Summer Service Times - Late service will not change

Our late service time will not change for the summer like it has in the past.

Late service will continue at 10:30 am for the summer.

Nursery will only be held at the 10:30 am service.

Prejudice in Places - The History of Racial Covenants in Dane County

June 17 - 5:00 - 7:30 pm

Join us for the Prejudice in Places Event on June 17 from 5:00 - 7:30 pm at the Alliant Energy Center's Exhibition Hall.

You will learn about the history of racial covenants in Dane County, find out if your own property has this language, and discover how you can formally renounce it.

Bring your ID.

Sign up on the Kiosk and please indicate if you are able to drive, would like to carpool, or need to be picked up at home.

Learn more at: www.danecountyplanning.com/Prejudice-in-Places

Join the Messiah Racial Justice Team in participating in the Twenty-Third Annual Historical Juneteenth Freedom Parade & Celebration!

When: June 21, 2025 The parade kicks off at 10:45 AM

Where:​ The parade starts at the Madison Labor Temple grounds, goes south on Park Street to Buick Street to Penn Park.

Juneteenth Celebration follows from noon-6 pm at Penn Park

If you would like to carpool, there is a signup on the Kiosk.

What is Juneteenth? Juneteenth is a holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. The name comes from combining the words “June” and “nineteenth.” It was originally celebrated in Texas on June 19, 1866, marking the first anniversary of the day that Black people there first learned of the Emancipation Proclamation, more than two years after it was initially issued. 

5th Sunday in June Speaker - Ho-Chunk, Rock Greendeer

The Racial Justice team will host Ho-Chunk speaker Rock Greendeer, on the 5th Sunday in June weekend (June 28-29). 

For generations, Wisconsin’s Native American children were sent to one of eleven boarding schools in the state where children were not allowed to speak Ho-Chunk, the root language of what is now one of the 11 federally recognized tribes in the state and now fewer than 30 people speak Ho-Chunk as their first language. This makes Ho-Chunk and endangered language.

Greendeer hosts Ho-Chunk language feast classes, one of several efforts to save the language and culture of the tribe. He has put together different teachings intertwined with Ho-Chunk, English, and phonetic Ho-Chunk words and phrases spoken in traditional ceremonies.   

Join us on July 16th at Messiah at 6:00 pm for dinner and a documentary.

We will be watching "1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted a Culture", a 2022 documentary film that investigates a mis-translation in the Revised Standard Version (RSV) of the Bible.

This mistranslation, specifically concerning the Greek word used in the Revised Standard Version, led to a misinterpretation that had lasting cultural and religious implications for LGBTQ+ people in the United States. 

The film explores how this mistake shaped prevailing perceptions of homosexuality, arguing that the word "homosexual" was not intended to be in the Bible and was introduced much later.

The documentary uses never-before-seen archives at Yale University, showcasing an academic crusade to shed light on this issue. 

July 26 - 9:00 am

Family Camp at Horizons

Saturday, September 20 9:00 am -

Sunday. September 21 at 12:00 noon

Cost is to be determined

Sign up is on the Kiosk

Open Your Home, Open Your Heart

Become a Host Family!

Commitment: 5–10 months (full academic year or semester)

Students attend your local high school

Students come with their own spending money 

English-speaking and pre-screened students from 60 different countries

Ready to bring the world to your doorstep?

Contact Tracy today to learn more about becoming a host family!

cy Frank 608-220-7999
📧 jtracyfrank@me.com 
🌐 https://greenheartexchange.org

 Open Your Home, Open Your Heart – Become a Host Family!

Are you ready to make a difference in a young person’s life and bring the world a little closer to home?

Greenheart International is seeking caring host families to welcome international high school students into their homes for the upcoming school year. These students, ages 14–18, come from countries around the world, eager to experience American culture, improve their English, and build lifelong memories.

Host families with Greenheart speak very highly about their experiences and often develop long-lasting relationships with their foreign exchange students and their families, even sometimes traveling to visit them in their home countries years later. 

As a host family, you will:

• Provide a safe and welcoming home environment
• Meals, family time, and cultural experiences
• Offer guidance and support as they adjust to life in the U.S.

You’ll receive

• 24/7 local support from a dedicated local coordinator

                 (Tracy Frank a Messiah member)

• A meaningful cultural exchange experience your whole family will never forget!

Hosting is perfect for:

• Families with or without children of any ages, empty nesters, non traditional...
• Anyone with a big heart and an open mind!

Contact Person - Pr. Dan O'Brien - pastordan@messiahchurch.com

Nursery Summer Hours - Memorial Day - Labor Day Weekends - 10:15 - 11:35am

Every Sunday unless specified.  If nursery is cancelled for any reason there will be a sign on the church door.

No nursery June 29

If the nursery is not open, you may still use the space during services. The service can be streamed on the screen in the nursery room.  Please wash any toys that become soiled-there are wipes in the cabinet. Thank you!

At our May Ladies Lunch Bunch

we collected $155.00 

for Mountain of Food Food Pantry Collection

Ladies Lunch Bunch

Wednesday, June 11th

orders taken at 11:30

at Golf (Bridges Bar & Restaurant)

2702 Shopko Drive Madison, WI 53704

If you have any questions or cancellations please contact Claire Gensch at (920) 319-6731

Women's Ministry Fall Retreat

Save the Date - Saturday October 11, 8:30-11:30 AM

Save the date for a Fall Retreat with Heather Rainwater

Knowing how much people enjoyed our time with Heather last year exploring spiritual practices, we have asked her to return.

Members of the Women’s Ministry Group on REALM received an email on May 1 listing potential topics. If you would like to be part of the group and get your vote in, please contact Elizabeth at volunteer@messiahchurch.com.

More details will come in later months. Keep watching the Weekly News or, better yet, become part of the Women's Ministry Group and get updates delivered to your inbox!

Last Time for the Dells and Wollersheim Tour Wednesday - June 18th - 9:00 am departure

Thank you to the following people who sponsored

 "Give Kids Another Lift



Week of June 9 - June 11

Ladies Lunch Bunch, Lee & Joan Nelson, The Plourds

Zeke Wiske, Anonymous, Scott & Ann DeBroux

Give Kids a Lift Important Update

We are so excited to let the Messiah congregation know we received the grant we applied for from the Madison Community Foundation!

The grant will enable us to fund the entire 25-26 school year of van rides from the shelter on Milwaukee Street to Kennedy as well as provide gift cards for families. These cards provide dignity and autonomy for families as they choose food, clothing and other necessities for their children while their family is in transition.

We can apply for this grant every 3 years, so we will come to the congregation again in the fall of 2026 to help with the 26-27 and 27-28 school years.

In the meantime, thank you for your support over the past 2 years.

Thanks to you living the Messiah mission to be the hands of Jesus to our neighborhood, we were able to keep the rides going beyond the initial grant and provide the data that encouraged the foundation to believe in the value of funding this project.

Thank you, Messiah!

Contact Person - Nancy Battist - battistnancy@gmail.com

Human Trafficking Speaker November 22 and 23rd during services

Jennifer Ginsburg, Director of Safe Harbor Child Advocacy Center, will speak at all the services on November 22 & 23, 2025. Jennifer will also have a chat session Sunday, November 23 from 9:20am-10:20am in the Community Room. 

The mission of Safe Harbor is to reduce trauma and promote healing for children and adults with intellectual disabilities who are victims of or witnesses to crime. Safe Harbor provides a trauma-informed, safe, child-friendly environment for best practice forensic interviews; immediate and ongoing advocacy for affected children and families; coordination and support of multi-disciplinary investigations and responses.

You may be asking yourself “What is Human Trafficking?”

Human Trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception in order to be exploited. In every region of the world, traffickers exploit vulnerable women, girls, men, and boys of all backgrounds for profit. Even without knowing, we might have come across its victims. Traffickers often use violence, blackmail, emotional manipulation, removal of official documents, fraudulent employment agencies, and fake promises of education and job opportunities to trick and coerce their victims.

       Human trafficking takes place for many exploitative purposes:

Bingo Cards are due on November 1st

Black History for a New Day

Course Reflections

A couple Messiah folks participated in the spring Black History for a New Day Course through the Nehemiah Center: 9 weeks of lectures from UW-Madison professors and discussions about the history of Black people in America. The course began with the journey from Africa to the colonies, continued through the years of slavery, Civil War, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, Civil Rights and a little into today.

Here is what the participants have to say:

I learned so much I never knew such as the constitutional and judicial manipulations and distortions designed to maintain the economic and political advantages over Blacks. 

I learned to recognize and understand my own blind spots and become motivated to be a participant in the struggle. The course is profoundly reminding me of how long Blacks have been working at “making hope happen” and is giving me the knowledge, tools and support to join their effort. 

It takes as much time as you want to invest. Besides the lecture and discussion, there are other resources and opportunities to be more actively engaged, but they are not required and there are no homework or project assignments. 

I met Monday nights from 7-9. This is not my best time of day, but after the first session I found myself eagerly looking forward to the class. I was in a small discussion group with people from another church who welcomed me. I would have loved to be in a group with more Messiah folks as well. 

Useful questions raised in my Black History for a New Day class:

1. When preparing to become a parent, rather than asking your partner if they want children, ask if they want to parent children. If yes, what does that mean to them?

2. Where would Black Americans be today if they did not have to overcome the political, economic, and social hurdles placed in their way since the 1600s?  I would ask, too, where would we all be?