Photo by Laurentiu Iordache on Unsplash
In This Week's E-Pistle, You Will Find:
This Week's Service,
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Last Week's Service, Pentecost Sunday
What a mess the Spirit makes! Blowing windows and doors open! Igniting fires where they don't belong! Making people understand or speak foreign languages! Creating all things new! No wonder we don't like change. It's unsettling! During an in-between time, God's spirit may blow around and unsettle things. What are we being invited to reconsider? Watch the service video above to explore together what might be new and fresh, while unsettling, for us.
Message: Rev. Jody Betten, Music: Peter Black, Jeff Spangler, Lauri Donaldson
Message: Rev. Jody Betten, Music: Peter Black, Jeff Spangler, Lauri Donaldson
Church on Fire: Pentecost 2024 Family Photo!
Every year at Pentecost we take our family photo. Every year the family grows. We'll remember to bring a ladder or a jetpack for next year's photo!
Tell Us Your DUCC Timeline
With big thanks to Lewis Corbin, who has created the timeline hanging in our sanctuary, our Interim Planning Team invites you to fill in those speech bubbles with your own memories -- events that held great meaning for you in the life of our church. Not enough room? Add a sticky note! Bring friends to remember things together and share your stories. Please include the year, or approximate year with your memories. At the end of our interim time, Lewis will incorporate all of our stories to make a new timeline, for our historic record, and especially to share with our new pastor.
Rev. Jody's Office Hours: Week of March 27
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Our Interim Pastor Jody will be working in the church office this week on: Wednesday May 29, 10am - 4pm and Friday May 31, from 10am - 4:30pm And always available by text or phone. You'll find her in the directory app! |
Strengthen the Church
This week, we are gathering gifts for our annual UCC "Strengthen the Church" donation drive. This effort helps neighbor churches grow, new churches plant and strengthen their roots, and all of us thrive in our spiritual paths. Click above to make a donation online, or watch for the special envelopes available in service on Sunday.
Save the Date for Our
2024 Congregational Meeting, June 23
All church members are enthusiastically encouraged to attend our annual congregational meeting, coming up on June 23, beginning after service at 11:30 in the Friendship Hall. We will have our financial reports available for viewing, posted in the Friendship Hall after the Church Council's June 11 meeting. We will be voting in new council members, catching up on our Stewardship Drive, reporting on ongoing campus and worship work, and we need your support and input. If you can't join us in person, we will provide a zoom link to watch and participate from afar, just let Julie Ridl know, well before the 23rd, that you would like to participate via Zoom.
One More Week -- May Cereal Drive!
We are coming to the finish line of May 31 to stuff Christian Neighbors' Food Pantry with cereal for kids who won't have School-supplied nourishment over the summer. Thanks to everyone who has donated already, but there is still room on the shelves at the food bank for more. If you can, just drop those boxes off at church, and we will deliver them, or make your drop directly at Christian Neighbors.
In Search of a New Coffee Hour Coordinator
Church Member Joyce Wright, after a couple of years facilitating our after-church coffee hour, is stepping away from that role at the end of June. We are looking for someone to take on this work, facilitating the food donations and coffee brewing and tea offering. Joyce will gladly show you the ropes. Is that person you? Connect with Joyce! She'd love to tell you about it.
Caregivers Meeting Times Changed
If you are currently handling the care of another, join us for come caring compassion for yourself. We have so much great value we can share with each other about this difficult and challenging life journey! Facilitated by Rev. Marchiene (aka Marty) Rienstra
PLEASE NOTE:
Upcoming meetings are now from 11 am to 12 pm. Check dates for meeting locations
May 27 – Retreat House
June 11 – Retreat House
June 25 – Rev. Marty’s house (66 Lakeshore Drive in Douglas)
PLEASE NOTE:
Upcoming meetings are now from 11 am to 12 pm. Check dates for meeting locations
May 27 – Retreat House
June 11 – Retreat House
June 25 – Rev. Marty’s house (66 Lakeshore Drive in Douglas)
Next Weekend: Community Pride --
Calling All Booth People!
Pride Time is right around the corner! Calling all booth folk to join in on the fun and represent our love-celebrating church at Community Pride 2024, Beery Field in Douglas, Saturday, June 1.
We are looking for folks to help set up, decorate, and take down our booth, and folks to work hourly shifts in the booth -- to answer questions, hand out swag, enjoy the view, and just be a welcoming joy-full presence for our church.
Shift opportunities are available from11:30 am to 6:00 pm. Sign up for shifts on the sign-up sheet is in the Friendship Hall.
Our booth organizer, Greggie Gerrans, will manage setting up, be available throughout the day, and manage the booth take-down. Any additional help with set-up and take-down will be greatly appreciated. Just contact Greggie. His information is in the directory app.
Come be a part of this joy-full event, support our church's presence, and support our LGBTQIA church members, neighbors, and visitors at Community Pride 2024,
We are looking for folks to help set up, decorate, and take down our booth, and folks to work hourly shifts in the booth -- to answer questions, hand out swag, enjoy the view, and just be a welcoming joy-full presence for our church.
Shift opportunities are available from11:30 am to 6:00 pm. Sign up for shifts on the sign-up sheet is in the Friendship Hall.
Our booth organizer, Greggie Gerrans, will manage setting up, be available throughout the day, and manage the booth take-down. Any additional help with set-up and take-down will be greatly appreciated. Just contact Greggie. His information is in the directory app.
Come be a part of this joy-full event, support our church's presence, and support our LGBTQIA church members, neighbors, and visitors at Community Pride 2024,
Can you Help with Transition Planning?
Photo by Lili Popper on Unsplash
This church is in interim time -- while we search for our new pastor, we prepare ourselves to welcome them. To facilitate the Interim Process, we are inviting members and friends of the congregation to be involved in a Transition Team who will guide us through each stage of the process.
There will be planning for and facilitating various activities for each phase of the process. We need people with a variety of gifts, interests, and skills, People concerned with the best interest of the church. People with integrity, trustworthiness, creativity, people skills, and respect for the process. A time commitment of 1 1/2 to 2 hours in a planning session for each phase, and the time as necessary to implement or facilitate related activities. Please volunteer yourself or suggest a person who you think would be ideal in these roles. Email names and contact info to Julie.
There will be planning for and facilitating various activities for each phase of the process. We need people with a variety of gifts, interests, and skills, People concerned with the best interest of the church. People with integrity, trustworthiness, creativity, people skills, and respect for the process. A time commitment of 1 1/2 to 2 hours in a planning session for each phase, and the time as necessary to implement or facilitate related activities. Please volunteer yourself or suggest a person who you think would be ideal in these roles. Email names and contact info to Julie.
SJT Presents: Karen Graves: The Fight Isn't Over, at the Library, May 31, 4:30pm
Our DUCC Social Justice Team, together with the Saugatuck-Douglas District Library, presents the second part of the two-part program featuring historian and neighbor Karen L. Graves:
If you joined us for Part 1, reading Graves' book, that's just great, but it isn't a prerequisite for joining us for Part 2:
Part 2: Saugatuck-Douglas District Library, May 31, 4:30pm
"The Fight Isn't Over": How the History of LGBTQ+ Teachers Informs Current School Battles"
Education historian and Queer Studies author Karen Graves will highlight elements from the history of LGBTQ+ educators that put our current school battles in historical context.
On May 31st she will discuss how LGBTQ+ educators across the nation turned to the courts to protect their jobs, beginning in the late 1960s.
In both talks Graves will discuss why schools have been fierce battlegrounds in the fight for LGBTQ+ civil rights.
Karen Graves is Professor Emerita at Denison University. Her book, And They Were Wonderful Teachers: Florida’s Purge of Gay and Lesbian Teachers, was awarded a 2010 Critics Choice Book Award from the American Educational Studies Association. In 2013 Graves received the Education Alumni Association Distinguished Alumni Award at the University of Illinois. In 2015 AERA recognized her with its Queer Studies Body of Work Award.
If you joined us for Part 1, reading Graves' book, that's just great, but it isn't a prerequisite for joining us for Part 2:
Part 2: Saugatuck-Douglas District Library, May 31, 4:30pm
"The Fight Isn't Over": How the History of LGBTQ+ Teachers Informs Current School Battles"
Education historian and Queer Studies author Karen Graves will highlight elements from the history of LGBTQ+ educators that put our current school battles in historical context.
On May 31st she will discuss how LGBTQ+ educators across the nation turned to the courts to protect their jobs, beginning in the late 1960s.
In both talks Graves will discuss why schools have been fierce battlegrounds in the fight for LGBTQ+ civil rights.
Karen Graves is Professor Emerita at Denison University. Her book, And They Were Wonderful Teachers: Florida’s Purge of Gay and Lesbian Teachers, was awarded a 2010 Critics Choice Book Award from the American Educational Studies Association. In 2013 Graves received the Education Alumni Association Distinguished Alumni Award at the University of Illinois. In 2015 AERA recognized her with its Queer Studies Body of Work Award.
Next Feast for the Soul, June 5
Photo by @felipepelaquim on Unsplash
"This is how the world changes--little by little, table by table, meal by meal, hour by hour. This is how we chip away at isolation, loneliness, fear. This is how we connect, in big and small ways--we do it around the table."
-Shauna Niequist, Bread and Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table
June 5 is our next Feast for the soul. The Pastoral Relations Committee and the Spiritual Retreat Center Committee would like to welcome our beloved Douglas UCC family to join us for a "family dinner" of soup and bread and conversation, to be held in the Friendship Hall.
We offer you a respite, a sacred space, in which to commune with your fellow church family members and process both the shared loss and hope that have been part of our Douglas UCC journey.
So that we can more accurately judge quantities for both food and drink, please sign up for the dinner ahead on the sign up sheet in the Friendship Hall. Attendance at each of the dinners will be kept to 25 people. These dinners will be run through August, on the first Wednesday of the month.
-Shauna Niequist, Bread and Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table
June 5 is our next Feast for the soul. The Pastoral Relations Committee and the Spiritual Retreat Center Committee would like to welcome our beloved Douglas UCC family to join us for a "family dinner" of soup and bread and conversation, to be held in the Friendship Hall.
We offer you a respite, a sacred space, in which to commune with your fellow church family members and process both the shared loss and hope that have been part of our Douglas UCC journey.
So that we can more accurately judge quantities for both food and drink, please sign up for the dinner ahead on the sign up sheet in the Friendship Hall. Attendance at each of the dinners will be kept to 25 people. These dinners will be run through August, on the first Wednesday of the month.
Poetry as Prayer, June 10
Photo by Ksenia Makagonova on Unsplash
Monday, June 10 from 7 to 8:30 pm
With Rev. Colette Volkema-DeNooyer
Have you ever read a beautiful poem, or heard it read aloud and thought, “That feels like a prayer”? The kind of prayer offered when we are invited to look again, to feel awe and wonder, to feel God near.
If poems have spoken to you in this way, or if you’d like to experience poems this way – join us for an evening of poetry reading, where we will reflect on poems as prayer. I will bring several of my favorite prayer-full poems to share. And encourage those who attend to bring a poem that beckons them in a prayer-full way. We will close our time together by taking up pen and paper, inviting a prayerful poem to arise in us.
Not required that you bring a poem, but do bring pen and notebook!
Sign-up in the Friendship Hall.
With Rev. Colette Volkema-DeNooyer
Have you ever read a beautiful poem, or heard it read aloud and thought, “That feels like a prayer”? The kind of prayer offered when we are invited to look again, to feel awe and wonder, to feel God near.
If poems have spoken to you in this way, or if you’d like to experience poems this way – join us for an evening of poetry reading, where we will reflect on poems as prayer. I will bring several of my favorite prayer-full poems to share. And encourage those who attend to bring a poem that beckons them in a prayer-full way. We will close our time together by taking up pen and paper, inviting a prayerful poem to arise in us.
Not required that you bring a poem, but do bring pen and notebook!
Sign-up in the Friendship Hall.
Prayer Requests
Rich and Linda Marth and the Marth Family; James Higgins (Friend of Shane Anderson and Michael Tuleja), Joe Scarpone (Friend of Tom Fahlstrom); Fred "Fritz" Royce and Sara Hurley; Sydney Williams and Baby (Kristine Sherman's Daughter); Rev. Marchiene Rienstra Family; Fred Hamlin; Ann and Jim Hopkins; The Chappell-Wehle Family; Carol Brown and Dan McGavin; David Miedema, his parents and family; John Kerr; Dave and Shirley Lawson; Ruth Fahlstrom (daughter of Tom Fahlstrom); Nancy Grib (Friend of Pamela Chappell); Stuart Family; Charlene Burdick (Paul Burdick's Mother); Mary Westenbroek; Brian Aikens; Jerry Elpers and family (Beth Howley's Dad); Edie Plantinga (Nancy Plantinga's mother); Max Matteson; Eric Cooley (Jo Cooley's brother)
Birthdays & Anniversaries
Birthdays: May 28- Kessie Karg, Dan Pierce June 1- Floyd Fleming
Anniversaries: May 26- Kathy & Chadd Hartman,
June 1- Barbara & Michael Flynn, Ginny Mikita & Bob Kruse
Birthday and Anniversary cards are a great way we can reach out to one another. If you wish to mail a card to one of our church members, addresses can be found in our Church Directory.
Anniversaries: May 26- Kathy & Chadd Hartman,
June 1- Barbara & Michael Flynn, Ginny Mikita & Bob Kruse
Birthday and Anniversary cards are a great way we can reach out to one another. If you wish to mail a card to one of our church members, addresses can be found in our Church Directory.
Stewardship Drive
Stewardship Drive Giving Week ending May 19
Pledges to Date = $228,800.00
Pledge Fulfillment to date = $133,648.45
Thank you to all who pledged toward our Campus Stewardship Drive. Weekly Stewardship Drive totals are posted here and on the giant ‘thermometer’ poster in the Friendship Hall. If you have not received a pledge card, you can pick one up in the Friendship Hall. Or you can help us reach our goal of $275,000 by giving online he
Pledges to Date = $228,800.00
Pledge Fulfillment to date = $133,648.45
Thank you to all who pledged toward our Campus Stewardship Drive. Weekly Stewardship Drive totals are posted here and on the giant ‘thermometer’ poster in the Friendship Hall. If you have not received a pledge card, you can pick one up in the Friendship Hall. Or you can help us reach our goal of $275,000 by giving online he
Financial Stewardship
In-Person Attendance, May 19: 98
Total Views for May 19 worship videos: 255
Collection Plate & Mailed Donations: $7,010.00
Online Giving: $3,628.95
Total, General Support: $10,638.95
Thank you!!
Your generous giving allows us to sustain our church community and our mission of service in the world. Please consider giving online, which is easily done by
texting your donation amount to 844-931-2849.
Total Views for May 19 worship videos: 255
Collection Plate & Mailed Donations: $7,010.00
Online Giving: $3,628.95
Total, General Support: $10,638.95
Thank you!!
Your generous giving allows us to sustain our church community and our mission of service in the world. Please consider giving online, which is easily done by
texting your donation amount to 844-931-2849.
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