Please note that Office Manager George Decker will be on vacation from Friday, November 8th through Monday, November 11th, returning to the church office on Tuesday, November 12th. For urgent pastoral matters, contact Senior Pastor Julia Burkey at [email protected]. For urgent building-related matters, contact Resources Ministry Chair Jon Blanchard at [email protected].

Responding to the Election:

Opportunities for Reflection, Engagement and Support

This has been a challenging and grief-filled week for many in our congregation as the realities facing our nation come to light. If you are struggling, please know that your pastors are here for you! Please do not hesitate to reach out for individual support. We had a well-attended “Hope Cafe” on Wednesday morning with many people gathered to share their hearts over a cup of coffee, tea and treats. To continue processing these election results, you are invited to the following:



Restorative Movement and Meditation

Sunday November 10^th 9:00am-9:45am

Come and join Julie Mazer and Julia Burkey for a quiet time to be together and move together and hold restorative space. Let’s pause together to breathe, to just be, in gentle movement, in a circle of care. 

Getting Real: Time to Process for Youth

Sunday, November 10th 9:00 am (during Faith Formation)

Youth are invited to Join Pastor Kate and Susan Jane Watson for an opportunity to share their feelings, wonderings, and concerns–and start to look forward to what it means to be a community of faith together in tough times. There will be treats and hands-on processing for kids 7th grade -High School.

November Compassion Offering: Luke House

The mission of Luke House is simple: to feed the hungry no questions asked.

You may have heard of Luke House. If not, it is because they go about their mission work quietly, serving free meals nine times a week, year-round, rain or shine. At each meal Luke House serves between 60 and 120 guests. All guest and volunteers are treated with dignity and respect which is a major value of the Luke House.

Luke House, located on Madison’s near east side, has been feeding Madison’s hungry since 1986. Guests show up and are fed, no questions asked. The facility is set up like a restaurant with volunteers serving a healthy meal and beverages to guests. The atmosphere is very pleasant, and the guests have a chance to socialize. Among the guests are Madison’s poorest. Luke House does not solve all the problems encountered by the poor, but they do their best to bring food and comfort to those who need it most.

 One guest said, “This free meal site produces good home-cooked church-basement food and warm feelings. You feel like you’re at a potluck but no one expects you to bring anything. For just a moment I felt loved and accepted”

Luke House does this with the help of volunteers from the community and approximately 30 different local churches. It receives no money from the city, county, state or federal governments. All funding comes from donations. Here is the link to the You Tube video created by Sarah Bullard, the director of Luke House.

Thank you for your donation. Funds from this compassion offering will go directly to buying food for Luke House’s unsponsored meals. 

Do you have an idea for a Compassion Offering?

The Ministry of Christian Witness & Service is responsible for designating a 

recipient organization for the monthly compassion offerings. We welcome and encourage you to be part of this process by helping to identify organizations that are both meaningful to you and in keeping with the ORUCC mission of social justice and outreach.  Consider a non-profit that aligns with our church mission and that you are willing to help us promote. Then, follow the instructions on this form: Compassion Offering Request Form. The Ministry of Christian Witness & Service will review and consider your request at one of our monthly meetings. Thank you in advance!

– The Ministry of Christian Witness & Service

Andrew Pizzello, CPA, appointed ORUCC’s financial administrator

ORUCC has appointed Andrew Pizzello, CPA, to the contract position of financial administrator effective November 1st. Andrew is working with us to provide monthly bookkeeping, bank account reconciliation, payroll accounting and accounts payable services. He sent us the following to introduce himself to the congregation..

“My name is Andrew Pizzello, CPA. I was born and raised in Elmhurst, IL, a western suburb of Chicago. Most of my family still lives in the Chicago area. In addition to living in North Carolina for the last three years, I have lived in the great states of Wisconsin and Utah.

Over the last fifteen years, I have embarked on career journeys ranging from establishing a CPA firm that performs accounting, bookkeeping, payroll, and tax preparation duties (PizzelloCPA, PLLC) to serving as the treasurer, and later, parish administrator at The Cathedral Church of St. Mark in Salt Lake City, UT (Episcopal Church) and Financial Administrator of Grace Episcopal Church in Madison, Wisconsin. Outside of my full-time tax accountant role at Bookkeeper.com I am engrossed in the microcosm of accounting and bookkeeping for mainline Protestant denominations. I am excited to work with such a great team at Orchard Ridge UCC. Thank you for making me feel so welcome!”

Sign Up to Volunteer on Sunday Mornings now through the end of

November 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.

Plastic Recycling Challenge!

Join Care of Creation in a Plastic Recycling Challenge! Our goal is to collect 1,000 pounds of plastic bags (and other plastic films like bubble wrap) to exchange for a plastic bench that we can use to enjoy the church gardens. Click on the Trex recycling challenge website for more details about what can be collected. Or watch this short video to learn about how grocery bags can be turned into plastic wood. We’ll collect bags at church and then take them to HyVee for recycling.

Women’s Book Group to Meet Today, Thursday, November 7th

Women’s Book Group will meet in person in the Alfred Swan Room and on Zoom on Thursday, November 7th at 1:30-3pm. Joyce Pohl will lead us in a discussion of Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. December’s book will be Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan. Contact Deanna Blanchard with questions.

Lunch and Learn 

Wednesday, November 13th

Restorative Justice

On Wednesday November 13^th Professor Jonathan Scharrer will speak to us on The Philosophy and Practice of Restorative Justice. He will offer a basic introduction to restorative justice theory, examining the underlying philosophy and principles of restorative justice as well as the associated restorative practices. 

Professor Scharrer is the Director of the Restorative Justice Project at the University of Wisconsin Law School’s Frank J. Remington Center. He has extensive experience as a facilitator of victim-offender dialogues in sensitive and violent crimes and as a trainer in a variety of restorative justice practices. Professor Scharrer is active in examining criminal justice policy–with a focus on victim-empowerment and addressing racial disparities in the criminal legal system–and has helped design and implement multiple restorative justice diversion programs and restorative responses to crime. Additionally, he currently serves as a member of the advisory council for the National Association of Community and Restorative Justice.

Please join us.  All are welcome.  We will see you Wednesday, November 13^th at 11:30 am.  The meal donation is $10.  Please email Steve Sheets with your RSVP.  We need the count for the Hospitality Team!   [email protected]

Two opportunities to learn about Palestine 

Observations from the Occupied West Bank of Palestine

Sunday, November 17th

9:00am-9:50am Friendship Hall

In 2022, Rev. Shelby Jeidy (currently serving as Trauma Chaplain for University Hospital) had the opportunity to serve as a UCC Mission Intern in the West Bank of Palestine. Jeidy spent time in Ramallah and Occupied East Jerusalem, working with a UCC Mission Partner on a project of interreligious engagement for peacemaking, as well as advocating for a Palestinian youth who had been wrongly imprisoned. Join us as Rev. Jeidy shares words and images from this exceptional experience. Baklava provided.

Photo credit: Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images

Building Peace and Justice in Palestine/Israel

Tuesday, November 19th

7:00pm-9:00pm Christ Presbyterian Church (944 E. Gorham Street - map) 

ORUCC’s Palestine Justice Mission Team invites you to a presentation by two peace activists – one Palestinian and one Israeli. Palestinian Osama Iliwat, whose family was displaced from Jerusalem to Jericho, and Rotem Levin, who served in the Israeli military, will share their personal stories and the reality on the ground, as well as their vision of a shared future of security, equality and justice for all people. Co-sponsored by ORUCC, Christ Presbyterian Church, Jewish Voice for Peace, Mennonite Action-Madison, Congregation Shaarei Shamayim, and others. Learn more.

Wayfinding continues Wednesday, November 20th

”Wayfinding: The Soul Tasks of Aging: Toward a Theology of the Elder Years” will continue on Wednesday, November 20th, from 9:45 to 11:15 am in Friendship Hall, and then on ZOOM Thursday, November 21st from 4:00 to 5:00 pm.

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.”

Did you pick up some extra items on Wednesday?

Following the Hope Cafe, Pastor Kate’s purple water bottle and a canvas New Yorker bag with her copy of the book Refugia Faith went missing. Did you accidentally scoop these things up? If so, please return them to church asap! Thank you!

Ushers needed through Christmas 2024

Please consider signing up to be an usher during our Sunday morning service. Ushers hand out bulletins, help people be seated, take the morning offering and count the money received.

We would like to see the days all filled up. On-the-job training will be provided, but it is very easy to complete the ushering duties.

Please visit the signup genius via the link below. If you have any questions, please contact the church office and they will put you in touch with the appropriate members.

Usher Signup Genius Link

Come sing with us–join our Choir!

All singers are welcome to join our Choir! Rehearsals are Wednesday

evenings from 7:00 to 8:30pm. We sing in worship the first and third

Sundays of the month, gathering for rehearsal 9am those Sunday mornings.

Please share your voice with a group of music-loving friendly people! For more information, email Bruce Gladstone at [email protected].

Spiritual

Nourishment

for you!

For November 7 – 13

Daily Reflections: November 7 – 13

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. If you know someone who needs encouragement and would like the devotional mailed to them, please contact the church office.

Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ

1501 Gilbert Road

Madison, WI 53711

608-271-7212

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