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…
Blessing the Dust
March 5, 2025A Note from Pastor Jon and Poet Jan Richardson Dear Friends, Blessing the Dust — A Blessing for Ash Wednesday by Jan Richardson All those days you felt like dust,like dirt,as if all you had to dowas turn your facetoward the windand be scatteredto the four corners or swept awayby the smallest breathas insubstantial – did you not knowwhat the Holy Onecan do with dust? This is the daywe freely saywe are scorched. This is the hourwe are…
Lamentations & Lent
February 26, 2025A Note from Pastor April Dear Friends, This past week, I heard someone share a familiar story I’ve unfortunately heard many times. “My husband still associates church with ‘the place you go to be told how bad you are.’” Regardless of whether this was your story, the pervasive narrative of shame perpetuated in many Christian churches has woven itself into lots of places in our culture. Especially in the Season of Lent. The Season of Lent Next Wednesday,…
An Awesome Responsibility
February 19, 2025A Note from Jeff Rone Dear Friends, Constance Cherry is a United Methodist pastor from Indiana with Ohio roots. In 2012, she published an incredibly detailed book about planning worship services and events entitled The Worship Architect: A Blueprint for Designing Culturally Relevant and Biblically Faithful Services. When discussing the importance of selecting high quality worship songs, she says this: “Plato once said ‘Let me write the songs of a nation, and I care not who writes its…
Sharing Meals with Gladness
February 12, 2025A Note from Beth Latella Dear Friends, Acts 2 says, “42 The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers…. 44 All the believers were united and shared everything…. 46 Every day, they met together in the temple and ate in their homes. They shared food with gladness and simplicity.” (Common English Bible) This description of the early Jerusalem church warms my heart. It shows community and shared…
Living Through Times of Transition
February 5, 2025A Note from Pastor April Dear Friends, What a start to the year we have had so far. Arctic cold temperatures, devastating urban wildfires, a national championship, a fragile ceasefire deal in the Middle East, a tragic airline crash, and an enormous shift in political power in our country. (All in one month!) I haven’t even mentioned the many things going on in each of our personal lives. If you are feeling a little out of sorts these…
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Human BEINGS
January 29, 2025A Note from Pastor Jon Dear Friends, I once heard it said that we are called human beings, not human doings, and we must remember the importance of simply being. Even Jesus took time away from doing to focus on being. Throughout his public ministry, he modeled the rhythm of retreating for prayer and renewal: spending 40 days in the wilderness after his baptism, withdrawing privately following the feeding of the 5,000, and even stepping away before choosing…
Authentic Relationships Matter
January 22, 2025A Note from Michael Haney Dear Friends, Matthew 18:20 — “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” Way back in 1988, Lisa and I were looking for a church. We were engaged, and as neither of us was regularly attending church at the time, we were looking for a church in which to get married and then attend. One Sunday we visited Plainfield (IN) United Methodist Church. We were greeted…