A Bunch of Mutts

This January, I taught the History, Theology and Polity of United Church of Christ Polity to seminarians at Chicago Theological Seminary. When I say “at,” I use the term loosely. The class, originally planned as an intensive week in person in Hyde Park, switched to online, so my students were zooming in from Texas to Rhode Island. Their religious backgrounds also spanned a distance and yet they had all been led by the Holy Spirit to take this class as part of their discernment if they are called to preach, teach and lead our people. We had people raised Southern Baptist, Wesleyan, Roman Catholic, Nondenominational, or without much religion at all, each of them bringing the gifts and the struggles of their past spiritual lives into their new home under the big tent we call the United Church of Christ. You get the picture. My students were as big a bunch of “mutts” as the average UCC congregation in the Michigan Conference.

Each weekend, as I preach and visit at one church after another, I continue to learn about the people, both the clergy and the congregations. I meet church members who come from multi generational families whose ancestors actually, even physically, built the church, laying the bricks or raising the funds for the very first pastor. I meet young parents who have attended the church for only a few weeks, tentatively searching for a loving Christian community that represents the inclusive welcome they want for their small children as they grow up. I meet people who chose the church specifically because it was UCC and I meet people who chose the church and then, later, discovered the UCC as a denomination and church family. But the one common denominator seems to be the openness to the search itself, and the way the Holy Spirit keeps sending us all her best mutts. 

The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel, Michigan Conference Minister 

2023 Preaching Schedule & Worship Visits

Contact [email protected] to schedule

January 2023

1st:      Preach - Park Congregational Church, Grand Rapids

8th:     Preach - St. John’s UCC, Jackson

15th:   Preach - Emanuel UCC, Manchester

22nd:  Preach - Church of the Good Shepherd, Ann Arbor

29th:   Preach - Midland United Church of Christ, Midland

February

5th:      Preach - Zion UCC, Baroda

12th:   Preach - First Congregational UCC, Lowell

19th:   Preach - Farewell Service for Rev. John Kennedy, Bethlehem UCC, Ann Arbor

26th:   Preach - First Congregational UCC, Grand Ledge

March

5th:     Preach - St. Paul UCC, Taylor

12th:  Preach - St. Stephen’s Community Church, UCC, Lansing

19th:  Preach - St. John UCC, Wyandotte

26th:  Preach - First Congregational UCC, Charlotte

April

2nd:   Preach - East Church, Grand Rapids

16th:  Preach - First Congregational Church, Kalamazoo

23rd:  Preach - First Congregational Church, Chelsea

30th:  Preach - Hudsonville Congregational UCC, Hudsonville

May

7th:  Preach - First Congregational Church, Saginaw

21st:  Preach - First Congregational Church, Gaylord

June

4th:    Preach - First Congregational Church, Belding

11th:  Preach - First Congregational Church, Harrison

18th:  Off

25th:  Preach - First Congregational Church, Benzonia

30th: First Day of General Synod, Indianapolis, IN

July

1st - 4th: General Synod, Indianapolis, IN

9th:      Preach - St. Paul UCC, Saline

16th:   Preach - The United Church, Big Rapids

23rd:    Preach - First Congregational Church, New Baltimore

In 2023, a monthly newsletter will be published by the Conference on the first Wednesday of the month, and a Message from the Conference Minister will be shared on the third Wednesday of the month.

Look for our next publications on February 1 and 15, 2023