"I will put my teaching in their minds and write it on their hearts..."
Jeremiah 31:33
| | | Calendar of Upcoming Events | | |
Below are the weekly programs. Brief descriptions of these weekly programs are on our website.
Clickable links are in blue, underlined, and italicized.
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SUNDAY Choir Practice, 9 am in person, Sanctuary
Contact Tom Ludwig, if interested.
| | 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, April 13, Palm Sunday
Sunday, April 13, 6:00 pm, Confirmation Meeting at McFarland UCC,
Wednesday, April 16, 6:30 - 7:30 pm, Alabaster Wednesday Service (In person & Online)
Thursday, April 17, 6:30 pm, Maudy Thursday Service (In person & Online)
Friday, April 18, 6:30 pm, Good Friday Service (In person & Online)
Sunday, April 20, Easter Sunday, 9:00 - 9:45 am Conversation & Light Breakfast, 9:30 Easter Egg Hunt, 10:00 am Service
Wednesday, April 30, 6:30 - 8:00 pm, A Conversation on Climate Action with Brian McLaren (In person & Online), Sanctuary
Saturday, May 3, 9:00 - 11:00 am, Befrienders Orientation (In person & Online)
Sunday, May 4, 5:30-7:00 pm, Teen Youth Meeting at Memorial UCC, 5705 Lacy Rd, Fitchburg
Tuesday, May 6, 6:30 - 8:00 pm, Social Justice Collective Team Monthly Meeting, (In person & Online), Multipurpose Room
Wednesday, May 7, 6:30 - 8:00 pm, Befrienders Training (In person & Online) No session May14
Thursday, May 8, 6:00 - 8:00 pm, SaLT Monthly Meeting (In person & Online), Multipurpose Room
Wednesday, May 14, 6:30 - 7:30 pm, Contemplative Service with Prayers for Healing (In person & Online), Sanctuary
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Thank you to this weekend's volunteers!
Greeters/Ushers: Lisa & Mariana Schweitzer
Hospitality Hosts: Diane Mikelbank, Judy Hogan
| | Resolve to get involved at McFarland UCC! Volunteer on Sunday. Join a ministry such as Racial Justice, Creation Care, Befrienders Care Team, SaLT, Youth ministry, Building & Ground Team, or others. Find out more by clicking here. | | |
News at McFarland UCC
Note: Clickable links are blue, underlined, and italicized.
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Easter Fellowship and Easter Egg Hunt Before Easter Sunday Worship - April 20
Start your Easter Sunday morning with an opportunity for fellowship BEFORE worship service. We will be serving coffee cake and donuts along with fresh fruit, juice and our usual hot beverages starting about 9:00 am on Easter morning, April 20. Plan to join us for conversation and refreshments as we gather for our Easter celebration.
About 9:30 am the annual Easter Egg Hunt will start as we send our young ones outside in search of Easter Eggs and treats. Please bring a basket or bag to collect the eggs that will be hidden outside around the church property.
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A Conversation on Climate Action with author Brian McLaren
Submitted by Jayne Fischer
Brian McLaren is well-known for his books that deal with the intersection of religious faith and contemporary culture. In “Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart,” he engages with the catastrophic failure of both our religious and political leaders to address the dominant realities of our time: ecological overshoot, economic injustice, and the increasing likelihood of civilizational collapse.
We are very fortunate to have Brian joining us over Zoom on Wednesday, April 30, 6:30-8:00 p.m. Central Time.
He will discuss his four major scenarios in terms of where we are at this moment in history, and four aspects of how we might respond:
· Letting Go: A Path of Descent
· Letting Be: A Place of Insight
· Letting Come: A Path of Resilience
· Setting Free: A Path of Agile Engagement
Then he will engage with us in a Q&A format.
You do not need to have read the book to join this discussion! Brian wants to engage us in this work, saying that to address aspects of our climate crisis, whatever we do matters. Connect with others, focus on a key area, and create an action plan!
Please join us either in person at McFarland UCC or on Zoom. The Zoom Meeting link will be posted when we get closer to the meeting date.
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Earth Day Art
Earth Day is Sunday, April 27! If you did not attend Sunday worship on April 6 and would like to create an Earth Day image, you may do so at home. You could use watercolor, crayons, colored pencils, upcycled materials, or other materials. No art bigger than 8.5"x11" please. For the art made at home, bring your creation to the Earth Day worship service on Sunday, April 27, or drop it off at church beforehand.
If questions, contact Dawn Cogger: 608-358-7217 (text ok) or email.
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Next Befrienders Class Offering
Beginning May 3
Submitted By Jean Duchrow
The Befrienders will be offering a new set of classes starting with a May 3rd orientation from 9:00-11:00 am. Six classes will be held on Wednesday nights from 6:30 to 8:00 beginning on May 7th. (We will not meet on the second Wednesday of each month, so those wishing to attend the healing service may do so.) Zoom is always an option for these classes.
The classes will cover:
- 1. Prayer and Healing
- 2. Self Care and Boundaries
- 3. Living Alone, Hospital and Care Center Visiting
- 4. Depression
- 5. Persons with Disabilities.
We would welcome anyone interested in sharing with the group on any of the above topics.
Contact Jean Duchrow jeandu...@gmail.com if you are interested in taking the classes or sharing with the group on one of the topics we will be covering.
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Learn About Zionism
If you are trying to understand the mentality of Zionism that allows for the current State of Israel’s behaviors, check out this video featuring author and physician Gabor Mate. In “Gabor Maté: Gaza, Zionism, and the ‘exploitation’ of Jewish trauma,” he shares his story as a Holocaust survivor and former Zionist whose journey eventually led him to become an advocate for a just peace in the Middle East. – Submitted by the Wisconsin Conference Palestine Working Group via Harriet Taylor.
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Weekly Creation Care Topic
Reduce/Reuse/Recycle
This week’s Tip: Styrofoam cannot go into Village of McFarland recycling bins; it must be recycled by Reynolds Urethane Recycling, Inc. As part of the McFarland Community Service Day for Earth Day event Saturday, April 26, 8 am-Noon at McFarland Municipal Center, you may drop off CLEAN (no food, tape, labels) styrofoam on the Milwaukee St. side of the building. Non-McFarland residents, take your styrofoam to Reynolds Urethane Recycling Inc., 2701 Progress Road, Madison. Commit to helping to reduce the 1369 tons of styrofoam that are buried in US landfills every day. Click here to learn more styrofoam facts.
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A Few Words from Pastor Bryan
…and Palm Sunday, Keanu Reeves, & Elon Musk
So this Sunday is Palm Sunday once again, and the beginning of what we call “Holy Week.” This is always a deeply meaningful time for me as I reflect on all that Jesus knew he was about to face during the last week of his life at age 33. More and more, it’s the humanness of Jesus that touches me and speaks to me most.
The more I reflect on the fact Jesus knew for at least 3 years that his life was headed toward an agonizing showdown with betrayal, abandonment, injustice, torture, and death, the more amazed I am by Jesus’s courage, resolve, and resilience. This sounds almost childish, but the simple truth is that Jesus really is my hero. My admiration, respect, and love for him as a man just keeps growing.
In Luke’s Gospel (Luke 19: 41-44), Jesus’s Palm Sunday ride into Jerusalem begins with Jesus looking down upon Jerusalem from the top of a small mountain just outside the city. And the last thing he does before he rides the donkey into the city in fulfillment of the Hebrew prophecy is cry... Jesus wept for the city. For the people. He cried not because of what he personally was facing, but because he knew that the majority of the people simply did not and would not receive his message of Divine peace, justice, healing, and transformation. He wept because he knew that they were going to face some extremely painful and catastrophic consequences because of their hard-heartedness and rejection and refusal to embrace the intentions of God.
If I was writing a sermon based on this text, it would be easy to draw some parallels between Jesus’s sadness and frustration that the hard-heartedness of his own people was going to cause tremendous and unnecessary suffering for so many—and our own current socio-political situation.
But I’m not going to go there.
Instead, I just want to reiterate that what touches me the most about Jesus was and is his complete humanity. He was not a “superman.” He was a regular man. He wasn’t above the mess and beauty and full range of human experiences and emotions. He was one of us. God brought salvation—healing—to humankind by becoming fully human. It’s almost a vote of confidence in the beauty and potential we all possess as humans. And the more the years go by, the more blown away I am by the incredible gift of grace it is to simply be a human for whatever time we have in these bodies of ours. There are emotions and feelings we may not like because they are not always pleasant. That’s putting it mildly I know. Some experiences rock us to the core, devastate us, bring us to the end of ourselves, and break us open.
But what a gift it to be able to experience the wildly exquisite ride of being fully human.
And that leads me to Keanu Reeves and Elon Musk.
Musk and his tech billionaire circle of influencers all see themselves as visionary social engineers and futurists who want to play a key role in the direction that humankind will take at this crucial moment in human history. They have VERY SPECIFIC plans to begin placing Artificial Intelligence inside the human body, and are convinced that they can in essence engineer a more evolved human through this technology. I’ll let you make of the following excerpt what you like.
But as we lean toward this Sunday, I’ll just say that I’m so grateful that Jesus was willing and able to “weep over Jerusalem.”
Hope to see you Sunday and througout Holy Week,
Pastor Bryan
Posted on social media by Daniel Gugger on April 6, 2025
Actor Keanu Reeves is known not only for his iconic film roles, but also for his wisdom, humility, and deep understanding of human existence. In a compelling live debate watched by millions of viewers worldwide, he caught none other than Elon Musk, the visionary and tech mogul, to talk about one of the most pressing issues of our time: the future of artificial intelligence, creativity and human connection.
The meeting of opposites. The tension was palpable when the two men faced each other. Musk, known for his bold visions of Mars colonies and an AI-powered future, spoke about the need for technological advancements to save humanity. Reeves, on the other hand, introduced a calmer, more contemplative perspective:
“Perhaps our goal is not to control the world, but to understand it.”
When asked whether AI will surpass human creativity, Elon Musk responded with a clear,
“Sooner or later, yes. Machines will create art, compose music and tell stories – better than us.”
The camera waved at Keanu Reeves, who briefly remained silent, then took a deep breath and said;
“But will a machine ever know what it feels like to miss something ? Or what is it like to create something beautiful out of a moment of sorrow? Creativity does not arise from calculation but from experience, pain, love, and hope.”
The studio was quiet. Even Musk seemed speechless for a moment. This sentence, simple and profound at the same time, sounded far beyond the screen. The scene spread rapidly on social media. “Reeves has not only silenced the room but also redefined our understanding of humanity,” commented one viewer on X.
Philosophers, artists and scientists spoke up and praised Keanu's point of view as an urgently needed reminder that progress must be measured not only in data, but also in feeling. In a world increasingly lost in technology, Keanu Reeves reminded us that our deepest values cannot be programmed. What makes us human is not our efficiency, but our imperfection. And sometimes all it takes is a simple, honest sentence to make a whole room think in a different way.
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