Nurturing the Human Spirit for a World Made Whole | |
Sunday Service August 4th at 10:30am | |
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A Deeper Dive Into Our UCE Hymnals
Based on our Music Director, Vickie Hellyer’s, auction offering called Fun with Our Hymnals, we will learn about and sing some of the favorite songs in our gray and teal hymnals. If you feel a bit lost when looking at the music or are hesitant to sing with a hymnal because you’re not sure how to read it, this service will help you feel more comfortable with these treasure troves in your hands on Sunday mornings. Vickie and Rev. Eileen lead the service, with Annette Wallace as Worship Associate, and piano accompaniment by Gregory Shifrin.
All ages will remain in this song-filled worship service.
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Faith Formation Hour this Sunday | |
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Childcare (0-3 years) is available in room 11 from 10:15am-11:45am.
BlUUey (pre/K-6th) - will return on August 11th.
Picnics in the Park – August 4th at Penny Park, 12-1pm. Bring a picnic or snack and meet up with other UCE families! Questions - contact Lara LaPratt.
Families can explore our theme, The Gift of Renewal, at home and in their own timeframe with the Soulful Home packet. Send pictures to Kathy of your family as you explore the many ideas here!
See our “living” calendar of programs and events here.
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Greetings from Rev. Eileen | |
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Nurturing Our Spirits
I’ve had a lovely July, full of renewal and rejuvenation, and I’m grateful for our four guest preachers for the month, Ann Clough, Rev. Elizabeth Harding, Rev. Charley Earp, and Rev. Gianni Fogliano, for providing meaningful worship while I was taking Sundays off. I enjoyed a week up north on Rainy Lake, swimming, canoeing, and even a little fishing (didn’t catch anything this time). My daughter, Ellis, has been home for the last few weeks and we’ve been enjoying the many things to do around Chicagoland and visiting with friends and family. Yesterday we did what used to be an annual outing to the Field Museum and then a walk up the lakefront to Navy Pier for a ride on the Ferris wheel and fireworks.
Earlier this week, I was on a short retreat with the Chicago Commons Project, the last of four two-day retreats over this year, funded by the Lilly Endowment and facilitated by the University of Chicago Divinity School. Through this experience, I was able to meet and learn from other Chicagoland clergy from a variety of traditions, all in the early to mid-points of their careers. Over the year we have talked with Chicagoland leaders, artists, and thinkers including a scientist at the Planetarium, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, and Chicago historian Dr. Ann Keating. On Monday, we participated in a 3-hour workshop with facilitators of the Civic Actors Studio, using theatre to explore our many roles and ways of showing up generatively in our settings.
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Our hats are off to our congregational members who donate their time and talents to bring embodied spiritual practices to our community. Thank you to Doug Erickson and Jessica Tomell-Presto who take turns facilitating a Wednesday morning Yoga practice. Thank you to Lisa Solomon who facilitates a Thursday evening Meditation practice. Thank you to Janelle Brittain who leads a Saturday morning Pilates practice. Thank you to Renée Gatsis who leads a Saturday morning Tai Chi practice.
You are invited to reach out to any of them and get engaged. Doug and Renée will be leading an interactive and embodied worship on August 18, 2024.
We are grateful to Doug, Jessica, Lisa, Janelle, and Renée for providing ways to connect with our bodies and our breath.
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This Week's Events & Links | |
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Friday, August 2nd
- Congregational Connections Team, 12pm via Zoom
- Dance Lessons, 3:30-4:30pm, Rm 3
- Chicago Blues Night Band - Free Auction Event, 6-8:30pm, Sanctuary
Saturday, August 3rd:
- Virtual Pilates, 9:30-10:30am, via Zoom
- Prison Ministry Team, 10:30-11:30am, via Zoom
Sunday, August 4th:
- Chris Isely Cancer Support Group, 9am-10:30am, in-person Rm 6 and via Zoom Link.
- Nominating Committee Mtg, 7-8:30pm, via Zoom
Monday, August 5th:
- UCE Addictions & Recovery, 7-9pm, via Zoom.
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Tuesday, August 6th:
- Membership Team Meeting, 12:30-1:30pm, Rm 13
- Rainbow Alliance, 6-7pm, via Zoom
- Caregiver Support Group, 7-8:30pm, via Zoom
- Family Ministry Team, 7-8:30pm, via Zoom
- First Women's Circle, 7-8pm, via Zoom
Wednesday, August 7th:
- All Staff Meeting, 11am-12:30pm
- Executive Team Mtg, 3:15pm, via Zoom
- Music Team Mtg, 4-5pm, via Zoom
- Endowment Committee Mtg, 5:30-7pm, Rm 3
Thursday August 8th:
- Evanston Near South Proximity Group, 1-2pm, via Zoom
- Meditation Group, 5:30-7pm, via Zoom
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BEWARE OF PHISHING EMAILS!
A friendly reminder that there are scammers out there who like to pretend they are someone they are not and ask for things that are not theirs. If you get an email from a minister, staff or board member, asking for money, for you to email them gift card, or send them the member directory...PLEASE DON'T!
We will never ask you for money or information that is private through an email like that. You can usually spot the fakesters by hovering over the email address to see that it isn't the person's actual email address.
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Congregational Connections | |
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All Congregation
Potluck & Program
Friday, August 23rd 6-8:30pm
at UCE
All UCE Members, Friends, Children, Youth and Adults are invited to attend a tasty potluck meal with your favorite summertime fare followed by generative conversations about what the Unitarian Church of Evanston means to you. What are your hopes for our shared future?
Children will engage in games and artistic activities and youth and adults will gather in small and large groups to listen and engage in shared conversations. Individuals and families are welcome to come and go as your schedule allows.
Reverend Sharon K. Dittmar, our primary contact with the UUA will facilitate the conversations and Kathy Underwood will host our children’s activities. Reverend Dittmar will be available during dinner to answer any questions you have about congregations, the UUA, or MidAmerica Region. To help us plan, please RSVP by August 18th using the button below:
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Let's welcome Naheya and Eric's soon to be born baby at our Baby Shower on August 11th after Sunday service. We will meet in Room 3 at 12:00. Please sign up and we'll contact you to share what items they will need to welcome their new baby girl. And, if you can bring an appetizer or dessert, please check that on the sign-up sheet. Let's welcome this new child to our church. Contact Janelle Brittain know if you have any questions.
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Family Friday Nature Hike – August 16 at 6:30pm at
Emily Oaks Nature Center. CLICK HERE for more info!
All ages are invited to meet in front of the nature center at 6:30p for a nature hike and to hang out at the playground. There are picnic tables for those who wish to come early and enjoy a picnic supper before the hike.
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Two UU Churches attacked - How do we respond?
Two of our UU congregations have been recent targets of arson and vandalism. First Parish UU Church in Kingston, Massachusetts and the UU Church of Lawton in Oklahoma both had their buildings broken into, fires started, and property damaged which will need thousands of dollars in repairs. These are both small congregations and we are glad that they can reach out to sibling UU's through Faithify for help in covering the cost of repairs and continuing their mission. Unfortunately, this is part of the risk of being a denomination that sides with Love and publicly displays support for people who have been marginalized.
In Lawton, the church has been repeatedly vandalized since 2019. Graffiti has been scrawled on their building and now the violence has escalated when their community free pantry was set on fire. They are asking for help to install security cameras and make repairs.
In Kingston, their Black Lives Matter and Pride flags were burnt, historic windows and shutters broken, and a fire also set inside the sanctuary. They are asking for help with repair costs.
These instances are tangible proof that enemies of justice use terrorist tactics thinking we will recoil in fear, but they are so very wrong. We will double our efforts. We will draw the circle ever wider. We may be afraid, but we use that energy to fuel our courage to create a more inclusive and caring world where all have what they need to live in peace.
Links to these two Faithify campaigns are below. Please give as you are able and spread the links to these campaigns with your friends.
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UCE Members and friends picked up 650 postcards last Sunday! We’re on fire!
ALERT: Mail Your Georgia postcards
September 15 to 30th
UCE partners with Reclaim Our Vote, a non-partisan voter engagement organization ensuring eligible voters, likely aligned with UU values, at risk of disenfranchisement, have access to their ballots. UCE does not partner with parties nor candidates, because of our tax status.
While many UCE friends and members are working with partisan groups, we will distribute the Reclaim Our Vote postcards each week through September. Thank you! We fill special orders! Host a post carding gathering, and order ahead!
Milwaukee Voter Registration Project
Engage with folks face-to-face at Chase (Monday-Friday) and Mill Rd (Saturday only) DMV offices. A portion of the Chase population is Hispanic, not citizens, and unable to register. Speaking a bit of Spanish is helpful.
Trained and seeking a shift? SignUp here.
If you have not done the one hour Zoom training, reach out to Carolyn Laughlin for new training dates.
Join the UUtheVote Team
Join us as the election heats up! Distribute postcards at our program table, strategize with us to keep up the momentum! Email Carolyn Laughlin (carolynblaughlin at gmail dot com).
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UCE Non-Fiction Book Group
The nonfiction book group will meet remotely on Zoom at 2 p.m. on Sunday, August 25th using our recurring link. At that meeting we will vote on the books we will read in the coming months. Anyone who has books to recommend is asked to contact Jackie Seaman on REALM. Members of the group will receive a list of books under consideration within a week of August 25, 2024.
We will not be discussing a book in August.
Book discussions will resume on Sunday, September 29, 2024 and continue on Zoom at 2pm on the fourth Sunday of subsequent months.
Zoom discussion on Sunday, August 25th at 2pm, using our recurring ZOOM link.
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UCE Fiction Book Group
The UCE Fiction Book Group is reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz. The 2008 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, Oscar made the top ten on the New York Times’ list of the 100 best books of the 21st century. Oscar tells some of the history of the contemporary Dominican-American experience as one thread of the immigrant fabric of being American.
Friday, August 16 by ZOOM, 7-8pm using our recurring ZOOM link.
Future reads:
September 20: Eastbound, by Maylis de Kerangal, translated by Jessica Moore (2023) A young Russian conscript and a French woman come together in a crowded compartment of the Trans-Siberian railroad, each of them fleeing to the east for their own reasons.
October 18: All Aunt Hagar’s Children, by Edward P. Jones (2007) Folks in the everyday Black community of Washington, D.C., thought the values of the South would sustain them in the North and find "that the cohesion born and nurtured in the south would be but memory in less than two generations.” E.P. Jones is the author of the 2004 Pulitzer-prize-winning The Known World.
November 15: Erasure, by Percival Everett (2011) Everett’s blistering, rollicking satire of the plight of the Black writer in the world of American publishing. Rejected by seventeen publishers for his latest manuscript, Thelonious “Monk” Ellison spins off a parody of “what the public wants,” My Pafology, which is, of course, a wild success.
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Last Friday, July 26th - Tarts & Vicars
UCE had fun hosting Father Nathan Monk & Stormy Daniels for what was a very interesting night of comedy and social commentary!
"What a fun show! Father Monk was a hoot, and I was blown away by how sincere and down to Earth Stormy Daniels was!" -Betsy Wilson, Evanston resident and guest.
"“Very impressive and enlightening to hear Stormy Daniels speak her truth. So proud of UCE for hosting the “Tarts and Vicars” event with Stormy and Father Nathan Monk.” - Carla Williams, UCE Member & Former Board President
This facility rental drew in a crowd of 145, including UCE members. Everyone had a much-needed laugh at the times - and all admitted had a chance to selfie!
Father Nathan Monk with Rev. Eileen Wiviott, above.
Grey Wiviott, Stormy Daniels, and Rev. Eileen, below!
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CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO READ MORE: | |
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Unitarian Church of Evanston
1330 Ridge Ave. Evanston, IL 60201
847-864-1330
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