Weekly E-Pistle: Fifth Sunday of Lent

3/26/2020

A Message from Pastor Sal

Sabbatical Homily:
Pam Chappell, Miracles & Mysteries

Peter Black's Service Music

Home Churching

online_bulletin_march_22_2020.pdf
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As we learn to live in our Stay Home, Stay Safe, Save Lives, we are also learning to create meaningful church experiences that work for as many people as possible. This website and
E-pistle are built to work well on smartphones and tablets and computers, so if you don't have WIFI, but do have a smart phone, we hope you can make it to online church through your cellular connection.

We heard you: You want a printable bulletin. So this week we have uploaded the bulletin (linked just above and here) for the March 22 -- this past Sunday -- service, including readings and home-made communion in what we hope is a handy and printable document.

The bulletin includes all the links you see above, including the music videos Peter Black has lovingly created (he spends hours and hours getting the lyrics timed to his piano track!) at his home so you can sing along to the hymns he chose for the service in our homes.

We hope you enjoy following along and feel your church with you, always.

On Sunday mornings, we are holding coffee hour in our Online Friendship Hall. This Sunday, March 29, Pastor Sal will join in our Online Friendship Hall at 10a.m. at this link:
https://zoom.us/j/953967901

If you follow that link now, you can get the Zoom app working on your phone, tablet, or computer early, and be ready for Sunday.

On Palm Sunday, April 5, Pastor Sal and the music team will be broadcasting a complete online church service, and we will gather in the Online Friendship Hall after the service. Watch next week's E-pistle for more news about that!

Good Reading for Right Now:
Dr. King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail

In a recent email, fellow congregant Stan Greene writes, "Earlier this week, I thought about a line from Dr. King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail, 'What else can one do ... other than write long letters, think long thoughts and pray long prayers?' That's a manifesto for these times."

He went on to say that he uses every opportunity to re-read this great piece of American liturgy and shared history, so resonant in this time -- recommended reading for times when we are forced to be quiet and are facing a tough path. Here are several ways to read or listen to it with fresh ears:

https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html

https://bit.ly/birminghamletteraudible

https://bit.ly/LetterBirminghamKindle

Some background: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_from_Birmingham_Jail

If you'd like to discuss this reading, bookclub-style, via Zoom, just write to Julie. We can make that happen.

Feeding the Gap

THE COORDINATED COMMUNITY RESPONSE TO FEED SCHOOL FAMILIES DURING THE COVID-19 SCHOOL CLOSURE.

Saugatuck Public Schools and Fennville Public Schools will make two meals a day available to all students during the State of Michigan mandated school closure.

Up to two meals a day are available for each student according to the schools’ regular meal service. A coalition of community partners, spearheaded by Children First Lakeshore and Community Church of Douglas, will provide supplemental meals distributed through the delivery routes of each school district. Beginning this week, both school districts will offer meal delivery along bus routes as well as at pick-up sites during the week.

Children First Lakeshore and partners will provide weekend and supplemental food also delivered by the school districts. The supplemental food is designed to feed students beyond the two meals the school districts are providing. The delivery schedules and pick-up information is different for each school district.

We are Working to Raise 120K to Feed the Gap!

Raised: $46,000
New Goal: $74,000

If you can help contribute to this cause, click here.
If you can volunteer to help feed the kids click here.

If you would like to send a paper check, send it here:
Children First Lakeshore, PO Box 980 Douglas, MI 49406
For more information email [email protected]

Stay Home. Stay Safe.

If you are in Michigan and have need of food, home heating or electricity, dial 211.
If you are in urgent need of medical assistance, dial 911.

Stay home. Stay safe. Save lives. To combat the spread of COVID-19 in Michigan, Governor Whitmer signed the “Stay Home, Stay Safe” executive order on March 25. For at least the next three weeks, all Michigan businesses and operations must temporarily suspend in-person operations that are not necessary to sustain or protect life, and all Michiganders must stay in their homes unless they’re a part of that critical infrastructure workforce, engaged in an outdoor activity, or performing tasks necessary to the health and safety of themselves or their family, like going to the hospital or grocery store.

YOU CAN:

Go to the grocery store or pick up take-out food.
Go to the pharmacy to pick up a needed prescription.
Engage in outdoor activities like walking, hiking, running, biking.
Go to the hospital or secure any care necessary to address a medical emergency or to preserve your health or the health of a loved one.
Fill your car with gas.
Return to Michigan to a home or place of residence from outside the State.
Leave the State for a home or residence elsewhere.
Walk your pets and take them to the veterinarian for needed medical care.

YOU MAY NOT:

Leave the home to work unless your employer designates you as a critical infrastructure worker.
Participate in any public gatherings.
Visit someone in the hospital, nursing home, or other residential care facilities (with limited exceptions).
Go to the mall or to restaurants.

BUSINESSES THAT REMAIN OPEN FOR IN-PERSON WORK MUST TAKE AGGRESSIVE STEPS TO MINIMIZE THE VIRUS’S SPREAD. THEY MUST:

Promote remote work to the fullest extent possible.
Restrict the number of workers present in-person on the job.
Keep employees at least six feet from one another to the maximum extent possible and enabling social distancing for customers who are standing in line.
Any other social distancing practices and mitigation measures recommended by the Centers for Disease Control.

Information around this outbreak is changing rapidly. The latest information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus.

For those who have questions about the state’s actions to mitigate the spread of coronavirus, please call the COVID-19 Hotline at 1-888-535-6136 between 8AM - 5PM daily.

One Great Hour of Sharing

One Great Hour of Sharing® is one of four special mission offerings of the United Church of Christ. This Lenten Offering supports the disaster, refugee, and development ministries of the UCC. The suggested offering date for the One Great Hour of Sharing offering is March 22, 2020, but since most of the UCC churches in this country won't be meeting on Sunday, please either click right here any time, to give securely online or mail your gift today to One Great Hour of Sharing - United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Avenue, Financial Services, 6th Floor, Cleveland, Ohio 44115. Thank you for caring for all of God's people.

February Church Council Minutes

church_council_minutes_february_2020.pdf
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Financial Stewardship

Collections by mail: $0,
Online Giving: $2,424.41
Total: $2,424.41
Thank you!!
Your generous giving allows us to sustain our church community and our mission of service. At this time, without our in-service collections, our church especially needs you to consider giving online, which is easily done by clicking ONLINE GIVING.
Or you may send checks by mail to:
Douglas Congregational United Church of Christ
56 Wall Street, PO Box 519
Douglas, MI 49406