ORUCC Fall Theme

Orchard Ridge UCC on September 16, 2023

FALL THEME : INDIGENOUS JUSTICE | 2023

HELLO

FALL

Greetings ORUCC friends!

I hope you are enjoying the last of summer and beginning to welcome in the beauty of fall. It was such a JOY to be with so many of you for Welcome Back Sunday last week, where I got the joy of blessing a hamburger bun and some lemonade as our communion meal, because of the deep truth that God’s spirit and presence flows in and through all things. Our BBQ picnic meal was a reminder that the holy Love Feast can happen not just in ritual but by breaking bread in community any time we gather. Thank you to our amazing newly named Hospitality Mission Team who made it all happen!

We also announced our Fall Theme of Indigenous Justice and our Big Read: “NATIVE: Identity, Belonging and Rediscovering God,” by Kaitlin B. Curtice. We seek to engage this humbly as learners, not knowing where it will take us, but trusting we will be transformed.

To accompany this theme, we will use the “First Nations Version, An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament,” a stunning and groundbreaking work. Most distinctive about this translation, to my eye, are the names of persons and places. The introduction states, “We decided to follow our Native naming traditions and use the meaning of names for persons and places in this Great Story.” Standard English names are in parentheses. For example Jesus is Creator Sets Free and the God will be translated as Great Spirit, Creator, great Mystery, Maker of Life, Giver of Breath, One Above Us All and Most Holy. This Fall we will mostly focus on reading through significant stories from the Gospel of Luke, or as the translation refers to Luke, “Shining Light Tells the Good Story.”

This Sunday September 17th we will worship outside and focus on all of creation as Kin, with a Blessing of the Animals. On September 24th, Pastor Ken Pennings will preach about Jesus’ “Vision Quest” in Luke 4, and on October 1st Pastor Kate Mackey will continue the theme of Indigenous Justice. We have been so blessed to welcome Pastor Kate’s leadership and presence into our community! Your three pastors are a fantastic team and are thrilled for the new energy and generative creativity of working together.

On Indigenous Peoples Day Weekend of October 8th we will welcome our very own member and Executive Director of the Wisconsin Council of Churches Kerri Parker, as she shares some of the wisdom she has learned engaging in Indigenous Justice with the WCC.

Our theme will continue into November and in December for Advent we will use the infancy narratives of Luke from the Indigenous Translation of the New Testament, so this theme will be with us through the remainder of the year and beyond. This theme will weave and deepen many of our already commitments, such as Racial Justice and Care of Creation.

Our BIG READ:

We chose this book because of Curtice’s weaving of story-telling, truth-telling and challenging justice initiatives for the Church. As both a member of the Potawatomi Nation and raised Christian, Curtice wrestles with the history of colonization through her own identity, seeking liberation for herself and the whole.

Endorsement: “It isn’t very often that a book about identity- let alone dismantling white supremacy and patriarchy– reads like a poem, but that’s Kaitlyn. She is thoughtful decolonization set to music and wrapped in love.” -Sarah Bessey

We plan to begin small groups in October. Consider if you’d like to facilitate or host a small group and reach out to Pastor Ken at [email protected] if so. Order your book or reserve it from your local library!

Link to Purchase NATIVE

Eagle Poem, By Joy Harjo, 23rd US Poet Laureate and member of the Mvskoke Nation.

To pray you open your whole self

To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon

To one whole voice that is you.

And know there is more

That you can’t see, can’t hear;

Can’t know except in moments

Steadily growing, and in languages

That aren’t always sound but other

Circles of motion.

Like eagle that Sunday morning

Over Salt River. Circled in blue sky

In wind, swept our hearts clean

With sacred wings.

We see you, see ourselves and know

That we must take the utmost care

And kindness in all things.

Breathe in, knowing we are made of

All this, and breathe, knowing

We are truly blessed because we

Were born, and die soon within a

True circle of motion,

Like eagle rounding out the morning

Inside us.

We pray that it will be done

In beauty.

Cozy Blessings to you this Fall!

With Love,

Pastor Julia Burkey