Sixth Sunday of Easter

5/22/2025

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

BEING THE CHURCH

This Week's Service: Ascension Blessings
Last Week's Service: How to Hope
Jody and Dan's Office Hours This Week
Media Mavens! AV Team Wants YOU!
UCC's Lily Grant for Intergenerational Services -- Let's Explore This!
Back in Reno Business
Prayer Requests
Birthdays & Anniversaries This Week
Financial Stewardship
Church Calendar

VOLUNTEERING & GIVING

Last Week for Our Cereal Drive -- Let No Kid Go Hungry This Summer
What We Learned at Republic Recycling
Our New Memorial Garden Keepers!

CLASSES

Qigong is back! Tuesdays at 3pm, Retreat House Lawn
A Bit of Room Left in Jack Ridl's Memoir Class

PRIDE

Sign Up Today: Pride Booth Volunteers!
Archiving Lesbian History: From Sports to Music, June 4
Pride Event: ACLU Legal Update and Funder, Kirby Hotel, June 5
Dana Nessell: Pride with Your Coffee? June 17, IGC
All the Events in Saugatuck-Douglas
All the Events in Holland.

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Standing Up Like a Samaritan! Local Events.
Lakeshore Community Chorus Concert, May 31 & June 1

BEING THE CHURCH

This Week's Service: Ascension Blessings

Photo by Samuel Bauman on Unsplash

Says Pastor Dan: In more than thirty years of standing in pulpits on Sunday mornings, I’ve preached about the ascension of Jesus exactly once. It didn’t go particularly well, as I remember. Ascension Day always falls on a Thursday, exactly forty days after Easter Sunday. The account of the ascension can be found in the last chapter of Luke’s gospel and in the first chapter of the book of Acts. Mentioning it twice doesn’t help us understand it any better. The disciples didn’t seem to get it either, at least not immediately. They went home scratching their heads. Here’s my take: I don’t care if the ascension story was an actual fact or fake news. Either way there’s a lesson here. What Jesus was able to do when his feet were on the ground: heal the broken-hearted, feed the hungry, offer forgiveness, and much more, we as well are able to do because his message, his cause, the essence of who he was is very much alive. So, Happy Ascension Day!

Please join us on Sunday at 10am in our Sanctuary, or online, live on our YouTube channel.
Message: Rev. Jody Betten
Music: Peter Black, Jeff Spangler, Lauri Donaldson
You will always find our latest church bulletin and service music at Bit.ly/DUCCBulletin

online_bulletin_may_25_2025.pdf
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Last Week's Service: How to Hope

The theme of our ancient text last week: God is always making all things new. The death of one thing can lead to the new life of another. In our time living on this planet, and as we make the transition to the next life. The book of Revelation, while containing difficult to understand images, shares this theme of God making all things new. Here's last Sunday's message, carrying the Easter season truth : "Death is not the end, out of death comes new life."

Here's the Homily»»

Jody and Dan's Office Hours This Week

For the Week of May 26:

Tuesday: 4 to 8pm Jody and Dan
Thursday 10am to 3pm, Jody and Dan
Friday 10am to 3pm, Jody

For evening visits on those days, please call for an appointment.

*Reminder: if you need to see Dan or Jody, please make an appointment with them. Sometimes they are in Douglas but not at the office.

Please call to schedule an appointment:
Jody: 616-706-3549
Dan: 616-828-2293

Media Mavens! AV Team Wants YOU!

Photo by Galina Nelyubova on Unsplash

Got tech skill? We need you! We need one more person to staff the sound booth (Hey if the pastor can do it, you can! Ask Pastor Dan about his experience!), and one more person to handle the video camera. We will train you! Cool kids team! Super important! Once a month opportunities! Please contact Chris Clark or Lewis Corbin for more info. These people get the best seat in the house every Sunday!

UCC's Lily Grant for Intergenerational Services -- Let's Explore This!

The Michigan Conference of the UCC has received a Lilly Endowment Grant to explore Intergenerational Services in Churches. If you are interested in exploring this idea for DUCC or have questions, please let Pastor Jody know (text 616-706-3549) with name and "Yes to intergen service" or email her at [email protected]. Thank you!

Back in the Reno Business !!

After weeks of delay waiting for inspections and permits, progress is underway in the FH!

Prayer Requests

Tony & Stephanie (Wendy Hamlin's family); Maciek (Matt) Wozniak (Robert Fisher's partner); Family of Fred Hamlin; Elinor Hite (Virginia Stuart’s sister); Dave Lawson; Chris Warner (friend of Pete Wehle); Ken Rans (friend of Pete Wehle); Rich Marth; Christine Kerney; Nancy Plantinga and her family; Dan McGavin and Family of Carol Brown; Rev. Marchiene Rienstra Family; Ann and Jim Hopkins; James Higgins (friend of Shane Anderson and Michael Tuleja), Joe Scarpone (friend of Tom Fahlstrom); John Kerr; Ruth Fahlstrom (Tom Fahlstrom’s daughter); Mary Westenbroek; Jerry Elpers and family (Beth Howley's dad); Max Matteson; Eric Cooley (Jo Cooley's brother)

Birthdays & Anniversaries This Week

Birthdays: May 28- Kessie Karg, Dan Pierce
Anniversaries: 26- Kathy and Chadd Hartman

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.
Battling Power outage! Stay tuned!

Financial Stewardship

In-Person Attendance, May 18: 84
Total Views for May 18 worship videos: 101

Collection Plate & Mailed Donations: $$5,027.00
Online Giving: $3,387.92
Total, General Support: $8,414.92

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.

Church Calendar

Our Church calendar is online! Use it to look for space for your event, click on an event to get all the details, or copy an event to your own calendar software. So convenient!

When you have events to schedule anywhere on campus, scan the calendar for a spot, then contact [email protected] to make your reservation. Reservations are first come, first served. Email is best so she can keep track of requests.

To the Calendar»»

VOLUNTEERING & GIVING

Last Week for Our Cereal Drive!
Let No Kid Go Hungry This Summer

Photo by Etienne Girardet on Unsplash

ou'll find a cereal collection box in the foyer of the Friendship Hall during the month of May, as we collect cereal for Christian Neighbors and Ladders of Hope (two organizations we support at Douglas UCC). In partnership with the Allegan County Food Pantry Collaborative (ACFPC), our local food banks are collecting cereal throughout area communities to provide additional food for children during summer break.

Why? Because hunger doesn't take a summer vacation, and cereal is a nutritious, vitamin-rich food that needs no preparation, is easily stored, and is well-liked by children.

You are invited to drop off boxes of cereal in the foyer of the Friendship Hall.

What We Learned at Republic Recycling

A gang from our church went to Republic Waste, looking to learn more about what happens to our materials after it leaves our house. (KUDOS, Demetrhea, Betsy, Pete, Dave, Virginia, Karla, and Brad!

Here are their learnings in a nutshell:

Recycling that goes to Republic really gets recycled.
It’s okay to recycle cans with paper labels and paper envelopes with glassine.
They take ALL plastic regardless of number.
They have more capacity and want more people to recycle.
When you get a receipt and run your finger over it, if it turns black it is not recyclable.

Our New Memorial Garden Keepers!

KUDOS to Max Brown and Jeff Chinski, who have taken on the Memorial Garden caregiving for us. (Bit of a challenge just now, with the renovations going on.) If you can help them with the greater spring and autumn work, please let them know! And thanks to Stacy and Richard Bont for their many years of caregiving.

CLASSES

Qigong is back! Tuesdays at 3pm,
Retreat House Lawn

Once again Kat VanHammen will be offering Qigong at the backyard of the Retreat House on Tuesdays at 3pm. 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.

A Bit of Room Left in Jack Ridl's Memoir Class

Our church member Jack Ridl, retired Carnegie award-winning writing professor, is teaching two classes this summer at the Ox-Bow Art Campus. One is on writing your memoir/memories, and the other is a class to get you over anything that blocks your writing.

This year, Ox-Bow is offering a steep discount coupon for an Art on the Meadow class. So if you've never taken one of their classes, this is a good year to give it a try. To find details on Jack's classes, and that discount code, visit his website here...

Jack's June 21 Course is sold out, but there is still some room in his June 2 class.

Writing with Jack at Oxbow this Summer»»

PRIDE

Sign Up Today: Pride Booth Volunteers!

Community Pride month is in its final push of planning, and right along with it, our DUCC Pride Team. They are in search of folks to serve as our welcomers and representatives at our Community Pride event on Saturday, June 7. Signup sheet for booth shifts is in the IGC building. And the event calendar is up and ready for you to shake out your rainbow gear and make your plans to take pride in our PRIDE.

Archiving Lesbian History: From Sports to Music, June 4

Pride Event: ACLU Legal Update and Funder, Kirby Hotel, June 5

Featuring Jay Kaplan, the LGBT Staff Attorney from ACLU of Michigan. Attendees will gather to hear today's most pertinent issues, drawing from his extensive experience advocating for civil liberties, and at a time when many of those liberties are under attack. Cash bar and complementory hors d’oeuvres beginning at 5:30 PM, Jay at 6:00 PM followed by \fundraising dinner for the ACLU at 7:00PM in the dining room. The funder requires making a reservation for this event at Open Table.

All the Events in Saugatuck-Douglas

Hit the links for more and detailed pride events. It's almost time!

Local Saugatuck Douglas Pride events...
https://www.communitypridemi.org/#/

All the Pride Events in Holland

Our neighbor Holland celebrating Pride events...
https://www.outonthelakeshore.org/holland-pride

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Standing Up Like a Samaritan! Local Events

Image by Marcia Schrotenboer

Want to stand up for our democracy, but don't know what's happening, and when? From the team reading How To End Christian Nationalism comes encouragement to make your voice heard in our region.

They suggest signing up for the emails from the local Indivisible groups to stay on top of these opportunities. There are many, and their calendars are constantly updated. Got another source to include? Share it with Julie at the office.

Here's Saugatuck-Douglas Indivisible

And Here is Holland-Zeeland Indivisible

Lakeshore Community Chorus Concert, May 31 & June 1

A razzle dazzle of Broadway tunes from composers like Cole Porter, Steven Sondheim, and Rodgers and Hammerstein are currently in the works as the Lakeshore Community Chorus prepares for their spring concert, Saturday, May 31, 4 pm, and Sunday, June 1, 2 pm at First Congregational Church of Saugatuck, 296 Hoffman Street.

The chorus will sing about fascinating bosom buddies, who have loved and fought their way across the stage in Broadway musicals for decades. Celebrating friendship in word and song, they’ll share memories of friends we love, those who drive us crazy, and those we’ve lost.

Audience members are invited to submit tributes/shoutouts to best friends, old friends, and lost friends as they place their ticket orders through “BOSOM BUDDYGRAMS.” Tell your stories of enduring friendships and those that went awry, of birds-of-a-feather friends and unlikely matches as well. Share your thoughts on the importance of friendships in your life. Submitted stories/shoutouts to friends will be inserted in the concert program and posted as part of the décor for the concert.

Tickets for the BOSOM BUDDIES OF BROADWAY concerts and BOSOM BUDDYGRAMS are available through

https://lakeshorecommunitychorus.ludus.com/ Adults $20, Students $10. Buddygrams $5