Noblesville First UMC

06/01/2026

Children, youth, and their families are invited to join us each Monday at Noon throughout the summer for a hot lunch. Families will also have the opportunity to pack lunches to take home and enjoy throughout the week!

05/31/2026

05/29/2026

Dear Noblesville First Family,

As a pastor, I’ve prayed many prayers.

Prayers of resurrection on Easter Sunday, hope on Christmas Eve, comfort whispered beside hospital beds and spoken over caskets. I’ve offered prayers of joy for new babies, new homes, and new marriages. And for those sacred moments, I’ve often tried to get the words just right.

But as a pastor, I’ve also learned something else.

Some of the most powerful prayers don’t come with preparation at all. They came in moments of desperation, exhaustion, grief, fear or indecision. If “great” prayers come from the heart. These are the kind of prayers that come from gut.

Prayers like :

“God, save me!”
“Lord, I can’t do this anymore.”
“Jesus, don’t leave me.”
Or simply: “Bless me.”

As we close out our series When We Pray, I realized our journey through scripture would be incomplete without exploring this kind of prayer. The kind that desperately asks for God’s presence and power.

This Sunday we will meet a man named Jabez, who prays that kind of prayer. And we’ll be reminded that God hears all of our prayers. Even the ones that aren’t proofread or polished. The ones prayed through tears, fear, frustration, and trembling faith.

Because thanks be to God, perfection has never been a requirement for prayer. Just a willingness to open our hearts before God.

I hope you’ll join us this Sunday if you need to lift a prayer like this to the Lord and join with others who will believe with you, that God will answer.

Let Us Pray:
Lord, hear our prayers. Hear us when our words are polished and when they fall apart. Meet us in our desperation, our fear, our hope, and our need. Remind us that no prayer is too small, too messy, or too broken for Your love to reach. In Jesus’ name we pray- Amen.

Keep the Faith@First,
Pastor Nicole

P.S. Enjoy this recent sighting while hiking with my daughter‘s third grade class at Holliday Park.

05/22/2026

Dear Noblesville First Family,

After spending the past week on a Civil Rights study trip journeying through New Orleans, Jackson, Selma, and Montgomery, I found myself approaching Pentecost differently this year. While looking out at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, I was struck by the weight of history, the ongoing reality of injustice, and the enduring courage of those who kept marching, singing, praying, and believing through it all. It was there that this prayer for Pentecost began to take shape.

May these words help us release what we cannot carry alone and open ourselves more fully to the movement of the Holy Spirit among us. I invite you to pray these words with me and to make room for whatever the Spirit may be stirring within your own heart in this season.

A Prayer for Pentecost:

Spirit of the Living God, we’ve carried much too long,
Holding burdens in trembling hands though we were made for song.
We’ve worn exhaustion like armor, built walls around what’s inside,
Yet deep within these weary souls, Your Spirit longs to rise.

Give us the courage to surrender, to open clenched hands wide,
To trust Your Spirit’s leading more than all the ways we hide.
Release what keeps us bound, so we can finally breathe,
And let Your holy presence shape the people we can be.

For too long we’ve held our breath through grief and fear and pain,
Forgetting that Your Spirit still brings life to us again.
Let’s breathe in holy wonder and exhale what we can’t control,
So the presence of Your Spirit moves freely through our souls.

Help us breathe more deeply and be filled with sacred flame,
The breath that formed creation and called the earth by name.
It stirred dry bones to life and filled the Upper Room with fire,
Yet still revives the weary heart with hope that reaches higher.

In this Pentecost season, awaken us once more,
Until the songs within us are all with one accord.
Set our hearts to worship; for You, O God, we sing,
With every voice touched by Your Spirit echoing freedom’s ring.

Keep the Faith@First,
Pastor Brittney

05/19/2026

What a joy it is each summer to have our 9:00 service outdoors at our own Teter Retreat and Organic Farm. We look forward to this every year but can't do it without YOU! We need volunteers to help make it happen- if that's you sign up here: https://noblesvillefirst.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/557/responses/new . We can't wait to worship with you!

05/17/2026

05/10/2026

Happy Mother’s Day to all who nurture, love, guide, protect, encourage, and show up with grace every day.

We especially remember those who are missing their mothers today, grieving children they longed for, navigating complicated relationships, or carrying silent heartache. May you know that you are deeply loved and never alone.

We see you, and God sees you too.
May this day remind us that love leaves a lasting legacy, and that the care we give one another reflects the heart of Christ. 🩷

05/08/2026

Dear Noblesville First Family,

I recently read this in a devotional written by someone in recovery:
“Those of us who have come to make regular use of prayer would no more do without it than we would refuse air, food, or sunshine. And for the same reason, when we refuse air, light, or food, the body suffers. And when we turn away from meditation and prayer, we likewise deprive our minds, our emotions, and our intuitions of vitally needed support. As the body can fail its purpose for lack of nourishment, so can the soul. We all need the light of God’s reality, the nourishment of His strength, and the atmosphere of His grace.”

I’ve read many things about prayer and prayed many prayers out loud, and yet I think this is one of the most accurate descriptions I’ve ever encountered. It insightfully articulates the role prayer plays in our lives, and it applies to everyone—not just those in a recovery program. Because the truth is, we’re all recovering from something: trauma, illness, disappointment, addiction, betrayal, fear, grief—we can fill in the blank with whatever life has thrown our way.

Prayer is our lifeline. It equips us to persevere through our deepest sorrows and to receive our greatest joys. And understanding this is at the heart of our series this month: When We Pray. Over the next several weeks, we’ll unpack some of the poignant prayers found in Scripture and discern what they still have to teach us today.

We’ll begin this week with “A Mother’s Prayer” and reflect on how this unique role shapes both our prayer lives and the lives of children. I hope you’ll join us this Sunday and, most of all, that your own prayer life will be strengthened by the hope of God’s Word.
Until then, I invite you to pray with me:

Holy, loving, and mothering God, be with us and our families as we seek you. Deepen our trust and faith as we raise up the next generation as mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, foster mothers, spiritual mothers, aunts, and friends. We trust in your love and care for children and place them in your hands with faith. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Keep the Faith@First,
Pastor Nicole