Weekly E-pistle: Fifth Sunday of Easter

4/29/2021

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

This Sunday's Service Notes -- 5th Sunday of Easter: "The Vine and the Branches"
Last Week's Service Video -- 4th Sunday of Easter: "Following the Shepherd's Voice"
DUCC Supports the Tri-Community Recycling Committee Hazardous Waste Day!
True North Meetups begin May 5
Observe National Day of Prayer with Interfaith Action, May 6
Pride Care-A-Van Coming on June 5! Start Your Planning!
Lakeshore Community Chorus - Spring Concert, June 6
Radar Hill Hiking Club Celebrating National Trails Day, June 5
UCC Grand West Association Spring Meeting, May 2
Summerhouse Lavender Farm and Artz & Gardens Tour, May 8 & 9
Qigong Meetups Beginning Tuesdays in May, Location Changed
Friendship Hall News
Birthdays & Anniversaries, Prayer Requests, and Financial Stewardship

This Sunday's Service: "The Vine & the Branches"

In the gospel reading for the 5th Sunday of Easter, Jesus tells us that he is the vine and we are the branches. The Source of All Life flows through the vine and into the branches. The branches will not bear fruit if they are not connected to this Divine Flow. In our lives today, many of us block this flow with our negative thinking and thoughts of unworthiness. We have forgotten our connection to the Di-Vine. Please join us for our "Video Worship Service" this Sunday, as we do some spiritual pruning and allow more of the Good to flow into our lives. Message: Pastor Sal. Music: Peter Black and Elizabeth Estes.

Tune-in on Sunday at 10 AM via our Facebook page, YouTube channel, or here on our website.

Last Sunday's Worship Service Video:

In the gospel reading for the 4th Sunday of Easter, Jesus tells us that he is the Good Shepherd, and he instructs us to follow his voice. But, how do we hear this voice in our lives today? The UCC's motto is "God is Still Speaking," so how can we attune ourselves more fully to the Divine Voice? Here is our "Video Worship Service" for last Sunday, when we learned how to listen more closely to our inner G.P.S. (God Positioning System), the Divine Voice within which is always leading us to pastures of plenty where our souls can find rest. We also honored Earth Day and our commitment as a Creation Justice Church. Message: Pastor Sal. Music: Peter Black and Stan Greene.

Click here to read, listen to, watch, and share last week's homily.

DUCC Supports the Tri-Community Recycling Committee Hazardous Waste Day

On Earth Day, Pastor Sal presented a $2,500 check on behalf of the Douglas UCC church to
Garnet Lewis of the Saugatuck City Council and Jim Sullivan of the Rotary Club of Saugatuck-Douglas to support their efforts with the Household Hazardous Waste Day event on May 1.

True North Meetups begin May 5

Photo by Mariah Hewines on Unsplash

True North is a gathering of women and those who identify as being female. We will begin meeting in person next week on May 5 from 11 am until 12 noon on the lawn between 88 Spring Street and the Memorial Garden. Please bring a lawn chair and wear a mask. We will maintain a safe distance from each other. If the weather doesn't cooperate, those who are fully vaccinated can shift to the Friendship Hall.

Coming up:
May 5 – Betsy York will initiate a discussion on What is Your Biggest Fear.
May 19 – Pamela Chappell will present/facilitate on Intuition.

If you would like to be included on an email reminder, please email Karen Clark.

Observe National Day of Prayer with
Interfaith Action from Home, May 6

Given continuing pandemic cautions, Interfaith Action will not be holding an in-person service for National Day of Prayer on May 6th.

The attachment below provides prayers for reading at home on May 6th, National Day of Prayer, and also announces our 2021 Leader for the Common Good awardee, Michigan Senator Stephanie Chang. Please enjoy the interview with her, above.

national_day_of_prayer_resource_2021.pdf
File Size:	213 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

Pride Care-A-Van Coming! Start Your Planning!

Pastor Sal at last year's Community Pride event in front of our Douglas UCC Pride Van.

The annual Community Pride event is scheduled for Saturday, June 5, at noon. Like last year, this year's Pride event will be a "Care-a-Van" Car Parade from Douglas to Saugatuck. Decorate your car for Pride and join in the parade! Prizes will be given for best-decorated car!

The Pride Committee is also selling T-shirts for $25 apiece for sizes small to Extra large, and $30 for sizes 2X to 4X (please pre-order for smaller or larger sizes, deadline May 10). The color is Heather Blue. Ruth VandenBosch will manage the t-shirt sales and will have a total of 150 shirts available. For pre-orders, email Ruth at [email protected]. Small Pride flags (and snap-on car flags) are also available for sale.

Lakeshore Community Chorus: Spring Concert

Lakeshore Community Chorus is preparing their spring concert to premier online on Sunday, June 6, 2021 at 7 pm!! Follow them on their website or on Facebook for more information and links for tuning in!

5Radar Hill Hiking Club Celebrating
National Trails Day, June 5

Radar Hill Hiking Club is sponsoring local observance of National Trails Day in the Saugatuck-Douglas-Laketown area on Saturday, June 5, 2021. Our goals are to inform residents and visitors about local hiking trails, as well as advocate for trails and conservation. For more information, follow this link to the Radar Hill website.

UCC Grand West Association Spring Meeting

The Spring Meeting of the Grand West Association will be held on Sunday, May 2, 2021 at 3 PM via Zoom. All church members are invited this year. The keynote address will be given by the Rev. Dr. Michael Montgomery, professor at Chicago Theological Seminary, who will be speaking about “Church on the Other Side of the Pandemic.”

To register click here: https://bit.ly/3d3adZn

Summerhouse Lavender Farm Opens, May 8 & 9

Join our church members, Carol Brown and Dan McGavin, at the Opening Weekend of their Summerhouse Lavender Farm in Fennville on May 8 and 9. Church member, Mike VerMerris, and other local artists will be showing and selling their art. It's always a lovely celebration of Creation and Spring. We hope you can enjoy it!

Qigong Meetups Beginning Tuesdays in May, Location Changed

Photo by Monica Leonardi on Unsplash

,Church member, Gloria Larreau, has had such an outpouring of interest in the Qigong classes she has organized, that she has moved the class to the lawn behind the Retreat House, at the corner of Wall and Union in Douglas! The classes will be taught by Kat VanHammen and held Tuesdays at noon, beginning May 4. Classes are 50 minutes long. Donations accepted at the class. Dress comfortably.

This class combines Qigong (the underpinnings of Tai Chi), gentle yoga, and other movement practices to facilitate mindful awareness, stability, strength, and peace. Working with breath, movement, visualization, and meditation, we will explore both the physical and subtle workings of the BodyMind; calm and regulate the nervous system, and discover more of ourselves.

Friendship Hall News

Photo by Maya GM on Unsplash

Friendship Hall opened with prayers for Jonathan Sanford on the loss of his dog, Billy, his faithful friend of many years. Pastor Sal shared news of Pete Wehle's audio book, Hamid Bey...Mind over Mystery, narrated by Fred Stella, the outreach minister for the West Michigan Hindu Temple. Watch for Pete's book going up for sale at the Coptic Center's website! Jeff Spangler gave us a behind-the-scenes report on the Lakeshore Community Chorus, working hard on their Virtual Spring Concert. See the story above for details. We celebrated Curtis Coffin (brother of church member Marty Coffin) coming off the prayer list. We offered up prayers and love for Dale Lower and Ted Sommer, as doctors continue to work at stabilizing Dale's condition and easing his pain. Garnet Lewis joined us to call for a few more volunteers for managing the Hazardous Waste Cleanup Day (volunteers will be rewarded with hats! shirts! Lunch at Isabel's!) Here is the signup link for volunteering at the recycling event:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409084fada92babfd0-hhwday The Tri-Community Recycling Committee had a great turnout for the pop-up composting event with Jim Yost! And Demetrhea Terrien encouraged us to check out video of the composting event at the Tri-Community Recycling Committee's Facebook page here.

Birthdays & Anniversaries

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

May 6- Luke Brunett; 7- Cathy North

Birthday and Anniversary cards are a great way we can continue to reach out to one another during this time. If you wish to mail a card to one of our church members, addresses can be found in our Church Directory. If you don't have a directory, please let us know, and we will email one to you.

Prayer Requests

Shannon Connell; Dennis Konarski; Mike Sneedon (Peg and Jack Donohue's friend); John Leon (Marjorie Reiman's uncle); Marjorie Reiman; Pamela Chappell; Sandy Feldman; Tim Reineck, Matt Brazys, Suzanne Cook, and Ken Cassbon (friends of Pete Wehle and Pamela Chappell); Ronald Konarski; Richie Czarnowski (Mark Reiman's friend); Dale Lower; Sherri Kanten (Ruth VandenBosch's friend); Michael (a friend of Dan Mack's); Myron (Wendy Hamlin's grandson, Fred Hamilin's great-grandson); Chris Stuart (Virginia Stuart's sister-in-law); Darren Dixon (Beverly and Orie Hawkes' nephew); Mary Elizabeth Loudin (friend of Laurie VandenBeldt); Char Clausing (Nancy Plantinga's cousin); Chris Robinson (Peter and Kathleen Mueller's nephew); Gregg Kirchen (Sheryll and Greg VanPortfleet's friend); Daniel Ver Meulen (Susan Fleming's son); Marcia Sullivan (Jo Cooley's friend); Len Lynch (Kathleen Mueller's brother).

Financial Stewardship

April 25, 2021

Viewers for April 25 Online Service Videos: 730

Online Donations:  $3,162.71
Retreat House Use:  $225.00

Total:  $3,387.71

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.