Make sure to "View Entire Message" to see all the April News! | | bringing Michigan Conference UCC pastors and churches closer together and closer to God | | Easter Eggs and Christianity: A Problematic History | |
By Lillian Daniel
Michigan Conference Minister
At the risk of stating the obvious, Easter is a celebration of Christ’s resurrection and Lent is no time for the idolatry of the hard shelled offspring of chickens. For too long the church has condoned various pagan practices with vapid excuses like, “It’s a symbol of spring,” or “It’s just for the kids,” or “I love the smell of boiled eggs and vinegar in a small kitchen.” The reality is that the boiling of eggs and their subsequent discoloration are brutal rituals from the past that have no place in our homes or our churches. when placed in their appropriate historical and political context.
Let’s start with the practice of boiling eggs, rather than soft scrambling them as Jesus intended. Why? For thousands of years, unthinking generations have accepted the faulty logic that we must boil the eggs before dying them, in order to preserve them before we hide them in obvious places, while pretending that a rabbit did it, so that our children can find them. Obviously that is nonsense. As anyone in the Midwest with a grandma knows, raw eggs left outside on the kitchen counter will last forever.
At last, historians of world religions have discovered there are in fact two practical reasons for boiling eggs, and as it turns out, both of them come directly from Satan. The first is to use Holy Week to get humanity accustomed to the temperature of our future bathwater in Hell. The second is the sudden mass production of large amounts of egg salad here on earth, which, let’s be honest, nobody really likes.
Next, let us turn our attention to the dying of the eggs into hues so unmemorable that only a helpless baby would wear them, thus defying the Divine’s natural order of creation on the eighth day when She said, “All jewel tones, all the time, because everyone looks good in jewel tones. Now, this is good.”
It is a little known scientific fact that colors such as pale pink, light yellow, pool-bottom aqua and so-called robin’s egg blue do not actually occur in nature, but were produced in a lab when a genetically enhanced rabbit, forced to drink skittles that had been fermented in vinegar, a few hours later leaked into the world the sad swath of colors we now call “pastels.” And yet this is what we do to eggs! We dip them into one pastel after another in the hope that we can improve upon God’s creation, only to make it worse. At some deep level, I believe we know what we are doing with the eggs is wrong and this is why we subsequently hide them from ourselves
It would be one thing if this was simply a matter of adults making poor choices. But after hiding our evil devil eggs in a fog of shame, we recruit innocent children to find them. In a brutal exercise in mass hysteria and groupthink, small children push each other aside with the rage of a skittle eating bunny who’s been inside feeling fertile far too long. In a barely disguised syncretistic sacrifice ritual, we elevate the eggs in portable handheld altars, a.k.a. baskets, filled with slinky plastic fake grass, which was designed by demons to attach itself forever to all fabric or be eaten by unsuspecting cats, who are, by the way, God’s special furry purry angels on earth, but I digress.
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Whether the eggs are hidden in a lush tulip-filled garden flecked with sunlight (if it’s Spring) or in a dirty frozen tilted rusted bird bath, where the recently melted snow exposes the winter sins of a thousand bad dog owners, under a dark and joyless sky, (if it’s Michigan) the Easter Egg Hunt is aptly named, as a brutal ritual whose time has passed.
Lenten Blessings,
Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel, Michigan Conference Minister
April 1, 2025 *
| *PS: The rest of this monthly newsletter is all factual and sent to you with serious love and care from our team at the Michigan Conference, United Church of Christ. Happy April Fools Day. | | Immigration: Church Responses | |
MichUCC Clergy Retreat
May 12-15, 2025
Michigan Conference UCC Pastors, Clergy and Members-In-Discernment are invited to share in a week of togetherness, rest, preaching, skill building, and fun.
Conference and Camp staff will lead daily spiritual practices, learning opportunities and time for connection. There will also be time for renewal and sabbath.
We hope that you will leave refreshed and reminded that you are enough in your call to ministry for such a time as this.
REGISTER HERE before April 30
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Tiered Registration Pricing for
MichUCC participants
Cost offset by Scholarship Funds
$575.00 for OUT of STATE Participants
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Youth Ambassadors for German Partnership - Summer 2025
** UPDATED DATES **
The Michigan Conference UCC has the pleasure of hosting up to 18 youth and 2 adults from Pomerania at the end of THIS summer!! 2025 Ambassadors will be considered first for an exchange trip to Germany in Summer 2026.
There are TWO unique opportunities for Michigan YOUTH:
1) we are looking for 20+ youth (age 15-18) to spend the weekend (Friday 08.22 - Sunday 08.24) with our German Partners at Tower Hill Camp and Retreat Center. The weekend will include activities at camp and worship at a church in Southwest Michigan.
2) we are seeking 5 or 6 youth (age 16-18 to travel to Washington DC August 18-21 to meet and host our German Partners while we tour DC together.
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Clergy Cafe with Rev. Cheryl Burke
IN-PERSON lunch gathering 11:00am -1:00pm on the third Wednesday, March - May.
Join Rev. Cheryl Burke, ACM of Clergy Care and Formation for lunch and conversation at Grand Traverse Pie Company.
April 16 - Norton Shores, MI
May 21 - Traverse City, MI
no registration or reservations required
come as you are able, leave as you must
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Conference Transitions
The Conference Transitions feature appears in the monthly Michigan Conference Newsletter. Please share your transition information, including church anniversaries, with commmunications@michucc.org
Searching Churches
- Saint John's UCC in Port Huron is searching for a part-time pastor Details
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Zion United Church of Christ in Baroda is searching for an interim pastor Details
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Lakeview United Church of Christ in Lakeview is searching for a part-time pastor Details
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For a complete list of searching UCC churches in Michigan click here
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The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel, Michigan Conference Minister
2025 Preaching Schedule & Worship Visits
April 13, 2025 Preach - Plymouth UCC, Grand Rapids
April 20, 2025 - Easter Sunday
April 27 - May 5, 2025 Germany UCC Kirchentag Delegation
LINK TO 2025 DATES
Contact lisa@michucc.org to schedule a visit
| | | | Conference Resolution Policies | |
The Resolutions Committee of the Board of Directors is responsible for
working with those who desire to submit Conference Resolutions. Below are links to the revised process for resolution submission and sharing, including a template for use in drafting a resolution.
Please note the deadlines in the Resolution Submission Process Guidelines. Late submissions will not be considered unless there is an emergency due to an unanticipated situation that comes after the deadline.
If you are planning to submit a resolution for consideration, please contact Sue Greenwood as soon as possible. Lisa Soulliere and Sue should receive your Initial Draft Resolution via email no later than May 1, 2025.
Thank you for your interest in bringing Resolutions to our 2025 Annual Meeting of the
Michigan Conference October 3-4, 2025 in Southfield, MI.
| | Database Deadline Extended to April 11 | |
Yearbook Data is DUE BY April 11
With the rollout of the NEW Datahub & Directories website, there have been many problems logging in and completing reports. To help with this, the National Setting has created a Survey Monkey as an alternative for churches to report their information.
Churches now have the option to complete a secure survey through SurveyMonkey that will collect all of the data that we normally collect from churches for the Yearbook.
If you’d like to engage this process, all you need to do is CLICK HERE and complete the survey
If you were able to login to the new site and complete your reports, you can disregard the Survey and extension. Thank you for your persistence through the process.
| | Yearbook Data is collected one time each year, and local churches are asked to provide and update information to the wider-church. This is the information that we use at the conference to connect with and support you. The more accurate the Yearbook, the better we can serve you. | | Scholarships for Members in Discernment | |
Dreaming of going into ministry?
Financial help is available!
Each year awards are made to multiple seminarians within the Michigan Conference UCC. These awards are significant and can be a factor in making it financially possible for aspiring ministers to attend seminary.
The deadline for submitting applications
(or renewal requests) is May 1st, 2025
READ MORE
Link to APPLICATION
| | | Association and Local Church News | |
Great Lakes Creation Collaborative Retreat
August 24-26, 2025
Centered on the Great Lakes as our sisters and mother, The Great Lakes Creation Collaborative now spans six UCC Conferences and The United Church of Canada. In our Third Annual Retreat, "A Watershed Moment," we continue to focus on how we might move to action and advocacy.
Participants will receive a free six-week curriculum which leads them to action and advocacy with their own local body of water, discern with Biblical scholar and environmental activist, Ched Myers, and hear from a national activist plans during the second Summer of Heat and the big movement for mid-September.
Come to Tower Hill not only to have your heart and mind know kinship with Lake Michigan, but to stretch your soul for your local water and the waters of God's good earth.
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Download Flyer
Thanks to PIMAT and the Southwest Association for their grants to make this event a reality.
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Celebrating 185 Years
Chartered March 7, 1840, First Congregational Church UCC, Owosso has spent all of March celebrating 185 years of ministry.
Congratulations to Pastor Deborah Grazier, congregation, and community!
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Grand West Association
The Grand West Association Council is asking churches and pastors to fill out a brief survey online regarding how the association allocates its money to various nonprofits and ministries. The results of this survey will be shared as one resource during the Spring Association Meeting on May 18th in Rockford. Complete the SURVEY HERE
| | Wider-Church UCC News, Events, and Resources | |
Getting Ready for General Synod: Introducing a 4-part series that goes deep into General Synod and why we hope to see you all there!
Part 1 - General Synod 101
Part 2 - The 5-Ws of Synod Resolutions
Part 3 - Accessibility, Safety, and Welcoming Spaces
Part 4 - Braiding Worship and Beyond
REGISTER HERE
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Our Whole Lives offers a unique opportunity to bridge faith and sexuality education through dismantling shame and stigma and embracing relationship, community, and empowerment.
Over the past eight years, various international faith groups have requested training and materials in order to share the Our Whole Lives approach in their communities. Come learn about the international impact of these trainings and materials.
REGISTER HERE
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Even if you cannot make the summit at its scheduled time, still sign-up, and the national setting will send you a link to a recording of it.
REGISTER HERE
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Earth Sunday Resources
Creation Justice Ministries has released a new resource in time for Earth Sunday that explores life-giving theologies in conversation with those leading at the grassroots of a faith-rooted movement. In this webinar, you will hear from the lead author of the resource along with two of the faith leaders profiled in it.
REGISTER HERE
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Climate Action Camp
June 15-June 20, 2025
Announce a new Intergenerational Summer Camp at Tower Hill.
Learn and explore how we can be advocates and activists for Climate Justice at every age through age appropriate, hand-on learning sessions.
The cost for camp is $375/person which includes lodging in our A-frames and delicious meals in the Dining Hall.
Scholarships are available.
REGISTER HERE
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