September 8 - 15, 2023

Below are weekly programs. You can find brief descriptions of these weekly programs on our website:

SUNDAY Morning Worship, 10 am in person and via Zoom

https://zoom.us/j/97010988439 Password: betogether

SUNDAY , 11:30 a.m. Bible Study in person and on Zoom

https://zoom.us/j/262314649

MONDAY - FRIDAY, 8 am Morning Devotion

https://zoom.us/j/94276813637

WEDNESDAY Eve., 6:30 pm Midweek Inhale Spiritual Practices

No Midweek Inhale Sept 13-Oct 18 due to Befrienders Training. https://zoom.us/j/123020606

Below are the upcoming non-weekly events on the calendar happening at McFarland UCC for about the next month. All events are on the McFarland UCC calendar with Zoom links and additional information in the details/description area. Click the event on the McFarland UCC calendar to see the details.

Saturday, September 9, 10:00 am, Love Has the Final Word Group Meeting (In person only)- Multipurpose Room

Sunday, September 10, 6:00 - 7:15 pm, Teen Youth Monthly Meeting

Wednesday, September 13, NO Outreach Funds Committee Quarterly Monthly Meeting (Reschedule date yet to be determined.)

Wednesday, September 13, 6:30 – 8:30 pm, Befrienders Training Meeting (In person & Online) - Multipurpose Room

Thursday, September 14, 6:00 – 8:00 pm, SaLT Monthly Meeting (In person & Online) - Multipurpose Room

Sunday, September 17, 10:00 am, Outdoor Worship Service (In person & Online) Indoors if inclement weather.

Sunday, September 17, 5:00 - 6:30 pm, Youth Programming Kick-Off with games, pizza and potluck. All are welcome!

Tuesday, September 19, NO Ecojustice/Green Team Monthly Meeting, Work day 9/22 9-11 am instead.

Wednesday, September 20, 6:30 – 8:30 pm, Befrienders Training Meeting (In person & Online) - Multipurpose Room

Thursday, September 21, 6:30 – 8:00 pm, NION Monthly Meeting. In person and Online

Friday, September 22, 9 - 11 am, Ecojustice/Green Team Work Day

Wednesday, September 27, 6:30 – 8:30 pm, Befrienders Training Meeting (In person & Online) - Multipurpose Room

Saturday, September 30, 10:00 am, Black Holocaust Museum Visit, Milwaukee, lunch at a black-owned restaurant after.

Sunday, October 1, 5:30 - 7:00 pm, Teen Youth Monthly Meeting

Tuesday, October 3, 6:30 – 8:00 pm, Racial Justice Team Monthly Meeting (In person & Online)- Multipurpose Room

Wednesday, October 4, 11, 18, 6:30 – 8:30 pm, Befrienders Training Meeting (In person & Online) - Multipurpose Room

Sunday Afternoon, 3 p.m. at St. John's UCC in Monroe, WI

The Funeral Service for MUCC member Peter Mueller

Peter and Vickie Mueller moved to McFarland not long ago, and joined our church last year. Peter had been moving through his journey with Alzheimer's for a while by the time he and Vickie came to us, but he loved attending worship at our church and was always in a cheerful mood and had a kind word for anyone he greeted. Vickie and Peter were active members of St. John's UCC in Monroe for many years, and decided it made most sense to hold the funeral service there to make it easy for friends and family to be present. I (Pastor Bryan) will offer the eulogy and Pastor Todd of St. John will officiate. We will also hold Vickie and her family in our thoughts and prayers in the weeks and months to come.

Select here if you'd like to read Peter's obituary in the Monroe Times.

Our hearts also go out to our own Kevin & Trish Kalhagen this week. Kevin's mother Marilyn Kalhagen's funeral service took place Thursday morning of this week. Kevin did a beautiful job sharing words about his mom during the service. We'll be holding Kevin and Trish and the Kalhagen family in our hearts these days as well.

Love Has the Final Word Support Group Start Tomorrow/Satuday

Love Has the Final Word is a support group for adults who are estranged from family members.

Being estranged from a family member means that the relationship has been cut off or lost for whatever reason. This experience can be lonely and painful and is often times similar to the grief experienced after the death of a loved one. 

Sessions will be held Sept-Nov on the second Saturday at 10 am - Sept 9, Oct 14, and Nov 11. Join for one or all.

Questions? Connect with Trish Kalhagen or Araceli Wehr.

MUCC Choir

By Tom Ludwig, Choir Director

The MUCC choir will resume rehearsals on Sunday, September 10. We rehearse every Sunday at 9:00 am, and we sing at about one worship service per month. We welcome back previous singers and always welcome new ones! You do not need to have any experience or the ability to read music. The only requirement is enthusiasm! If you have any questions, please talk to me or email me at tludwig.rn@gmail.com.

Last Outdoor Worship Service!

Sunday, Sept. 17 at 10 am

Bring a chair and enjoy the beautiful McFarland UCC grounds as we enjoy our third outdoor worship service of this summer! (In case of inclement weather, services will be indoors of course.) Look forward to seeing you there!

If you can come early at 8:45 am to help carry things outside and set up please do!

Sunday, Sept. 17 at 5 p.m.

Bible Obstacle Course and Gathering



By Sheryl Rowe

Join us Sunday, September 17 at 5:00 pm for our 2023 Youth programming kick-off! Old and young are welcome! There will be an obstacle course, pizza, and fun! Please RSVP if you are attending so we know how much pizza to order. You may also sign up to bring a salad or dessert if you are able. It is perfectly fine if you are busy and unable to bring a dish to pass. If there are questions, please contact Sheryl Rowe or Ginger Hummer.

Saturday, Sept. 23 at 11:00 a.m.

McFarland Land Acknowledgement Ceremony

On Saturday, September 23rd at 11 am at Arnold Larson Park, a Land Acknowledgment ceremony will occur. The Indigenous Solidarity Collective of McFarland with the support of the McFarland Village Board and School Board works with the Ho-Chunk Nation and other stakeholders to develop an official language for a Land Acknowledgement as a step towards building a relationship with the Ho-Chunk Nation, the original stewards of this land.

The event will feature speakers, Ho-Chunk singers, and dancers.

Join us to learn, listen, and make commitments to recognizing the full history of this land. This is a wonderful opportunity for members of our congregation and our Racial Justice Ministries in particular to meet some members of the Ho-Chunk tribe and begin to develop a relationship with them. This is a first step toward some meaningful collaboration and justice work around the "Doctrine of Discovery" and other related initiatives that we planto explore.

Visit to America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee

By Lavon Geasland

The Racial Justice Team is sponsoring a trip to the Milwaukee Black Holocaust Museum on Saturday, September 30. This is a one-of-a-kind historical and memorial museum about the Black Holocaust in America. Parking is limited so we would like to do as much carpooling as we can. We will meet at the church parking lot at 8:30 so we can leave by 8:45 to arrive at the museum for a 10 am guided tour. The cost is $10.00 per person. After we are done at the museum we will gather together for lunch. We would like to know who would be going with us as we need to make a reservation for lunch. Please RSVP to Racial Justice e-mail by Sunday, Sept. 24. If you have questions regarding the museum or lunch, please contact Rachel Saladis or Lynn Belleau or use the email above.

General Fund Summary Sept 2022 - Aug 2023

Check the Lost and Found Area

There are a couple of jackets, a sweatshirt, and 2 pairs of glasses in the lost and found area. They are each yearning to go back to their homes!

A Few Words From Pastor Bryan

...and Brian McLaren and Vaclav Havel

My friend Brian McLaren (that's Brian on the left) was in Madison last night speaking at Bethel Lutheran Church. It was good to see about a half dozen people from our church there!

During his remarks Brian shared the title of the book he is finishing up now that focuses primarily on climate change and its daunting implications. The title of the book, scheduled to be released in May of 2024, is rather sobering. It's called, Life After Doom. Brian says he and the publisher are still arguing about the subtitle.

Here's what his publisher says about this book in a pre-release statement:

"For the last quarter-century, author and activist Brian D. McLaren has been writing at the intersection of religious faith and contemporary culture. In Life After Doom, he engages with the catastrophic failure of both our religious and secular leaders to address the dominant realities of our time. McLaren defines doom as the “un-peaceful, uneasy, unwanted feeling” that “we humans have made a mess of our civilization and our planet, and not enough of us seem to care enough to change deeply enough or quickly enough to save ourselves.”

After Brian was finished speaking last night he and I met at the bar in his hotel and hung out for a while and caught up with each other personally, and then our conversation moved back to his work on climate change. As we were finishing up, I asked him, "Having gone as deeply into the issue of climate change as you have, what do you say now when people ask you if you have any hope at all that we're going to somehow avoid destroying ourselves at least to some extent or the planet itself as we've known it?"

Brian smiled and looked down, and I could tell that answering that question honestly caused him some deep sadness. He said, "Well first, I'm going to just tell you bluntly what all of the scientists I trust the most have agreed is the truth. Apart from something completely unforeseeable happening, within 100 years we are going to move from an earth with 8 billion humans on it to a planet with 1 billion humans on it. The question is simply how this is going to happen. One could argue that this change will not be a bad thing in the long run. But it will be a painful thing, and my heart aches for my grandchildren and for the generations to come."

And then Brian said, "I do have hope, but I now define hope differently. I find myself quoting the late poet, playwright, activist, and former president of the Czech Republic Vaclav Haval, who said;

"Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out."

Brian went on to say that the only thing that made sense to him both as a human who loves the earth and his grandchildren, and also as a person who is trying to walk in the Way of Jesus, is to keep on doing everything he can to honor the earth and all living things, and to keep on addressing the issues of climate change in every way he can. But he added, "I'm doing these things not because I'm convinced we'll avoid a very painful future. I'm doing them because they are the right things to be doing."

My conversation with Brian reminded me of something Mother Teresa used to say, and that I've often called to mind over the years. She would say, when asked if her charitable works ever really changed or fixed or even put a dent in the problems she labored to address such as homelessness and poverty, that "God has not called me to fix problems. God has called me to respond with love. God has not called me to be effective or efficient. God has called me to be faithful."

Of course we'd all love to fix some of the many problems we are facing. And we'll keep trying. We'll passionately and urgently engage in justice work and whatever we are called to do and/or be when it comes to healing and transforming the earth and the problems we face. We'd all love to have an efficient and effective impact on the pressing issues before us. But there are times when hope simply means that we'll do what's ours to do simply because it's the right thing to do, the only thing that makes sense in light of who we are, and because it's what Love--God-- requires of us. Period.

Hope to see you in Church on Sunday,

Pastor Bryan