By Christine Hestwood

This is my church! In 1996 I graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a master’s degree in choral and orchestral conducting. While at CMU, I was waiting tables at the Grand Concourse. I wasn’t a very good server (lots of spilled drinks on customers!), but I was friendly and loved to chat with my customers. One evening, I was talking with a family and lamenting how difficult it was to find a job as a conductor. Their daughter remarked that she was a student at Upper St. Clair High School and that they were hiring a new choral conductor.

This was a God moment! I contacted the district the next day. The deadline for applications was that very day. I submitted my materials and was hired to start that fall as the High School Choral Conductor. (In fact, there had been an heir apparent all set to “win” that job.)

In the fall of 1996, I received a call from Diane Kapp. I asked around and was told that she sold Mary Kay cosmetics. So, I ignored the call. Thankfully, she was persistent and reached out again. In addition to Mary Kay, Diane was also working as an administrative assistant to Bill Evans, the Westminster organist and Director of Music. Long story short – I began my tenure at Westminster as his assistant Director of Music and the Youth Choir director. And here I am 28 years later with a Chamily (choir + family) and a congregation that I cherish.

My church is a beacon to the community. The spire is visible to me when I walk my dog, Cooper. At times, I can hear the chimes from my neighborhood. The chimes are especially poignant as I enter Sunrise, the personal care facility where my dad lives. I help my dad with lunch every day. While I cherish our time together, it is challenging to see him in a wheelchair and slowly declining. Lunch starts at noon. As I enter, I often hear our church bells, and they serve as a God wink to me, encouraging me to be strong for my dad.

My office is on the north side of the building, and I am often the only staff member on this side of the building. I love the opportunity to help people find the Samaritan Counseling Center.

Recently, I helped two women find their AA meeting in Fellowship Hall. Just today I was visited by David, a gentleman who participates in the WROC classes for people with Parkinson’s. He had attended a class and came back to try to find his lost hearing aids. We searched the WROC to no avail. Then I suggested that we retrace his steps. Sure enough, there was his hearing aid on the ground next to where he had parked that morning. And they were intact!

If you only attend worship, you are missing out on a wealth of opportunities for additional fellowship and learning. As Gail King preached years ago, Westminster has 32 doors. I encourage you to walk through one of those doors and experience our thriving church.

I’ll close in a musical way, as that’s my first love. Do you know the children’s song “I Am the Church”? I remember this fondly from my childhood in the Methodist church:

I Am the Church

Refrain:
I am the church! You are the church!
We are the church together!
All who follow Jesus, all around the world!
Yes, we're the church together!

The church is not a building,
the church is not a steeple,
the church is not a resting place,
the church is a people.
Refrain

We're many kinds of people,
with many kinds of faces,
all colors and all ages, too,
from all times and places.
Refrain

And when the people gather,
there's singing and there's praying,
there's laughing and there's crying sometimes,
all of it saying:
Refrain

Words and music by Donald S. Marsh and Richard K. Avery