Sutras in Western Buddhism? How should western practitioners approach the sutras? What are the most important sutras from the main Buddhist traditions for westerners to study? When studying the sutras should that be considered a form of meditation?
I practice with the Triratna Buddhists which is an explicit attempt to bring Buddhism into the Western context. It is ecumenical so brings in all traditions so for me this question is very interesting. For us the sutras that are particularly studied are

Pali Canon
Middle Length Discourses generally but more specifically from the pali canon


Satipatthana sutta
Anapanasati sutta
Karaniya Metta Sutta
Dhammapada
Udana


Mahayana


Heart Sutra
Diamond Sutra
White Lotus Sutra
Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra 
Golden Light Sutra


Also


Bodhicaryāvatāra
Life of Milarepa 


This list isn't exhaustive by any means but I think represents the ones that are referenced most frequently. However a lot of others come up particularly from the Pali Canon such as the Gotami Sutta and even outside of Buddhism altogether such as the poetry of Rumi.