June 16 - 23, 2023

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

SUNDAY Morning, 10 am Zoom Worship

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

Note: There will be no Midweek Inhale until Wednesday, June 28. 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.

Sunday, June 18 10:00 am, Outdoor Worship Service (In person & Online) Indoors if inclement weather.

Wednesday, June 21 7:00 - 9:00 pm, Summer Solstice Fire Ceremony & Prayer, MUCC fire pit

Thursday, June 22 5:00 - 8:00 pm, Teen Youth Outing of Mini Golf and Cookout, Vitense Golf & Pastor Bryan's House

Sunday, June 25 10:00 am - 4:00 pm, McFarland Pride Festival (MUCC is a sponsor. Signup to host the MUCC information table.)

Sunday, July 9 9:00 am, Worship Service TIME CHANGE due to Sikh Temple opportunity (In person & Online)

Sunday, July 9 11:00 am, Sikh Temple service with meal to follow (6970 Century Ave, Middleton). Carpooling available.

Sunday, July 9 5:30 - 7:00 pm, Teen Youth Monthly Meeting

Thursday, July 13 6:00 – 8:00 pm, SaLT Monthly Meeting (In person & Online) - Multipurpose Room

Thursday, July 18 6:30 – 8:00 pm, Ecojustice/Green Team Monthly Meeting (In person & Online)- Multipurpose Room

Thursday, July 20 6:30 – 8:00 pm, NION Monthly Meeting (Online only) - Multipurpose Room

Sunday, July 23 10:00 am, Outdoor Worship Service (In person & Online) Indoors if inclement weather.

Our 1st Outdoor Worship Service of the Season: This Sunday!

June 18 at 10:00 a.m.

Bring your lawn chair if you have one

Get ready for a beautiful time of worship eas outdoor worship services take place once a month this summer! Mark your calendars for June 18, July 23, August 20, and September 17. (In case of inclement weather, services will be indoors of course.) These services offer a refreshing change of scenery from the usual church setting, allowing you to connect with your faith in the great outdoors. Bring a chair (if you can) and don't miss out on Pastor Bryan's inspiring sermons while you embrace the tranquility of the natural surroundings!

Canceled Meetings

The June meeting for NION (6/20) and the July Racial Justice (7/4) are both canceled. The next NION meeting will be Thursday, July 20. The next Racial Justice meeting will be Tuesday, August 1.

Three Sisters Garden

(Submitted by Our Green Team Chair Julie Woodward)

Care and cooperation were the themes of the night last Sunday when the younger kids had their monthly gathering with Pastor Bryan. We talked about and then planted a Three Sisters Garden, and a sunflower garden (sometimes known as the fourth sister). Julie came from the Green Team with seeds in hand and a bit of direction, though Holly was able to share the concept very well on her own with the group. There are many legends about the Three Sisters, but one states:



The three sisters' way of planting originated with the Haudenosaunee tribe. The story goes that beans, corn, and squash are actually three Native American maidens. The three, while very different, love each other very much and thrive when they are near each other. It is for this reason that the Native Americans plant the three sisters together.

Reference: www.gardeningknowhow.com/special/children/a-three-sisters-garden.htm

Doesn’t this just fit our MUCC group?! We may be different in many ways but thrive together. The gardening concept is that the corn grows tall to support the pole beans which provide nitrogen in the soil, and the squash protects the others with their prickly vines, and the large leaves shade the ground and hold in the moisture. Native Americans taught our ancestors how to survive in their new home by planting this way; to our Native American brothers and sisters, we owe much gratitude. We will watch and tend our little garden, maybe pray over it a little (or a lot given the lack of rain) and then share the bounty and the beauty together. Many hands, each holding one small seed can do great things together!

From Pastor Bryan: Thank you so much Julie for doing all the hours of work to prepare the 3 Sisiters and Sunflower gardens for planting! And to Calvin Swenson also for helping to lead the planting.

Summer Solstice Fire Ceremony & Prayer With Jessica Riphenburg!



Wednesday, June 21, 7-9 p.m.



We started doing joint Solstice and Equinox ceremonies with our beloved friend and shamanic practioner Jessica Riphenburg. a year ago. What a joy these ceremonies have been! And they are growing! Please join us next Wednesday, June 21st, for the Summer Solstice ceremony. We'll combine some ancient Christian prayers with a shamanic fire ceremony, and this year add a song at the end. These ceremonies have been powerfully healing experiences for many people who thought they would never resonate with the spirituality associated with a Christian Church, and many beautiful conversations have emerged about how to embrace the core Truths that run through both shamanic traditions and the Judeo -Christian tradtion. Bring a lawn chair if you have one, a rattle or drum if you like, and an open mind, heart, and being.

Our Very Own Dawn Cogger Presents "Womb to Tomb to Womb: Holy Longing" at E.D. Locke Public Library

Join our very own Dawn Cogger on June 22 from 6:30-7:30 pm for her "Author Visit" at the E.D. Locke Public Library in the Community Room. Dawn will be sharing her powerful memoir, "Womb to Tomb to Womb: Holy Longing," a book that delves deep into her life's journey and addresses the struggles we all face. With courage and vulnerability, Dawn explores themes of loss, faith, and the search for meaning. Let's celebrate and support Dawn Cogger's remarkable accomplishment and the transformative power of storytelling. If you can't make the author visit night on June 22, feel free to speak with Dawn otherwise!

McFarland Pride in the Park Sunday, June 25

Every Sunday morning, members and visitors are welcomed with the words “No matter who you are, no matter where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here”. These are the words of an Open and Affirming church within the UCC denomination; for more information, see the Open and Affirming (ONA) Coalition website.  

In support of our commitment to ONA, MUCC leadership endorsed being a sponsor and participating in McFarland’s first Pride Festival, Pride in the Park, on Sunday, June 25 at Arnold Larson Park https://nadinemobley23.wixsite.com/mcfarlandpride. This family-friendly event will begin with yoga at 9 am followed by multiple activities from 10 am – 4 pm including live music by David Landau, food carts and vendors, crafts, face painting, storytime, and a DJ.



We are seeking volunteers to be at the MUCC vendor table at Pride in the Park from 10 am – 4 pm on Sunday, June 25. This is a great opportunity for us to share with the rest of McFarland what a wonderful, friendly, and open church community we have at McFarland UCC. If you are available to spend an hour at our table, please signup online. Contact Joan Jacobsen with questions at treasurer@mcfarlanducc.org or 608-669-7944.

Change of Time for Service on July 9:

Visit Sikh Temple

We are excited to announce a change in the service time for July 9, 2023! In an effort to foster community engagement and cultural exchange, we have decided to adjust the schedule to accommodate a special visit to the Sikh Temple, 6970 Century Ave, Middleton. Our service will now begin at 9:00 am, allowing us to carpool (if desired) together to the Sikh Temple and attend their service at 11:00 am.

The Sikh Temple graciously extends an invitation to our congregation to experience their traditions and join in their worship. This visit presents an excellent opportunity to deepen our understanding of each other's beliefs.

Following the service, we will have the privilege of sharing a meal that is available each week for everyone at the Sikh Temple. Last year a tour of the temple was even offered.

We sincerely invite all members of our congregation to join us on July 11, as we come together in unity and celebrate the richness of diversity within our community. Please mark your calendars and spread the word!

Lost & Found

A pair of prescription glasses were found in the bathroom on Sunday, June 11. Please claim them from the Lost & Found basket in the coat area if they are yours.

Congratulations to Our 2023 Confirmands!

Danielle Hoffmann

Gwen Hofmeister

Lydia Mikelbank

Claire Hofmeister

Easton Becher-Etnier

Gavin Lyon

SaLT Spot: Highlights from the June Meeting

Committee updates include:

• EcoJustice/Green Team is growing a 3 sisters' garden (corn, squash, and beans) as well as a sunflower garden with help from the youth.
• Building and Grounds will be working on window replacement in the coming weeks.
• Racial Justice Team is planning a visit to a Sikh Temple on July 9th.

Other items:

• MUCC will be participating in McFarland's first Pride in the Park event on Sunday, July 25th. Volunteers are needed to represent MUCC by sharing information and resources about open and affirming churches.
• SaLT team is documenting an MUCC Resouce Use Policy that will be shared with the community when it is finalized.
• Church service on Sunday, June 18th will be outdoors, weather permitting.  

A Few Words From Pastor Bryan

Here's Why I Love Our Church

Well there are lots of reasons, but the way things have developed this past week regarding our willingness and choice to help the young Haitian family who will be arriving tomorrow to find a new home in our midst is what I want to highlight.

First, I love the simple fact that when this opportunity to invite Tcheki and Jeffrey and their baby Jefferson here came up just a week ago, everyone I mentioned it to--from members of NION to SaLT--embraced the idea with no hesitation. I couldn't believe how quickly Judy and Mark Emmerich said, "They can live in our basement for a while." (yeah Mark I know--it took you a little longer than Judy!). I love that we saw this as an opportunity to put our faith into action, and that we did not let the fact that we really don't know what we're doing stop us from saying an enthusiastic, "Yes let's do this!"

Even though I reminded everyone that this will require a commitment on our part that will quickly get very real and at times difficult, there was no hesitation. I love that. Sure, there are plenty of good and important questions to ask. It will get complicated most likely. But sometimes we just need to say "yes" to what's most important, and trust that everything needed on the pragmatic end of things will be given. As Jesus put it in Matthew 6:33, "Seek first the Kingdom (Consciousness) of God, and all these things will be added unto you."

But I also love that this didn't "just happen." Our ability to make this quick decision to host Tcheki and her family is the fruit of years of soulful and faithful work here in our congregation. About 4 years ago we brought NION into existence because our hearts were broken by the reality of desperate families at our southern border. Under Tom Ludwig's leadership, this aspect of our Outreach Ministries has been building and growing and evolving ever since. We've been actively searching for ways to be helpful to local immigrants as well as in solidarity with families coming into the U.S.

More recently, thanks to new members Judy and Mark Emmerich and to Araceli Wehr, we decided to form an aspect of NION that would offer "whatever is needed" to immigrants in McFarland and the surrounding areas. We're calling this "Aliados," which is the Spanish word for "Allies." When we heard about Tcheki and her family's situation, it all just made perfect sense. God gave us a family to host, and this will enable Aliados to learn firsthand just what is needed for a brand new immigrant family to establish a home in our area.

But alongside all of this our congregation, thanks in large part to the amazing administrative gifts of Joan Jacobsen, has established our Outreach Funds Committee over the past few years. We've come up with a process and principles by which we will distribute money given to our church to use to help others. So we were ready and organized to meet and release funds needed to make sure we can make Tcheki and family's arrival and first few weeks here go as smoothy as possible. All it took was one meeting to make sure we have funds to get started. We were ready.

On top of all this, when I sent out an email this time yesterday to let you all know about this young family's arrival and the fact that we will need others in our congregation to help out in various ways, I immediately began receiving messages from people asking how they could help in addition to items listed in the Signup Genius that Araceli put together (THANK YOU Araceli for all the work you've already done to make all of this happen!) Here's the link to that Sgnup Genius list again by the way.

So here's what I love about our church. We don't just talk about living out our faith. We take action. In so many different ways. We're far from perfect. There's no such thing as a perfect church (despite the song I wrote called "The Perfect Church." (click here to hear the song). But with God's help, we get stuff done. Stuff that matters. It's really quite amazing. And we are usually laughing and enjoying ourselves and each other in the process. How wonderful is that?

As I've told you all many times, I often am almost embarrassed by "how good I have it" as pastor of this congregation. So many of my colleagues in ministry are struggling with conflicts among or with church members or struggling to survive financially and keep the doors open. More and more are talking about selling their buildings or reducing staff or somehow "cutting back."

I love being in a church that keeps saying "Yes!" to what God is calling us to do, and that knows that if we keep seeking God beyond everything else, everything we need to thrive will be given to us. What a blast. Thanks for being who you are McFarland UCC.

Hope to see you Sunday! Weather permitting we're outside so bring your lawn chair!

Pastor Bryan