because Christ has torn down all the old dividing lines. In a world that often feels like it’s pushing us apart, Paul says: keep sowing seeds of compassion, justice, and mercy. It will matter.
He pushes back on rigid religious gatekeeping and instead calls us to something deeper: a transformation of the heart, not the flesh. He wants a new creation, not a new rulebook. And that’s the heart of our faith—not violence, not domination, but love that endures, even through death to resurrection. As we gather at Christ’s table, may the bread and cup remind you of who you are and to whom you belong. You are already part of this body. You are already loved. And you’re invited to keep going—to keep showing up with love, to keep planting hope, and to trust that, together, we are part of a story far bigger than ourselves.
Sunday, July 6, 2025
Rev. Molly Vetter