Pride Sunday

Photo by Dan Plasman

​In This Week's E-Pistle, You Will Find:

• This Week's Service, Pride Sunday: My Story by Greggie Gerrans​
• Two Summer Services  - 8:15 & 10:15! Please, Join Us!
• Jody, Dan & Claire's Office Hours This Week 
• Douglas Socials are Back! 
• Social Justice - Summer Food Ministry 
• Creation Justice - A Lawn Conversion Journey  
• Update on Volunteers for Financial Governance & Stewardship Committee
• Prayer Requests
• Birthdays & Anniversaries This Week
• Financial Stewardship
• Coffee Hour Volunteers Needed
• Last Week's Service: Pride and Trinity
• Church Calendar

THANK YOUs

• Thank You for Your Charitable Giving - Cereal Drive & Sarah Donovan's MS Walk!!
• Thank You DUCC Family for Your Generous Strengthen the Church Donations!
• What a Blast! Kudos to All The Volunteers at the Douglas Pride Social!
• Many Thanks to Wayne Titus for Sharing His Financial Expertise!

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST NEWS

• Grand West Association Prayer Circle, UCC Michigan Conference Staff 

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!!

• S & D Pride Parade & Celebration, Tomorrow, June 6 - DUCC at Beery Field, 11:30-6pm
• Trans Flag - Invitation to View Largest Trans Flag in West Michigan
• Pulse Memorial, June 12, 6pm at Pride Celebration Garden
• Holland Pride Festival, June 27

CLASSES​

• Qigong & Tea! Tuesdays at 3pm, Friendship Hall

COMMUNITY EVENTS

• A Community Sing, Saugatuck Women's Club, June 7 
• 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: Pride Sunday
​My Story by Greggie Gerrans

This Sunday for Pride Month, church member Greg Gerrans will share a personal reflection about faith, family, and the unexpected paths that lead us home. Through stories spanning childhood, spirituality, love, adoption, and parenthood, Greg will reflect on the journey he and his husband, Greg Harvath, have traveled together over more than three decades. From growing up in the church and struggling to reconcile faith and identity, to building a life together and adopting their son Mason from Ukraine in the weeks following September 11, 2001, theirs is a story of listening, trusting, and following where love leads.
At its heart, this reflection is about belonging—belonging to ourselves, to one another, and to God. It is a story of discovering that even in life’s most uncertain moments, grace is present, hope endures, and love has a way of leading us exactly where we are meant to be.
Join us this Sunday as we celebrate Pride Month and hear a story of faith, family, resilience, and the many ways God shows up in our lives.

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: My Story by Greggie Gerrans
Music: Peter Black, Jeff Spangler, Lauri Donaldson

DUCC Bulletin/Hymns
File Size:	1647 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

For The Week of June 7:
Wednesday: 10-3pm, Dan
Thursday: 10-3pm, Dan
Friday: 10-3pm, Dan  
Jody will be out of town with family.
​
Claire's Office Hours: 
Tuesday: 10-4pm
Wednesday: 10-4:30pm
Thursday: 10-4:30pm (work from home)
​Friday: 10-4pm

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;
Office: 269-857-2085
​
Jody and Dan will respond to emails during office hours. If you get an email asking for money from Jody or Dan, this is a scam. 

---

Douglas Socials are Back!

Douglas Socials are an evening of gathering with a community of friends! We've been invited to host 2 (more) this summer. The next one is scheduled for June 18 at S/D Library and the one after that is on July 16 at the History Center. We need a couple people available to coordinate each one. Are you available? There are experienced people who have done this before who can help with all the logistics and lot of folks willing to volunteer for the event. Please contact Jody if you are available or have questions.

JODY'S EMAIL

---

​​Social Justice - Summer Food Ministry

Last year we assisted the folks at St Felipe Catholic Church with their Summer Food Ministry. The generosity of the DUCC Congregation was greatly appreciated. For the summer of 2026, we are looking to assist the St Felipe volunteers once again. To start we are looking to match our donations of last year through the summer months. Our goal is to fill 20 grocery bags each week throughout the summer beginning June 16.
We will update the congregation on other needs should they come up.
If you have any questions please contact Rich Marth or Pete Mueller. 
Thank you again for your ongoing generosity. 

We are looking to fill each grocery bag with the following food items.
* 1 lb bag of dried pinto beans
* 1 lb bag of white rice 
* 1-2 cans of diced tomatoes 
* 1 small btl vegetable oil
* 1-2 cans of diced/sliced fruit
* 1/2 dozen potatoes 
* 1/2 dozen yellow onions
* small tooth paste 
* 1-2 toothbrushes 
* 1-2 rolls of toilet paper
* a dozen or so corn tortillas.

---

​Creation Justice - A Lawn Conversion Journey

Monday June 22 from 5:30 to 7 pm 
Anne Dooley and Kurt Wittenberg Home 
711 Golfview Dr., Douglas
Appetizers & Drinks will be provided

Anyone interested in learning about converting your green lawn to native plants is invited to come to a Creation Justice Sponsored event.  

---

​Update on Volunteers
Financial Governance & Stewardship Comm. 

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

We had 6 volunteers for the Financial Governance & Stewardship Committee.  More on the work of the committee to be shared at our Annual Congregational Committee.

---

​Prayer Requests

From the 10:15 service on 5/31, prayers for Bev and Orie Hawkes, Orie was admitted to the hospital last weekend. Prayers for an immigration hearing on June 10th that it goes well. Prayers for the marriage of Connie and Jim. 

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); Orie Hawkes; Elinor Hite (Virginia Stuart’s sister); Dave Lawson; Christine Kerney; Ann and Jim Hopkins; Ruth Fahlstrom (Tom Fahlstrom’s daughter); Mikey (friend of Ruth Fahlstrom) Mary Westenbroek; Eric Cooley (Jo Cooley's brother); Ian Blumer (C. Blumer's nephew); Michigan UCC Conference Staff

---

​Birthday's & Anniversary's This Week

BIRTHDAYS
June 9: Tamara Ritt
June 10: Catherine Dienes, Jim Hopkins, Matthew McWebb
June 12: Barbara Flynn, Bill Briggs
​
ANNIVERSARIES
​June 9: Nancy & David VanDyke
June 12: Jan & Jim DeVries
June13: Elizabeth Estes & Mary Fechtig
​
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

May 31 In-Person Attendance : At the 8:15 = 32. At the 10:15 = 67
May 31 ​Total Views for worship videos: 61
​
​Weekly Offerings: $2,444
 Weekly Budget:  $4,615
Weekly to Budget: -$2,170
Strengthen the Church: $1095
​​​​​​​
Thank you!! 
​Your generous giving allows us to sustain our church community
​and our mission of service in the world.

---

​Last Weeks Service: Trinity Sunday
​Pride and Trinity

Photo by Dan Plasman

Last Sunday known as Trinity Sunday. Pastor Dan discussed the concept of the Trinity and that it is a theological construct that was hammered out in the 3rd & 4th centuries in an attempt to understand the nature of God’s being. Dan acknowledged that, it feels heavy and dense.
Dan asked us to consider this, the Trinity is God’s relational way of being, a way of being that blesses all things LGBTQ+. It starts with the Stonewall Inn and continues with equal rights for all and marriage equality. View the full service or Dan's message below. 

FULL SERVICE

DAN'S MESSAGE

---

Church Calendar

Photo by Samuel Regan Asante on Unsplash

EXPLORE THE CALENDAR

---

THANK YOUs

---

Thank You for Your Charitable Giving!

Photo by Nyana Stoica on Unsplash

DUCC Community You Are Marvelous! Thank you for the 53 boxes of Cereal for Christian Neighbors Cereal Drive. Thank you for your contributions to Sarah Donovan's MS Walk. Team Donovan collected $2,325. ​Thank you to the Douglas UCC community for your generous donations for the Strengthen the Church Offering. We collected $1095 plus DUCC match!

---

What a Blast! Thank You to All The Volunteers at the Douglas Pride Social!

Kudos to all who setup, served, took down, and attended the event! Wednesday, June 3 was the first of the season Douglas Socials. So Much Fun! Thank You All!

---

Thank You Wayne Titus!

Many Thanks to Wayne Titus for sharing his financial expertise! Wayne shared his 30 years of financial experience. The financial literacy series was Interesting and enlightening!

---

UNIITED CHURCH OF CHRIST NEWS

---

​Grand West Association Prayer Circle

Photo by Ray Hennessy on Unsplash

Michigan UCC Conference Staff - June UCC Group of the Month
​
The Grand West Association Council of the Michigan Conference UCC
facilitates a prayer circle for all our churches. ​
Thank you for keeping the Michigan UCC Conference Staff in your prayers

---

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH

---

​Saugatuck - Douglas Pride Parade & Celebration

Saugatuck Douglas Pride Parade & Celebration,
Tomorrow, June 6
Beery Field from 11:30 until 6pm. 

SUAGATUCK DOUGLAS PRIDE EVENTS

---

Largest ​Trans Flag in West Michigan?
View During Pride Celebration, June 6, 12-5pm

DUCC celebrates all gender identities and sexual orientations! And we are proud of it! This year we want to highlight the "largest trans flag in a church in West Michigan, perhaps in Michigan, or even the USA!" We want to invite folks to visit our sanctuary during the Pride celebration on Saturday, June 6 from Noon - 5pm. The building will be open with members facilitating a tour of the sanctuary.

---

Pulse Memorial June 12, 6pm, Pride Garden

On June 12, 2016, shooter killed 49 people and wounded 53 more from the LGBTQIA+ community at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. 
​
Pulse was hosting a "Latin Night," and most of the victims were Latinx. The shooting was the deadliest terrorist attack in the U.S. since the September 11 attacks.

On June 12, we will hold a memorial service at 6pm, at Douglas' Pride Celebration Garden, 147 West Center Street. Speaker, Larry Gammons. We hope you can join us.

---

All the Pride Events in Holland- June, 27!

Our neighbor Holland celebrating Pride events...
Holland Pride Festival, June 27 at Kollen Park, 12 - 5pm

HOLLAND PRIDE EVENTS

---

CLASSES

---

Qigong & Tea, Tuesdays from 3-5pm

Photo by Enzo Sanches 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

---

COMMUNITY EVENTS

---

​A Community Sing
Saugatuck Women's Club, June 7

---

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

Photo by Karson Chan 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 DJ Paine 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: June 3rd and 17th
No Reservations
Blue Star Barns Coffee and Bikes
3483 Blue Star Hwy
Saugatuck, Michigan 49453