Sunday Service August 27 at 10:30am 

Service of Remembrance

Sunday August 27 at 9:00am 

The Chris Isely Cancer Support Group will again host the annual Service of Remembrance on Sunday, 8/27/23, at 9:00 a.m. This service honors the loved ones we’ve lost for any reason, whether within our church family or in our personal lives. Rev. Eileen and members of the group will lead the brief ceremony. Anyone who wishes to honor the memory of a loved one, regardless of when they died, is invited to attend. The service will take place outside on the South lawn of the church. (In the event of rain, the service will move inside, to the rear of the sanctuary.) The community is invited to join us.

Faith Formation Hour this Sunday!

Childcare (0-3 years) is available in Rm 11,10:15-11:45am



Sundae Sunday (pre-6th) – We’ll be celebrating the last day of our summer program learning about the UU connection to this favorite ice cream treat and enjoying some too!

It’s Registration Time!

Our Faith Formation Program for Children and Youth officially begins on September 17! Please register your young people here. Feel free to come to the Celebration and Orientation too – details below.

Families can explore our summer theme, Delight, at home at their own pace with the Soulful Home packet.

Staff Spotlight On: Steven Eason

UCE is truly fortunate to have Steven Eason caring for and managing our building. Steven and Liz work as a team, keeping the building clean and maintained, handling set-up and clean-up for countless meetings, events and rentals, everything from the rummage sale to UCE’s hosting of the Overnight Emergency Shelter in cold weather. Steven’s attention to detail can be seen every week in his preparation of the sanctuary on Friday or Saturday evening (click here for video), so it is ready on Sunday morning. Steven is refreshingly candid and genuine with a warm, ready laugh.



Steven grew up in Evanston and has made his home here. His mom and grandmother live nearby, so he sees them frequently. Steven and our sexton, Liz Kennedy-Eason, met eleven years ago, dated and became a couple while working at an area restaurant. Liz was also working part-time at UCE as the sexton. When a custodial position at UCE became available, Steven was hired. Steven and Liz were married at UCE by Rev. Connie Grant on August 6, 2016.

Among the things Steven remembers from his first days at UCE was the labor-intensive, intricate task of setting up and taking down the choir risers when an event required extra space on the chancel. He was so impressed to learn Robb Geiger had designed the risers. Steven also remembers scrubbing and sanitizing every surface at UCE in March of 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Q: What's the best thing about your job?

Steven: The independence in arranging my work schedule and working with Liz.

Q: In the spirit of Shared Ministry, what is something the congregation could do to better collaborate with you?

Steven: Please make sure your candy/food wrappers, used tissues, and other things make it IN the garbage.

Q: What’s the worst part of your job?

Steven: Cleaning up after former Rummage Sales that once occupied the basement as well as UCE’s main floor. Clean-up and set-up of the sanctuary, basement and classrooms once took over 12 hours. It’s not nearly as grueling as it once was.

We are grateful, Steven, for all you do to care for our sacred space!

Hats Off to Carolyn Laughlin!

Our hats are off to Carolyn Laughlin this week, for covering the phones in the office while the staff had their retreat on Wednesday. Thank you, Carolyn, for saying yes and for being so supportive of the staff's time to bond, orient, and ground ourselves in service to this congregation. Carolyn is also part of the Leadership Development team offering a training for leaders this weekend. She is also one of the core coordinators for UU the Vote and a stellar hospitality volunteer. Thanks, Carolyn, for all the ways you build community and help us live our values!

Looking Ahead… 

Celebrate Summer – before it ends!

Join the Family Ministry Team on September 3 from 12:30-3:30p for an afternoon full of sunshine, waves, and friendship at Clark St. Beach. Bring a picnic or snack.

Save the Date!

The 2023 Interfaith Action of Evanston’s Vision Keepers Banquet will be Sunday, October 8th!

OWL for 4th-6th Grades – Calling all parents! We are planning to offer this wonderful sexual education program this year for young people in grades 4-6. Please email Kathy Underwood if you would like more information about this program.

Volunteer Celebration & Orientation – September 17th, from 12-1:15pm 



Curious about Faith Formation for Children and Youth this year? Whether you plan to volunteer or just want more information before helping, come to a little gathering to learn more about what, how, and why we do what we do. Here is a short video to watch at your convenience about the basics of our Faith Formation program.

Don't wait - sign up today to join the celebration

so we can plan for food and childcare!

Banned Books Club

October 1, 12-1:30pm in Rm 3



Join this new group of bibliophiles for ages 13 and older – youth, young adults, and older adults! Our first selection is the graphic novel, Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe. At this first gathering, we’ll choose our selections for the year based on the banned book list by PEN America. Future gatherings will be on the first Sunday of the month.

The 2023 Virginia elections are on November 7, 2023 and all 40 seats of the Virginia Senate and 100 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates are up for grabs.

Why does this matter? This is a pivotal election for legislative control in the State of Virginia. If the Governor ousts progressives from their remaining toehold, the state Senate, a sharply conservative policy agenda is sure to emerge.

 Virginia has become more aligned with UU values over the last two decades. Our work will send information and inspiration to registered voters who share our values and are facing voter access challenges. Join us to make a difference, both for freedom in Virginia and nationally in 2024!

Mail dates are Sept 8-Oct 25, giving us plenty of time to make a huge impact.

Questions? Contact Carolyn Laughlin, in the REALM directory, or Admin@ucevanston.org

At Home in Evanston: Diverse Experiences of Our City is a film of interviews that showcase a range of perspectives on living in Evanston today. How did we come here? Why do we stay? What unites us? What divides us? This documentary film was created by Performance in Place Theatre Company partners Lesley Delmenico and Caroline Latta, with De Paul film-maker Alex Sherman and NU graduate student co-collaborator Shelby Mack. Interviewees (portrayed by local professional actors) include: a Fifth Ward resident eligible for reparations, a retirement home dweller, a second-generation Latina, an Asian graduate student, an unhoused resident, a gay pastor, and a young Syrian refugee. The project is supported by the Evanston Arts Council and Northwestern University’s Department of Performance Studies and Department of Neighborhood and Community Relations. 

About the event: This film showing will be followed by an opportunity for audience members to discuss the production with its makers, including story-owners and actors, and to reflect on the meanings of living in this city in their own experience. See times and locations on the image above.

UCE Local Response Network Joins

Social Justice Council!

Beloved Conversations Registration Open

Through August 31st

What does that mean for a team to join the UCE Social Justice Council (SJC)? 

The UCE Local Response Network (LRN) is a communication system designed to enable the UCE community to take immediate, short-term action on social justice issues. LRN members are members and friends of UCE who may or may not serve on other social justice teams. Members receive periodic “alerts” about rallies, protests, meetings, and other events which require folks to show up, participate, and live their values, without a long-term commitment.

Serving on the Social Justice Council (SJC), the LRN representative will learn about “action” opportunities across all of our social justice areas and bring those opportunities to LRN members. The LRN rep will also encourage social justice teams to consider new short-term action opportunities to share with the broader congregation. Importantly, the LRN representative is in a unique position to identify opportunities that may “fall between the cracks” - not clearly in the domain of a single team - and foster collaboration on these events. In short, having a seat at the council table will expand the ways in which LRN members engage with issues which reflect UU values!

Carolyn Laughlin will be our first LRN representative sitting on SJC. If you would like to get involved with LRN, please email Carolyn or admin@ucevanston.org. 

Thank you to everyone at UCE who worked with the Legislative Action Team and UU Prison Ministry Team to encourage our state legislators to pass the Pretrial Fairness Act, also known as the SAFE-T Act!

After the law’s constitutionality was upheld by the Illinois Supreme Court on July 18, 2023, in a 5-2 ruling, the portion of the Pretrial Fairness Act ending cash bail will take effect on September 18, 2023.

The Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice has put out a call for community court watching across the state to monitor the implementation of the Pretrial Fairness Act during pretrial hearings in September and October.

Volunteers must be able to attend one training virtually and take at least two in-person shifts (each lasting between 2-5 hours) observing pretrial hearings in the county where they were trained.

The REAL Team highly recommends that anyone who has not taken the online version of Beloved Conversations sign up for a “Beloved Conversations: Within Course for BIPOC+” or a “Beloved Conversations: Within Course for White People." Register here.

The Beloved Conversations in-person curriculum has evolved to be a three-part online curriculum divided into the Within Phase, the Among Phase, and the Beyond Phase. If you took the original in-person curriculum, the new online Beloved Conversations: Within is a restyled individual curriculum that will bring you something new and connect you with individuals across the country.

If Beloved Conversations is new to you, it is a program that “focuses on the internal work that each of us needs to do as we engage in deeper personal understanding, explorations of race and racism, extracting our souls and spirits from white supremacy culture, and work for racial justice.”

UCE has scholarships available for the Beloved Conversations: Within registration fee. Please complete an application here.

or email Rev. Susan Frances.

The Giving House food donations are simplified! 

You can bring any of the following: pasta, rice, beans, cereal, soups, and/or canned fish or meat.

Now you don’t have to remember which item to bring for which month. We will accept any of these items any month any time. The Giving house is the wooden box/house in the lobby. It opens from the roof. Please place items in here any time during the week or on Sunday. We are partnering with C&W Market & Ice Cream to distribute free foods to those in need.

Unitarian Church of Evanston

1330 Ridge Ave. Evanston, IL 60201

847-864-1330