'spiritual growth' Tagged Posts
Wesleyan Quadrilateral
October 23, 2024A Note from Pastor April Dear Friends, A few weeks ago, I shared one of our core United Methodist frameworks, the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. This framework provides a helpful tool for how we understand and come to know God I like this second image because it also helps us to see how they interact, and particularly how we read and understand scripture. Scripture provides a place to start from and to stand. It is the primary way the story…
For Equilibrium
October 9, 2024A Note from Pastor Jon Dear Friends, I was reading an article about human emotion and came across this phrase “paleomammalian cortex.” I thought theological terminology was difficult enough, but as I read I learned that this is how engineering types talk about the emotional centers of our brain. The emotional center of our brain For me, finding this emotional center can mean reading scripture or looking at an image and entering into the scene. It means moving…
Playing with Fire
September 25, 2024A Note from Pastor April Dear Friends, You’re playing with fire. ~Parental words of wisdom to our teenagers The symbol of the United Methodist Church for the last 56 years has been the cross and flame. Behind the familiar Christian symbol of the cross, we see a red flame, a symbol of the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit, seemingly floating in the air and providing a vivid red backdrop. The church could have chosen another image of…
Solidarity in the Journey of Growth, Revisited
August 28, 2024A Note from Pastor April Greatest Hits: Revisiting some previous Letters of Encouragement, in celebration of all God has done during these last four years! Dearly Beloved, On a week when we hear the news of Russia’s bombardment of missiles and strikes across Ukraine, I am reminded of where we were at the start of the war. The letter that I share with you below was written in March of 2022, just as the war in Ukraine was…
Start Close In, Revisited
July 3, 2024A Note from Pastor JonGreatest Hists: Revisiting some previous Letters of Encouragement, in celebration of all God has done during these last four years! Dear Friends, I wrote this way back in the fall of 2020 as I started my first internship at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. So much of this message still resonates with me today, four years later, even on a night when I am working a paid shift on call, writing a sermon, making a visit,…
Listening to our Hearts
May 22, 2024A Note from Pastor April Dear Friends, I’ve been back from my renewal leave for six months this week, and I continue to feel the benefits of those four months away. Some of the gifts were expected — rest, time with family and friends, and a chance to travel were among the highlights. One of the greatest gifts, however, was entirely a surprise. The time away gave me time to LISTEN to what my heart truly desires. I’m…
What Does It Mean to be Saved?
March 13, 2024A Note from Pastor Jon Dear Friends, Can I be honest with you for a few minutes? I mean it… really honest… One of our core values at HUMC is that Authentic Relationships Matter. Being honest and vulnerable help to build those relationships. Honesty and vulnerability are ways of building trust. Having an authentic relationship means that I can tell you what I’m genuinely thinking and feeling, not seeking sympathy and trusting not to be taken advantage of,…
Romans 8: People of the Spirit
March 6, 2024A Note from Pastor April Dear Friends, There are a couple of things that might just cause your Lead Pastor to start doing cartwheels around the church in excitement… A teenager showing up to a Bible study on Romans chapter 8. Young adults discussing the Lenten sermons to such a degree that they reach out over email to get clarity on their confusion. (Can you tell that both of these things have happened in the last week?) Paul’s…
To Those at Rest on Park Benches
February 28, 2024A Note from Pastor April & Cole Arthur Riley Dearly Beloved, On a week when there might have been (just for a February moment) some space to take in the beauty around us outside, I invite you to consider how your Lenten practices might bring you not only in connection with God and yourself, but also with that life-giving power of wonder and awe. As we finish up Black History Month, I leave you with this beautiful letter…
The Intrepid Divas
February 21, 2024A Note from Di Huey Dear Friends, Some years ago, a group of women — some, long time acquaintances, and some newly met — gathered in a meeting room off the kitchen in the Warehouse 839 building. Their purpose? To form a small share group using the Wesley model. We were called to be responsible for each other, to hold each other accountable, and to lift each other up on those days when we could not stand alone…
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!
February 14, 2024A Note from Pastor Jon Dear Friends, It’s the most wonderful time of the year… One of my favorite songs of the Christmas season is the Andy Williams’s classic, “It’s The Most Wonderful Time of The Year.” I just love that song, and I get all kinds of giddy when I hear the opening notes on the radio. That song took on a different meaning for me in college as I was about to begin my sophomore year…
109th Year of Camp!
February 7, 2024A Note from April Andrick Dear Friends, This July will be the 109th year of Lakeside Institute camp — 109 years of a camp dedicated to the faith journeys of youth & young adults! Thinking about the number of teenagers, adults, and families that have been impacted by camp over that number of years leaves me in awe. Did you know that the youth group here at HUMC has been sending youth to Lakeside for more than twenty…