Sunday Service February 16, 2025 at 10:30am 

SAVE THE DATE for Seed Planting

March 7th, 6-8pm

Details to come!

Planning for End of Life - Better Now Than Never

This series of three programs is for adults of all ages to help prepare for the end of life. We don’t know when our time on earth will end, so why not do what we can now to make it easier for our loved ones?

You can participate in any or all of these sessions facilitated by Alison Issen:

February 26th at 7pm: Up Close and Personal: Growth and Opportunity In Facing Our Mortality

March 5th at 7pm: Putting Your Ducks In a Row

March 19th at 7pm: Harvesting the Wisdom of Your Life: Creating an Ethical Will

Register at https://onrealm.org/ucevanston/PublicRegistrations/Event?linkString=YWMwOWYwY2MtNTA0ZC00NmI0LThiZjAtYjI3NTAxMmE5YjJi

Meeting Our Interfaith Neighbors



We’ll be meeting with George Davis from the Baháʼí House of Worship for our final session on the Baháʼí Faith on February 18th at 7:00 PM in Room 3 or via Zoom.

You can register here to be included on future emails.

UPDATES FROM REV. EILEEN WIVIOTT

Thank you to all the folks who have already submitted their pledge to support the 2025-26 operating budget. You have helped us to raise more than 64% of our $665,000 pledge drive goal already! If you haven’t submitted your pledge form, please do so by the end of February so we can finalize our budget. You should have received a letter in your email inbox on February 5th from the UCE office. Check your spam folder! That letter will include an ask amount for you to consider. If you have any trouble finding it, reach out to our Pledge Drive team at pledgeinfo@ucevanston.org or calling the church office at 847-864-1330.

• NEW way to submit Newsletter requests! Please use our new Google Form found HERE to submit your articles and images.

• If you're viewing the newsletter in your email inbox, click on "View entire message" at the bottom of the email to read the full newsletter!

MO Blues Band Dance Party!

Dive into a mesmerizing evening brimming with rhythm and soul, showcasing the incredible Alicia Hempfling and the MO Blues Band at this special celebration! With an impressive ten-year history of enchanting music enthusiasts, this event is set to be truly memorable. Enjoy complimentary snacks and beverages, including wine, beer and non-alcoholic beer. It's an all-ages event, perfect for families, and childcare services are also available. 6-8:30pm Friday, March 28th, $8 in advance, $10 at the door.

Link to purchase tickets is here

Get ready!!!! Plans are already underway for the 2025 Rummage Sale. As winter winds down and spring cleaning approaches, please set aside items for donating to this year’s sale--and encourage friends and neighbors to do the same!



Key dates to mark on your calendar:

• 2025 Sale Dates: Fri 5/2/25 – Sat 5/3/25
• 2025 Donation Dates: Sun 4/27/25 – Mon 4/28/25
• 2025 Setup Dates: Sun 4/27/25 – Thurs 5/1/25

What items are being accepted?

• We will soon publish the 2025 Donation Tip Sheet.

Questions, comments or suggestions?

• Email rummage@ucevanston.org with questions, comments or suggestions.

Beginning in mid-March, the rummage sale planning committee will sponsor an informational table on Sundays at the back of the sanctuary. Likewise, we will post announcements to this newsletter.

Thank you for your past support of the sale. We look forward to your participation once again!

Sign Up Is Open for Winter Friendship Meals

Sign ups are open for Winter Friendship Meals! The online sign up sheet (click here to access) contains meal details; browse the choices and select the one that works best. Ask questions or get sign-up help at the back of the sanctuary after worship on February 16th & 23rd. Or contact Lina Hilko (LHilko@aol.com) or Margaret Koreman (Margaret.Koreman@gmail.com).

 Winter session meals are:

● Sat, Mar 8th, 11AM in-home International Women’s Day brunch

● Sat, Mar 8th 6PM in-home chicken dinner

● Sun, Mar 9th 5PM in-home vegan tortilla soup dinner

● Wed, Mar 12th 12PM in-home gluten-free soup & salad lunch

● Sat, Mar 15th 12:30PM in-home salads & dessert lunch

● Sat, Mar 15th 6:30PM Mount Everest Restaurant family-style dinner

● Sun, Mar 16th 5PM in-home Indian butter chicken dinner

● Sun, Mar 16th 6PM in-home St. Patrick’s Day dinner

Rhythm for Congregations Masterclass: A workshop after worship on March 23rd



Whether you are a choir member or a non-chorister who simply who loves making music, join us for an energetic, fully participatory workshop designed to help choirs, and congregations better understand rhythm in the mind, body, and spirit. With Matt’s guidance, we’ll explore the theories and practices of West African, South Indian and European perspectives on rhythm. This is as much rhythm training as you can possibly fit into a 90-minute master class!

Matt Meyer, who’ll be our worship leader that Sunday, is a traveling musician and worship leader for UU congregations. He has a degree in hand drumming from Berklee College of Music, where he focused his studies on Cuban and Brazilian music. He's the drummer in the Sanctuary Boston worship band and has performed with a wide range of musicians and bands, including Ysaye Barnwell (of Sweet Honey in the Rock), Pete Seeger, Emma’s Revolution, Peter Mayer, Jim Scott, Nick Page, The Halalisa Singers, Samba Tremeterra, and Bloco de Afrobrazil.

*It's helpful to have at least some background in music, but anyone who's ever played an instrument at all or sung in any choir, will do fine.

What's in a Name: Do You Know What the Nellie Brough Society Is?

The Nellie Brough Society (NBS) is the group of people who have included the Unitarian Church of Evanston Endowment Fund in their wills and/or who have contributed $5,000 or more to the Endowment Fund. If you have done either or both, you are an NBS member.  

We’ve been thinking that most of the Congregation does not know what the Nellie Brough Society is, so maybe we should change the name. Maybe to something Congregants can more easily identify with the Endowment Fund. Something with the word “Endowment” in it.  

We do think that Nellie Brough, who is one of our important founders, should be prominently honored by the Unitarian Church of Evanston, but in another way.

What do you think? Feel free to let us know.  

Dana Deane dddeane847 at gmail dot com

Jean Butzen jeanbutzen at gmail dot com

Karen Courtright karencourtright at gmail dot com

A Chance to Dance!

From the UCE auction, you get the chance to take three beginner dance lessons at UCE. The lessons will help you enjoy partner dancing to a range of music. You can learn or improve your skills at leading and at responding. The classes are scheduled on Thursdays at 2pm: March 6, 15, 22. 

Pay for the lessons by using this link to buy through the auction website. Yes, you can invite friends too. The classes are for beginner but improvers can use the time and the instructor to learn new patterns too.



And Serendipitously, the UCE auction is offering you a Friday evening of dancing to live music on March 28! Buy those tickets at the website and put on some dancing shoes! ~ Shirley Adams

UCE Young Adult Group

Third Friday Faith Formation & Game Nights

Our next gathering is February 21st, 7-9pm



The Young Adult Group at UCE is a group for young adults (18-35) interested in exploring spiritual deepening in community. We meet on every 3rd Friday from 7-9pm in Room 3 to discuss monthly Soul Matters themes, check in with each other, eat snacks, and play games.

Contact Kiley Korey (kileyekorey at gmail dot com), Kevin Barrow (kbarrow13 at gmail dot com) or Kathy Underwood (kunderwood at ucevanston dot org) with any questions.

Want some support for achieving your Environmental goals?

Join the UCE Green Team after service, 12-1pm on Sunday Feb. 23 in room 3. We will be planning how to publicize and celebrate the new solar panels coming this year to our roof. 

Join us in person or online at this link and you can also help us plan how to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. 

UCE has a gardening team for our grounds, a forest preserve work team, a vegetable garden team, a wonderful recycling/compost program, a Bike the Ridge team, an emissions reduction task force and connections to numerous green organizations. There are so many ways to help UCE set and achieve our environmental goals. (You can also join these teams on REALM!)

Get Ready! UUA's General Assembly 2025 is Around the Corner

The 64th UUA General Assembly will be a multi-platform event June 18 - 22 with the main stage at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland. If you've never attended GA, make this the year! This five-day event is full of opportunities to share space with other UUs, as we gather to worship, witness, learn, connect, and make policy decisions for the Association through a democratic process. Check out program highlights.

Early bird registration pricing is available until March 31. Multiplatform and Single-day In-person registration options are available. Take advantage of UUA's $100 discount for first time attendees. Or tap into the UCE Endowment Grant for GA scholarships or the UUA's financial support opportunities. Visit the UUA website for more GA information.

A number of UCE members are attending in-person. If you are interested in attending in-person or virtually, or want to serve as a UCE delegate, let us know via the GA sign-up form. Or contact a member of the Denominational Affairs Team: Peggy Boccard, Melanie Kitchner, Cheryl Mounts, Carla Williams. Our contact info is in Realm.

Our Shared Offering Program is one of the ways that we live into our mission statement "for a world made whole." Each Sunday, the funds collected during our worship service either via text donations or in the collection bowls (and not otherwise designated for a pledge or something else) are shared equally between our operating budget and the current Shared Offering Recipient.



The current Shared Offering Recipient is the Community Renewal Society which is a faith-based, community organizing and public policy organization that works with congregations in and around Chicago to address issues of racism and poverty.

Come expand your understanding of what it means to be trans and nonbinary, learn how to tell fact from fiction, and find out how to help create safety for trans people and their families in this moment. No matter who you are or how much or how little you know about gender diversity, this interactive and informative workshop will expand your mind, open your heart, and give all of us the tools we need to deepen our welcome and care for people of all genders in our community.

Click here to register.

Are you called to bring a loving, UU presence inside your local jail or prison?

Please join the Unitarian Universalist Prison Ministry of IL leaders for an "inside" jail and prison facilitation training, held Saturday, March 8, from 2pm to 5pm in Rm. 3 at the Unitarian Church of Evanston at 1330 Ridge Avenue. 

This small-group style facilitator training will serve as a foundation for going in to facilitate circles in jail or prison. We currently have active ministries in Cook County jail men's and women's sides as well as at Logan Women's prison, with potential expansion to Decatur Women's prison. We will cover skill-building for trauma-informed facilitation, grounding, self-care and cultural humility.

Register here

The next meeting of the UCE Fiction Book Group

is February 21st by ZOOM, 7-8pm

using our Recurring Zoom link

February 21:  Geraldine Brooks, Horse 

Based on the remarkable true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred Lexington, Horse is a novel of art and science, love and obsession, and our unfinished reckoning with racism. Spanning a century and a half, the story begins with an enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal who forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. 

UCE Nonfiction Book Group

The group will meet on Zoom at 2 p.m. on Sunday, February 23rd using our recurring ZOOM link.

The nonfiction group will discuss Survival of the Friendliest: Understanding Our Origins and Rediscovering Our Common Humanity by Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods.

The authors, a professor of evolutionary anthropology and a research scientist at the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke University, posit that what makes us evolutionarily fit is not physical strength, tactical brilliance and aggression but a remarkable kind of friendliness. An ability to coordinate and communicate with others has allowed Homo sapiens to thrive and to achieve cultural and technical marvels. But the same traits that make us tolerant can also make us cruel when we feel threatened by outsiders.

In March, our group will discuss Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society by Joseph Stiglitz.

ONGOING EVENTS:

(Click on the images to read more)

Unitarian Church of Evanston

1330 Ridge Ave. Evanston, IL 60201

847-864-1330