Weekly E-Pistle: Sixth Sunday of Easter

5/20/2022

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

This Sunday's Service Notes — Sixth Sunday of Easter: "Divine Healing"
Last Week's Service Video — Fifth Sunday of Easter: "A New Commandment"
DUCC Welcomes harpist Joan Donaldson this Sunday's Service
Cards for Prisoners: 70 x 7 Visits on Sunday
Hazardous Household Waste Day, May 24
Soul Collage Workshop with Rev. Ruth Zwald, June 11, 1 PM
Community Pride - June 1 thru 5
Annual Congregational Meeting, June 26, 11:30 AM
Qigong Classes, Wednesdays, 11:30 AM
Minutes and Reports
Birthdays & Anniversaries, Prayer Requests, and Financial Stewardship

This Sunday's Service: "Divine Healing"

The gospel reading (John 5:1-9) from the lectionary for the Sixth Sunday of Easter is all about the miraculous healing of the man at the Pool of Bethesda. Are there really such miraculous places of healing?

Join us this Sunday at 10 AM (either in-person or streaming live online) as we explore the healing miracles in the gospels, and how we can, too, can experience "Divine Healing" in our own lives today. Message: Pastor Sal. Music: Peter Black, Stan Greene, and harpist, Joan Donaldson

Download This Sunday's Online Bulletin:

order_of_service_may_22_2022.pdf
File Size:	896 kb
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Last Week's Service

In the gospel reading from the lectionary for the 5th Sunday of Easter, Jesus gives us a new commandment: "Love One Another." All of the other commandments, he said, can be summed up in this one new commandment. Please enjoy last Sunday's service, when we learned how to love one another in a world so divided. Message: Pastor Sal. Music: Bob Ruddy, Jeff Spangler, and Nancy Plantinga

Click here to read, listen to, watch, and share Pastor Sal's homily.

DUCC Welcomes Harpist Joan Donaldson
to this Sunday's Service

This Sunday, Joan Donaldson, local author, farmer, freelance writer and musician from Fennville (the soul behind the beautiful poppy field), will make music from her harp. Joan lives on an organic fruit farm with her husband,z John. When not writing or working on the farm, she gardens, makes quilts, and plays traditional Irish and Scottish fiddle tunes on her harps.

Cards for Prisoners

This Sunday, we welcome Paula Creswell from 70x7 Ministries who will be speaking with us after the service in the Friendship Hall about the "Cards for Prisoners" program and how you can become a pen pal. You can learn more: Cards for Prisoners

Hazardous Household Waste Day, May 24

The Annual Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) collection event will be held for residents of the City of Saugatuck, the City of Douglas, and Saugatuck Township on May 24 from 3 to 7pm at the City of Saugatuck Department of Public Works Building, 3338 Blue Star Hwy. 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, the City of Douglas, Saugatuck Township, the Saugatuck Township Fire Department, and numerous private donors.

Download the guidance sheet below for drop-off instructions and a list of eligible and ineligible items, and items that require fees. Residents MUST have an appointment to drop off HHW items.

At this time Styrofoam cannot be dropped off, but the HHW team expects to have a date in June when Styrofoam can be accepted. Watch this space for news!

Sign up to participate at https://bit.ly/nohazards

Meanwhile, volunteers are needed on the day of the collection. If you can help serve on that day, sign up at https://bit.ly/wasted22

hhwdayeventguidancesheetspring04102022.pdf
File Size:	315 kb
File Type:	pdf

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Soul Collage Workshop with Rev. Ruth Zwald, June 11, 1 PM

Our friend and spiritual teacher Ruth Zwald will be leading a Soul Collage workshop in the Friendship Hall on Saturday, June 11, from 1 to 4pm. If you're interested, register with Ruth at her email adress above.

Community Pride - June 1 thru 5

Douglas UCC is proud to be a "Silver Sponsor" of the upcoming Community Pride Event in Saugatuck/Douglas from June 1 thru 5. Each day, there were will a series of fun and informative events around town (see poster above) in which we hope you will take part. Our church will have a booth at the "Pride in the Park" event on June 4 at Berry Field.

Annual Congregational Meeting,
June 26, 11:30 AM

Photo by Rineshkumar Ghirao on Unsplash

Our Annual Church Business Meeting will be held on Sunday, June 26, at 11:30 AM in the Friendship Hall and online via Zoom. Our Church Council and Financial Oversight Committee will be giving us updates, and we’ll be approving the new church budget for the upcoming fiscal year. All church members are strongly encouraged to attend. If you’ll be joining the meeting from home, please be sure to email Julie Ridl ([email protected]) to receive the Zoom link. You can email Julie to request a copy of the budget for review, and click below to download a copy of last year's meeting minutes, which will be approved at the start of this year's meeting.

june_2021_annual_congregational_meeting_minutes.docx.pdf
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Qigong Classes, Wednesdays, 11:30 AM

Photo by Sajad Nori on Unsplash

Dear Friends,
I am excited to be offering Qigong in Douglas again this year. We will meet for the first time on Wednesday May 11 at 11:30 am. (Please note the day and time change) and will be meeting this year on the Retreat House lawn. We will gather throughout the summer months on Wednesdays unless the weather is rainy. The class is generally about 50 minutes long.

For those of you who are new to this practice, Qigong is a very simple but deep practice of movement, meditation, visualization and breathing techniques. Similar to Tai Chi, Qigong is rooted in Chinese Medicine and Martial Arts Practice. Different than Tai Chi in that you don’t have to memorize any forms! It is great for cultivating Self and Body Awareness, Stability, Balance, Ease of Movement and Joy and Peace! It is a very accessible practice for everyone.

As last year, I am offering the class on a donation basis but am requesting that you give a minimum of $5 in order to keep it sustainable. Many thanks to the church for supporting this class, and I am looking forward to seeing last year’s students again and welcome anyone to come try it out.

Please feel free to contact me if you have further questions
Kat VanHammen [email protected]

Minutes and Reports

approved_church_council_minutes_april_2022.pdf
File Size:	195 kb
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pastors_report_may_2022.pdf
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Birthdays & Anniversaries

May 22- Mark Zancanaro, 24- Ron Beisel, 28- Kessie Karg

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

The Hotwagner Family; Fritz Royce; David Zylstra (Laurie VandenBeldt's friend); Elinor Hite (Virginia Stuart's sister); Michael Mok and friends and family of Paul Murphy; Wendy Hamlin; Roye McDonald; Michele Turner and Family; Judy Baxter (Kristine Sherman's Mother); Joann DeJonge; Richard and Joanna Weber's grandson Mattox (friends of the Ridls); Paul Burdick; Al Overweg; Beverly Willming (John Willming's mother); Jay North (friend of Dan Pierce); Hannah Sherman; Maureen Pierce; Ron Turks (Carol Cunningham's son-in-law); David Abbot; Sarah Johnson Lock; Linda Masten (Mark Reiman's friend); Vicki Latham (Ruth VandenBosch's cousin); Cole Hartman; Mike Sneedon (Peg and Jack Donohue's friend); Tim Reineck, Matt Brazys, Suzanne Cook, and Ken Cassbon (friends of Pete Wehle and Pamela Chappell); Richie Czarnowski (Mark Reiman's friend); Dale Lower; Sherri Kanten (Ruth VandenBosch's friend); Michael (a friend of Dan Mack's); Chris Stuart (Virginia Stuart's sister-in-law); Mary Elizabeth Loudin (friend of Laurie VandenBeldt); Chris Robinson (Peter and Kathleen Mueller's nephew); Daniel Ver Meulen (Susan Fleming's son); Marcia Sullivan (Jo Cooley's friend)

Financial Stewardship

In-Person Attendance, May 15: 98
Livestream Attendance: 52
Total Views for May 15 Online Videos: 920

Collection Plate & Mailed Donations: $1,268.52
Online Giving: $1,730.01

Total: $2,998.53

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.