Westminster Town Hall Forum: An Inspired Idea

By Barbara Mauk, Town Hall Forum board

The Town Hall Forum has been a Westminster institution for 31 remarkable years. From its first speaker, Archibald Cox, to its most recent, Tom Brokaw, the Forum has reached audiences in all parts of Minnesota and beyond. It was founded in 1980 by the Rev. Donald Meisel and Westminster members Dianne and Paul Neimann. In a reminiscence presented to TGOF in 2004, Dr. Meisel recalled those early days when the idea of a forum was taking shape:

"In the winter of 1980, parishioners Diane and Paul Neimann were having dinner with Eleanor and me at the manse on East Lake Harriet Parkway. They knew that Westminster had come up with a new mission statement with a commitment to be A Telling Presence in the City, and they wanted to do their part to make this happen.

During our conversation over the dinner table, an idea emerged. Paul remembered the Noon-day forums he attended while a student at the University of Pittsburgh. Why not a forum like that at Westminster? It seemed a splendid fit, given the church’s location on the Nicollet Mall in the heart of the city and given a Presbyterian heritage that calls people to be responsible to and for the society around them. A few days later, Diane came to my office, and we formulated the overarching rubric for this endeavor - Voices of Conscience: Key Issues in Ethical Perspective.

We also made a decision to follow the National Press Club format with a 30-minute speaker’s presentation followed by a half-hour of questions and answers. Minnesota Public Radio championed the forums from the beginning, and with rare exception, they have broadcast each presentation. While the Forum does not receive funds from Westminster's operating budget — an agreement made with Session when the idea was first proposed to them —support comes from individual church members and from friends in the community and co-sponsoring organizations.”

At the conclusion of his remarks, Dr. Meisel offered a comment from one of the Forum’s most distinguished speakers, Elie Wiesel, who summed up the power of the Westminster Town Hall Forum in his 1983 address:

“I admire you for what you are doing here. To break up the day in the lives of so many people, to bring them out of their doors and away from their endeavors, and to say to them, ‘Come and meditate together with us for one hour.’ I wish this could be imitated all over the world — simply to stop for an hour and think.”

And that’s the blessing of the Westminster Town Hall Forum.

Blessings We Can Count On

By Jennifer Alexander, Co-Chair, Adult Education Committee

Two old hymns come to mind when I think of counting our blessings:

Count your blessings,

    Name them one by one.

Count your blessings,

    See what God hath done.

and

Showers of blessings,

    Showers of blessings we need.

Mercy-drops 'round us are falling,

    But for the showers we plead!

The first is an account, a list of blessings we've got in hand. The second is a hope, blessings we desperately need but wonder (let's be honest!) if we're really going to get.

In between is something else: blessings we can count on, blessings not yet in hand, blessings we know we will have. Can we really expect blessings? We count them, and hope for them; what if we really expected them? We get one from the pulpit every week, deliberate and spoken; we can certainly count on that. I am led to wonder if some blessings, those we expect, can become routine. What if we knew them, again, as blessings for which people plead?

Education for Faith; Education for Life

by the Rev. Kathy Michael, Associate Pastor for Adult Education

When I was in seminary, I found myself wishing that every Christian could study the Bible with the original languages! I learned so much that opened up the Scriptures in powerful and exciting ways. The blessings of knowledge led me to a deeper and broader experience of faith. 

As I studied church history, I realized that our times have much in common with the 1st Century.  The cultural challenges to faith are not new. I also realized that I did not become who I am as a follower of Jesus in a vacuum. So much in the past has shaped me – and has shaped the 21^st Century church.

Theology classes prodded at my understanding and forced me to think harder than I ever had about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and even about ME! What I believe was on the front burner of my studies, and the challenges stretched me in new and wondrous ways.

As I count my blessings at Westminster, among them is a culture of intellectual curiosity. I read once, that if you don’t grow, you shrink.  The people of Westminster are committed to growing – intellectually, spiritually, and in the ways we put our faith into practice. 

Part of that growth comes through our Adult Education program, Education for Faith and Life.  We learn to grow in faith, but we also learn to live out our faith each day in our relationships, choices, and decisions. Click here to see the latest classes from Education for Faith and Life.

We are so blessed in the outstanding teachers who come to increase our knowledge and stimulate our growth. The many professors who come here from Luther Seminary, United Theological Seminary, Macalester College, The University of St. Thomas, Bethel University, Winona State University, The University of Minnesota, St. John’s University, and also professionals from the larger community bless us all with a seminary-level education.  My wish to share my life-changing experience of seminary has come to pass.

I am grateful that quality adult education is a priority at Westminster.  It changes lives, and it changes our congregation. One of our professors, Dr. Andy Overman, says that our program is a gift to the Twin Cities community. For others to know that adult Christian education is important here and happens with a high degree of expectation, blesses the whole community.

I love to learn. I am grateful to have the privilege of sharing my passion for learning with Westminster, and to invite others into the adventure. Education at Westminster is for Faith – growing deeper into the life of God; and it is for Life – making a difference every day. Thanks be to God for the many blessings of Adult Education at Westminster!