Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ

From March 14-21, 24 members of ORUCC and Madison Mennonite Church traveled to Nagua in the Dominican Republic to work with Habitat for Humanity.

Photos can be viewed at http://picasaweb.google.com/boydwinton

Click below for a photo montage/video of the trip

Editorial in the Wisconsin State Journal written by Bobbi Dumas. (The church she refers to is ORUCC, Sunday Feb. 10)

By Bobbi Dumas
February 11, 2008

In church on Sunday, one of the children stood and asked us to share a prayer of celebration because we were so close to breaking the snowfall record for Madison. The pastor relayed her request to the congregation, though with humorous tone and body language witness to the fact he didn ‘t share her sense of enthusiasm.

I do. Continue Reading »

INTRODUCTION

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By the time you read this, our 13-year-old Subaru Legacy will have reached 200,000 miles. As the third owner, we have not put all the miles on it, but we recognize this click of the odometer as an important milestone. The car does not feel or look new, but it is dependable and comfortable in that “worn in” way. Even in the 3 years we have owned it, it has carried us to points far and near; to work and school, holiday travels, taking our son to college and daughter to camp, to the airport and countless errands around town. It does especially well in the snow too! It has become part of the fabric of our lives. Continue Reading »

Faith Engaging Science

From John Thomas, UCC President

I am pleased to send to you an advance copy of our Pastoral Letter on Faith Engaging Science and Technology – A New Voice Arising . This is the result of a collaboration with the Science and Technology Network of the UCC. Dr. Ron Cole-Turner was the major collaborator on this. Continue Reading »

In his book, Velvet Elvis (Zondervan, 2005) Rob Bell, pastor and author writes about one of the first times he felt truly in awe of God.

“I remember surfing Trestles, the legendary beach between Los Angeles and San Diego – for the first time. I paddled out on a gorgeous day, and as I sat there on my board, a couple hundred feet off shore, surrounded by blue and green and sunlight and quiet, a dolphin jumped in the water next to me. I thought my heart was never going to start beating again. Beauty can be crushing at times, can’t it? (p.72)…

But it isn’t just extraordinary experiences when this happens. I was with my friends at one of our favorite restaurants the other night. We had been there at least three hours when I noticed we were the last ones in the place. The employees were starting to stack chairs and vacuum the floors, and we were still talking. I was looking at my wife, whom I just adore, and our friend Shauna, who may be one of the best storytellers on the planet; Tom, who I would take a bullet for, and Tom’s wife, Cecilia, who is one of the most loving, authentic people I have ever met. And I’m sitting…looking around the table, soaking it in, totally overwhelmed with the holiness of it all. The sacredness of the moment. That sense that in spite of everything awful I have ever seen, we are going to make it. I know that sounds like it’s from a greeting card, but I know you know what I’m talking about. Ordinary moments become infused with something else. With meaning. Significance. Hope. (p.73)…

Whatever those things are that make you feel fully alive and like the universe is ultimately a good place and you are not alone. I need a faith that doesn’t deny those moments but embraces them. I need a spiritual understanding that celebrates those kinds of transcendent moments instead of avoid them…a spirituality that is real will have to make sense of them and show us how they fit. They are expressions of what it means to live in God’s world. (74)”

Winton Boyd used these reflections as part of his sermon on January 13.  For a copy of the full sermon, see category on left.