April 19 & 20 Wayfinding:

The Soul-Tasks of Aging,

Toward A Theology and Spirituality of the Elder Years.



Our monthly Wayfinding retreats in April, occurring on Wednesday from 9:30-11:15 and Thursday 4pm ZOOM call will focus on:

“The Resurrection and Life After Death: de and re-constructing faith in afterlife.” Come with your beliefs, doubts, hopes, stories and wonders. We will suspend our disbelief together and strengthen our faith and hope.

Topic: Wayfinding ZOOM

Time: Apr 20, 2023 04:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

    Every month on the Third Thu, until Jun 15, 2023, 3 occurrence(s)

    Apr 20, 2023 04:00 PM

    May 18, 2023 04:00 PM

    Jun 15, 2023 04:00 PM

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86199874033?pwd=bFY3ZFc2OENCekVmUC9DaDV6TkJEdz09

Meeting ID: 861 9987 4033

Passcode: 749717

The Ministry of Christian Witness & Service is Organizing a Children’s Clothing and Shoe Drive

During the Month

of April

The drive will benefit two local organizations at the same time:

1.     Good Shepherd Lutheran Church’s infant to teen clothing pantry. GSLC offers these much needed clothes to neighborhood families and those who come to the weekly food pantry. Currently the clothing bins are running low. GSLC and our area social workers always appreciate donations to families they serve. The pantry seeks gently used infant through teen spring/summer clothing (no shoes, socks, underwear or winter clothing). There is a special need for boys sizes 18 – 20! Spring is a good time for our kids to go through their closets and donate items they’ve outgrown! 

2.     United Way’s Reach Dane program is inviting area churches to participate in a Sneaker Drive to benefit infants and toddlers who are experiencing homelessness. They are collecting NEW shoes of any kind, socks, and underwear for these children. See attached flier for details!

Please drop off your donations in the Crossroads before/after worship on Sunday, April 16th and/or Sunday April 23rd.

We are seeking volunteers to help organize and box or bag donations during and post service on both Sundays. Please contact Giulia Lawrence at [email protected] if you can help out.

Thanks to you in advance for supporting our youngest neighbors in need! Please email LuAnn Greiner at [email protected] with general questions. 

APRIL COMPASSION OFFERING-UCC CAMPS

This month our compassion offering is for our UCC camps in Wisconsin. We are so fortunate to have 3 amazing camps, each in a different setting and each offering unique programs: Moon Beach in the North Woods, Daycholah on Green Lake and Cedar Valley in Washington County. 

Camps provide sacred places which enhance our spiritual lives. The experience of living with others builds stronger connections. Camps can nourish us, provide respite so we can return to our daily lives refreshed and ready to serve others. By spending times in the out-of-doors we better appreciate the gifts of creation and therefore are eager to care for the earth. 

Our UCC camps also offer many volunteer opportunities, whether it be work projects or assisting at a camp session like Camp AweSum for families touched by autism.

Our camps need our volunteer and financial support. Please click on the link below to learn more about our sacred sites.

VIDEO



You can make a donation by check, on the memo line, please write “compassion” and mail to ORUCC, 1501 Gilbert Road, Madison, WI 53711, or donate online from our website. The link is https://orucc.org/contribute/support/

Spiritual

Nourishment

for you!

For the week of Apr 13 – Apr 19

Read this week’s reflections as a way to dive deeper into your spiritual practice or to get some nourishment and inspiration

for your day.

Click Here for Reflections

We are grateful for the ministry of Jeanne Moberly who is a member of Adult Faith Formation, as she puts together a set of fresh readings every week for our devotional practice at Orchard Ridge UCC. You will see these posted daily if you are part of the “Members & Friends” Facebook group. If you know someone who needs encouragement and would like the devotional mailed to them, please contact Julie Wombacher in the church office.

GREEN CORNER

We all eat and we all buy food. Did you know that nearly half of all food in the United States never gets eaten, yet one in eight people in the US suffer hunger. You can spend some time problem-solving on reducing food waste at home and at church. Get some ideas at www.epa.gov/sustainable-managment-food. And If you are planning to grow some vegetables, flowers or grass this summer, try to eliminate pesticides and add some pollinator friendly plants to your yard.

GARDEN TENDERS

Interested in ORUCC gardens but not enough time for a weekly commitment? YOU CAN STILL HELP. And we still need you!” You can stop by for a half hour to clean up or to water once a week or once a year. On the other hand, there are several beds and you can adopt one for regular maintenance. Examples of chores (besides weeding) are: planting, trimming, pruning, dividing and moving perennials and watering in the heat of the summer. All of these tasks give you a chance to visit with other garden tenders and learn about the variety of plants we grow (more and more are natives!). Before Worship and Work Sunday on May 21, we are trimming last year’s flower stalks and tidying the beds. Contact Joyce Pohl (at [email protected]) if interested and getting suggestions for big or small tasks. 

Are you interested in having a garden plot in the Veggie Village??

There is a single 12 x 12 foot plot available in our community vegetable garden on the east side of the ORUCC property. Plot fee is $35 per season. A random drawing will be done if more than one person applies and priority given to those who do not already have a plot in the garden. Deadline for applying is MONDAY, April 16th. Please email Leslie at [email protected] with your interest or any questions. 

Care of Creation will be sponsoring a group book study of Rev. Daniel Cooperrider’s wonderful book, “Speak with the Earth and It Will Teach You”.

When: April 16, Daniel will be preaching on this topic

Following the April 16 worship, three small groups will convene at the following times:

Sundays, 4/23, 4/30, 5/7, and 5/14, 11:30-1:00. Location: Church

Mondays, 4/24, 5/1, 5/8, 5/15 from 2-3:30.  Location: Church

Tuesdays – 4/25, 5/2, 5/9, 5/16 from 7-8:30 on Zoom. 

Wrap-up with Daniel: Sunday, May 21. Time TBD

Sign-up sheets for the individual study groups will be available in the Crossroads beginning on Sunday, April 9

So if you haven’t done it yet, get a copy of Daniel’s book and join us. 

Movie Group April 20th, 7 p.m. Oakwood Village

Hello movie fans,

Movie Group returns to Oakwood Village on April 20 at 7:00 with the 2014 documentary “Message from Hiroshima” from Japanese film director Masaake Tanabe. As usual, we will see the film in the theater and adjourn to the Sun Room for discussion.

This film recounts in vivid detail the life and culture of Hiroshima before its destruction on the morning of August 6, 1945. Tanabe does this with documentary footage from that fateful day, computer generated images of the residential and commercial neighborhoods of Hiroshima prior to its destruction and, most powerfully, interviews with the survivors (hibakusha) of that tragedy.

The film asks us to consider the meaning of grief, remembrance and how we memorialize or deny tragic events, whether personal or historical in nature. 

The film does not engage with the complex geo-political reasons for dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima but it does engage with the equally complex moral questions about consequence and responsibility.

With questions or comments call Steve Sheets, Baxter Richardson or Doug Loving.

One Walk, Big Strides for Autism



Hi ORUCC! The Hahns are participating in “One Walk, Big Strides for Autism”, fundraising for the Autism Society of South Central Wisconsin. The walk is on April 23 at McKee Farms Park in Fitchburg at 11am. If anyone is interested in participating (or donating) to support Henry’s Hoard, follow this link and choose Join (or Donate).

https://runsignup.com/Race/72745/Donate/J5iZkNfv5YT2RmK4

Thanks!

Jennifer, Ken, Henry, and Linus Hahn ❤️

We are looking for Brat Fest Volunteers for the weekend of May 26-May 28!



Would you be willing to donate a few hours at Brat Fest to benefit our Youth Service Trip? Brat Fest has a variety of volunteer positions from set up, grilling, trash pick up, serving, event take down. Our church has to fulfill 20 hours of set up to qualify for fundraising and we really need your help.  

To sign up go to:  https://app.initlive.com/JE/63v6refjssjaf2

You must create a sign on, choose a T-shirt size and check that you are volunteering to benefit a charity. Then, choose Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ as your benefiting organization. You get to choose the date, time and position you’d like to volunteer for. Ask your friends to join you – as our teens know – it’s more fun to volunteer as a group! Plus, you get the t-shirt and a free brat for every shift you work. Sign up today – these shifts go F-A-S-T..

It’s Time for Camp Registration!

Registration for all of our UCC camps (Moon Beach, Daycholah, and Cedar Valley) is now open. There is such a variety: kids, adult, family, glamping, the arts, sailing….Some of the sessions, like Camp Awesum and Family Camp fill up quickly, so check out the brochure today.

Click the LINK to sign up today!

AT ORUCC, the Members

are the Ministers!

We are seeking volunteers to serve on Sunday mornings for in-person worship. You need not be a member, simply a person who loves ORUCC and is eager to find

a place to serve!

Young people are welcome to sign up too!

Would you consider serving one or more times as

a Coffee Maker, a Welcomer, a Lay Liturgist or

to assist with Holy Communion?

It has been fairly easy finding Lay Liturgists and Communion Assistants, but much more challenging finding

Coffee-Makers and Welcomers!

Feel free to sign up as an individual, a couple, or a family!

Click here to sign up as a Coffee Maker

Click here to sign up as a Welcomer

Click here to sign up as a Lay Liturgist

Click here to Assist with Holy Communion

After selecting one or more dates, you will need to click “Submit and Sign Up” at the bottom of the page, then enter your name & email address, then click “Sign Up Now.”

Questions or problems signing up?

Contact Ken Pennings at [email protected] or 608-556-2371.

Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ

1501 Gilbert Road

Madison, WI 53711

608-271-7212

Office Hours: M-Th 8:30-12:30