Posts by admin

seasons change spring flowers

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…
Ash Wednesday

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…
Lent

Lent at Hilliard UMC

Updates 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. On Easter, April 20, there will be Children’s Easter Egg Hunts on the front lawn (facing Scioto Darby Rd) after each service, each lasting about 15 minutes: 10am, 11:20-ish, and 12:30pm.
Lent

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,…
contemporary music band leader

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…
Chili Dessert Fundraiser

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…
encouragement

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…
God loves you no matter what!

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, small groups

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…
family canoe trip

Summer Camp Staff Opportunities

Camp Wanake of the East Ohio Conference (UMC) is now recruiting staff for their 2025 summer ministry. They especially seek college students and other young adults who are free in summers (e.g. school teachers) and who have potential for Christian leadership. Peter and Cathy Hahn worked there for several summers many years ago, as did two of their kids. “We can testify that being on summer staff is usually a life-changing, transformative experience.” Camp Wanake’s website contains information about this…