If you are a 40 or more-year member, we are looking for photos of you! These can be individual pics, church events, or Camp Akita experiences from the past to add to our slideshow. (You do not have to be a 40-year member to submit photos.) This slideshow will be in our “Stay Connected” email the Wednesday before Heritage Sunday.

When sending in pictures by mail, include a date and description, along with your name, so we can return your photos to you. Send to First Community Church, 1320 Cambridge Blvd., Columbus OH 43212, c/o Robin Hood, or drop them off at the North reception desk. The deadline for photos is no later than Monday, November 9; however, the sooner the better.

If you are not sure when you joined or how many years you have been a member, contact Robin Hood at (614) 488-0681 ext. 235. This 40-year milestone can be consecutive years or the total number of years if you were away at some point in time.

Compiled by Jackie Cherry, Church Historian

By Jodi Patton, Governing Board Chair

This Thanksgiving, may we celebrate abundant gratitude for our beloved church!

I am pleased to announce the next Vice Chair of the Governing Board is Alice Finley. Please join me in welcoming Alice to this leadership role.

The Governance Review Committee, chaired by Cydney Philbin, has made a recommendation to the Board for the approval of the proposed Constitution revisions. An online congregational meeting will be offered in November to review these revisions. The Constitution revisions will be brought before the congregation for a vote at the Annual Meeting, January 30, 2021.

With over 80 church members’ names, the Board is in the process of creating the slate for the Nominating Committee. Jamie Greene, Past Chair, is leading this effort and remarks, “At the 2021 Annual Meeting, 24 names of members will be presented, and the top 12 vote recipients will serve as the 2021 Nominating Committee. This Committee plays a critical role in selecting members for the Governing Board and Deaconate."

The Strategic Planning Team began work on the “discovery phase” with preliminary research under the direction of Reverend Sara Rice with Congregational Consulting Group. The Strategic Planning Kick-off in March 2021 will bring together the Planning Team, staff, and church leaders to continue the “dream” and “design” phases of the planning process.

It is with a grateful heart I report 100% Board participation in the 2021 Stewardship Campaign: Faithful, Hopeful, Loving. Please join your Board friends in making a commitment to this campaign today! Thank you.

By Jackie Cherry, Church Historian 

For more than forty years, the “Ministers Seminars” were an important part of our outreach. Dr. Burkhart believed local churches should provide a lifetime ministry to the entire family and sought ways to help others learn to do so by providing examples of how this was being accomplished in our church. The accent on small group workshops with guest resource leaders and our staff provided a creative format for ministers, religious educators, and laymen of all denominations to explore the church as a dynamic environment. Many returned regularly for the free exchange of ideas and sharing of concerns that brought new life to their own faith. One wrote in the critique of his first seminar how he appreciated being accepted as himself. “I discovered that some of the problems in my church and personal life are not mine alone, but others face them also. I came with some skepticism but left feeling that I had shared a mountaintop experience and believe I’m now going to be a better minister.”

My recent conversation with Rev. Al Newby revealed he was invited to his first seminar by Dr. Otis Maxfield who was teaching post-graduate courses at Oberlin Seminary. Al found group therapy sessions were especially helpful in learning coping skills and Otis was an example of how he wanted to model his own ministry.

In 1954, the entire seminar was conducted by Gerald Heard and the church staff at Akita. A seminar featuring Father William McNamara met at Akita then concluded at the church. It was especially well-attended, as Father McNamara was well-known and Dr. Maxfield secured the bishop’s permission to invite all local priests. In its final years, Bob Keck’s New Wineskins Center organized the seminars with astronaut Edgar Mitchell as one of the last guest speakers. Hundreds of clergy, as well as their congregations benefitted from this very special ministry of our church.

Our newest members joined on October 25,Virtual New Member Sunday.

By Susan Ralph, new member 

I am proud and honored to join First Community. For many years, I have respected and admired the loving and welcoming faith community that defines FC. I believe First Community to be a place to live one’s faith in God alongside a dedicated community of ministers and members. This belief has been strengthened for me in many ways: certainly, by meeting Rev. Glen Miles and admiring his messages and leadership; and by my friends who are members of the congregation.

Over the years, I experienced personally, through these dear friends, examples of living the spirit of God. They live their lives with love, kindness, and empathy for others, all the while serving their friends and communities with joy. They well represent the spirit of faith that encircles First Community. For these reasons, First Community is an inspiration to me. Its inclusive spirit, broad range of service opportunities through which to live one’s faith, and the kindness and welcoming spirit of the ministers and congregation, create a perfect environment in which to share God’s love.

I look forward to worshiping and serving alongside each of you.

Brownlee Hall Art Series is pleased to feature Clay Sneller, painter, scientist, OSU Professor of Horticulture and crops, and world traveler for his first exhibition of Abstracts showing in Brownlee Hall during October and November. A visit to his website (below) reveals the variety of his artistic interests and skills. In his own words:

"I am primarily a self-taught artist with diverse themes and styles. My creative decisions are guided by my immediate interests and sensibilities. I create works that feel right to me. Creating a mood is paramount in my art. It is the mood that first draws me to an idea, and it is the mood that evolves while painting that drives the final work.

My works gravitate towards subtle, introspective moods, whether they are landscapes, figurative, cityscapes, or other themes. Viewers are pulled into unique quiet worlds created by colors, shapes, perspective, and reducing compositional elements. Even my more expansive scenes pull you back to a small, private world.

I work in oils in my studio. Most of my works in recent years derive mainly from my imagination or sketches. Inspiration comes from a fleeting scene, a studied observation, an abstract notion, a phrase, a quick sketch, anything that suggests a compelling mood. I also will work from photographs I take while traveling.”

In his show, "the seen and unseen beauty of the world,” he is guided by a principal from painter/printmaker Author Wesley Dow that the goal of an artist should be “to fill a space in a beautiful way,” Clay achieves this goal!

Clay Sneller

Instagram: Clay_Sneller

Recently, I spoke with two delightful women who have been helped through our Heart to Heart program. Their enthusiastic words certainly confirm the relevance of our mission!

Bridgette heard of Heart to Heart from a friend who said, “I want to take you to a food pantry where you will feel the love!” On her first visit, she said she immediately felt the warmth and love from the most wonderful volunteers and the smell of hot coffee and doughnuts. “Food for my soul,” she said.

Then, she met dear Miss Kitty, sitting at the desk and being “everyone’s mama.” Bridgette was shown all the literature on community resources and given coupons galore, much to her delight. She has five kids and has always been a huge collector of coupons. There wasn’t a pause before Bridgette bubbled over with her crockpot experience.

A Girl Scout delivered brand new crockpots to our food pantry, and Bridgette was given one with a recipe and all the ingredients needed for that meal. She said, “Where else can one pick out their own groceries and choose meat from the freezer? Where else is one shown that kind of love and respect?”

The following words are from Kathy:

"Something amazing happens every time one walks through the door of Heart to Heart. It begins with the feeling of love and acceptance, perhaps a prayer, a hug. At Easter, there was candy for kids who would otherwise not have any; for Mother’s Day, a small plant. One Christmas – when I knew our kids would have nothing – Heart to Heart “adopted” us and surprised us with wrapped gifts!

It’s hard to put aside one’s pride and walk into a food pantry, but each time I feel loved and respected by all the kind and helpful volunteers. It truly changes your life when you leave home with hungry kids and an empty refrigerator; and you get to fill up your cart with staples, meats, fresh produce, and toiletries. I can assure you, if you are sad going in, you are smiling when you leave!"

When you support Heart to Heart from October 1 through December 31, your gift will be doubled by an anonymous donor. Click here to make a contribution online.

I am sad to report, at long last, the time has come for Mission Council’s Gigantic Garage Sale to come to an end after 24 glorious-yet-exhausting years. A perfect storm of events coincided to finally tip the scale. It has been increasingly difficult to see how this extraordinarily physical event would proceed, as we are all now 25 years older, and many of our key section captains are entering their 80’s. The pandemic also put a kink in the works, of course. We have not been able to pick up any donations since March, and at this point, it doesn’t look like the pandemic is going away any time soon. In addition, for the last several years, the person who loans us our warehouse space has expressed an interest in our moving out of the space.

The end of the Garage Sale creates the conundrum of figuring out how Mission Council will continue to raise enough money to help support the many people and organizations needing our help. With the recent departure of the directors of both Heart to Heart and the Tri-Village Trading Post, Rev. Kate Shaner has been reimagining the entire Mission enterprise and the way it functions. With the blessing of the church administration, it was decided hence forth, the annual revenue from the Trading Post will be redirected to Mission. (Annual revenue from the Trading Post is comparable to what was raised at the Garage Sale.)

Since 1995, the Garage Sale raised an astounding $914,089 ($813,322 after expenses). The Trading Post raised another $49,000+ from selling leftover Garage Sale merchandise. Our years of fun, aggravation, hilarity, and darned hard work at Garage Sale Camp will long bind us in faith and friendship.

Cheers to a job very well done!

By Rev. Jim Long, Minister of Pastoral Care 

Dr. Roy Burkhart established the Seven Keys as a curriculum for youth in the church when I was growing up. These keys to the spiritual life are prayer (the master key), faith, love, acceptance, commitment, forgiveness, and healing. These lead to the key ring - eternal life within.

Dr. John Ross, a former youth minister who grew up in the church, always said he would have added the key of hope. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul describes the theological virtues: “And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three: and the greatest of these is love,” (13:13). So, why not include “hope?”

It certainly makes sense and would not be wrong. However, in pondering this question, I came to understand hope is embodied in the phrase “eternal life within.” Assuredly, this means the eternal life we receive by the grace of a loving God when we die. Dr. Burkhart called our death day our “graduation day,” when we graduate to that nearer presence of God.

But this eternal life is also claimed in the “here and now” in the spiritual life. Paul Tillich called it “The Eternal Now.” We live this eternal life from the moment we become aware of God’s spirit living in us. This allows us to live in hope in whatever circumstances. Thus, Paul could write: “Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayers,” (Romans 12:9). Indeed, we know “suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us,” (5:3-5).

I can think of no better text for us in the midst of the pandemic and the divisive political situation in which we find ourselves. Let us turn to that loving God within each of us and claim eternal life in the here and know, seeking God’s presence and abiding love that gives us hope and guides us into the future.