Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

7/24/2026

Photo by Ksenia Makagonova on Unsplash

In This Week's E-pistle, You'll Find:

This Week's Service: Another Messy Story
Two Summer Services - 8:15 & 10:15! Please, Join Us
Jody, Dan & Claire's Office Hours This Week
Two Baroque Girls at DUCC, Wednesday, August 5
Douglas Social Backyard Bash, New Date, August 13
Social Justice - Summer Food Ministry Update
Creation Justice - Recycling Textiles ... and More!
Mission Update from Campus Steward: Door Codes, Open Sesame!
Memorial Garden Updated on Find A Grave
Prayer Requests
Birthdays & Anniversaries This Week
Financial Stewardship
Coffee Hour Volunteers Needed
Last Week's Service: A Stairway to Heaven
Lost & Found Located in Friendship Hall Foyer
Church Calendar

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST NEWS

Grand West Association Prayer Circle, Muskegon First Congregational UCC
UCC Urgent Request for Venezuela after devastating Earthquakes

CLASSES

Qigong & Tea! Tuesdays at 3pm, Friendship Hall

COMMUNITY EVENTS

DUCC's Afghan Family is Growing - A Used SUV/Minivan is Needed
Stand in Protest - Holland, Fridays from 12-1pm
Men's Coffee and Conversation

This Week's Service: Another Messy Story

Photo by Dan Plasman

The Hebrew scriptures, particularly stories found in the Book of Genesis, can be raw and racy. It’s all there to read and absorb. Family feuds. Sibling jealousy. Lying and Deception. Nothing proper and pristine about these tales. This Sunday’s selection from Genesis 29 is no exception. Over a period of 14 years, Jacob marries two sisters with a couple of handmaidens thrown in. I wonder if the idiom “What goes around comes around” is truer than we might first imagine. Does the energy and behavior we put into the world eventually find its way back to us? Some things to explore. Hope you can join us this Sunday either in-person or on-line. 8:15 or 10:15

Please join us, Sunday at 8:15 or 10:15 am in our Sanctuary, or 10:15 am online, live on our Youtube Channel.
Message: Rev. Dan Plasman
Music: Peter Black, Jeff Spangler

DUCC Bulletin/Hymns
File Size:	865 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

Two Summer Services - 8:15 or 10:15am
All Are Welcome!

Jody, Dan & Claire's Office Hours This Week

Office location: 88 Spring St., Douglas, Mich.
Office: 269-857-2085

For The Week of July 26:
Monday: 3-6:30pm, Jody
Thursday: 11-5pm, Jody & Dan
Friday: 10-3pm, Dan

Claire's Office Hours:
Tuesday: 12-5:30pm
Wednesday: 10-4:30pm
Thursday: 10-4:30pm (work from home)
Friday: 10-4pm

Jody and Dan will respond to emails during office hours. If you need to see Dan or Jody, please make an appointment with them.
Please call to schedule an appointment:
Jody: 616-706-3549; Dan: 616-828-2293;

If you receive an email from Jody or Dan asking for money, this is a scam.

Two Baroque Girls - All Are Welcome!

Douglas United Church of Christ Presents
Two Baroque Girls in Concert
Wednesday, August 5, at 7:00 p.m. in the DUCC sanctuary.
Douglas United Church of Christ
located at 56 Wall Street, Douglas, Michigan.
Admission is pay according to your enjoyment level.
A light reception with refreshments will follow the concert.

Their program, We’re Not Completely Baroque!, brings together soprano Viviana Kloostra and mezzo-soprano Rebecca Russcher for an evening of music that is elegant, expressive, and anything but ordinary. Accompanied by collaborative pianist Todd Wilkie, the duo will sing their way through four centuries of exquisite music, including Baroque vocal masterpieces, German Lieder, and a few delightful surprises along the way.
Known for their warmth, humor, and generous stage presence, Two Baroque Girls make arias and art songs feel fresh, expressive, and deeply human. This is classical music without the powdered-wig attitude: beautiful singing, dramatic storytelling, and a relaxed evening of discovery in one of Douglas’ most welcoming spaces.The concert is open to the public.

Douglas Social at the History Center
Thursday, August 13

Backyard Bash at the History Center
Rescheduled to August 13, 2026, 5:30pm - 8:00pm
Outdoor, Family Friendly, Food & Beverage
Infant/Toddler, Youth, Teen, Adult

The Library and the History Center
Invite you to not one, but TWO summer celebrations for all ages!
There will be live music, drinks, food, games, and activities for kids.
Thursday, August 13 at the History Center 5:30-8:00pm
Up Close and Wild animal booth
presented by our friends from the Outdoor Discovery Center.
Saugatuck-Douglas History Center
130 W Center Street, Douglas, MI 49406

Social Justice - Summer Food Ministry

We continue to be amazed at the generosity of the DUCC congregation. We have been able to fill 20 bags of groceries for the past 5 weeks. We are hoping to sustain this generosity through the next 6-7 weeks. Each bag of groceries contains the following. This is approximately equivalent to $28/bag.
.
* 1 lb bag of dried pinto beans (40 bags)
* 1 lb bag of white rice (40 bags)
* 1 small btl vegetable oil. (40 btls)
* 1-2 cans of diced/sliced fruit (20)
* 1/2 dozen potatoes (3 or 5# bags)
* 1/2 dozen yellow onions. (3-5# bags)
* small tooth paste (20-40)
* a dozen or so corn tortillas.(5-8 30ct bags)

In addition to the Food, the St Felipe De Jesus volunteers appreciate the many T-Shirts that were donated by the DUCC congregation, close to 150. This past week they have requested sun block or lotion, 30SPF.

Creation Justice - Recycling Textiles ... and More!

Photo by Luba Glazunova on Unsplash

Most clothing, towels, and bedding are NOT biodegradable. A 2025 report says polyester alone accounts for 59% of global fiber production.
If you want to clear out items that are not good enough to be reused, please take them to Goodwill. They bundle the material and sell it to after-market vendors who repurpose the textiles as rags, insulation, and other products.

The Creation Justice Team has a web page, that tells where to recycle batteries, tires, appliances, tech, paper, light bulbs, prescription drugs, plastic bags, packing materials, and more. Also, see Kathy Klage if you have large chunks of styrofoam.

CJT RECYCLING RESOURCES

Mission Update from Campus Steward
New Door Codes - Open Sesame

Photo by Austin Tate on Unsplash

The Campus Steward has programmed door codes at all three buildings as well as two office doors in the Isabel Graham Center. If you do not have one and believe that you need one to do the work of the church, please contact Steve McFadden. Most of the old codes will be deleted next month.

STEVE'S EMAIL

Memorial Garden Update on Find A Grave

The Douglas UCC Memorial Garden is now much better represented on the Find a Grave website. Thirty-two memorials were added, and they can be found by family historians and genealogists around the world.
Find a Grave is a free, volunteer-run resource with more than 265 million memorials. Now that the basic information is in place, anyone who wishes can add photographs, biographies, or other memories to a loved one’s memorial. If you’d like help doing that, Chris Clark can assist—or you can create a free Find a Grave account and make the additions yourself.

CHRIS'S EMAIL

Prayer Requests

Anne Hopkins and the family of Jim Hopkins; Bev & Orie Hawkes; Jenny O'Neal (friend of Laurie VanDenBelt & Shirley Lawson); Family of Alan Gibson (Kirsten Stannis's Father); Adelle Van Daalen and the Family of Jay Van Daalen; Charlene Burdick (Paul Burdick's mother); Elinor Hite (Virginia Stuart’s sister); Dave Lawson; Christine Kerney; Ruth Fahlstrom (Tom Fahlstrom’s daughter); Mikey (friend of Ruth Fahlstrom); Eric Cooley (Jo Cooley's brother); Ian Blumer (C. Blumer's nephew); Muskegon First Congregational UCC

Birthday's & Anniversary's This Week

BIRTHDAYS
July 27: Norman Capello
July 30: Doug LaCroix
July 31: Kathleen Klage

ANNIVERSARIES
July 29: Sue Scott & Larry Fuerst, Kathleen & Peter Mueller

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.

Financial Stewardship

July 19 In-Person Attendance : 8:15 = 20, 10:15 = 66
July 19 Total Views for worship videos: 53

Weekly Offerings: $5,554
Weekly Budget: $4,615
Weekly to Budget: +$1,389
Retreat House: $913
Friendship Hall: $245

Thank you!!
Your generous giving allows us to sustain our church community
and our mission of service in the world.

Coffee Hour Volunteers Needed

Photo by Jonathan Pielmayer on Unsplash

Remote sign up method for DUCC coffee hour volunteers.
The coffee committee is hoping to get more volunteers involved in staffing the coffee hour after Sunday services. Making coffee takes only about 10-15 minutes of your time prior to church, or helping with the cleanup can take about 30 minutes. Once or twice a year, or as often as you'd like, helps to avoid burnout of the current volunteers.
You will be paired with a "buddy" to show you the ropes (and the coffee grinds!). And now you can sign up remotely, from anywhere at any time. Easy peasy! Many hands make light work. For any questions, please email Bert Hallewas
To sign up (or to "look at") the remote sign up sheet, please click below, or use the QR code:

BERT'S EMAIL

Last Weeks Service: A Stairway to Heaven

Photo by Adas Duciunas on Unsplash

Remember the song by Led Zepplin, Stairway to Heaven? In our story from last week, Jacob, the patriarch, was fleeing from his home. His brother has threatened to kill him. He rests for the night and has a dream of angels ascending and descending on a stairway from heaven. Pastor Jody asks us to reflect on if we ourselves have experienced our own "thin places"? Places where we felt like heaven came close to earth? This week we'll explore this phenomenon. Join us online for this conversation below. For the full service or for Pastor Jody's message.

FULL SERVICE

JODY'S MESSAGE

Lost & Found in the Friendship Hall Foyer

Photo by Jonny Gios on Unsplash

If you are missing a water bottle, gardening gloves, or a travel coffee mug. It just may be in our lost & found. Please, take a gander in the Friendship Hall foyer to see if any treasurers belong to you. Thank you!

Church Calendar

Photo by Warren Umoh on Unsplash

EXPLORE THE CALENDAR

UNIITED CHURCH OF CHRIST NEWS

Grand West Association Prayer Circle

Photo by Anubhav Sonker on Unsplash

July - Muskegon First Congregational UCC Church

The Grand West Association Council of the Michigan Conference UCC
facilitates a prayer circle for all our churches.
Thank you for keeping Muskegon First Congregational UCC Church in your prayers.

EXPLORE MUSKEGON UCC

Support for Venezuela after Earthquakes

DONATE HERE

CLASSES

Qigong & Tea, Tuesdays from 3-5pm

Photo by Brad Switzer on Unsplash

Qigong Winter Class
Tuesdays, 3pm - 4 pm
Followed by Tea/Chat 4 - 5pm
Friendship Hall
Led by Kat VanHammen

Qigong is a wonderful, 5,000 year-old practice from China, very much like Tai Chi. It involves simple movements that build strength, flexibility, balance and well being. It also employs visualization, breath, and mindfulness to integrate the body, mind, and spirit and develop our felt sense of Interbeing. Class is one hour long and involves both sitting and standing practice although it can be done sitting if needed. There is a requested donation of $10 per class but for those of you on limited incomes, any amount will be gratefully received.

AROUND TOWN

DUCC's Afghan Family is Growing
A Used SUV/Minivan is Needed

Photo by Pranav on Unsplash

A Used SUV is Needed. DUCC’s Afghan Family is a growing family of 6 and they have an immediate need for a larger vehicle than their Prius. If you are considering selling a used SUV at a reasonable price, they would be grateful to be considered. If you can assist, please contact Bob (312-636-7657) or Louise (847-800-4236) Kenny. Thank you.

Stand in Protest

Photo by Sandra Seitamaa on Unsplash

The protests against Huizenga and the Trump administration continue each Friday from 12-1 pm at 170 College Ave., the corner of College and 7th in Holland. We need more to demonstrate, so please come join us as we continue to bring attention to the wrong doing going on in our country. Looking forward to seeing you there.

Men's Coffee and Conversation

DUCC MEN, JOIN US!
Men's Coffee & Conversation
1st and 3rd Wednesday @ 10am

New Dates: August 5th and 12th
No Reservations
Blue Star Barns Coffee and Bikes
3483 Blue Star Hwy
Saugatuck, Michigan 49453