Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Photo by Ryk Porras on Unsplash

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

• This Week's Service: Seventh Sunday after Pentecost: Who Are Teachers Today?
• Last Week's Service: Sixth Sunday after Pentecost: Pride Sunday!
• Rev. Jody's Office Hours for the Week of July 8
• Thank you for a beautiful Pride Month
• Meet Our New DUCC Campus Fixer! 
  
• Mediation Services -- Facilitators Needed
• Spiritual Center Presents: Iconography, The Gospel of Light and Color, July 7
• Caring for the Congregation? July 12
• New Date for next Feast for the Soul, July 17
• Come Meet the Creation Justice Team, June 22
• DUCC Block Party, After Church, August 4! Can You help?
• Woman's Club Mini-Golf Tickets for Scholarships
• Tickets are On Sale: West Shore Aware Funder Derby Downs, August 17
• ​Prayer Requests
• Birthdays & Anniversaries
• Grant Proposals, Stewardship Drive & Financial Stewardship

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Seventh Sunday after Pentecost:
​Who Are Teachers Today?

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez □□ on Unsplash

What criteria do we use to determine whether someone might be a source of wisdom? Must they look or talk a certain way? Do they need to have degrees after their names or titles before them? Do they need to be human beings? What assumptions do we make based on where someone is from or what they look like?  Where are we blind to see the truth? Who can teach us?  Remember in your life a turning point when someone completely unexpected taught you something. What was that like?  We'll explore this truth this week with 3 stories: a shepherd boy becomes king, one of the greatest evangelists of all time has a "thorn in the flesh," and Jesus is not welcome in his hometown. 

Message: Rev. Jody Betten, Music: Peter Black, Jeff Spangler, Pamela Chappell
Join us Sunday at 10am in church, or on our YouTube channel live, or recorded here.

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​Last Week's Service: Sixth Sunday after Pentecost: Pride Sunday! 

What does the Bible say about same sex or same gender loving relationships? How do we understand what some call the "clobber" texts? Do we have to ignore the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, which are a grounding for our understanding of faith and the Holy, in order to affirm our queer friends and family?  Please enjoy last Sunday's service, when we explored these questions. (A sneak peek at the answer: We celebrated all gender identities and expressions, and all sexual orientations! )

Message: Rev. Jody Betten, Music: Peter Black, Jeff Spangler, Lauri Donaldson

Here's the Homily!

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Rev. Jody's Office Hours for the Week of July 8 

​
Rev Jody's office hours
for week of July 8:

Tuesday, 1pm - 8pm
Friday, 8am - 3pm

and for Week of July 15:

Tuesday, Noon - 8pm (Council Meets)
Friday, 10am - 5pm. ​

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Thank you for a Beautiful Pride Month 

Thanks to all the service volunteers and Sanctuary design volunteers, and everyone behind the scenes who make June the profound month it is here at DUCC. Another great Pride Month in the books. Special thanks to Pastor Jody, who encouraged us to celebrate all month long. This past Sunday we closed the month with a beautiful Litany of Inegration and Guidance. So many people have asked for a copy they can share. And here it is:

litany_of_integration_and_guidance_--__pride_sunday_2024.pdf
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Meet Our New DUCC Campus Fixer! 

Clearly, it will take two people to replace Kelly Wright as Trustee/Campus Steward! Kathleen Mueller will handle the project management for maintenance projects on campus, while Nick Jurries, pictured here, will be our completing much of the work.

Please say 'Hi', if you see him around our campus! Welcome, Nick!

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Mediation Services -- Facilitators Needed 

Our church member Pat Denner shares this opportunity to serve our community by helping young people who are involved with the Allegan County court system find a better way forward, and engage with schools more successfully.

Mediation Services will be offering Restorative Circles practices to our communities, and to accomplish this, they need Restorative Circles Facilitators. They are offering to train anyone who is interested in serving kids and communities in this way.

You do not need to have any experience working with young people to become a facilitator.
Volunteers will support the building of relationships, but will not be developing a relationship themselves with the youth.

This three-day interactive training promises to be a gratifying experience. See the flyer, above for details. Or download a printable copy, below.

Once people are trained, Mediation Services will ask facilitators to commit to volunteering six hours a month.

Mediation Services will offer this training again in September.

Got questions? Use the contact info above to get answers.

best_restorative_training_july_2024.pdf
File Size:	457 kb
File Type:	pdf

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Spiritual Center Presents: Iconography, The Gospel of Light and Color, July 7 

Photo by Torsten Dederichs on Unsplash

For July, Our Spiritual Center Faculty is offering:

Iconography, the Gospel in Light and Color: Exploring the Orthodox Use of Icons in Worship and Meditation, on

Sunday, July 7,  11:30am - 1:00

Facilitated by Rev. Linda Knieriemen

An introduction to an ancient sacred art form, sometimes experienced as a “window into heaven,” which can inspire and enrich our connection with the Divine. 

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Caring for the Congregation? July 12 

Photo by Rod Long on Unsplash

Are you a carer? Do you see needs that can be filled in our church community? Please join us on Friday, July 12, at 8:30am in the Friendship Hall for an open conversation about what caring for our community members might look like at DUCC!  

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New Date for next Feast for the Soul, July 17 

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

July 17 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.

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Come Meet the Creation Justice Team, June 22

The Douglas UCC Creation Justice (Environmental Justice) Team would like to invite anyone interested in environmental protection and greener practices to join our next team meeting. You don't need to be a church member to participate and help us come up with ways to inspire our communities toward greater protections. 

Monthly meetings are on the 4th Monday of the month. 

Our our next meeting is July 22 @ 5:30.

Also, the CJT has a small collection of books on Creation Justice on the book shelf at the back wall in the friendship hall.  Feel free to borrow a book or add to our collection.

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DUCC Block Party, After Church, August 4!  
Can You help? 

As our Church Moderator, Mark Johnston, announced during our Congregational Meeting, Council has decided to thank our supportive community by  throwing a party (or two! or three!). Beginning with a Summer Block Party after church on August 4. The whole block party theme, including bouncy house and dunk tank and face painting and games and contests and free food for the people!

If you can help with the party planning, participate as a party person, pop a note to Moderator Mark.
​

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​Woman's Club Mini-Golf Tickets for Scholarships 

Photo by Vasily Koloda on Unsplash

The Saugatuck Woman’s Club is raising funds for scholarships for area students. And next up is the much-anticipated Mini Golf Fundraiser!  The owners of Saugatuck Mini Golf are offering special tickets for $20 each, that are usable all summer long. These tickets allow the Woman's Club to add $15 for each ticket sold to their fund. Connect with Lynne Snyder to support local students through the purchase of these tickets. She will have the special tickets with her every Sunday at church, or give her a call to arrange a pick-up. A great gift for visiting friends and family members over the summer!

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Tickets are On Sale: West Shore Aware Funder Derby Downs, August 17 

Get Your Tickets Here»»

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​Prayer Requests 

Ann and Jim Hopkins; Sally LaRowe (Linda Charvat's friend); Janice Campbell children & grandchildren (Pete Wehle's friends); Rich and Linda Marth and the Marth Family; Tim Mikita (Ginny Mikita's Father); 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; 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)

Prayers for all in the military and their families; all who are homeless or addicted or abused or neglected or rejected or hungry; The UCC; the Grand West Association; our Church Council; our Stephen Ministers; for our Pastoral Search Team, our Church Transition Team, our church committees; our communities, our schools, our nation and our planet

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Birthdays & Anniversaries 

Birthdays:  July 7- Dick Lucier, 10- Jim Kern, David Van Dyke, 12- John McDonald
Anniversaries: 7- Patrice & Stan Greene, 9- Beverly & Orie Hawkes, 12- Christine & Paul Kerney

​​​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.

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Grant Proposals

Photo by Michele Henderson on UnSplash.

​Our Grant Proposal team together with Church Council  have granted ARC of Allegan County $5,000 for their programming. Arc Allegan advocates for the inclusion and dignity of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities throughout Allegan County. ​You can learn more about them here.

Organizations that wish to apply to Douglas UCC for funding consideration can download and fill out this Grant Request form, below, and mail it to: DUCC Grant Proposal Team, PO Box 519, Douglas, MI 49406.

ducc_6_2022_grant_application.pdf
File Size:	79 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

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Stewardship Drive 

Stewardship Drive Giving Week ending June 30:
Pledges to Date = $228,800.00
Pledge Fulfillment to date = $138,077​
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:

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Financial Stewardship

In-Person Attendance, June 30: 87
​Total Views for June 30 worship videos: 264
June Podcast Total Downloads: 3,618

​Collection Plate & Mailed Donations: $8,145
Online Giving: $902.80
Total, General Support: $9,047.80
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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.