Weekly E-Pistle: 16th Sunday after Pentecost

9/15/2023

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

This Sunday's Service — 16th Sunday after Pentecost: "The Power of Forgiveness"
Last Sunday's Service --15th Sunday after Pentecost: "Gathered in Love"
The Spirit is Willing! Spiritual Center Classes are Under Way...
CJT and Alliance of the Great Lakes September 16 Beach Cleanup 9am to Noon!
Heads' Up! Membership Directory Update -- Submit Changes by Sept 16, please!
September 24 Campus Stewardship Meeting
Annual Household Hazardous Waste Dropoff! September 26
Save the Date: 2023 Blessing of the Animals, October 1
Planning the Creation Justice Season -- Can You Help?
Harvest Moon Service, October 1 -- the Pie Tasting Contest!
Walkers on Deck! Fundraising for October 8 Crop Walk!
Sylvia's Place Fall Festival, October 12
"A Little Comedy: A Little Mystery," Women's Club Funder, October 13 & 14
Minutes & Reports
Birthdays & Anniversaries, Prayer Requests, and Financial Stewardship

This Sunday's Service: "The Power of Forgiveness"

In the gospel reading for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost, Peter asks Jesus how often he needs to forgive someone who has wronged him. "As much as seven times?" Peter asks. Jesus replies, "Not seven times, but seventy times seven times."

If someone has hurt us deeply, this might seem an almost impossible assignment, but Jesus knew we must forgive if we are to have peace and harmony.

Join us this Sunday at 10 AM (either in person or streaming live online) as we explore the "Power of Forgiveness." Message: Pastor Sal Sapienza. Music: Peter Black

Download this Sunday's Online Bulletin:

order_of_service_september_17_2023.pdf
File Size:	918 kb
File Type:	pdf

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Last Sunday's Service--15th Sunday after Pentecost: "Gathered in Love"

In the gospel reading for the 15th Sunday after Pentecost, Jesus tells his disciples, "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." Gathered together in love, we become one body in Christ. We hope you enjoy last Sunday's Service, when we explored Jesus's greatest commandment: "to love God and to love one another." Message: Pastor Sal Sapienza. Music: Peter Black and Jeff Spangler

Here's the Homily!

The Spirit is Willing!
Spiritual Center Classes are Under Way...

Our new Spiritual Center classes are underway, with a full roster in every offering. Stay tuned for more classes and opportunities as they are scheduled! Meanwhile, enjoy this photo of spirit-fed church members!

CJT and Alliance of the Great Lakes September 16 Beach Cleanup 9am to Noon!

Our job is... Beach! (That's a Barbie Movie joke, folks...) Well, Beach is everyone's job, to help clean up our shorelines and keep garbage out of the Great Lakes. On Saturday, September 16, beginning at 9am, our Creation Justice Team will be happy to greet you, your family, your friends, to help us clean the stretch of beaches from Oval to Douglas. We will collect all the garbage we find, weigh, and report it to the Alliance for the Great Lakes, who is sponsoring shoreline cleaning all around the Great Lakes that day. Be part of something big and something very, very good. If you have plastic buckets, do bring them. They are perfect for gathering quickly. And thank you for loving our shoreline!

Heads' Up! Membership Directory Update -- Submit Changes by Sept 16, please!

Hi folks! We are busy updating information so that we can produce printed and electronic directories by the end of the month. So if you want to make changes -- information, new photos, etc., your deadline for sharing that new information is end of day Saturday, September 16. If you want a new photo, but don't have one to share, you can stop into the office on Friday, and Julie will gladly take one for you. The new directory offers square-format images. Please send along your changes to Julie at her church email address, julie@douglasucc.org!

September 24 Campus Stewardship Meeting

Our Church Council is busy setting campus stewardship goals -- a project list for strengthening, securing, and updating our campus buildings, along with a plan for funding these projects. After church and coffee, at 11:30 am on September 24, our Church Council will hold a special Campus Stewardship Meeting in the Friendship Hall. We will be reviewing and voting on this plan, and all church members are encouraged to attend! We will provide Zoom access if we have members interested in participating in this way. Please let church admin Julie Ridl know as soon as possible if you require Zoom to participate.

Annual Household Hazardous Waste Dropoff! September 26

The Annual Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) collection event will be held for all Tri-Community (City of Saugatuck, the City of Douglas, and Saugatuck Township) residents on Tuesday, September 26 from 3:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. at the City of Saugatuck Department of Public Works Building (3338 Bluestar Highway). This community service is made possible through the Tri-Community Recycling Committee and generous support from the Rotary Club of Saugatuck/Douglas, the City of Saugatuck, Saugatuck Township, KLSWA, and the Saugatuck Township Fire Department. Find all the helpful information about what will be accepted and where at the links below. You must sign up for a drop-off time so the committee can plan their day!

Here are the links for HHW Day
1. sign up to drop off https://bit.ly/HHWDay2023
2. sign up to volunteer https://bit.ly/HHWDay2023Vol

Save the Date: 2023 Blessing of the Animals, October 1

The Blessing of the Animals is coming up! Mark your calendars for Sunday, October 1 at 2pm. Bring along your animal friends who do well in a crowd. Or bring photos of your animals who feel safest at home. The service will be led by Pastor Sal and Rev. Ginny Mikita and sponsored by our dear friends at Lakeshore Pet Boutique.

Planning the Creation Justice Season -- Can You Help?

The Creation Justice Team is organizing the first of four seasonal services for October 1. The theme is "Harvest Moon" and the goal is to highlight issues related to food, such as local sourcing, packaging, growing your own, and protecting crops. We're looking for a small group of people to help decide which areas to focus on and then do things like choose music, prayers, and readings. If you're interested in helping, please contact Chris Clark

Harvest Moon Service, October 1 -- the Pie Tasting Contest!

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

A Harvest Moon Pie Tasting? Yes, please! The farm fields that embrace our region yield their bounty for... pie! All Douglas UCC bakers are invited by our Creation Justice Team and our dear members, Dennis Konarski and Joyce Wright, to yield up their finest pie creations for a tasting competition after the Harvest Moon Service on Sunday, October 1, during the fellowship hour. If you'd like to participate in this bake-off, contact Dennis Konarski by phone at 313-377-5819, dennis@hfcc.edu, or Joyce Wright at 616-550-4021, jwright2669@gmail.com. For the rest of us... come to church hungry. Prize Ribbons are waiting for our votes.

Walkers on Deck! Fundraising for October 8 Crop Walk!

CROP Hunger Walks raise funds to end hunger here in Southwest Michigan and around the world. Our local walk on October 8 is one of the thousands that take place around the country. If you would like to be a walker-fundraiser on the DUCC team, please contact Mike Mok by email and/or sign up online right here:
https://events.crophungerwalk.org/2023/team/douglas-ucc

Sylvia's Place Fall Festival, October 12

Sylvia's Place offers survivors of domestic violence a safe place to seek shelter along with food, clothing, hygiene products. They help survivors heal with safety planning, domestic violence education, counseling, and support, providing case management, legal advocacy, personal protection orders, and court accompaniment, and help restarting their lives.

Each year, Sylvia's Place holds their fundraising Fall Festival. There are many ways to support them, and you can learn all about it right here...

Fall Festival Sponsorship and Tickets

"A Little Comedy: A Little Mystery," Women's Club Funder, October 13 & 14

Once upon a time, not so VERY long ago, the comedies and mysteries we loved arrived in our living rooms through an object we called a radio. It's true! The Friends of the Saugatuck Women's Club will be raising funds for area scholarships by revisiting yesteryear on October 13 and 14, with "A Little Comedy; A Little Mystery," at the Saugatuck Woman's Club, Hoffman at Butler Street in Saugatuck. Featuring our very own church members, Peter Black and Lauri Donaldson. Admission is $20. Our beloved Lynne Snyder will be selling tickets after church services. Call 269-857-2613 for more information. Refreshments will be provided at the performance!

Minutes & Reports

Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash

pastors_report_september_2023__1_.pdf
File Size:	121 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

approved_church_council_minutes_aug_2023__1_.pdf
File Size:	72 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

Birthdays & Anniversaries

September 19- Duce Sims, Matthew Blasco, Mark Johnston & Jeremy Lund,
21- Barbara Lucier, 22- Laurie VanDenBeldt

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.

Prayer Requests

Richard Mead (friend of Tom Fahlstrom); Ruth Fahlstrom (daughter of Tom Fahlstrom); Ann Hopkins, Pamela Chappell & Pete Wehle; Dan Pierce; Ruth VandenBosch; Mary Browning; Nancy Grib (Friend of Pamela Chappell); Stuart Family; Charlene Burdick (Paul Burdick's Mother); Diane Carr; Myron (Wendy Hamlin's grandson, Fred Hamilin's great-grandson); Betsy York; Mary Westenbroek; Brian Aikens; Jerry Elpers and family (Beth Howley's Dad); Edie Plantinga (Nancy Plantinga's mother); Joyce Potts (Ed Korson's Friend); Max Matteson; Eric Cooley (Jo Cooley's brother); Nicole and John (Wendy Hamlin's daughter-in-law and son)

Financial Stewardship

In-Person Attendance September 10: 95
Total Views for September 10 Online Videos: 550

Collection Plate & Mailed Donations: $4,125.00
Online Giving: $3,639.15
Total: $7,764.15

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, or sharing through the donate buttons on
Facebook or Instagram, or at our website.