'inclusive' Tagged Posts (Page 11)
Beginner’s Mind
September 28, 2022A Note from Pastor April Dear Friends, When it rolled around two weeks ago, I didn’t expect this birthday to be as hard as it was. I’m halfway through my 40s… halfway to 90. It wasn’t so much that I was feeling old… (After all, 45 is the new 35 or something?) Instead, I was pondering the reality that there’s a good chance I’ve already lived more than half of my life. In one of my favorite Richard…
It felt safe, it felt like family, it felt like love…
September 21, 2022A Note from Lindsay Robinson Dear Friends, What do you want to be for Halloween? This is a question that I don’t think I’ve ever had to actually ask my own children. Other kids? Absolutely. My children, on the other hand, have been telling me what they wanted their costumes to be since before last Christmas. Sometimes the costume requests are simple and thankfully easy to accomplish. Others leave me trying to figure out if it’s even possible…
Worship Returns to Warehouse 839
Friday, September 16, 2022 Dearest Friends, This week, we will hold our first Sunday worship service in the Warehouse 839 space since March 2020. We’ll gather at 5pm this Sunday, September 18. As we prepare for this time together, I’m noticing how many feelings are arising for me. I’m excited. I’m nervous. I’m hopeful. I’m also a bit sad. What we had in Warehouse 839 before it was cut short was something special. There is a part of me that is still grieving the…
Squirrels Throwing Acorns
September 14, 2022A Note from Beth Palmer Dear Friends, I have a deep need to be seen for who I am and to belong. We all do. We want to know that we matter to others, and that we can show up as we really are and be accepted and embraced as our authentic, messy selves. I have always felt lucky that I get those needs met through my college and seminary friends, my volunteering friends and church friends, and…
Seeds of Faith
September 7, 2022A Note from Nikki Buskirk Dear Friends, By now many of you know that I have this dream of being a homesteader, of having acres upon acres of land where I can grow things. Even though that’s a distant dream of mine, I do have a substantial garden plot in my backyard where Tyler, the boys, and I grow food every year, which we harvest and then process to be used until the next growing season. This year…
“Make me an instrument…”
August 31, 2022A Note from Jody Hepp Dear Friends, When do you feel closest to God? For some people it’s in nature. For some people it’s in quiet meditation. I’m sure it is no surprise that I feel closest to God through music. “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:17) I once heard a devotion on this verse…
Watch the Ripples
August 25, 2022A Note from Amanda Nofzinger Dear Friends, The Dalai Lama once said, “Just as ripples spread out when a single pebble is dropped into water, the actions of individuals can have far-reaching effects.” This quote has really resonated with me as I have been reflecting on my three years as the manager of the Hilliard Farm Market. I would never have guessed just how many “ripples” there would be. These are just a few of the ripples that…
Where Y’At?!
August 17, 2022A Note from April Andrick Dear Friends, Where Y’At?!?!?! I am finally starting to feel fully rested from our week of camp at Lakeside Institute a couple of weeks ago. I do not know the last time anyone else slept in a non-air-conditioned space, on a metal bunk bed with the thinnest mattress ever produced in the history of mattresses, in a large open bunkroom with 50+ of your closest friends and people you have never met before,…
Opportunities to serve!
Looking for a way to help change the world, or even just your little corner of it? Serving others is so good for our souls! It boosts our joy and confidence. It builds others up and helps us connect with others in friendship and love. It fills our lives with meaning and purpose, and it helps change the world! And it opens us up to being influenced and shaped by God and others, which is life-giving. Click or tap the…
Wednesday Community Supper Resumes INSIDE!
August 10, 2022A Note from Beth Latella Dear Friends, Feed My Lambs — join the Wednesday Supper Team! What do cooking and quilting have in common? They are two of my favorite activities, but more than that, for me, they are two methods of offering warmth and comfort. They are also two important ministries of Hilliard United Methodist Church. Both were changed, but not stopped, by the pandemic. Quilters quilted at home, which suited my view of sewing as individual…
Raising Children in a Church Known for its Love
June 29, 2022A Note from Anthony Coy-Gonzalez Dear Friends, In the midst of such volatile times where up and down, past and present, new beginnings and déjà vu all seem intertwined, I reflect on the comforting words of Jeremiah 29:11: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” On good days and bad, I settle on these words to…