Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ

written by Winton Boyd, May 2, 2008

I have no doubt that Barak Obama is angry and upset by by recent public appearances by Dr. Jeremiah Wright, the recently retired pastor of his home church, Trinity UCC in Chicago. But after reading and listening to reports about Wright’s recent public appearance before the NAACP, the National Press Club and on Bill Moyers’ PBS show - I keep wondering if we are ever going to address the substance the issues at hand? Continue Reading »

written by Phil Haslanger, Associate Pastor at Memorial UCC in Fitchburg and online columnist for www.madison.com

Pastor’s note: Several in our congregation went to hear Marcus Borg speak at First United Methodist’s David Lyons Lecture series on Saturday, April 26.  Much of this report below was also shared at the lecture. We have just concluded a 4 week discussion of Borg’s ideas in our Java and Jesus class. If you would like to read some of that material, please contact Winton Boyd.

Haslanger writes about a conversation with Marcus Borg in which Borg touched on three areas:

(His) own spirituality

(Borg talked about having had a number of mystical experiences in his life.) Those experiences made God utterly real to me, more real to me than the world I see around me. People who say, “I don’t really believe in God,” I’ll say to them, “Tell me about the God you don’t believe in.”

Almost always, it’s the God I tried to believe in as a child and a young person and found I couldn’t - that notion of God as superpowerful, authority figure separate from the world. So long as I thought that was what the word “God” meant, I really struggled to believe and the bottom line is, I couldn’t. Continue Reading »

By Bobbi Dumas

From Hearstone, a publication of Habitat for Humanity Dane County, Spring 2008 edition

The words are elegant and inspiring. Words like love, joy or spirit, swirled creatively in wire, set for hanging on a wall or displaying on a coffee table. Continue Reading »

Participants in the “Simply Enough” discussion and The Ministry of Christian Witness and Service

Are you trying to simplify your life and have less stuff to deal with? Do you ever buy something because it is such a good deal but then realize you don’t really need it? Will you soon receive a check from the government that you are asked to spend to try to stimulate the economy?

Then read this. Continue Reading »

Seizing the moment, the UCC nationally is trying to broaden the awareness of UCC history and invite others to join in a sacred conversation about race in this country.  See two ads.

New York Times Ad - April 2, 2008 pdf version

USA Today April 11, 2008

Orchard Ridge UCC is participating in this effort in two ways

“Let’s Talk About Race” during our 9 a.m. Heart and Soul class on April 20, 27

Winton Boyd will preach on the topic of race on May 11