September Compassion Offering:

Guatemala Medical Resources Partnership (GMRP)

Oliveros is a tiny village about 3 hours south of Guatemala City. It and other small villages are in a very poor district. It’s a sugar cane growing area. Jobs are scarce and pay is poor.

The nearest doctor is 25 miles away. The difference between the resources we have here in the US and that part of Guatemala is shockingly stark.

The GMRP clinic, a project of the Thiensville-Mequon Rotary Clubs, takes place every January in a school while students are on Winter break. The school is 5 or 6 rooms in a cement block building with a tin roof and windows without glass.

The need is incredible. In 4 ½ days the clinic will see 600-700 people, some seeing a medical provider, a dentist and/or an optometrist. The clinic opens at 8:00 am but at 5:00 am there may already be 40 people waiting outside.          

About 40 people—doctors, nurses, dentists, optometrists, translators, pharmacists and general helpers—make the clinic work.

The clinic has been operating for 22 years. Some of the equipment was donated, already used, 22 years ago. This year we have to replace some of this equipment because it is almost unusable after many repairs. That’s why September’s compassion offering is so important. Please be generous, the people of Oliveros will benefit so much.

For more information about the Guatemala Medical Resources Partnership (GMRP), please visit www.gmrp.org

All are Welcome into Stillness each Thursday at 8:30am

With fall comes new schedules and routines. Often the best way to navigate life is through stillness and taking time to feel God’s presence. You are invited to join us in making stillness in community a priority on Thursday mornings at ORUCC at 8:30am. Through a brief reading, quiet meditation time, and sharing we walk together on a deeper path to God’s presence. Questions? Becky 239-0221, Susi 712-9539

WORSHIP and WORK, Sunday, September 28th

Immediately following the worship service there will be opportunities for everyone to help with inside and outside projects. 

Wear your grubbies to church. Bring your work gloves, your energy, wheelbarrows, shovels, rakes (for spreading mulch), pruners and garden shears, if you plan to work outdoors. 

Plan to enjoy a free lunch in Friendship Hall with your friends and family.

Restorative Justice Circle

Circles – sometimes called peace circles or talking circles – are an intentional, structured form of dialogue that draw on the wisdom and practice of indigenous communities around the world. Circles offer a different way of being together and quality of conversation, and can be used for deepening relationships, and sharing stories and perspectives around a wide variety of topics and situations. Engaging in the practice of Circle is inherently transformative because we experience the world from more perspectives than our own, and drawing on diverse knowledge and experience in this way often generates options and solutions for challenges that are outside the box of conventional thinking and go beyond what one person or a small group could generate on their own.

You are invited to get a taste, by participating in a Circle after service on October 12th. There will also be an opportunity to go deeper, with a more intensive Circle retreat / training experience on November 7th and 8th. More information will be shared about that on October 12th, or you may reach out to Barbie Jackson ([email protected]) or John Lemke ([email protected]).

Church Landscape News

Thirty years or so ago we had the Garth and meditation garden installed in the churchyard. In 2020 we had big changes made to the church landscape that included a new garden at the main entrance, changes to the bed in the parking lot, and the paved area and an arc of crabapple trees on the north side of the church. The second half of the 2020 plan was never completed, which included refurbishing the east side of the meditation garden. This space is full of ferns (and weeds) and ailing crabapple trees

The Landscape Committee is looking to refresh that area now and is getting ideas from landscape designers. It will allow us to continue the serene formal garden and to expand the Garth so there is room for more memorial stones. We also hope to have a very low maintenance area that is similar to the current Garth area with the tall evergreens and hostas. If you would like to join in the garden planning and planting, please contact Pastor Julia or Pastor Kate, or any of our gardeners (Joyce Pohl, Susan Dovell, Alice Anderman, Jim Treichel, Rick Daluge, John and Barb Olsen, Cindy Fillingame, Deanna Blanchard, Ruth Ann Berkholz). 

Our Generosity at Work: Compassion Offering for August

We are glad to report that August’s Compassion Offering for GSAFE (the Gay/Straight Alliance for Safe Schools) amounted to $4,575.05. For nearly three decades, Wisconsin’s queer and trans youth have been at the center of GSAFE’s mission. Two of their most longstanding programs provide direct support for LGBTQ+ youth, including their Leadership Training Institute and Middle School GSA Leadership Summit.

Peacekeeper Training

SEPTEMBER 14th at 1:30pm

MADISON FRIENDS MEETINGHOUSE

Streetwise & Steady is an experiential training to explore how to navigate complex situations and maximize group safety, stay calm and make informed decisions in real-time to help a protest remain nonviolent. Trainer Eileen Flanagan is an award-winning Quaker author, public speaker, and leader of spiritually-grounded climate activism. Sign up for free by clicking on “Register” below.

• 1:30-5:30 pm – Workshop
• 5:30-7:30 pm – Dinner and Peacekeeper Community Building. 



Register

For more information, contact Ruthanne Landsness (Immigration Justice Team) or John Lemke (MOSES Team). Thank you!

Stay up to date on ORUCC Children and Youth happenings

Want to stay up to date on the latest with children and youth at ORUCC? Check out our weekly updates here:

https://orucc.org/keeping-current/children-and-youth-news//

Please Sign Up to Volunteer on Sunday Mornings!

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 Host, 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

Please note that the previous Welcomer and Usher signups have recently been combined into a new signup named “Host.” Please sign up to be trained into this new position:

Click here to sign up as a Host

Click here to sign up as a Lay Liturgist

Click here to assist with Holy Communion

• Page #1: Choose the date you are available to volunteer and select the box that says “SIGN UP“.  Then, at the bottom of the page select the box “SAVE & CONTINUE“.
• Page #2: Enter your first/last name and your email address. Then select the box at the bottom of the page “SIGN UP NOW“

Questions or problems signing up?

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

Spiritual

Nourishment

for you!

Daily Reflections for August

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 month for our devotional practice at Orchard Ridge UCC. Jeanne is unable at this time to provide a new set of readings for September, so we are continuing to make available her readings for August. If you know someone who needs encouragement and would like the devotional mailed to them, please contact the church office.

Daily Reflections for August 2025

Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ

1501 Gilbert Road

Madison, WI 53711

608-271-7212

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