Ezra 3: 8-13
At our house, we have several “Welcome Home” signs. One reads, “Enter as Guests and Leave as Family.” Another says, “Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much.” If you’ve noticed that I often end conversations with, “Much Love” or “Remember, you are loved!”—now you know my secret. I borrowed from the signs in our home. For us, welcome has become a mission as a family. In today’s sermon, I will share more about this theme.
Our Scripture today is also a “Welcome Home” text. In Ezra 3:8–13, Israel returns from Babylonian captivity and begins rebuilding the temple. Psalm 48 also reflects this moment of homecoming, rejoicing in God’s faithfulness.
Our church has its own “Welcome Home” story. It goes back nearly 100 years to the cornerstone laying of our sanctuary in 1925. The Rev. Warren Dunham, pastor at the time, dreamed of a “community church.” He envisioned not only a place of worship but also a center of community life—a place for children to work and play, and for people to be inspired to live with the highest ideals.
The Welcome Statement, now engraved at the Observatory Avenue and rear tower entrances, gave courage to a relatively small congregation. With this vision, they accomplished something extraordinary: the construction of our sanctuary. The cornerstone was laid on September 13, 1925, and by September 1927 the doors were open.
The sanctuary cost $685,000 to build. By move-in, the 430 members had already given the equivalent of $5.2 million in today’s dollars, and borrowed the rest, in the amount of what would be today $7.4 million.
Their faith, vision, and commitment laid the foundation not only for this building but also for Hyde Park Community United Methodist Church to become a regional congregation.
Welcome, then and now, continues to define who we are.
Pastor Todd