Join Dr. Kate Common for a conversation around the Season of Origins.
This fall, Hilliard United Methodist Church will be among the first congregations in the country to launch Origins, a new liturgical season of the church year. Like Advent or Lent, Origins is a time set apart for focused reflection and growth.
The heart of Origins is this: to uncover forgotten or erased stories and bring them back into our shared memory and imagination about who we are called to be. Each year, the season will take a different focus that allows us to dive deep together.
In this first year, our focus will be on the Land Story of Central Ohio — listening to the sacred stories of this land, the Indigenous peoples who lived here for centuries, and the ways colonization, development, and displacement continue to shape us today.
Through worship, storytelling, and community learning, we will:
- October 12 – INVITE the voices and stories too often silenced. Opening Ourselves to a Bigger Story: Inviting the Land, Its History, and Its Peoples to Speak, Psalm 24:1, Pastor April and the Land Story Group speaking.
- October 19 – NAME the harms of displacement and erasure. Naming the Truth about our Past — Lamenting Displacement and Harm while Holding Complexity, Amos 5:21-24, Psalm 137, Pastor April and the Land Story Group speaking.
- October 26 – REPAIR by taking responsibility for the ways forgetting or erasing these stories has caused harm, and committing to the work of healing. Repairing the Breach — Honoring those who Worked for Peace and Restoration, Ephesians 2:14-22, Pastor April and the Land Story Group speaking.
- November 2 – IMAGINE a new legacy of stewardship, justice, and love for future generations. Shaping a Legacy — Making Land Decisions Now that will Lead to Life, Justice, and Abundance for Generations to Come, Isaiah 58:9-12 & Exodus 3:5, Pastor Jon speaking.