"I will put my teaching in their minds and write it on their hearts..."
Jeremiah 31:33
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Calendar of Upcoming Events | |
Below are the weekly programs. You can find brief descriptions of these weekly programs on our website. Clickable links are in blue and italicized. | |
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. | |
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Sunday, August 18, 10:00 am Outdoor Worship Service
Sunday, August 18, 5:30 - 8:00 pm Games, Food & Fire Circle, Outdoor firepit
Thursday, August 22, 6:30 - 8:00 pm, Creation Care Team Bi-Monthly Meeting rescheduled from July, (In person & Online), Multipurpose Room
Thursday, August 29, NO office hours
Saturday, August 31, 1:30 - 3:00 pm, Healing Prayer Team Meeting, (In person & Online), Multipurpose Room
Sunday, September 1, 5:30 - 7:00 pm, NO Teen Youth Monthly Meeting.
Tuesday, September 3, 6:30 - 8:00 pm, Racial Justice Care Team Monthly Meeting, (In person & Online), Multipurpose Room
Wednesday, September 4, 6:00 - 7:30 pm, Outreach Funds Quarterly Committee Meeting, (In person & Online), Multipurpose Room
Thursday, September 5, 6:00 - 8:00 pm, SaLT Monthly Meeting - Rescheduled from 9/12, (In person & Online), Multipurpose Room
Saturday, September 7, 9:00 - 11:00 pm, Befrienders Orientation, (In person & Online), Multipurpose Room
Sunday, September 8, 10:00 am, Worship, Birthday and Communion Sunday
Sunday, September 8, Monthly Younger Youth Monthly Meeting
Wednesday, September 11, 6:30 - 7:30 pm, Healing Prayer Service (In person & Online), Sanctuary
Wednesday, September 11, 7:30 - 9:00 pm, Befrienders Training Meeting, (In person & Online), Multipurpose Room
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Thank you to this weekend's volunteers!
Greeters/Ushers: Becky Cohen & Rick Duchrow
Hospitality Hosts: Peter & Amy Cavi
Joan Jacobsen & Julie Woodward
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News at McFarland UCC
(Note: Clickable links are blue and italicized.)
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Church is Outside
this Sunday, August 18!
10:00 a.m. in person and on Zoom as usual.
https://zoom.us/j/97010988439
Password: betogether
I (Pastor Bryan) will be there--my vacation starts on Monday the 19th)
Bring your own lawn chair if you have a favorite, but we'll have folding chairs available also. We'll start setting up about 8:55 a.m., so if you're able to come and help us bring tables and equipment outside please do! In case of rain (not predicted at this point), we'll put an announcement on the website at 8:00 a.m. and also send an email out letting you know.
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Games, Food & Fire Circle Night
SUNDAY (8/18)
5:30 - 8 pm
All Ages!
This was a blast in July! Join us this time!!
A time to remind each other of all that's good and true and beautiful in this world, and just have some fun together...
Join us for an evening of "Games, Food & Fire Circle" on Sunday, August 18 from 5:30 to 8 pm. This is for ALL AGES. We'll play games, share a cookout, and then gather around the fire to share stories, jokes, songs, poems, and things that remind us of all that is good, true, and beautiful in the world. It's a perfect opportunity to connect, laugh, and reflect in the warmth of friendship and firelight.
Bring your favorite lawn games, card games, whatever! Bring a dish to share if you can. The Church will provide ice-cold water to drink and everything needed for s'mores, but anything else you'd like to eat is up to you to bring. We just want this to be fun and easy for everyone.
Your invitation--come with a story or memory or joke or song or something to share around the fire once we settle into it. No pressure or expectation! Just come and let's be together.
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Support the LGBTQ+ community by attending the Magic Pride Festival at Warner Park in Madison on Sunday, August 18, from 1 p.m. -- 6 p.m. Check out local artisans and community organizations, or catch one of the talented performers at the Magic Price Festival Stage! Enjoy a range of local food carts and beverages. | |
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SaLT Spot
Here are highlights from the August 8, 2024 SaLT meeting:
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Save the date for a training called, "A Conversational Approach for Intentional Conversations vs Debate" on September 12 at 6:00 pm. Watch for registration details in The Pulse. Contact Amy Cavi with questions.
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We discussed supporting Luke House in a joint effort with Christ the King Church on the third Tuesday of each month and decided to recruit a volunteer coordinator. Contact Lynne Toseff if you're interested in learning more or checking it out on Tuesday, August 20.
- There will be a confirmation class experience starting later this year.
- Work on ICON software and the church directory continues.
- We discussed hosting a concert at the church in November as a fundraiser to support Haiti Allies. More details to follow, if pursued.
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PLEASE Help: Request extended
There haven't been many photos submitted so the deadline is being extended to September 15. We need you help! Our goal is to update our bulletin board in the fellowship area and our website with fresh photos of our vibrant community! Find recent photos or take photos and submit them to Ginger, our administrative assistant, via email or her office mailbox. If photos are provided, it will be assumed that you grant us permission to have and use the photo. If the photo contains an image of a minor, a parent/guardian will be asked to sign a Minor Photo Release Form.
Let's showcase our "A Church With Heart" spirit!
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Pastor Bryan Away
From August 19th to Sept. 3rd
Martha Olsen to preach 8/25
Tom Ludwig to preach 9/1
Believe it or not I still have a month of vacation to get in yet this year! So I'll be gone the next two weeks and then again the second two weeks of October. I'll be hanging out at my brother's condo once again on the beach in South Carolina.
As always you'll be in good hands during my absence! Martha Olsen will preach and lead worship on August 25th, and Tom Ludwig will lead worship on September 1st. We are so blessed to have them both, and I have no doubt that their messages will be wonderful, so please show up!
Pastoral Care during Bryan's vacation will be provided by our Befrienders team. Please contact Jean Duchrow jeanduchrow56@gmail.com (608-335-3773) or Lavon Geasland lgeasland@yahoo.com (608-298-7094) if you need pastoral support. In case of more extreme emergencies Pastor Kris Gorton of Memorial UCC in Fitchburg will also be available (608-438-6307).
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Weekly Creation Care Tips -
Reduce/Reuse/Recycle
This week’s Tip: Reduce: The annual August move-out sends one million pounds of material into the landfill. Donate lightly used goods to your local resale store to reduce this number. Go to sustaindane.org to learn more on how to reduce your carbon footprint.
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A Special Opportunity to Celebrate the Life of Cathy Carlson
As most of you know, Rev. Cathy Carlson, a member of our church and beloved spouse of our own Pastor Mike Bausch, passed away at the end of last week. Our heart goes out to Mike and his family, and we will continue to hold them in our prayers.
Our congregation is going to host a wonderful opportunity to give thanks for Cathy's beautiful life and ministry during and after Sunday morning worship on Sunday, September 15th. The worship is scheduled to be outside, and Mike and his musical group, "The Hoot 'n Annie String Band" will lead our worship service as they have previously. The service itself will feature music and themes that Cathy loved personally and that were at the heart of Cathy's work in all the churches she served throughout her many years of ministry. We'll host a simple meal after worship during which memories of Cathy will be shared. More details to come on this, but be sure to mark the date and join us for this unique time of worship, remembrance, and celebration. Joan Jacobsen will organize our hosting of this time together so please be in touch with Joan if you'd like to help out.
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A Few Words from Pastor Bryan
...and Marianne Williamson
One thing I know I'll be doing for sure during my vacation will be to read Marianne Williamson's new book, The Mystic Jesus: The Mind of Love.
I just found out about this book yesterday and started reading it immediately, and wow! I just LOVE when someone sheds all kinds of new light on the teachings of Jesus and what his ministry was all about in ways that make it more real and powerful and relevant than ever. If you're hungry for some fresh and inspiring takes on who Jesus was and is and why it matters NOW, treat yourself to a copy of this book.
I've been a big fan of Marianne Williamson as a spiritual teacher for a long time. I think she was unfairly targeted and deliberately and disrespectfully dismissed as a presidential candidate these last two cycles. Trust me--she's no "spiritual snowflake" as many of the network and cable news pundits described her. If anything, her take on Jesus and mature spirituality and its implications for public policy and the healing of the world were and are too hard hitting and radical (yet pragmatically grounded and quite realistic) for her to be welcomed into the world of presidential politics at this point. I resonate deeply with most of what I hear her say, and I personally would love to see her platform increase. She's got a lot to offer and she should be heard. I'm sure I'll be sharing excerpts of this most recent book once I've finished it. But here's one from the introduction that I think you'll find compelling. Those of you who hear me preach regularly will understand why I resonate so deeply with Marianne's insights.
I hope to see you for Outdoor Worship this Sunday, and for the "Games, Food, and Fire Circle" this Sunday night. If not, I'll see you after Labor Day!
Pastor Bryan
From Marianne Williamson's, The Mystic Jesus
The mystic Jesus is a universal Jesus, an aspect of nature itself. I experience the sun, but no one owns the sun. I experience the breeze, but no one owns the breeze. I experience love, but no one owns love. Natural forces can neither be contained nor propertied, and Jesus is a natural force.
The mystic Jesus is a path of consciousness, an understanding of how the universe operates and how we can mentally align with its purposes. The contemporary mystic is guided by an internal radar that exists within us all, literally a gift from God. Whether we call that guidance conscience, ethics, our covenant with God, the voice of the Holy Spirit, or Jesus, its wisdom and illumination is the salvation of the world.
When Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world,” that is what he was referring to—that his kingdom is not an outer but rather an inner domain of existence, what today we call the psyche. His is a mindset of love, which he shares with us when we ask him to. The only thing to be saved from is our own misguided belief that we are separate and alone in a random and meaningless universe—for that is the source of all fear. The reason Jesus can be called savior of the world is because he saves us from our sick thinking about the world. Jesus is a guide to another way of thinking—thus the builder of another kind of world.
The world is a reflection of our thoughts; therefore the primary thing to be saved from is our own misguided thinking. The salvation of the world lies in the correction of the thinking that dominates this world, a kind of thinking that is rooted in fear and leads inevitably to fearsome consequences. The problems of the world as we know them are simply symptoms of a deeper problem: us, and the ways of thinking that trap us in the hell of our own making. It is thinking based on fear, positing us as separate from everything—from anything larger than ourselves, from each other, and from the world at large. This thinking is deeply untrue and deeply insane. It wounds the world because it breaks the heart. It causes inevitable suffering because it is so at odds with the truth of who we are. We need to correct that thinking, and then we will correct the world.
We need to heal our wounded souls, and then we will heal the world. It is imperative that we stop behaving in ways so violently destructive to ourselves and to others and to the planet on which we live, or humanity will not survive itself. Our violent behavior stems from our violent thinking; it is our thinking, therefore, that is killing us. Yet how do we change at this point? Is anyone seriously thinking that traditional psychotherapy, or psychopharmacology, or theology is going to save us? “A universal theology is impossible, but a universal experience is not only possible but necessary”* (MT-77), says the Course in Miracles. And what is that experience? What is the shift in thinking that will lead to a change in behavior that will lead to a different kind of world? The spiritual path is simply the journey of the heart, and as the world embarks on that journey then our world is going to change.
There are many guides on that journey, and Jesus is one of them. The mystic Jesus is not a theological construct; he is a spiritual force. He is a presence within us through which we can forge an intimate relationship with God, ourselves, and each other. He becomes a lived experience as we practice the principles that are the core of his message to the world. He is an intercession from a thought system beyond our own, a master healer of the human race.
Jesus is a bridge to another kind of thinking, better thought of as a living inner guide than as a stained-glass icon. He is a reminder of who and what we truly are.
He stands in the breach between the neurotic, weak, fearful, and judgmental you and the strong and powerful, forgiving and most glorious you. He can lead you from one to the other. His mind, joined with ours, can shine away the fear-laden sense of self that plagues us.
That is the revelation of the mystic Jesus. He will lead us through the darkness in our mind, to the light that God placed there and that cannot be erased. The mystic Jesus is not an idol. He is an evolutionary Elder Brother, not forcing himself on anyone but available to everyone. The subject of this book is who he is, and who we ourselves become when our thoughts align with his.
(Bryan again here for those of you who read that excerpt--as I said. Wow.)
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