Easter Sunday April 17

What a joy it will be to be together! Join for 6:00 am Sunrise Service on church lawn with a fire for warmth and burning palms, communion, a renewal of baptism and the feeling of freshness and a new beginning that only the dawn of a new day can bring. If it rains we will move inside. Breakfast following in Friendship Hall.

10:00 am Easter service will be in-person and live-streamed followed by an Easter Egg hunt on our church grounds at 11:15.

Holy Week Services

Maundy Thursday Agape Meals April 14 at home Liturgy

Click here for at home DIY Meal Liturgy

For those of you who were not able to sign up for a meal, you may use this liturgy by yourself or with your family over the meal you have on Thursday or Friday evening. On April 14th many of us will gather at table with one another, to have communion over a meal, to casually connect with each other to build and strengthen our relationships. This practice is also known as an Agape Meal or Love feast. Christians from all over the world will gather to remember the Last Supper that Jesus shared with his disciples.

Good Friday April 15

At 6pm in our Worship Hall we will share in a contemplative Good Friday service with Madison Mennonite Church. We may have a Labyrinth walk from 5-7:30 for some introspective devotional time before or after the 6pm service.

The United Church of Christ Makes an Appeal for Ukraine

Click here to learn how you may contribute

Or visit https://www.ucc.org/global-h-o-p-e/ukraine-emergency-appeal/

Might you be interested in a New Members / Seekers Series with the Pastors and Leadership Team of ORUCC? Or perhaps you joined the church in the last couple of years, but were not afforded the opportunity to participate in New Member Classes. Here’s your chance!

Please attend at least three of the four informational classes at the church:

Sunday, April 24th, 9:00-9:50 a.m.

Sunday, May 8th, 9:00-9:50 a.m.

Sunday, May 22nd, 9:00-9:50 a.m.

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

At the Informational Classes, you’ll learn more about Orchard Ridge and the United Church of Christ (UCC). We’ll discuss our history as a local church, the leadership structure of the church, ministries within the congregation and the wider community, and some of the church’s views on important issues of faith.

You may participate in the New Member Classes even if you decide not to join the church at this time.

Holy Week Devotionals for April 14 – April 20

Read this week’s reflections around the “Good Enough” theme 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.

Java & Jesus (by Zoom) 11:45

April 17–No Java & Jesus

Click here to join Java & Jesus



Don’t miss out! Contact Ken Pennings to be added to the Java & Jesus email list.

Garden Tenders Needed this

 Saturday, April 16



We have a schedule of when the city will pick up yard waste – leaves and plant debris- (the week of April 17) so we should gather the Saturday prior to that to get it ready. Beneficial insects live in leaf litter in the winter and spring through May so we can leave the rain garden alone in April. More native plantings are planned for this spring to promote our support of the environment and to make maintenance easier. 

The city will collect brush left at the curb the weeks of:

May 8

June 12

July 24. 

You can help beautify the church landscape once a year, once a month or once a week. If you check in that you can help, it is more likely we can have treats. Dates to add to your calendar: 

Saturday, April 16 from 10-noon.

Saturday, May 7 from 10-noon (Also a planting opportunity!)

Sunday, May 15 is Worship and Work Sunday for the annual clean up, planting and mulching extravaganza! 

Saturday, June 11 from 10- noon. Special lilac pruning this year!!!

Saturday, July 23 from 10-noon. 

You are also invited to the church yard on Wednesday mornings in the summer to tidy flower beds from 9 -10. See ATTACHMENT for more details and feel free to comment on proposals. 

Joyce Pohl

Family Game Night is back!

Join us in Friendship Hall on the first Friday of the month 6-8 pm for games and socializing. Bring your favorite board game and a dish to share for a potluck supper. Mark your calendars for May 6. Also save the date for a special fun night on June 3 featuring improv! 

Movie Group Returns April 22nd 7 P.M.

The ORUCC Movie Group is back on Friday, April 22^nd at 7 p.m. We have lively discussions and a light dessert. All are welcome. WE WILL BE MASKED UNLESS WE’RE EATING. On the 22^nd Academy Award nominees and winners will be discussed. Please let Steve Sheets know that you plan to attend so that a list of the nominees and where to see them can be provided to you. Mark your calendars: April 22nd, 7 p.m.

Care of Creation Green Corner

Our sister UCC church, Middleton Community Church is sponsoring this event:

Earth Day Every Day: EV Car & Sustainability Show

Date & Time: Saturday, April 23, 2022 from 10 am – 2 pm

Location: Middleton Community Church (645 Schewe Rd, Middleton, WI off Old Sauk Rd.)

On the Saturday after Earth Day, April 23, Middleton Community Church will be hosting an EV Car and Sustainability Show. This family-friendly event will go 10 am – 2 pm, and it’s planned to be held outdoors on the church grounds, but in case of bad weather, exhibits will be indoors. Free admission and free popcorn! Lunch will be available for purchase from the popular Melted Craft Grilled Cheese food truck.

Besides electric and hybrid cars, there will be games for the kids, an interactive solar panel display, and lots of tables and displays hosted by representatives from clean energy and environmental organizations and businesses. Come find out about whatever aspects of sustainability most interest you! For further information see: Earth Day Every Day: EV Car and Sustainability Show FLYER

Wayfinding for Seniors Returns!

Wednesday, May 18, 9:30 am – 11:30 am

After a long hiatus, waiting out you-know-what, Wayfinding is ready to get back up and running.  So if you see yourself as a “senior,” please join us on Wednesday, May 18, for a chance to reconnect and envision our future.

Lucky for us, Pastor Julia is experienced with senior programming. So we’re very grateful she’ll be taking the lead on shaping the future of Wayfinding.  One decision that’s been made is that, going forward, we’ll be narrowing the focus of Wayfinding to address the spiritual aspects of aging and end of life — i.e., the very real challenges of getting older, the spiritual qualities that help meet these challenges, useful spiritual resources, and how we make sense of it all. 

For the fall we’re envisioning a series of “cafe-style” meetups on a regular basis.  They will provide a chance to connect around specific issues and gain strength for our journeys.

On May 18 we’ll begin with inquiry.  Julia would like to know: What are the spiritual tasks of aging as you experience them? Are you finding new wisdom (or humor!) as part of aging? What are the unique challenges elders face? (Of course being a 65-yr-old is quite different from being a 90-yr-old, so “senior /elder” encompasses a range of things.)  We’ll use this input to further plan our cafes for 2022-23.  

Date:  Wednesday, May 18.  Time 9:30-11:30.  Place: ORUCC Fellowship Hall.

No need to RSVP. For more information contact [email protected]. 

Save the date!

Celebration of Tammy Martens’ Ministry

August 6, 2022

Stay tuned for more details and times.

If you have questions or suggestions please contact

Ann Evensen [email protected]  cell 608 628 4280 

Barbara Stretchberry [email protected]  cell 608-239-6669

Kellie Miller [email protected]   cell 608 852-7578

Save the date!

ORUCC Installation

Celebration of Julia Burkey

officially installed as our Senior Pastor

Sunday May 22nd 2pm

An installation is a special service in the United Church of Christ that marks the beginning of a pastor’s leadership in the local church and is our way of saying to Pastor Julia “you belong here with us!” It grants a sense of permanence and belonging and celebration of the Holy Spirit for bringing us together. We believe God has brought us together for a reason in this time and place and along with our local Southwest Wisconsin Association of the United Church of Christ, we will celebrate.

The COVID Response Team met on Sunday April 3rd and advises that:

The COVID Response Team met this past Sunday, April 3. After considering the current trends in the region, the team determined that the plans for Maundy Thursday and Easter should go forward as planned, with current mitigations in place: 

For group activities, especially those that traditionally include food, we ask that all participants are either vaccinated & boosted or have had a negative rapid antigen test within the previous day. We will purchase test kits in the office for those who wish to use them.   Masks will be required for the programming portion of the event, and food and beverage are welcomed; groups should maintain spacing while eating.

We are also starting to ask how we will “know” when it is time to increase or decrease our mitigations. While we haven’t made any decisions yet, in the meantime we are making some incremental changes. For one, the choir has been empowered to make their own determination regarding masking during their performance of special music during worship. You may have also noticed the resumption of using the Friendship Pads! We will continue to make these small resumptions as conditions allow.

While this represents a slight increase in risk, we also recognize that by wearing an N95 mask – freely available outside Worship Hall – the wearer essentially ensures that nobody can be considered a “close contact” during worship — it would take hours of continuous exposure to an unmasked individual for this to be the case! This frees us from the need to be concerned with “contact tracing,” etc. if any of our friends test positive for COVID — although we do appreciate being able to pray for them during Joys & Concerns. Please keep telling us when you test positive for COVID after being in worship or at a church function.

The team will next meet on May 1, when we will consider the effects of these changes and what the appropriate next steps might be.

AT ORUCC, the Members are the Ministers!

We are seeking a whole new team of volunteers to serve in 2022 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!

Would you consider serving one or more times as a Lay Liturgist, a Welcomer, or for Holy Communion?

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

Click here to sign up as a Welcomer

Click here to sign up as a Lay Liturgist



Click here to sign up as a Coffee-Maker

Click here to assist with Holy Communion

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

Pictorial Directory

Thanks to all those who helped with the pictorial directory. Here is a print version. Photo Directory Print Version

Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ

1501 Gilbert Road

Madison, WI 53711

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