Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ

by Senior Pastor Winton Boyd

You may have heard through various news outlets that the IRS is investigating whether the UCC violated its tax exempt status last summer when it invited Barak Obama to speak at our General Synod. At question is whether there the church was engaging in “political activities.” I don’t know the details of IRS investigations, but I was at the General Synod and heard Obama and several others give amazing speeches. Continue Reading »

Faith, Food and Earth Day 2008

A Celebration of Creation
Sunday, April 13, from 3:00 to 7:00pm
Madison Christian Community, 7118 Old Sauk Road, Madison - 824-1760

*sponsored by an ecumenical group of congregations, including ORUCC

Sacred Soil: Church Gardens ◊ Social Action: Farm Policy ◊ Soul & Heart: Eating Locally

Exhibits by local food and faith organizations
Opportunities for congregations to enrich their practice of earth stewardship
Fellowship with people of faith who share your concerns for the earth
Community Meal prepared by Dardanelles restaurant from locally produced food

SCHEDULE
3:00pm - Informational Booths and Displays
4:00pm - Celebration with Music and Cal DeWitt
5:00pm - Workshops, Booths, and Displays
6:00pm - Community Meal
Meal Reservations required – seating is limited
$8 for meal reservations in advance (by Mar. 31), $12 at the door (The rest of the event is free.)
To make meal reservations e-mail harvestofhope@tds.net or call 824-1761

Preached by Winton Boyd on February 24, 2008

Today, we continue on a journey through some of the “signposts” of vital faith as outlined by Diana Butler Bass, author of Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church is Transforming the Faith. Butler Bass, after visiting and “living” with mainline congregations for three years, has outlined what she feels are faith practices that are leading to personal and congregational renewal. Two weeks ago, we looked at discernment. Today, we look at the ancient practice of healing – with the laying on of hands and the anointing of oil. While this is an ancient practice in the church, Butler Bass points out that only recently have many churches actually practiced it. Continue Reading »

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25

It is a glorious destiny to be a member of the human race, though it is a race dedicated to many absurdities and one which makes many terrible mistakes: yet, with all that, God himself gloried in becoming a member of the human race. A member of the human race! To think that such a commonplace realization should suddenly seem like news that one holds the winning ticket in a cosmic sweepstake. I have the immense joy of being a member of a race in which God became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.

Thomas Merton(Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander)

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26

If you really belong to the work that has been entrusted to you, then you must do it with your whole heart. And you can bring salvation only by being honest and by really working with God.

It is not how much we are doing but how much love, how much honesty, how much faith is put into doing it. It makes no difference what we are doing. What you are doing, I cannot do, and what I am doing, you cannot do. Only sometimes we forget and we spend more time looking at somebody else and wishing we were doing something else.

We waste our time thinking of tomorrow and today we let the day pass and yesterday is gone.

Mother Theresa

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27

At this time of the year, most people ache for renewal. The hoo-hah of the holidays is past, the days are short and the winds are cold. For many recreational runners committing to a future race date provides a sense of renewal, an opportunity to regain the purpose and enjoyment of running. It begins with circling the special day on the calendar, the first step of this journey of renewal. With that, a sense of hope comes to life and all things are possible. Training plans hit paper, promises are made and goals are dreamt, and sometimes spoken aloud. There is joy, there is doubt and there is pain, but most of all, there is renewal.

Lent offers the perfect training time to renew one’s faith with Easter as the big day. Whether one is in tip top spiritual shape or shaking the rust off dormant “faith muscles”, Lent provides a special time to reflect on where we are in our faith fitness and where we want to be at Easter, and beyond. And it all starts with that first step.

Bob Ansheles

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28

As we approach another Easter I look into my own life for renewing my beliefs. I find again that pragmatism enters into my renewal. My faith is renewed by relationships with others and beliefs that have developed through many years. Many of these long held ideas that have been strengthened by the various things I have read and the thoughts I have shared with others. In addition, seeing the lives and conduct of others has spoken to me. Sometimes I wish I could be more spiritually in tune with happenings, but yet find my renewal comes from contacts with other people.

There many ways people are living today that do not seem to following the teachings of Jesus and the instructions from God. The greed shown by so many leads me to wonder where we are going. Yet, the next article or book I read makes me appreciate what some modern Christian has done to help his fellow man, and I realize that these activities give me hope. Moreover, the longer I live the more aware I become that I do not have to judge others, but just see to my own thoughts and conduct.

Religious music has always been an interest of mine. I have trouble adjusting to the word changes in our new hymnals; not to the theology of the changes, but the change when I have sung them that way for so many years. I do enjoy the newer hymns and the choir choices which are part of our services. For instance, “In the Bulb there is a Flower” is one of my favorites.

So let’s go into the Lenten season with open minds to receive the inspiration of the weeks to come and the thrill that comes from the young people and their enthusiasm.

Ruth Piper

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 29

I’m not a person who has deep philosophical thoughts, but I do possess a strong faith in God and Christ. This past year, that faith has helped me sustain a positive outlook through several life passages, while not life-threatening, certainly life changing, in my own life and in those I love.

So much of life is putting one foot in front of the other and moving forward. Sometimes it’s so much so that we find ourselves in a rut…doing the same thing over and over for fear of change. But this past year has been full of change for me on all sides. As our daughter graduated from college, we agonized and waited with her until she found a great teaching job. Our son, having earned his master’s degree in architecture, followed the love of his life to Brussels and to Venezuela, now engaged to be married, returning to Madison to live and work. My mother, living alone for nearly a decade in the farmhouse we all grew up in, finally realized the need for more care and human contact, just moved into an assisted living facility. And I gave up something I’d been doing for 35 years. I finally came to the realization that the ORUCC choir was way beyond being ready for a “real” choir director, so I resigned that position. And to our great fortune, we are now blessed with someone who’s not only a fantastic musician but also very well-liked and energizing.

Amid all this, I needed to trust that God would provide the grace and wherewithal I need to make these transitions. I feel that my life has been blessed in so many ways. The sermons that Winton delivers each Sunday, the thoughtful prayers that Ree leads, my own prayers and encouragement from friends have all contributed to my continuing sense of hope for our future.

Vicki Nonn

SATURDAY, MARCH 1

Sometimes say softly to yourself: “Now, now. What is happening to me now? This is now. What is coming into me now? This moment?”

Then suddenly you begin to see the world as you had not seen it before, to hear people’s voices and not only what they are saying but what they are trying to say and you sense the whole truth about them. And you sense existence, not piecemeal - not this object and that - but as a translucent whole.

Brenda Ueland (If You Want to Write)

SUNDAY, MARCH 2

My experience of spiritual renewal is deeply rooted in my conversion experience that happened when I was 21 years old, a college senior studying at UW-Eau Claire. This unexpected encounter with grace profoundly changed the direction of my life. And yet, it caused great turmoil as well. I often go back to that moment and recall the experience, how someone shared with me the good news of Christ, and how without any forewarning, my heart was immediately filled with feelings of joy. The seed of Christ was awakened in me that day and that little seed has grown and continues to grow to this day. But as many of you know, growth not only brings joy, it also brings discomfort and struggle. Trying to make sense of that experience was very difficult for me at first. But with lots of help and wonderful mentors, the seed started to take root and grow.

It has been 25 years since this experience. And a lot of things in my life have changed. I often get discouraged or feel sad and depressed about the condition of our world and about the religious intolerance and hatred that exists. I also find it hard sometimes to “believe” in something that cannot be “proved.” And yet, when I start to feel this way, my mind simply takes me back to this conversion experience, almost without hesitation, and I consider my “little” awakening once again. That awakening was real, it brought me into my true vocation, it gave me life. What can I do?

Perhaps this unexpected encounter with grace has taught me to try and be open to how God may visit me this day and throughout my days. To be open to the deep and awesome mystery that God’s Spirit is ever present to us is a daily spiritual discipline for me. In essence, what I’m trying to do is keep my guard down, rather than up. This feels a bit vulnerable and unnerving to me at times but I believe it is the path of spiritual renewal for me. It has been a good journey so far.

Tammy Martens

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18
Spiritual renewal for me goes hand in hand with my daily / weekly experiences that surround those people whose lives I am a part of from Achilles (Achilles members are all physically disabled in one way or another).

Every week I have an opportunity as a volunteer to share time with these “dear friends” that are living with any number of afflictions. To name a few, they are multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, stroke survivors, brain injured and have seizures, quadriplegic, blind, or have Parkinson’s.

When I am with them, my focus quickly shifts to how they must find their way, day in and day out, and for some it seems like more than worth the struggle. I cannot be with them in a positive light without praying for them and knowing that a mighty God must be in charge and spiritually alive. Sometimes I pray so hard… I pray that some of them might even experience a miracle and be fully restored just because they seem to never have had a chance so early on in their lives. Even if a miracle does not take place in this life, heaven awaits them. Moreover, knowing that in heaven there will be no more struggle, fear, or pain, I can share the hope of an eternity with them.

Barb Wolter

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19
Tell me one thing that is true. Being surrounded by liberal thinkers who allow for doubt of practically every aspect of our traditions, I have occasionally made this plea, if not always out loud. Tell me one thing that is true — please. Don’t qualify it, don’t disown it as you say it, don’t be polite about it. So, I challenged myself to find one thing that I could say about my faith that is unqualifiedly true, and here it is - relationship is at its heart. Relationships matter whether within family, among friends, in society, or with the various aspects of our own personalities. Relationships are not just evolutionarily useful ways to perpetuate the species (even if they do), but are, in and of themselves, sacred. They are the way that God manifests in our lives. To discount, thwart, or manipulate relationships is to sin. To love and be loved, to respect and be respected, to care for and be cared for - these are, for most of us, our best, most grace-filled window on the transcendent. In fact, these acts are transcendent, because we transcend ourselves to others. It is an act of God to love one’s neighbor and importantly, to love oneself. In other words, God is Love - literally. This is real. This is true.

Deborah Holbrook

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20
“Gott, lass meine Gedanken …” - God, gather and turn my thoughts to you. With you there is light, you do not forget me. With you, there is help and patience. I do not understand your ways, but you know the way that is mine.”

This prayer of the German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, renewed in a Taize song, was one of the most important “things” in my spiritual life last year. To accept that God knows the future, even if I don’t. To trust that this is good and healthy and enough for me – that is the essence of faith.

One day I went to a hospital to visit a woman. I knew that she would die in the next few days. On my way, I prayed: “God, help me to do the right things and to say the right words. I don’t know anything.” I met her husband in her bedroom. He had been there four hours and told me: “She can’t hear anything and can’t react.”

But then, when I sat on her bedside and told her that I would pray a psalm and began to read, she obviously tried to answer. We both, her husband and I, were in tears as we saw this.

Of course, I knew that our hearing is the sense that lasts the longest, but when this happened, I was overwhelmed again. It was not the first time for me to see and sense such answer when somebody was already “on their last way”. But it was like a reminder from God to me: “You don’t need any own word, own thought or great words of wisdom. There’s the word of God, words of the old witnesses who gave us power to live and die.” This gave me new trust and faith. Indeed, God knows even when I don’t.

That is the meaning of this prayer that I learned to understand in a very new way last year. Now it is my “everyday song”.

Joerg Utpatel (Joerg was a guest pastor at ORUCC in April and May 2007. He is a Lutheran pastor in Neubukow, Germany)

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21
In his collection of Bengali poems, Gitanjali, Rabindranath Tagore writes that the song he wanted to sing has never happened because he has spent his days ’stringing and unstringing’ his instrument. Whenever I read these lines a certain sadness enters my soul. I think of how busy my days and nights are, of how I cram my calendar and my life so full at times that my glimpses of God are like a rare and endangered species. I yearn to have the song of God sung in my soul but I, too, keep stringing and unstringing my instrument. I get so preoccupied with the details and pressure of my schedule, with the hurry and worry of life, that I miss the song of goodness which is waiting to be sung through me….

Joyce Rupp, OSM

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22
Here’s what I’ve decided: the very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof. What I want is so simple I almost can’t say it: elementary kindness. Enough to eat, enough to go around. The possibility that kids might one day grow up to be neither the destroyers nor the destroyed. That’s about it. Right now I’m living in that hope, running down its hallways and touching the walls on both sides. I can’t tell you how good it feels.

Barbara Kingsolver (Animal Dreams)

SATURDAY, FEBRAURY 23
Laugh as often as possible. You must. Because the world will offer you every reason to weep. So as often as possible, you laugh. That, I think, is part of the Great Love.

Maya Angelou (Interview on the Hallmark Channel)

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24
Your way through life
will not remain the same.
There are years of happiness and years
of suffering.
There are years of abundance,
and years of poverty,
years of hope, and of disappointment,
of building up, and of breaking down.
But God has a firm hold on you
through everything.

Anonymous