The Lens of Progressivism
May 7, 2025A Note from Pastor April Dear Friends, In last week’s Letter of Encouragement, Pastor Jon shared a bit about how the lens of fundamentalism shaped his story. Sunday, he shared more about this lens that has influenced so much of modern Christian practice. Fundamentalism arose largely as a push back to society’s shifting views toward science and evolution. Interestingly, progressive Christians also had concerns about the growing emphasis on reason and the ways some thinkers in the early…
The Lens of Fundamentalism
April 30, 2025A Note from Pastor Jon Dear Friends, When the Letter Becomes Stone:A Reflection on the Rise of Theological Fundamentalism Before I ever studied hermeneutics or learned to pronounce it, I had already been shaped by a singular lens of interpretation — one that read the Bible as both map and rulebook, absolute and unchanging. I grew up in Hopewell, Virginia, just down the road from prominent faith leaders and communities deeply connected to the rise of fundamentalist Christianity.…
Preschool Celebrations
April 24, 2025A Note from Katie Williams Dear HUMC Community, As we look forward to our Preschool Sunday celebrations this Sunday, we are filled with gratitude for the incredible growth and blessings that have unfolded this year within our preschool program. This year has been a season of great joy and exciting developments, and we want to share some of those milestones with you, our faithful congregation, who have supported this ministry so generously. Celebrating our wonderful teachers & staff…
Easter Letter to Congregation
April 9, 2025 Beloved Community, As we round the final corner of Lent, I am reflecting on this season of Lament and Theological Reflection. I’ve found it to be meaningful to read the words of our newly adopted United Methodist Social Principles alongside our heartfelt laments, both past and present. This is a complex and challenging season as humans, but we are not alone, and our laments are not falling on deaf ears. This is a huge part of what we celebrate on…
Held
April 16, 2025A Note from Beth Palmer Hello Friends, I walked my first prayer labyrinth probably 25 years ago, and it was a powerful God experience that has stayed with me. It was an outdoor labyrinth, surrounded by beautiful landscaping, sometime in the fall just as the weather was starting to cool. A lovely evening. I started with a couple of deeper, centering breaths (my friend Vicki had given me some guidance). Then I began walking slowly and mindfully along…
Campus Futures Focus Groups
Join us for conversation & discernment around our church buildings and campus for the future Location: Meet in the Warehouse 839 worship space for the in-person sessions The Hilliard Food Pantry Plus has made a formal request to stay on the campus of Hilliard UMC for the foreseeable future. As they discern what they will need in order to meet the growing needs of our community, we are entering into a time as a whole church of considering what it would…
Lent at Hilliard UMC
Holy Week, April 13-19 The Good Friday worship services (April 17 & 18) will include ASL interpretation for the deaf and hard of hearing. (This is a change – our interpreting service is unable to find someone for Maundy Thursday after all.) The Easter Vigil service at 7pm on Saturday, April 19, will be hosted in partnership with our friends at Resurrection Evangelical Lutheran Church, 3500 Main Street, just down the street from HUMC. Most services will also livestream. Easter…
Welcoming the Neighbor
April 9, 2025A Note from Amma Jackson Dear Friends, “Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored; renew our days as of old.” ~Lamentations 5:21 It was in the late hours of July 12, 2013, when it finally dawned on me: I am leaving the place I’ve called home all my life — my family, my friends, and everything I’ve known since birth. As I sat in the airport with my husband, Andrew, I was deep in thought.…
Art & Lament
April 2, 2025A Note from Pastor April Dear Friends, As we continue through this season of Lent, I offer you today another lens by which we can engage this practice of lament: art. Artists have an incredible ability, whether through visual, audio, or tactile media, to express and evoke the emotions central to lament, to draw us into experiences of suffering, and invite us to engage it with our whole selves. Last week, it was my privilege to attend a…
Listening to Lament 2
March 26, 2025A Note from Pastor April Dear Friends, This week, I offer you another lamentation written by British poet Benjamin Zephaniah. As we turn our focus this week on the theme of social justice, I am convicted once again by the words of John Wesley: “The gospel of Christ knows of no religion but social; no holiness but social holiness.” ~John Wesley, Preface, Hymns and Sacred Poems Krista Tippett’s On Being website writes: “Zephaniah’s urgent, imperative poem ‘To Michael…
Listening to Lament
March 19, 2025A Note from Pastor April Dear Friends, I pray that your Lenten season has been one filled with space for reflection, connection, and community. This season, the practice I chose to add was a Loving Kindness Meditation. I’ve found it even more helpful to visualize and hold space for others if I am also creating space to listen to the real struggles they are holding in their hearts. As we read the laments of our ancestors in the…
Caring for God’s Sacred Creation
March 12, 2025A Note from Amy Rae Bashforth Dear Friends & Fellow Members of God’s Creation, I feel closest to God when I am in my garden. My garden is peaceful, but far from quiet. There may be a chirruping robin nearby on a fence post waiting to see if I unearth a tasty grub as I plant some seeds. I may hear the hum of a hummingbird as she quickly zips past my ear toward a Mexican sunflower. I…