One simple, yet important, place to start is by picking up a book or two to learn more about this beautiful planet God has entrusted to us and how to care for it. Here are several recommendations to get you started on your creation care journey.

Milford First UMC’s Staff-Parish Relations Committee is pleased to share that Bishop Gregory V. Palmer, in conjunction with Rev. Jenn Lucas, superintendent of the Great Miami River District, and the West Ohio Conference Cabinet, has appointed Rev. Kenneth Stewart as the next lead pastor of Milford First.

“Expressing our joys, telling our truths, asking the questions we need to ask, repenting and making amends, being our honest and authentic selves—these things are too important to be silent. We shouldn’t have to restrain ourselves because some may temporarily experience discomfort.”

—Rev. Ashley DeTar Birt
Commentary on Luke 19:28-40

Every Sunday, we begin our worship services with a simple breath prayer from Milford First's lay leader to guide us through the week. Read this month’s breath prayers along with weekly reflections from Deb Johnson.

In this season of renewal, we can find profound meaning and inspiration through simple yet impactful interactions with God's creation. Discover three transformative ways Christians can cultivate their faith through nature during the spring.

“We are free to bring our whole selves as a living testimony to who God has made and makes us to be, both what we label as good and that which we hide from the world. God doesn’t need our ‘good’ behavior. God needs our being/be-ing. Remember all of you is beautiful. Live as though you are an expensive gift from God to Creation, because surely you are.”

—Rev. Larissa Kwong Abazia
Commentary on John 12:1-8

“There’s no limit to the grace we can experience with God because God puts no limits on grace. Our lives can be big, full, messy, complicated, imperfect, a wreck, and God’s grace will still be there. Go forth and experience God’s grace in the people in your life, without limits.”

—Rev. Ashley DeTar Birt
Commentary on Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

“Many of us experience the world as a fig tree in the midst of grape vines. We are placed in fields not meant for us and yet expected to thrive. People discount and doubt us, threatening to cut us down if we don’t produce in the ways that have been defined on our behalf. We are afterthoughts demanded to bear fruit or be destroyed.”

—Rev. Larissa Kwong Abazia
Commentary on Luke 13:1-9

“Jerusalem has not always treated Jesus particularly well, and yet it is clear that he still loves it so very deeply. All he wants is to protect it, like a mother hen protects her brood. Jerusalem’s actions can’t and don’t change that, for that is what true, unconditional love actually looks like.”

—Rev. Ashley DeTar Birt

“What if it isn’t about getting out of the desert? What if we are called to dwell in our doubts, fears, anxieties, and brokenness? What if we are meant to stand in solidarity with those trapped in their own wilderness experiences? I wonder if we can imagine making a home right here, a place existing in the tension between desolation and burgeoning possibility.”

—Rev. Larissa Kwong Abazia