How I Got To Westhope

Pat Hudson
Congregation Member

My journey to Westhope was a long and circuitous route.  My father was a famous Southern Baptist minister.  He wrote 22 books and is considered by many to be the founder of pastoral counseling.  He was way too liberal for many Southern Baptists. When I would come home from Baptist camp talking about hell, he would switch my focus to love and compassion for all. 

When I left for college, he told to become a Presbyterian.  In college at Kansas University it was easier to be a Quaker because they used the Chapel on campus where they met rather than figure out how to get to a Presbyterian church without a car. I eventually married in that chapel.  But later, after having children and moving to a long term home in Omaha, Nebraska, I did become a Presbyterian Deacon.  My husband of sixteen years and I formed the young couples group and made many long-term friends, but after a while the church went through changes and we left for another Presbyterian church. After the marriage ended and the pastor at the new church was arrested for embezzling funds from the church, I gave up on organized religion for some years. 

When I married my husband, Hatcher, who is an atheist, I was not sure where we could find common ground.  We ended up being very active in a Unitarian church in Corpus Christi, Texas where I became the president of the church and sang in the choir and even preached occasionally.  But I felt that I was missing the spiritual side that had fulfilled me through my father’s messages.  Really if you even mentioned the Bible at that church, clearly you didn’t understand your audience. 

When we moved to California (the state where eight of my 10 grandchildren live) in 2018, I was craving the positive message of Christ, the power of prayer, and the experience of the Holy Spirit.  We rented a house in San Jose very close to Saratoga and Bucknall.  When I saw the rainbow flag, and the open-minded messages on the fence that leads to Westhope, I thought I would give it a try.  I felt at home almost immediately.  The sung prayer, the emphasis on understanding scripture on a deep level, and the warmth of the congregation—welcoming gay couples and trans individuals—seemed to be exactly where my father would had sent me and I felt that at last I had found my church home. 

I very much look forward to Sundays and enjoy being a Presbyterian Deacon again.  In many ways I feel like Westhope is almost a well-kept secret and I hope more will come to relish the accepting, creative, joyful, and loving spiritual environment of Westhope.