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 30th. If you are donating via check or cash, please see the instructions in the above flyer.

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

Worker Justice Wisconsin’s

Faith and Labor Breakfast

Thursday, May 4, 8-10 am

at Christ Presbyterian Church

944 E Gorham St., Madison

Because Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ is a sponsor-church of Worker Justice Wisconsin, we have been offered a few free tickets for WJW’s annual Faith and Labor Breakfast. John Leonard, Ken Pennings, LuAnn Greiner and Paulette Harder will be attending as ORUCC’s representatives, but there are still two tickets left. Please contact Ken immediately ([email protected] or 608-556-2371) if you would like to use one of the tickets and serve as ORUCC’s

representative at the breakfast.

The speakers for this event are workers WJW has partnered with to recover wages and organize their workplaces. There will also be someone from Starbucks to share the latest in their unionizing drive. This event is a great opportunity to hear directly from organizing workers and connect with faith, labor and community partners who are passionate about worker justice. 

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/

Candidating Weekend for Rev. Kate Mackey

May 5-7, 2023

Please join us for one of the opportunities to meet Kate:

Friday, May 5, 6-8 pm–Family /Game Night-bring your favorite game and something to share at the potluck. (see below)

Saturday, May 6 at the church or via Zoom, we are hosting several “meet & greet” sessions for which 20 people can sign up. All sessions are in Friendship Hall except session C.

A: 9:00-9:40 hosted by Nancy Wettersten

B: 10:00-10:40 hosted by Jerry Hagen

C: 10:45-11:30 virtual only, via Zoom hosted by Deanna Blanchard (A link will be sent to those signed up for this session.

D: 1:00-1:40 hosted by Sue Dixon

E: 2:00-2:40 hosted by Suzanne Olajos

Sign up online at this LINK.

Sunday, May 7, Kate will co-lead and preach during our 10 am Worship Service. Immediately afterward, there will be a congregational meeting to vote on this recommendation from the pastoral search committee. This meeting will be simultaneously held over Zoom, to make this important event accessible to as many members as possible. The LINK for the congregational meeting is: 

Zoom congregational meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86723983042?pwd=cGZCeW01aFVQcERwbEVBWklwMTJJdz09

This is a special time at ORUCC, and we want to hear from you. If you have any questions, please contact Pastor Julia at [email protected] or 518-542-6915 or the Moderator Team (Hal Evensen, Deanna Blanchard, and Barbara Stretchberry) at [email protected].

Invitation to submit a request for a Compassion Offering

ORUCC has a long history of generously supporting recipient organizations of the monthly Compassion Offering selected by the Ministry of Christian Witness and Service (CWS). As our CWS team deliberates over which organizations to choose, we welcome your engagement in the process. Any two members of the ORUCC congregation or pastoral staff may nominate a recipient organization to be considered by CWS. To review the guidelines and suggest an organization, please read and complete this form.  

This form is always available on the ORUCC.org website by clicking on the “Contribute” tab and choosing “Monthly Compassion Offering” from the drop-down menu. 

Spiritual

Nourishment

for you!

For the week of Apr 27 – May 3

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.

Youth Mission Trip Fundraiser

Zentangle®

Beginner Class: Saturday, May20, 2-4 pm

Alfred Swan Room

Through the Zentangle Method of drawing, you can:

• Relax
• Focus
• Expand your imagination
• Trust your creativity
• And perhaps most importantly…..Have fun!

Ginny Stiles, Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT) as agreed to do a Zentangle class to benefit the Youth Mission Trip. Cost is $20, (even change or checks made out to ORUCC and put mission trip in the memo line) all materials supplied.

To register email or call Ginny at [email protected] or 352-360-3403 by May 10. Minimum class size is 10 students with a maximum of 18. Learn more about Zentangle at zentangle.com and click on “learn” and then click “What is it”.

You can do Zentangle if you can write your signature legibly in ink. No drawing experience is needed. This class is for all folks ages 16 and up.

Earth Day Every Day Fair at Middleton UCC

Saturday, April 29

10 am – 2 pm

For the kids there will be face painting, rock painting, Trash Lab (a museum in a trailer about waste and recycling), electric fire truck, free book drawings, hatching butterflies, free popcorn & ice cream, and games for both older and younger children.

For the adults there will be an electric & hybrid vehicle car show, and

presentations and displays by over a dozen nature and environmental and clean

energy organizations and businesses. There will be displays of everything

from electric yard equipment, to an electric generator powered off solar

panels, to an induction cooker. You can choose between talks by a number of

speakers , all the way from the new Mayor of Middleton, to the Senior

Meteorologist at WKOW (who will be talking about solutions to climate change),

to our local clean-tech guru (talking about cool new technology).  

There will be live music, and lunch can be purchased from a food

truck.  There will be free drawings for the adults as well – you have

a chance to win an electric lawn mower, Schwinn bicycle, or free 3-day EV car

rentals!

Admission

is free, and the fair will happen rain or shine, so bring your umbrella.

Immigration Justice

The Immigration Justice team invites you to the membership meeting of the Dane Sanctuary Coalition (DSC) on Tuesday, May 2, 2023, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm on zoom.

Come hear a budget proposal and updates from the border, the Afghan humanitarian parole and refugee support project, the volunteer driver program, and the ORUCC Heart Room project.

Use the zoom link below to join the meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81476825380?pwd=eUltdnpFU2xNaHZvMTdpVUMwZkQ0QT09

We hope to see you next Tuesday. Thank you!

ORUCC Handbell Choir Seeks New Members!

Come have fun and make music with us! We would love to add members to our ensemble. It is only necessary to know how to read music. Past experience with handbells is not required! If you played an instrument in high school or college and want to experience making music again, or you ARE in high school or college and think bells might be cool (they are) please join us! 

There will be an introductory workshop to handbell choir on Monday, May 8th at 7pm. Please join handbell choir director, Bethany Schultz to learn that you could love handbells! 

Family Game Night

Join us on Friday, May 5, 6-8 pm for our monthly family game night. This one is special because we will be welcoming our new pastor to join us. Bring your favorite game and something to share at the potluck. Questions? Contact Rachael Lancor

Friday Breakfast Group – May 5

The next Friday Breakfast is set for May 5 at 8:30 am at Denny’s, 433 S. Gammon Road. All are welcome! The group meets on the first Friday of the month and includes both men and women. Join us for this informal chance to connect and converse on many topics. Contact Louise Jeanne, Link for more information.

Movie Group Continues at Oakwood Village

Thursday, May 11, 7 pm

In May we will meet in the Performance Center and view the 2022 psychological drama, “The Whale”. The film (rated R, primarily for language) garnered three Academy Award nominations and won two- Best Actor (Brendan Fraser) and Best Makeup and Hair Styling.

The film, based on the 2012 play of the same name, details the struggles of a morbidly obese, reclusive on-line composition instructor (Brendan Fraser). He struggles with health issues brought on by obesity, the consequences of a failed marriage, the suicide of his male partner and the estranged relationship with his teen age daughter. He yearns for human connections, but appears to be unable to enact this.

The film is difficult to watch at times- his obesity forces you to want to turn away- but does not step away from or sugar coat the difficult issues of compassion, forgiveness, connection or redemption. Of course, the issues surrounding obesity are ever present. 

This promises to be a lively discussion. Join us Thursday, May 11th, 7 p.m. at Oakwood Village Performance Center. For the after-film discussion, we have decided that only Orchard Ridge folks will be invited. The extended group, with non-Orchard Ridge folks, is too unwieldy for the kinds of discussion we all benefit from.

If you have questions or comments, please call Steve Sheets, Baxter Richardson or Doug Loving.

Congregational Life

Radical Hospitality Starts With Us! There are many parts to play on Sunday mornings. Please help our Congregational Life Ministry Team to update our list of potential volunteers. You could be an usher, a welcomer, or a lay liturgist. Serve communion, make coffee, run the AV station, make the PowerPoint, or tend the garden. To let us know what interests you, click here (https://forms.gle/PB1UP13J21UR1f3b6)  or scan this QR code to open the form on your phone. 

GREEN CORNER

There are so many things to watch on TV, it’s almost overwhelming. But here’s an idea for the whole family. Watch a nature documentary, like Planet Earth or Earth’s Natural Wonders. Or try out Nature on PBS Wisconsin. And of course, nothing beats getting outside now that spring is here. So many ways to marvel at God’s creation.

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. 

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