Welcome George Decker

ORUCC’s HR Team is very pleased to welcome George Decker as our new office manager. George impressed us with his recent employment as Parish Administrator and Communications Coordinator at Grace Episcopal Church. He enjoyed that job very much, but wanted a part time position. He has extensive experience in communications. He thinks that our church will be a great fit for him, and so do we.

His first day in the office will be June 3. In general, his hours will be 8:30am to 1:30pm, Monday through Friday. We have arranged for a team of people who will support him in the office with both clerical and financial duties. We will welcome George during worship on June 9!

Your HR team,

Deanna Blanchard, Dale Rebhorn, Hal Evenson, Susan Watson, David Anderman, Rick Daluge and Julia Burkey

Welcome Baby!

We are overjoyed to announce that Kindred Praise Burkey Cooperrider was born at 10:55 a.m. on Monday, May 20th! Pastor Julia and Kindred are both doing well after a smooth delivery.



We continue to hold Kindred, Julia, Daniel and Reverie in our prayers as they settle into life as a family of four!

You’re invited

to Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ

1501 Gilbert Rd., Madison, WI 53711

this Sunday, June 2, 2024, 9 am

Alfred Swan Room

Antisemitism Then and Now:

The Christian Origins and Legacy

Facilitator: Baxter Richardson

This adult education session will be an inquiry – an attempt to answer one question: How does one explain the enduring reality of antisemitism in Christian cultures? Other questions we might explore: Is there some inherent quality of Christianity, or religion itself, that prevents us from freeing ourselves from the pernicious form of racism that we call antisemitism? Or is it possible that antisemitism is the manifestation of the human need to define who one is by who one is not? Or is it something else?

To help us understand the Christian origins and legacy, please read ahead of time and come prepared to discuss James Carroll’s article “Easter, Christianity, and Antisemitism” (2024) and excerpts by Martin Luther, “On the Jews and their Lies” (1543).

If time permits, we will consider how the Roman Catholic Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) have responded, officially, to antisemitism. Copies of “Nostra Aetate” (1965) and “A Declaration of the ELCA to the Jewish Community” (1993) will be available on June 2.

Click here for first reading

Click here for second reading

Questions? Contact Baxter Richardson at [email protected]

MAY COMPASSION OFFERING

Showing Compassion for Children in Gaza

Our May Compassion Offering – Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) — was identified and recommended by the ORUCC Palestine Justice Mission Team. After researching and considering many options, the Team unanimously approved sponsoring MECA as the Compassion Offering, in light of the current, urgent situation in Gaza. MECA has staff on site in Gaza to respond immediately and directly upon receiving our support. 

MECA was founded in 1988 in Berkeley, California as a private, not-for-profit organization whose mission is to deliver vital supplies and humanitarian services to children in Gaza. As MECA’s work has progressed over the years, its activities have included providing direct aid to refugee children in Lebanon and Iraq; water projects in Gaza that bring clean water for children and their families; assistance to community organizations that help meet Palestinian children’s needs; scholarships for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank; and educational/cultural programs in the USA to increase understanding about the lives of children in the Middle East and the impact of US foreign policy on people in the region.

Compassion Offering funds raised in May will be directed entirely to MECA’s emergency appeal for the humanitarian needs of Gazan children and their families. Our donations will quickly provide food, water, healthcare and shelter for children in Gaza who are hungry, injured, orphaned and/or homeless.

 VIDEO

 Thank you for giving generously

June Compassion Offering

Casa Alitas

The compassion offering for June 2024 is Casa Alitas. Casa Alitas is a non-profit, immigrant welcome center near the border in Tucson, Arizona. Casa Alitas provides a warm welcome, food, clothing, and shelter for a few days for legal asylum seekers who have crossed the border. Casa Alitas provides services to 1,000 to 1,500 guests every day.

The ORUCC connection with Casa Alitas was prompted by a mission trip to the border in 2015. Since then, we have maintained a hands-on connection, through compassion offerings, clothing drives and volunteer time at Casa Alitas.

During the last year in particular, despite unpredictable funding allocations from the federal government, Casa Alitas was the only welcome center on the border that maintained its capacity to welcome all who arrived at its doors.

Casa Alitas needs our help now more than ever. Funds that we provide will keep people from being dropped off as street releases in the city of Tucson. All funds will provide direct services to immigrant families. Funds will

• Pay for clothing and food provided by Casa Alitas;
• Buy items for play bags for children; and
• Pay for transportation to reunite families who have been separated at the border.

VIDEO

Please give generously. Thank you.

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/

Women’s Book Group

Women’s Book Group will meet IN PERSON at church on June 6 at 1:30-3:00pm. There will also be a Zoom link if you are unable to attend in person. June’s book is the quirky and popular Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. Leslie Rebhorn will lead our discussion. Please join us! Contact Deanna Blanchard with questions [email protected]

Friday Breakfast Group – June 7

The next Friday Breakfast is set for June 7 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.

Page Scholarship Awards

The 2024 Page Scholarship Committee is happy to announce the recipients of this year’s awards. The awardees include ORUCC students Lila Eggerling-Boeck, Josie Gilbert, Gabe Martens, Joey Miller, and Madeline Miller.

Congratulations on this scholarship that recognizes hard work in college and commitment to our church community!

We Need Gardeners!  

 Do you enjoy seeing the flower beds at church? You can learn about them and enjoy them even more in our group of dedicated gardeners. Generally we dig, plant, water, weed and prune on summer mornings before it gets hot. We work in small groups and talk almost as much as we work! It is a great way to meet like minded people and enrich your life as well as enrich the soil. 

A small group of gardeners meet at church on Thursday mornings. You can either join us that day or adopt a bed and maintain it at a time convenient to you. 

Please join us at 9:00 AM to tend our lovely landscape.

Our upcoming projects are as follows:

• Finish the beds at the end of the education wing which are being planted with Wisconsin native grasses, wildflowers and shrubs. (Go check it out!)
• Add some low border plants in the meditation garden. 
• Monitor the rain gardens for invasive plants (and pull them out!) Learn about the ecology of a rain garden and pollinators. 
• Keep the entrance garden beds in and near the parking lot tidy. (The peonies, alliums and columbine are gorgeous right now.)
• Tend the garden beds on the west side of the church. 
• Adopt the bed at south door of the church or the northwest corner of the property. 

Questions about what needs to be done, contact Joyce Pohl at [email protected] for more information. You can also ask about free tulip and daffodil bulbs from plantings that are finished for the year. 

Thank you!



Thank you so much to the volunteers who helped out while Roots4Change held their workshops at ORUCC. They enjoyed using our church very much and were so happy with the warm welcome they received. Thanks go to: Kurt Jaehnig, Ruth Ann Berkholtz, Ann Haase Kehl, Deanna Blanchard, Paul Eggerling-Boeck, and Baxter Richardson who are from the Immigration Justice Mission Team and the Resources Ministry. Ruthanne Landsness was also helpful in organizing the schedule. They opened doors, gave directions, made coffee, watched the radar during stormy days, and locked up. We appreciate your willingness to help us open the church to the community.

Black History For A New Day 2024

dig deeper into our collective histories

to see what stories we hadn’t learned, 

seek out diverse perspectives

in our history and our present, 

uncover how to take our newfound understanding

and apply it to how we walk through our daily lives

and our collective journey

—from Justified Anger website

The Racial Justice and Immigration Justice Mission Team members are looking ahead to this Fall 2024 and are exploring the possibility of taking the Black History For A New Day (BHFAND) course, developed by Justified Anger and Rev Dr Alex Gee. Now in its 11th year, many of us have taken this course as individuals. In this case, our ORUCC community would view the lectures together and follow with facilitated small group discussions, either in-person at church or together online. Check out BHFAND for more information.

Learning together strengthens our community and informs our actions, grounded in truth rather than reactivity, especially in light of our highly charged election cycle. Our willingness to acknowledge this painful truth, all while celebrating the extraordinary resilience of our Black siblings, is important work of the spirit. As one participant states ‘We should never underestimate the impact of processing this history together in community.’

The cost per person is $300.00 for first timers, and $150 for those repeating the course. Please do not let funding issues stop you from considering this opportunity. If you think you may be interested, please complete this form by May 31, 2024. You are not committing at this time, just indicating interest.  

Feel free to contact Ann Haase Kehl at [email protected] with any questions. 

Forest Bathing

You are invited to join Becky Baumbach and the two OR meditations groups on a forest bathing experience at Holy Wisdom.

June 14, 9:00am-10:30am, back of Holy Wisdom Monastery parking lot

In this practice we immerse our senses in the woodlands as we honor the land, notice our surroundings, and bring ourselves to the present moment. We connect with the forest in relationship and allow it to settle within us. We walk slowly and learn the art of stillness in nature.

All are welcome! Questions: Becky 608-239-0221

   Freecycle

Sunday, June 16

Everything is free for the taking!

Bring gently used objects to church before worship and after worship. Take home what makes you smile.

  Bring yard tools, toys, camping gear, outdoor games, books, kitchenware, decorations, suitcases, etc.

  No clothing or large items, please.

Questions? Email Jill at [email protected]

We Want to Hear from You!

Families: Please help Pastor Kate and Julie M. plan for the next programming year by giving us a little feedback on your experience this past year. Please fill out this survey, or share your thoughts directly with Pastor Kate ([email protected]). Thank you!

Spiritual

Nourishment

for you!

For the Month of June

For the summer months our Daily Reflections will take on a new format, and a new name: Summer Seeds for a Growing Spirituality. There will be one set of Readings for each of the summer months.



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  the church office.

Wayfinding 2024-2025

“Wayfinding: The Soul Tasks of Aging: Toward a Theology of the Elder Years” will continue the next program year with brand new themes and programming, beginning October 16, 2024 and meeting every 3rd Wednesday of the month then on ZOOM the following Thursday.

Two books to focus on:

We will begin with Parker Palmer’s book, “On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity & Getting Old” for the first 4 sessions and then the remaining 4 in the Spring will be themed around Connie Zweig’s book, “The Inner Work of Aging: Shifting from Role to Soul.”

Sign Up to Volunteer on Sunday Mornings Now Through the End of

September 2024!

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, an Usher, a Lay Liturgist or

to assist with Holy Communion?

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 an Usher

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