Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ

A photo slideshow of images for Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ for the 50th Anniversary celebration in September 2006. Video created by Nancy Evans

Preached by Winton Boyd on Sunday, January 25th, 2009

While there were many high points at Tuesday’s inauguration of Barak Obama, one tender moment for me  was the playing of Simple Gifts by a quartet including Yo Yo Ma and Izak Perlman. Even if it was pre-recorded, the beautiful music reinforced the ancient way music creates a bond between events and people.
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Sunday September 6

10:00

A service of Songs and Psalms

Music by Gene, Sandra and John Dyar

Fall Programming resumes on September 13 – see main page

Preached by Winton Boyd on Sunday, January 18th, 2009
Acts 9:1-14

There is an interesting dynamic with this famous conversion story – in parts of Christendom it is the pivotal, archetypal story. In other areas of the church, like ours, it is often seen as a scary, unfamiliar and easily dismissed story.

I remember reading about Franklin Graham’s rise to take over the ministry of his father, Billy Graham. Reading about his life journey in a magazine like Christianity Today – the Newsweek of the Evangelical Church – I learned that he was a rebellious son who returned to the church only after a long period of motorcycle riding, drinking, and general cavorting in the world. The story made a big deal of the fact that of all Billy Graham’s children, this was the one who rebelled the most and had the most dramatic and ‘life changing’ conversion back to the fold. When I looked further into the story, I discovered this “long period” was a couple of years when he was a late teenager and in his early 20’s. Continue Reading »

Our heritage as a UCC church is one that affirms the faith and ministry of all Christians, not just the ordained pastors. In recent years, we have tried in several ways to affirm and encourage lay leadership. Some examples include offering LIFT groups, Unwrapping Our Gifts, restructuring our church Ministries to provide more opportunities for service, and updating our Time, Talent and Interest survey to be more useful. We are currently searching for an Associate Pastor/Director of Congregational Ministries that will focus on the development of lay leadership and building small communities of action and faith building. Our Next Generation discussions have surfaced the desire for more and diverse programs. Our Next Generation process also reaffirmed our threefold commitment to Spirituality, Community, and Justice. Continue Reading »