St Peter's UCC West Lawn, PA

St Peter's UCC West Lawn, PA Welcome to the St. Peter's UCC of Wilshire church family. We are a small, welcoming congregation located in West Lawn, PA, just outside of Reading.

Peter's United Church of Christ of Wilshire family. We are a small, welcoming congregation located in West Lawn, one of the suburbs of Reading, in Berks County, PA. Our church life is modeled after Jesus' commandment: "love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself." We hope you like what you see here. If so, contact us or stop by for a visit. Our weekly worship service starts at 10:00 AM every Sunday, and visitors are expected!

Hello Friends of St. Peter's!  We are looking for a new part-time Parish Administrator.  If you are interested, the job ...
06/10/2026

Hello Friends of St. Peter's! We are looking for a new part-time Parish Administrator. If you are interested, the job posting can be found on our website: https://www.stpucc.com/general-5 or you can email your interest and resume to [email protected]

The Church Administrative Coordinator provides administrative, operational, and communications support to ensure the effective day-to-day functioning of the church office and ministry activities. This role serves as a central point of contact for members, visitors, vendors, and ministry leaders and....

06/07/2026

Second Sunday after Pentecost. Join us in outdoor worship! Copyright permissions for today’s service:

I Come with Joy. ©1971, 1995, Hope Publishing Co., Contributor: Brian Wren. Text: ©1971, 1995, Hope Publishing Co. Streamed with permission under OneLicense A-717577. All rights reserved.

DOVE OF PEACE. ©1977, Hope Publishing Co., Contributor: Austin Lovelace. ©1977, Hope Publishing Co. Streamed with permission under OneLicense A-717577. All rights reserved.

When in Our Music God Is Glorified. Words: ©1972, Hope Publishing Company. Contributor: Fred Pratt Green. Music: Charles V. Stanford, 1904. Streamed with permission under OneLicense A-717577. All rights reserved.


The God of Abraham Praise. Words: Moses Maimonedes, 12th c., Daniel ben Judah, versification (attrib.), c. 1400, Max Landsberg and Newton Mann, trans., 1884, alt. Music: Traditional Yigdal melody, Meyer Lyon, (adapt.), 1770 Public Domain.


Discipleship Ministries: To Be a Blessing: Forming a Family/Preparing a People by Dr. Lisa Hancock. Unfolding Light: OT 10: 2nd Sunday after Pentecost by Steve Garnaas-Holmes. Lectionary Liturgies: Liturgy with Communion for June 11, 2023, by Thom Shuman. 2026, The United Church of Canada—Called to Be the Church: The Journey: June 7: Second Sunday after Pentecost

05/31/2026

Welcome! Join us worshiping God.

05/24/2026

Thanks be to God. "He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills." --Psalm 147:8 Join us in worship this Memorial Day Weekend!

05/17/2026

We're so blessed to have you worship with us on line. Let's raise our voices in prayer and song!

Join us this Sunday for our annual plant sale, hosted by our Women's Ministry.  From 9am-12pm plants, planters, and hang...
05/07/2026

Join us this Sunday for our annual plant sale, hosted by our Women's Ministry. From 9am-12pm plants, planters, and hanging baskets will be available for selection. Prices vary.

Join us this Saturday from 8-12 for the St. Peter's Annual Outdoor Clean Up!  Feel free to bring along your favorite yar...
04/28/2026

Join us this Saturday from 8-12 for the St. Peter's Annual Outdoor Clean Up! Feel free to bring along your favorite yard tools and be ready to get a little dirty. There is weeding and mulching to be done - weeds and mulch are provided :). Lunch will be provided. Hope to see you there!!

John 20:17 (NRSVUE)Jesus said to her [Mary Magdalene], “Do not touch me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. ...
04/05/2026

John 20:17 (NRSVUE)
Jesus said to her [Mary Magdalene], “Do not touch me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Reflection:
What a puzzling moment! After the horror and drama of the cross, the uncertainty of Saturday, and the momentary panic of realizing that Jesus’ tomb was empty, you’d think that the least that Jesus could do would be to give his friend Mary a hug. It’s a strange moment that has puzzled people for ages. Why wouldn’t the Risen Christ allow one of his most beloved disciples to hold on to him? In 10 verses, he will tell Thomas to touch his wounds, so it’s not like he was radioactive or something. What is it about this moment that he refuses to allow Mary to hold on to him?
I’m not sure, but I think it has something to do with what happens next. She had reached out to him, presumably, to make sure that he never left her sight again, but he says, “No. Now it’s your turn. I want you to leave me and I want you to go preach the Good News”. What a job! Can you imagine being the very first person who was commissioned to bring Jesus’ message? He could have appeared to John and Peter, but he waited until they left, because this was a job for Mary and Mary alone. And she did it. She left that garden and she became the first preacher of the Risen Christ. That, by the way, is not a job that she could have done from the garden. She could not have done that while holding Jesus’ hand. She could not have stepped out that day into her fullness if she were still waiting for Jesus to do everything for her. She ran out of that garden a new woman, empowered and emboldened by Jesus to do what was hers to do.
I think we could use that example today. I don’t need to tell you that the world is a mess right now, and many of us are trying to hold on to Jesus, praying that he would fix everything because it feels too big, but Jesus is saying to us, “Do not hold on to me. Go. Do what is yours to do. Do what only you can do at this moment”. So let us go. Let us take on the power and audacity of the Risen Christ, let us believe in impossible dreams, and let us go with the conviction that Jesus will never leave us.

Prayer:
Risen Christ, conqueror of death and bringer of life, give us the boldness to believe that you have truly called us to this moment. Fill us with your power and love as we go out this Easter season to serve you and the world that you love. Amen.

Matthew 27:62-66 (NIV)The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. “...
04/04/2026

Matthew 27:62-66 (NIV)
The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”
“Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

Reflection:
Holy Saturday is the day when doubt finally sounds reasonable. Jesus is dead, really dead, and his body has been wrapped, sealed, placed behind a stone, and for the first time in a long time, nothing is happening. After all the excitement of the past few years, after the crowds and the miracles and the hope, this ending makes the accusation feel plausible: maybe he was never the Son of God after all.
And yet, it is the chief priests and Pharisees who remember what the disciples cannot. They go to Pilate because Jesus’ words still haunt them. They begin to wonder: what if he was telling the truth, what if this isn’t the end, what if this man truly is who he claimed to be? They believe resurrection is possible enough to guard the tomb.
And we are left waiting, asking our own what if.

Prayer:
God, we know how this story ends, yet we linger with the what ifs. What if the guards were right, what if the tomb stayed full, what if Jesus was only another hopeful story that ended too soon. Stay close as we wait, unsure, unsettled, and still hoping.

Address

2901 Curtis Road
Reading, PA
19609

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