Second Sunday of Pride Month

6/10/2026

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

This Week's Service, Pride Sunday: Laughing Matters
Two Summer Services - 8:15 & 10:15! Please, Join Us!
Jody, Dan & Claire's Office Hours This Week
New Members Reception, June 21 - Welcome! Welcome!
Annual Congregational Meeting, June 28
Douglas Socials are Back!
Social Justice - Summer Food Ministry
Creation Justice - A Lawn Conversion Journey
Archives Team - The Search is On!
Prayer Requests
Birthdays & Anniversaries This Week
Financial Stewardship
Last Week's Service: My Story by Greggie Gerrans
Church Calendar

THANK YOUs

Thank You for All the Pride Celebration Volunteers! So Much Fun!!
Special Thanks to Peter Black for Organizing the Community Sing Event!!

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST NEWS

Grand West Association Prayer Circle, UCC Michigan Conference Staff

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!!

Pulse Memorial, June 12, 6pm at Pride Celebration Garden
Looking for Booth People for Holland Pride Festival, June 27
All Things Holland Pride

CLASSES

Qigong & Tea! Tuesdays at 3pm, Friendship Hall

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Luncheon for Area Senior Citizens at St. Peter's Church
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: Laughing Matters

Some churches are known for their buildings, their steeples, even the size of their parking lots.
Some churches are known for their windows, their choirs, even their pipe organs. Some churches are known by the civic leaders, the business icons, the movers and shakers who worship there. I wonder if a church has even been known and recognized by its laughter? By its lightheartedness? By its casual, almost breezy disposition? I find that to be the case especially during Pride Month . . . in and around the church, and in and around the towns of Douglas and Saugatuck. Sunday, let's explore this and see if . . . Laughing Matters!

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:	521 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 14:
Tuesday: 4-8pm, Dan & Jody
Wednesday: 10-3pm, Jody & Dan
Thursday: 10:30-8pm, Dan & Jody

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.

New Member Reception, Sunday, June 21

New members will join in covenant with us on Sunday, June 21. Help us welcome them the way we do!

Annual Congregational Meeting
June 28, after Sunday Services

Join us this Sunday June 28, 2026 after the morning services for our Mid-Year Congregational Meeting. We will gather as a Congregation to review the year so far and plans moving forward. Please join us.

Douglas Socials are Back!
Looking for Volunteers...You Available?

Sign-up Sheet in the Friendship Hall
June 18 at the Saugatuck Douglas Library
July 16 at the History Center

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.
There is a sign up sheet in the Friendship Hall. Email Jody if you 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.

The Archives Team - Requests for Archives

The search is on!
The Archive Committee (Karen Clark and Betsy York) are looking for items that might belong in the church archive. Check your attics, basements, and old shoeboxes. Any important documents, artifacts, or other items that have historical or legal information will be accepted and later sorted.

Please label the outside of the box with a list of contents. Drop them off at IGC during Claire's office hours. The boxes can be left in the common room in the corner.
Thank you.

Photo by Chris Nguyen on Unsplash

Prayer Requests

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); 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 16: Marcy Weston, Marjorie Reiman
June 17: Elisabeth Mannancheril, Gordon Stannis
June 18: Kirsten Stannis

ANNIVERSARIES
June 14: Paul Lucas & Steve McFadden
June 16: Susan & Lee Sorg
June19: Kirsten & Gordon Stannis

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

June 7 In-Person Attendance : 8:15 = 37, 10:15 = 85
June 7 Total Views for worship videos: 96

Weekly Offerings: $3,547
Weekly Budget: $4,615
Weekly to Budget: -$1,067

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

Last Weeks Service: Pride Sunday
My Story by Greggie Gerrans

Last Sunday for Pride Month, church member Greg Gerrans shared a personal reflection about faith, family, and the unexpected paths that lead us home. Through stories spanning childhood, spirituality, love, adoption, and parenthood, Greg reflected 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.
Watch the full Service or Greggie's Story. As we continue to celebrate Pride Month and hear a story of faith, family, resilience, and the many ways God shows up in our lives.

FULL SERVICE

GREGGIE'S STORY

Church Calendar

Photo by Samuel Regan on Unsplash

EXPLORE THE CALENDAR

THANK YOUs

Grateful for the Many Pride Volunteers!

Thank you to all the Volunteers who helped support the DUCC's Pride Booth, and the Trans Flag Sanctuary. You're the best!

Special Thanks to Peter Black for Organizing the Community Sing!

Thanks to Peter Black for organizing the Community Sing at the Saugatuck Women's Club! Thanks also to Laurie Donaldson, Nancy Plantinga, and Jeff Spangler for their talent, time & energy to make the event a smashing success!!

UNIITED CHURCH OF CHRIST NEWS

Grand West Association Prayer Circle

Photo by Wu Yi 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!!

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.

Looking for Booth People for Holland Pride in the Park, June 27

HOLLAND PRIDE WILL BE LOCATED AT BEAUTIFUL KOLLEN PARK!
240 Kollen Park Drive, Holland, MI

And Douglas UCC will be there! So! We need Pride Booth Volunteers for:

loading & transportation
set-up
booth representatives
tear-down and return to Douglas

Sign-up sheet in the Friendship Hall. Email Pastor Jody with questions.

JODY'S EMAIL

HOLLAND PRIDE INFO

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

Luncheon for Area Senior Citizens

Photo by DJ Paine on Unsplash

Luncheon for Area Senior Citizens
Thursday, June 18 at 12 Noon
St. Peter's Church, 163 St. Peter's Dr., Douglas
Cost: $7 per person
Great Food - Great Fellowship!
On the menu:
Grilled Chicken, Cheesy Grits, Baked Beans, Pasta Salad, and Biscuits.

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 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