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Second Sunday of Easter

4/5/2024

 
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Photo by Edwin Andrade on Unsplash

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

  • This Week's Service, Second Sunday of Easter: Our Messy and Marvelous Church
  • Last Week's Service, Easter Sunday: Out of Chaos, Hope
  • This Week, Welcome Mark Johnston
  • Thank You Art Guild
  • Easter Memorials
  • Welcome our Interim Pastor, Rev. Jody Betten!
  • What does Interim-ing Look Like?
  • Welcome Luncheon for Rev. Jody: A Feast for the Soul
  • Social Justice Team Presents: And They Were Wonderful Teachers: How the History of LGBTQ+ Teachers Informs Current School Battles, April 11 and May 31
  • Holland Chorale: Handel's Messiah, the Easter Portion, April 21
  • It's Not Too Late to Try Living the Questions!
  • Can You Support Team Donovan in MS Walk for a Cure on April 20?
  • Healthy Aging from a Neuropsychological Perspective, Online, April 13
  • ​Creation Justice Team Notes
  • ​Grants Given
  • Prayer Requests
  • Birthdays & Anniversaries, Stewardship Drive & Financial Stewardship​

Second Sunday of Easter:
​Our Messy and Marvelous Church

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Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash
This Sunday our church member Mark Johnston will again lead us in worship.  A few weeks ago Mark shared a personal story of forgiveness and challenged all of us to let others "off the hook."  This Sunday Mark will be sharing a message titled "Our Messy & Marvelous Church."  Using a little bit of humor and some personal stories Mark will challenge all of us to embrace the messy-ness that is our local church so we can make it even more marvelous than it already is.  No matter how you serve and support our church, and love and care for those in our family, all of us could use a fresh reminder that WE are the Body of Christ here on this earth.  Come ready to laugh and celebrate who we are, and be reminded of who we are called to BE! Message: Mark Johnston, Music: Peter Black and Jeff Spangler

Join us at church! In person at 10am, or livestreaming on our YouTube channel.
Click below to download our online bulletin for Sunday's service.
order_of_service_april_7_2024.pdf
File Size: 826 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File


Last Week's Service -- Easter Sunday

In the Easter Sunday Gospel Reading, we heard the disciples' story, told on the road to Emmaus. That's our road -- the road Christians live on. Please enjoy our Easter Sunday Service, when our church member Rev. Linda Knieriemen lead us in worship, with the homily, "Out of Chaos, Hope." Message: Rev. Linda Knieriemen, Music: Peter Black, Jeff Spangler, Lauri Donaldson.

This Week, Welcome Mark Johnston 

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This week, our church council moderator Mark Johnston will lead us in service. Mark works from home when he isn't commuting to Europe in support of his Customer Care team at the Finland-based finance software company he helps to lead. Mark was ordained in the Nazarene Denomination, and served as a youth pastor before he was rushed out the door when he came out as a gay man. He holds a JD from the Illinois Institute of Technology and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management. He is a proud papa of four kids, one of whom, Luke, passed away at age 8. He has been married to Jeremy Lund for 10 years. He and Jeremy began attending DUCC remotely from Chicago in 2017, and became members in 2019 after moving here.

Thank You Art Guild 

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Kudos to our Art Guild for their beautiful installations as we approached Easter and on Easter Sunday. Art Guild Members: Gemina Petruzzelli, Bud Baty, Jodi Berault, Floyd Fleming, Greg Harvath, Chris Maitner

Easter Memorials 

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On Easter Sunday, our Altar was filled with white lilies, each one holding the memory of our loved ones. We honored:

Laura Nyenhuis, Linda Smith, Nadine Sicard, Bruce & Vivian Garlinghouse, Buzz & Betty Ridl, Sidney Stallinga, Shon Stallinga, James & Emma Brady, William & Margaret Clark, Larry Ledebur, Laird J. Stuart, Daniel (no last name given), Bill & Nancy Gordon, George Barfield, Bob Orlikowski, Effie & Luke Burnett, Shirley McKee, Margaret Geen, Hazel VanderShaaf, Balei Chinski, Robert Black, Glenn & Mary Lee Trenary, Paul Murphy, Susan Hayes Kelly, Pat & Frank Norman, Claudia & Stanlee Greene, Grady Lundgren, Frank & Anna Muellner, Jim Shewell, Richard Graham, Ester Jorgenson, Louise & Phillip Gilmer, Florence Raywood, Lucila & Everett Lynch, Barbara & Bill Mueller, Ken Schultz, Bullah Hamlin, Rick Hamlin, Joan Hamlin, Barbara Snow, Sterling Snow, Thomas Donvan Sr., Margot & Bob Riddle, Dr. Michael Condron, Rick Hamlin, Bud & Jane Charvat, Shirley Lawson, Fred Sellers, Barbara & Bill Mueller, Luella & Everett Lynch, Kyle McCammon, Tom & Vera Fahlstrom, Ann Fahlstrom & Carol Mills, Dr. Terry Chappell & John Davis

Welcome Our Interim Pastor, Rev. Jody Betten! 

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When as a young girl I witnessed my grandfather baptize my baby cousins, I knew I wanted to be a minister, but in the Christian Reformed Church that wasn’t possible. I became a high school social studies and language arts teacher.
 
When I joined a Reformed Church in America congregation, the little girl calling came rushing back. I earned a Master of Divinity degree from Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan, and was ordained in the RCA in 1996. I subsequently spoke up for a minister and seminary professor who officiated at the wedding of his daughter to her wife and was brought up on heresy charges (which were settled with an admonition by the local judicatory which held my credential). I found a spiritual home in the United Church of Christ in 2012, when I received Privilege of Call and never looked back.
 
I served large churches in a mostly white Chicago suburb and in the city of Grand Rapids, as well as a small church in a black suburb of Chicago. I served as Director of Church Relations for World Vision in the Chicago office. I planted a new church in Traverse City, which is partnering with Habitat for Humanity and was the associate conference minister for the up north churches. I served as an Intentional Interim for four churches (East Lansing, Elkhart IN, Rochester MI, and Charlotte MI) and two associations (Grand West and South West) in the Michigan Conference, UCC. I've been an associate, solo, and co-pastor. I have also worked as a coaching consultant for pastors and have provided workshops for churches. While I've been around the pastoral block, so to speak, my favorite work is what I am doing currently as an Intentional Interim Minister.

I’m married to my best friend, Dan Plasman, who is also an ordained minister (and was co-conspirator in the heresy charge).  We were married in Assisi, Italy.  We love to travel like the locals and make new friends around the world. 
 
I have three children and six grandchildren, 3 stepchildren and 7 step grands, and a 20-year-old cat named Bagiera.
 
Other interests include theater, sewing, reading, yoga, walking, and trying to keep my thumb green in our garden which is the yard of our Grand Rapids home. I love a provocative movie and a stimulating conversation.  My greatest challenge is to ‘stay in the moment’.

What does Interim-ing Look Like? 

A common perception is that an interim minister is a place holder, filling the pulpit, offering pastoral care, and generally keeping things running while a church’s search committee finds a new, settled minster. In many cases that is what happens. However, Intentional Interim Ministers have specific training to walk with a church from bringing closure to a former pastorate to being prepared to call a new settled pastor who is an appropriate fit for the next era of a church’s life.
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Think about a decision to buy a new car or house. This involves a similar process. Being aware of the reasons why the current car or house are not working any longer is important. Understanding who you are at this time in your life, what your “why” is for buying, will help you to make choices that are going to work for the future. Assessing the specific needs you might have that are different from when you first bought a vehicle or a home will help to determine the specific characteristics of the new purchase. Making connections with those who can help you make your decision will also be important. Finally, keeping the end in mind, the vision for what you want, is critical to getting a good fit. These five considerations are even more important for a church in transition.

1 - The interim process has several distinct phases beginning with examining your history. Even if a settled pastor has a ten-year tenure that is filled with godly ministry and no complaints, a church changes in those years. Exploring those changes can help to identify the kind of pastor who can walk with you in the next era of ministry. This part of the process includes paying attention to the grieving process and naming things that have happened during the former pastor’s tenure that may not be obvious in explaining the changes that occurred.

2 - Articulating your identity, the “why,” of the church is the second phase of the process. Who is the church in the community? What would be missing if this church didn’t exist? What is missing in the community that this church has gifts to fill? Reconsidering core beliefs and values are part of claiming identity, just as your beliefs and values describe you as individuals.  
3 - Assessing the systems and structures of the church is the next phase of the interim work. This has to do with leadership and power, what’s working or not, and why. A trained Interim can see things that church members enmeshed in the culture may not be able to see and can name them. When we regularly reassess, we become a learning organization that normalizes change for the better of the organization.

4 - Considering the connections of the church in the denomination and in the community is an important phase in the process. In the United Church of Christ, what might the denomination, conference, or association have to offer the local church that could be helpful? What gifts does the local church have to offer the broader settings? In the local and regional communities, the same question could be asked.

5 - Finally, a church going through the interim process will be prepared to articulate a vision for the future based on this work of self-examination. They will be able to imagine a mission that moves them into a future with hope and energy. A church that takes the time to walk through the interim process will increase their likelihood of finding a new settled pastor who can see their vision and mission and is gifted to walk with them into into the next era of ministry.

Welcome Luncheon for Rev. Jody:
A Feast for the Soul, Sunday, April 21

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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

Beginning with a luncheon for our new Interim Pastor, Rev. Jody Betten, after church April 21, The Pastoral Relations Committee and the Spiritual Retreat Center Committee would like to welcome you, our beloved Douglas UCC family, to join us for a series of six "family dinners" 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 dinners on the sign up sheet in the Friendship Hall.

​Social Justice Team Presents: And They Were Wonderful Teachers: How the History of LGBTQ+ Teachers Informs Current School Battles, April 11 and May 31 

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Our DUCC Social Justice Team, together with the Saugatuck-Douglas District Library, presents a two-part program featuring historian Karen L. Graves:

Part 1: Douglas Congregational United Church of Christ, April 11, 7:00 p.m.
"They Were Wonderful Teachers: How the History of LGBTQ+ Teachers Informs Current School Battles"

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 Karen Graves will highlight elements from the history of LGBTQ+ educators that put our current school battles in historical context. 

On April 11th she will discuss the most intense state purge of LGBTQ+ teachers on record, detailing the impact of the Florida Legislative Investigation Committee (1956-1965).

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.

​Holland Chorale: Handel's Messiah, the Easter Portion, April 21 

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The Holland Chorale will present the first in their "Masterpieces of Sacred Music" series, beginning with the lesser performed Easter portion of the beloved oratorio, MESSIAH on April 21, at Christ Memorial Church. The Chorale, along with a professional chamber orchestra and world- class soloists, performs Parts II and Ill, including "How Beautiful Are the Feet~" "Hallelujah" (in its original order), "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth" and "The Trumpet Shall Sound." Adults - $25 Students 18 and over $5, Under 18 - FREE. Get your tickets online here:
Tickets Here»»

It's Not Too Late to Try Living the Questions! 

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Rev. Linda Knieriemen invites anyone interested in delving into the last section of Living the Questions to join her group. Beginning April 14 and ending May 19 right after church (11:30-ish), Rev. Linda will cover the section titled: Transformation.

Topics will include: Social Justice, Incarnation, Prayer, Compassion, and Creative Transformation.

Even if you haven’t participated in earlier chapters, don’t be shy: join us! The last section covers fewer than 100 pages, but offers an opportunity to dig into the beauty and mysteries of Progressive Christianity.

If you have questions, contact Linda by email.

Can You Support Team Donovan in MS Walk for a Cure on April 20? 

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Each year, Team Donovan hits the road, raising money to fuel research for a cure and treatments for people with Multiple Sclerosis, like our church member Sarah Donovan. Sarah and her team invite you to walk with her, and/or support her team on their April 20 walk in Grand Rapids. It's so easy to donate online here:
Help Team Donovan Meet Their Goal Here»»

​Healthy Aging from a Neuropsychological Perspective, Online, April 13 ​

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On April 13, The Well Spirituality Center in Chicago is hosting our church member Dr. Shannon Connell, giving her talk on the Neuropsychology of Aging. If you missed Shannon giving this program here at DUCC, here's a chance to catch up with her, and get an update while also supporting The Well Spirituality Center.

Topics addressed will include the process of normal aging from a neuropsychological perspective, normal and abnormal cognition, healthy habits for a healthy brain, and tools for maintaining a vibrant mind/body/spirit connection. The positive impact of spiritual and physical practices will be explored. Discover ways in which continued enrichment of the mind and body may be maintained.

Participants have the option to meet In-Person at The Well or to join on Zoom
Registrants will receive Zoom sign-in information via email upon registration + a reminder the day before the program.

​Dr. Connell has served as the Coordinator of Neuropsychology at Mercy Health’s Memory Clinic, Muskegon, MI for five years. She has maintained a private practice since 2008. Research areas include: cognitive health, resilience, and mindfulness-based meditation. Dr. Connell conducted a trial study for The Alzheimer’s Association in mindfulness meditation, resilience, and psychological well-being in caregivers of persons with dementia.
Register for the Live or Zoom Event Here»»

Creation Justice Team Notes

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Our Creation Justice Team Reminds You:
1. Dark Sky - Saturday, April 6, should be a good night to look for the constellation Leo and contribute to scientific research. Learn how here.

2. Birds - The discussion of A Wing and a Prayer went very well last week. Visit this web page to learn how you can make a difference.
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3. Campus Landscaping - This multi-year project seeks to create easy-to-maintain spaces that remove carbon from the atmosphere, reduce our use of scarce resources, attract pollinators, and provide for contemplation and discussion. A core group has already met with Lake Effect Garden and Design and the full team will do the same on April 22. We expect to present a final plan to the Council in May and then share it with the congregation in June.

Grants Given 

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Photo by micheile henderson on Unsplash
Our Grant Proposal Committee together with the Church Council granted funds to two worthy organizations this past month. Follow their links to learn more about these terrific organizations:

Interfaith Action of Southwest Michigan
Wishbone Pet Rescue

Prayer Requests 

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Sydney Williams (Kristine Sherman's Daughter); Rev. Marchiene Rienstra Family; Fred Hamlin; Debra Carr; Ann and Jim Hopkins; The Chappell-Wehle Family; Carol Brown and Dan McGavin; David Miedema, his parents and family; Karl Fahlstrom (Tom Fahlstrom's brother); John Kerr; Dave and Shirley Lawson; Clark McMillion (Chris Clark's friend); Ruth Fahlstrom (daughter of Tom Fahlstrom); Nancy Grib (Friend of Pamela Chappell); Stuart Family; Charlene Burdick (Paul Burdick's Mother); Diane Carr (Debra Carr's Sister); Myron (Wendy Hamlin's grandson, Fred Hamilin's great-grandson); 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); Nicole and John (Wendy Hamlin's daughter-in-law and son)

Birthdays & Anniversaries

Birthdays:  April 8- Daniel Dow, Jim McHugh, 10- Jack Ridl,
12- Stan Greene, Ben Greene, 13- Bill Klatt, Jim DeVries


​​​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 March 31:
Pledges to Date = $228,800.00
Pledge Fulfillment to date = $122,855.05​
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 here:
Make Your Stewardship Drive Pledge or Payment Here»»

​​Financial Stewardship

In-Person Attendance, March 31: 86
​Total Views for March 31 worship videos: 234
March Podcast Downloads: 3,177


​Collection Plate & Mailed Donations: $2,852
Online Giving: $1,562.39
Total, General Support: $4,414.39
​​​​​
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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  • About Us ▾
    • Meditation Garden
    • Retreat House
    • Our Staff
    • Our Stories
    • About Douglas UCC
  • Connect & Serve
  • Worship & Music Videos ▾
    • Podcast Library 🔊
    • Homily Library 📖
  • Calendar & E-pistle ▾
    • E-Pistle
  • Contact
  • Giving