By Abbey Adcox This past week, our Youth Choir traveled to Chicago to serve, learn, sing and be present. What we didn’t fully expect was how deeply we would be met. We met Dilla, a self-proclaimed B-list Chicago celebrity, YouTube-famous and brutally honest. He asked...
By Mike Capps The Swedish theologian Krister Stendahl suggests that we should leave room in our religious understanding for “Holy Envy” in how we understand and engage with religious traditions different from our own. By this he means that it is proper to feel a sense...
By Jeff Hampton Today is Pentecost Sunday, when we recall how the people of God first received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as promised by Jesus. My first awakening to what Pentecost was about was through the giant painting, “The Miracle at Pentecost,” at what is...
By Maggie Morey The first piece of Wilshire worship I ever watched was mid-pandemic. In June 2020, for an online service, a few folks played “Crowded Table” by The Highwomen. The clip got shared and shared again until it ended up on my Facebook feed. They sang of an...
By Jeff Brummel It was the German reformer Martin Luther who said, “Let me write the hymns.” In addition to being the main figure of the Lutheran Reformation in the 16th century, Luther was also a musician who wrote dozens of hymns. He knew how the power of music —...
By Kelly Akins This morning, we gather to worship together and to honor our graduates. At Wilshire, we have some longstanding traditions, and one of those is that our Youth Choir sings Allen Pote’s setting of Psalm 139. This song teaches us that God knew us before we...
By Heather Mustain In every faith community, there are moments when life becomes overwhelming — when grief, illness, loss or loneliness casts long shadows. It is in these sacred spaces of pain and vulnerability that Stephen Ministry offers something deeply healing: a...
By Scott Spreier “I am going fishing!” Don’t you just love Peter? The disciples are still together in a post-resurrection tither, and Peter, the impetuous one, announces he’s going fishing. What better way to deal with what had just happened? I can relate. As a child,...
By LeAnn Hampton Today is the second Sunday of Easter. Last week’s Easter Sunday worship was an amazing time of great joy and excitement as we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus. During the Sundays of Lent, our Wilshire Pre-K Sunday School class (4- and 5-year-olds)...
By Charlie Fuller You know the story. There’s a hidden video camera in place. One of our armed forces personnel who’s been overseas for extended service sneaks up on their loved one, usually at a public event. The last thing in the world their loved one expects is to...