Members and friends of Westminster Presbyterian Church will gather on Founders’ Sunday, May 18, to celebrate 190 years of faith, art and advocacy. Our story begins with faith and a commitment to advocacy. The 30 founding members who signed the church charter on May 26, 1835, had strong abolitionist convictions and positive initiatives advocating justice […]
Blythe Denham Kieffer
The Rev. Dr. Blythe Denham Kieffer served as pastor and head of staff at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Springfield from Oct. 1, 2013, to Oct. 1, 2025.
Posted inArts & Culture
A modest proposal
In 1729, Jonathan Swift wrote the satiric essay A Modest Proposal, published in pamphlet form to influence compassion for the starving Irish. The satire ridiculed the British politicians, elites and landowners who did not see the poor Irish as a problem of human misery and suffering but rather as an inconvenience. The ridiculous proposal that […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Tongues of mortals
“If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” – I Corinthians 13:1 The folklore my mom liked to tell about our family is that I did not speak until I was 3 years old. Apparently as the youngest […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Tapestry of life
To love an enemy is simply impossible, for an enemy is by definition someone hated rather than loved. An enemy who is loved is no longer an enemy. Perhaps this is what Abraham Lincoln had in mind when he asked, “Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?” For the last […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Mary’s role in the Christmas story
And she gave birth to her firstborn son … Luke 2:7 Mary plays a unique and prominent role in the Judeo-Christian story of a sacred journey. It is Mary who brings God’s son into the world. In her womb she carried the One Christians call Wonderful Counselor, Almighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Mary’s significance […]
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A time to see
I heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; Job 42:5 If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too: If you […]
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Unfolding lives
“When Jesus laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.” – Luke 13:13 The prophet Hosea (11:4) describes God as one who “bends down … to feed, to lift up and to hold.” Strength and flexibility are both necessary in the act of bending. We have a God who […]
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Coming and going
Jesus said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going.” – Mark 6:31 Anne Morrow Lindbergh, in her book Gift from the Sea, echoes the call of Jesus to his disciples to come away and rest a while. In our coming and […]
