Church of the Messiah UMC

In our “State of the Church” message, Pastor Katy Wheat Borhauer celebrates what God did through Church of the Messiah in 2025 and shares a clear invitation for 2026. From worship and prayer to mission, discipleship, kids/youth ministry, and generosity, the stories and numbers in the 2025 Impact Report point to God’s faithfulness and the Spirit’s power at work among us. Rooted in Romans 10:14–15 a...

Epiphany Sunday at Church of the Messiah UMC (Westerville): Pastor Katy Wheat Borhauer preaches from Ephesians 1:3–14, a reminder that God blesses, chooses, adopts, redeems, and seals us with the Holy Spirit. In a season when we love control, resolutions, and quick results, Epiphany calls us to trust the Light of Christ and remember who truly holds our destiny. You cannot do everything, but becaus...

Holy Moments | 1st Sunday After Christmas: “A Moment of Wonder” (Isaiah 63:7–9) — Pastor Pete Elliott | Church of the Messiah UMC (Westerville, OH). In this sermon, we’re invited to notice that holy moments are not limited to extraordinary places or dramatic spiritual experiences. Isaiah teaches us to “recount the grace deeds of the Lord,” and Pastor Pete reminds us that as we remember God’s faith...

Christmas Eve, “A Moment of Boldness” (Holy Moment Advent Sermon Series) | Pastor Katy Wheat Borhauer | Luke 2:1–20 (NRSVUE) The Christmas story is not a fairy tale that skips the hard parts of life. It is the good news that God shows up for us. In Luke 2, Jesus is born into ordinary circumstances, and the first people to hear the announcement are shepherds, the ones society overlooked. This messa...

In “A Moment of Obedience (Joseph’s Story),” Pastor Katy Wheat Borhauer explores Matthew 1:18–25 and Joseph’s brave, ordinary yes to God. When obedience feels like “because I said so,” Joseph reminds us that God’s invitations carry a deeper purpose of love, mercy, and salvation. Where might God be nudging you to trust, even if you cannot see the whole “why” yet?

In Week 3 of our Holy Moments Advent Sermon Series, Pastor Katy Wheat Borhauer shares “A Moment of Memory (Elizabeth’s Story)” from Luke 1:11–17, 23–25. This message explores the power of memory, how our past shapes our present, and how remembering where God has been faithful gives us courage to trust God in what comes next. Where do you need hope right now? This sermon invites you to hold onto ho...

When life doesn’t go the way we planned, how do we respond? In this Advent message, “A Moment of Surrender,” Pastor Pete Elliott walks with us through Luke 1:26–38, 46–56 and Mary’s journey from “How can this be?” to “My soul magnifies the Lord.” Through her story, we explore faith as trusting surrender, how fear subsides in the presence of trust and hope, and how God meets us in the interruptions...

In this Advent sermon, “A Moment of Interruption,” Pastor Katy explores Luke 1:5–22 and the story of Zechariah—a faithful priest whose carefully planned life is interrupted by an angel and an impossible promise. As we begin our “Holy Moments” Advent & Christmas series at Church of the Messiah, we ask: What if the interruptions we resent or avoid are actually the very places where God is breaking i...

On Christ the King Sunday, Pastor Katy concludes our Impossible Promise of Enough series with a powerful message about liberation. Drawing from Leviticus 25 and Luke 17:11–19, we explore God’s radical vision of Jubilee—a reset where debts are forgiven, land is restored, and those who are enslaved or excluded are set free. In the healing of ten men with leprosy, Jesus embodies that Jubilee freedom,...

What if there really is enough for everyone? In this message from our series “The (im)Possible Promise of Enough,” Pastor Katy explores God’s call to leave holy margins in our lives. Drawing from Leviticus 19:9–10, Deuteronomy 24:19–21, and Matthew 5:38–48, we look at the ancient practice of leaving the edges of the field for the poor, the immigrant, the orphan, and the widow—and how that challeng...

When God stirs willing hearts, ordinary offerings become extraordinary provision. In “The Impossible Promise of Resources,” Pastor Pete Elliott walks through Exodus 35–36 and the tabernacle offering to show how God turns scarcity into more than enough—not just with money, but with our skills, time, relationships, and stories. Jesus models this in the feeding of the multitudes: “You give them somet...

All Saints’ Sunday at Church of the Messiah (Westerville, OH). Pastor Katy Wheat Borhauer continues The Impossible Promise of Enough with “The Impossible Promise of Rest,” drawing from Exodus 20; 23 and Mark 2:23–3:6. Sabbath is not another rule to keep—it’s God’s gift that forms us in rest, worship, resistance, and delight as we trust the God who is enough.

The Impossible Promise of Provision | Exodus 16; John 6:24–35 In a world driven by scarcity and self-sufficiency, Jesus declares, “I am the Bread of Life.” Pastor Katy explores how God’s provision shows up—from manna in the wilderness to the daily mercies we often overlook—and how practicing trust reshapes our habits, hope, and generosity.

Yesterday we named a question many of us carry: What about other religions? With Pastor Katy, Pastor Pete, and Dr. Jeff Jaynes, we were reminded that following Jesus in a diverse world isn’t about anxiety or avoidance, it’s about living Romans 12:17–21 in everyday ways: choosing what is right in the eyes of others, letting go of payback, and overcoming evil with good. We can be deeply rooted in Ch...

No Time is Wasted | Pastor Katy Wheat Borhauer | Exodus 16; Proverbs 8:22–31 Even in wilderness seasons, God is cultivating wonder, creativity, and purpose. This message explores how manna teaches daily trust and how Wisdom invites us to notice God’s presence in ordinary time. If you’re in a season that feels “in between,” this sermon offers practical steps to gather today’s grace.

“Purpose Is Present” (Week Four of *On Purpose*)—Pastor Pete teaches from Matthew 14:13–21 (the feeding of the 5,000) to show how Jesus meets scarcity with compassion and turns “not enough” into “more than enough.” The sermon’s core idea: our purpose is revealed when we pay attention to what we already have and who needs it right now.

Who Am I? | Pastor Katy Wheat Borhauer | 9.28.25 Yesterday’s message invited us to lay down the labels we’ve carried and receive the name Jesus gives: Beloved. Through Saul’s blinding encounter on the Damascus road (Acts 9:1–19) and Peter’s breakfast of restoration with Jesus (John 21:15–19), we heard that grace doesn’t erase our story—it reclaims it and sends us with purpose. In Christ, your past...

In week two of our On Purpose series, Pastor Katy explores Jesus’ words, “You are the salt of the earth…you are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13–16) alongside his call to take up the cross (Matthew 16:24–26), framing purpose not as something we achieve but as a gift we receive—and live for others. You’ll hear practical wisdom (Thurman’s “what makes you come alive,” Buechner’s “deep gladness/d...

In Why Am I Here? (Week 1 of our On Purpose series), Pastor Katy walks with Nicodemus through John 3:1–9 and names the 3 a.m. questions we all carry—then points to Jesus as the One who awakens us to a purpose we don’t have to manufacture. Drawing on Isaiah 43:1, John 15:16, and Ephesians 2:10, she reminds us that meaning is a gift: to know and worship God, to join God in making the world better, a...

This Sunday at Church of the Messiah, we were honored to welcome Bishop Hee-Soo Jung, Resident Bishop of the Ohio Episcopal Area, as part of our I’ve Always Wondered sermon series. Preaching from Jeremiah 18:1–11 and Luke 14:25–33, Bishop Jung addressed one of life’s most difficult questions: “Why do bad things happen to good people?” While scripture doesn’t give us a neat and tidy answer, Bishop...

This week’s sermon invites us into the story of John’s disciples who, upon hearing “Look, here is the Lamb of God,” chose to follow Jesus. Instead of giving them an easy answer, Jesus turns to them with the searching question: “What are you looking for?” From there, the message explores how our own expectations, longings, and curiosities shape our journey of faith. Rather than offering a formula,...

In this week’s sermon, Pastor Katy reflects on Jesus’ teaching in Luke 6:27–36 to “love your enemies” and challenges us to move beyond transactional relationships into the radical mercy and love of God. With relatable stories and practical examples, the message asks us to consider: Who will you love?—especially those we find difficult to love.

In this week’s message from our Questions Jesus Asked series, Pastor Katy explored Jesus’ words in Mark 8:34–38: “What will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?” The sermon invited us to reflect on how we define our identity—through roles, passions, and pursuits—and how easy it is to lose sight of our true belovedness in Christ. Jesus calls us to “put first things first,”...

“May the peace of Christ be with you.” We say this to one another every week as a part of our worship experience. It’s an expression of hope, of courage, and of expectation that God, through Christ, offers a deep and abiding response to our struggles and fears. What makes you afraid? Spiders? Clowns? Public speaking? Mortality? Does it feel rational or irrational? No matter the source, fear is a l...

We begin a brand-new sermon series: Questions Jesus Asked. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus didn’t just give answers—he asked questions. And those questions still speak to us today. Questions like Why are you afraid? and Who do you say that I am? invite us to look inward and consider what really matters. This Sunday, we’ll reflect on the question Who do you say that I am? (Luke 9:18–27) and consider...