The Rev. Hansen Wendlandt leads worship at Community of Grace Presbyterian Church in Salt Lake City, Utah on June 30, 2024. Photo by Denise Anderson
A banner on the top awning of Community of Grace Presbyterian Church that reads “God is at work here and all are welcome” is more than just words for this faith community. It is the air they breathe, the smiles they give and their radical hospitality that make them who they are.
From the opening worship led by the praise and worship team, the Sounds of Grace Choir and the Spirit of Joy Band, the Rev. Hansen Wendlandt invited visiting commissioners into a unison on a count of three “Where are you from?” call and response.
The spirit of welcome and invitation even reached the children’s message as Wendlandt sat on a blue chair fit for a 3-year-old and invited the children around a rainbow-shaped rug to hear the story based on Exodus 19:1–6, reminding all the children of God, regardless of age, that wherever we go, whatever journey we are on, whatever sea we cross, “God is with us.”
The commissioners were invited to the third installment of a sermon series titled “Take a Hike.” Each week, items are suggested that are needed for a successful hike, such as a campfire, bug spray, and this week’s survival equipment, a tent. The tent served as a metaphor for when all of the issues of life, compounded with our responsibilities, can make us frustrated, angry or bitter, but the tent represents God’s reminder that God is always with us.
Commissioners and advisory delegates joined the faith community for worship and lunch on June 30, 2024. Photo by Denise Anderson
Member Noelle Mbede, who has lived in Utah since transferring from Silver Spring, Maryland, for work six years ago, said she attends Community of Grace because of “its diversity, its welcoming, and Pastor Hansen is just down to earth.”
As Wendlandt expanded on the greater connection of the PC(USA), sharing his own journey of exploring different faith traditions along the way, he kept coming back to the tradition of his youth and lifted up the various ways the denomination strives to be connectional and interdependent of one another. This was a great segue and homecoming of sorts as Community of Grace’s former pastor, the Rev. Jerrod Lowry, now general presbyter/stated clerk of the Presbytery of Coastal Carolina in Elizabethtown, North Carolina, joined for worship. Lowry led the congregation for eight years until God called him to serve the church elsewhere. On Sunday, Lowry and congregants greeted each other in love and unmatched joy as he made his rounds before worship and during lunch. “The radical welcome you have all experienced this morning is just a taste of the love and hospitality this congregation gives,” Lowry said.
Community of Grace is an affirming and all welcoming faith community and has been a longtime advocate of LGTBQIA+ youth. A few months ago, the church’s Pride flag was stolen, and the church building was vandalized. In response to the act of hate, Wendlandt said, “Our job is to dream with God about the way that this world can be put together for peace.” Instead of replacing the flag, church members decided to paint the flag on the wooden signage.
On Sunday morning, Wendlandt finished with a quote from Desmond Tutu: “My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together,” and then charged the congregation to go out into the world and serve God.
Ruling Elder Commissioner Mary Lazar, of Lehigh Presbytery in Allentown, Pennsylvania, was moved and encouraged by the worship. “It was nice to see everyone worship together, and I like the style of worship. They were a very welcoming congregation.”