Nurturing the Human Spirit for a World Made Whole

Sunday Service January 14th at 10:30am

Embracing the Risk of Liberating Love

We honor the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his commitment to risking everything for the possibility of liberating love. Rev. Eileen leads the service with Annette Wallace as Worship Associate and our UCE choir led by Vickie Hellyer, our Music Director.

Children and youth will go to their Faith Formation programs after joys and sorrows.

Shared Offering with CRS

Join the Services Livestream

Faith Formation Hour this Sunday

Childcare (0-3 years) is available in room 11 from 9:15a-11:45am
Chalice Children (pre/k) in room 9 – The children will explore the theme of “Same and Different” while learning about Martin Luther King, Jr.
Heads, Hearts, and Hands (1st-6th) in room 8 – The young people will begin looking at racism and oppression in The Gift of Color by exploring color and the idea of colorblindness.
Youth Group (7th-12th) in room 13 – the youth will have a check-in and those who are attending the Youth Con will leave around 3pm.

Families can explore our new theme, The Gift of Liberating Love, at home and on their own timeframe with the Soulful Home packet. Send pictures to Kathy Underwood of your family as you explore the many ideas here!

See our “living” calendar of programs and events here.

Parents can register their children/youth for the Faith Formation Program here.

Membership Class: Journeying in Covenant

Visitors are invited to join Rev. Susan to delve into our UU values and what it means to be a covenantal community.

This Sunday, January 14th, 9:30-10:30 am, Room 12. Child care available.

The annual Interfaith MLK service will be on Sunday, January 14th, at 3pm at Alice Milar Chapel.

This service is sponsored by the Evanston Interfaith Clergy and Leaders and Evanston Own It congregations.

Click the image for full details.

Everything. Everywhere. All At Once.

Happy New Year! I hope you had the kind of time over the holidays that you most needed, whether it was restful, rejuvenating, fun, nourishing, and/or filled with joy. If things didn’t go as you had planned or wished, I hope the disappointment passes and that you find more joy and ease in 2024. In my house, though we had some unexpected challenges around the holidays, I’m grateful to have enjoyed family time with my two young adult children.

On New Year’s Eve the four of us stayed in, had an appetizer smorgasbord, and watched the 2022 academy award winning film, Everything Everywhere All at Once. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a frenetic, anxious, roller coaster ride for the first 90 minutes, and it’s kind of tough to get through. By the end, however, three out of four of us (I’ll let you guess which three) were weeping with sappy sentimentality. We loved it.

Hats Off to Tory Bassani who wears MANY hats. Tory is the Chair of the Music Team, a dedicated alto in the choir, and the Choir attendance taker who lovingly checks on any singer who has missed for a while. She also serves on Worship Planning Team, is a regular volunteer with Greeters Hospitality Team, and has been a key person in restructuring the new rummage sale and assisting on the Rummage Sale organizing team. Plus, you will always find Tory in the Christmas pageant as a shepherd, with her dog Sylvia as a sheep. Thank you, Tory, for all of the time and energy you dedicate to UCE! All those hats suit you nicely!

This Week's Events & Links

Friday, January 12th:

No Events Scheduled.

Saturday, Jan 13th:

Blood Drive: 10am - 4pm, in the Sanctuary

Virtual pilates, 9:30-10:30am, via Zoom

Beginner Tai Chi, 9:45-10:45am, Rm 3

Intermediate Tai Chi, 11am - 12pm, Rm 3

Sunday, Jan 14th:

Chris Isely Cancer Support Group at 9am in-person Rm 6 and via Zoom Link.

Journeying in Covenant, 9:30-10:30am, Rm 12

Worship Service at 10:30am in the Sanctuary & on YouTube

Congregational Connections, 11:45am - 1pm, Rm 6 and via Zoom

Mistakes & Miracles Book Group, 12:30-1:30pm, Rm 2

Download UCE Zoom Backgrounds

Monday, Jan 15th:

UCE Office is Closed for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Addictions and Recovery, 7-9pm, via Zoom

Tuesday, Jan 16th:

CLFF Council Meeting 1-3pm, via Zoom

Peg Heads 6:30-9:30pm, Rm 6

Caregiver Support Team, 7-8:30pm. via Zoom

First Women's Circle, 7-8pm via Zoom

Wednesday, Jan 17th:

Yoga, 9:30-10:30am, via 8x8

Please be aware we have an all Staff Meeting every Wed from 11-12:30pm

Article II with Denominational Affairs - Zoom, 6:30-8:00pm, via Zoom

Thursday January 18th:

Board of Trustees, 7-9pm, via Zoom

Meditation Group, 5:30-7pm via Zoom

Check out the UCE Calendar for more events!

Congregational News

Room Request Form

PLEASE NOTE: Newsletter submissions should be sent to Newsletter@ucevanston.org by noon on Wednesday.

Calling All to Supplement our Snow Removal Service on Sunday Mornings

We are a community of care and part of that care includes making sure snow is removed from the ramp and sidewalks before the service on Sunday mornings. Our snow removal service will handle this when we have more than 2 inches of snow, but often the wind blows or another less-than-2-inches of snow falls.

The shovel and salt are in the vestibule between the parking lot and the lobby. No need to sign-up. The parking lot doors open at 8:45 am. If you attend on a Sunday when there’s a little bit of snow, please feel free to shovel what you can along the ramp and the sidewalk. If you'd like to be a regular volunteer called upon for this, please contact Adam Gough at agough@ucevanston.org.

All the Capital Campaign Projects Are Complete!

If you did not see the Capital Campaign Implementation Celebration presentation last Sunday January, 7th - here is a link to the video on our website. Thank you to all the volunteers who helped us reach these campaign goals!

VIDEO LINK HERE

UCE Endowment Has $15,000 Remaining in the Community Projects category Available for the Final January 31st Deadline

The Endowment Committee would like to remind you that they have $15,000 remaining in the Projects category. The final application deadline for this fiscal year is January 31, 2024.

Here is the link to the Endowment page on our website. Look for the yellow button titled "Endowment Project Grant Application."

Please contact Bob Seyfriend, Susan Comstock, Tom Ticknor, Bill Hartgering, Lisa Solomon, Jane Hampson or Jean Butzen through the email address: Endowment@UCEvanston.org if you have questions.

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!

Congregational Connections

February Friendship Meals Seeking Hosts

The Congregational Connections Team is seeking 4 more hosts for Winter Session Friendship Meals, which will be held on weekends during the period of February 9th - 25th.

We are planning for 8 hosted meals, and 4 hosts have already said “Yes!”

Hosts generously open their homes for guests to share a potluck brunch, lunch or dinner, or they organize a “split-the-bill” restaurant gathering within a mobility-accessible venue. Another possibility is hosting a potluck at UCE in Room 3 (some restrictions). Friendship Meals are a great way for members and friends to make and strengthen relationships. Sign ups to attend meals will begin 01/19/2024.

Please contact Lina Hiko ASAP if you would enjoy hosting, have questions, or are interested in future hosting. All February hosts must be secured by end of day Monday, January 15th. Text or a call Lina at 312-399-1848 or email LHilko at aol dot com.

Final Proposed Revision to Article II

The final version of the proposed revision to Article II of the UUA Bylaws is now available! The deadline for submitting an amendment is 11:59 p.m. ET on February 1, 2024.

All qualified amendments will be considered at 2024 General Assembly. Click below to learn more, and to sign up for future newsletters directly from the UUA GA.

Living Our UU Values, where are you on the journey?

What is our purpose as a congregation and a faith community? Why is it necessary to evolve our 8 Principles into the proposed Values of generosity, justice, equity, transformation, interdependence, and pluralism? Join members of the Denominational Affairs and ministerial staff for six conversations to explore what it means to center love and live into our UU Values. Sessions 1-5 will be held via Zoom. Session 6 will be held in-person at UCE.

What do Love and Inclusion mean to you and how do they help create the Beloved Community?

The next session on Love & Inclusion will be held Wednesday, January 17th from 6:30-8:00 p.m. via ZOOM:

UUA's 30 Days of Love

The new year is opening before us, and we send warm wishes from the UUA. As we move into January, we are preparing for an important annual tradition: marking 30 Days of Love from Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on January 15th through Valentine’s Day on February 14th.

Offered each year by the UUA’s Side With Love justice campaign, 30 Days of Love is a month-long period of spiritual nourishment, political grounding, and shared practices of faith and justice. It has become an important ritual of beginning together for all the individuals, families, religious professionals, partners, and communities that embody our values and work for justice and liberation year-round.

This year’s theme is “Imagining an Interdependent Future” and includes weekly offerings organized around a spiritual theme and an intersectional justice priority:

Week 1, January 15-21: Spiritual theme is Safety with a focus on Decriminalization
Week 2, January 22-28: Spiritual theme is Re-Imagining with a focus on Climate Justice
Week 3, January 29 - February 4: Spiritual theme is Possibility with a focus on Bodily Autonomy (which includes LGBTQIA+, reproductive, gender, and disability justice)
Week 4, February 5-11: Spiritual theme is Resilience with a focus on Democracy and Electoral Justice
Bonus Days, February 12-14: Spiritual theme is Interdependence, with a focus on Liberatory Intersections

Each week on Monday at 12pm EST, a message, an intergenerational resource, and additional spiritual materials will be made available online. Bookmark Side With Love’s 30 Days of Love 2024 web page to get resources as they become available.

Lifespan Faith Formation

Family Friday Game Night on January 19 at 6:00-8:00pm, Rm 6. All ages are invited to an evening of fun and games! We’ll have pizza at 6p and start the games at 6:30p. Drop in at any time. Feel free to bring a snack, dessert, or game to share.

Parent’s Perk – January 21 at 9:30am, Rm 13 – Parents of young people of all ages gather before worship monthly. This month we’ll share thoughts on what we want for our kids and families at UCE and ways to make them happen. Fill in the rest of this sentence to get your thoughts going: “When I picture my child/youth as an adult, I see…and I want them to be…” Let’s talk about how we can support each other in this endeavor! Childcare available in room 11.

TransParentsy – January 21 at 12:30-2pm, Rm 2

Join other parents and grandparents of transgender/non-binary children, youth, and adults for sharing and caring.

Young Adult Game Night – January 26 at 7pm, Rm 3

Bring a snack and/or game to share!

Social Justice & Action

Blood Drive THIS Saturday!

UCE will host a blood drive Saturday January 13th from 10am - 4pm. The drive has been organized by the Evanston Running Club, and other area athletic groups.

Please register HERE, ahead of time,

if you wish to donate.

January's Shared Offering With CRS

UCE shares its loose plate offering in January with the Community Renewal Society (CRS). CRS is an organization of over 70 member churches in the Chicago area who have been working together for civil rights and social justice for over 130 years. CRS engineers social change by participating in public demonstrations, social justice training and lobbying state legislators and others. CRS determines what issues to work on by participation from its churches and their members, staff and by working with other organizations.

Members of UCE can work with CRS issue committees to propose specific policies or attend an event or training session. UCE members could also join regular meetings of UCE’s Legislative Action Team on the second Tuesday of each month, from 5:30 – 6:30pm.

On Martin Luther King Day, Monday January 15th, at 10 AM, all who register can attend CRS’ annual inspirational celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Walk for Warmth Update – Important Weather Updated Information!

Cold Weather Update for the 5th Annual IAE Walk for Warmth on Monday, January 15th The Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service

Interfaith Action invites participants to a short indoor program at 10:45am at First United Methodist Church (at Church and Hinman). Participants may take a short walk around the block in solidarity with our homeless community. If you do not wish to walk due to the cold, you may remain in the First United Methodist Church sanctuary and make new friends and enjoy the music until the walkers return. Please join us for the program, music, and a chance to gather with some very caring people, your fellow supporters of the Walk for Warmth. Advance registration is required.

Our efforts support the Interfaith Action Overnight Shelter, a life-saving service in the depths of winter. You may donate here. Or bring cash or check donation on Monday to the Donations table in the First United Methodist Church lobby. A donation of any amount is greatly appreciated! See you at the Walk! Dress warmly!

Do you want to make an impact on the 2024 election?

One way you can make an impact is by making sure that voters in Wisconsin are registered to vote. Join UUtheVote at UCE for a voter registration training hour.

There are two training dates available. You only need to attend one. Both trainings will be held via Zoom. Please register for one of the trainings to receive the Zoom link:

January 24, 2024, from 7:00-8:00 pm. Register here by January 23rd

January 26, 2024, from 1:30-2:30 pm. Register here by January 25th

The training is one hour and presented by the Milwaukee Voter Project. For more information, please contact Laura Kushner with the Milwaukee Voter Project at laurakushnerx2 at gmail dot com or Rev. Susan Frances at sfrances@ucevanston.org.

UCE Book Clubs

The Mistakes & Miracles Book Group will meet Sunday January 14th, from 12:30-1:30pm, in Room 2.

UCE Non-Fiction Book Group

Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond.

Acclaimed sociologist Matthew Desmond draws on history, research, and original reporting to show how affluent Americans knowingly and unknowingly keep poor people poor. Those of us who are financially secure exploit the poor, driving down their wages while forcing them to overpay for housing and access to cash and credit. We prioritize the subsidization of our wealth over the alleviation of poverty, designing a welfare state that gives the most to those who need the least. And we stockpile opportunity in exclusive communities, creating zones of concentrated riches alongside those of concentrated despair. Some lives are made small so that others may grow.

Elegantly written and fiercely argued, the book gives us new ways of thinking about a morally urgent problem. It also helps us imagine solutions.

Zoom discussion Sunday, January 28th at 2 p.m.

using our recurring Zoom link.

2/25/2024: South to America: A Journey Below the Mason Dixon Line to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry.

UCE Fiction Book Group

Summer by Edith Wharton.

A warm read in deep winter. Something exceptional for Edith Wharton, a story of class struggle NOT set in Old New York. Charity Royall was born to a poor family on the Mountain in New England and is “rescued” by a wealthy lawyer who takes her in as his ward. Her new community never lets her forget her humble origins and Charity comes to rebel against the stifling dullness of Royall’s hometown. Enter Lucius Harney, a romantic interest with proper social credentials and Charity is attracted to both his good looks and his credentials for winning her acceptance in society. But it is not easy winning status in Old New England, just as it is in Wharton’s New York.

Zoom discussion, Friday, January 19th at 7pm, using our recurring

ZOOM link.

Upcoming Titles:

2/16/24: Daniel Mason, North Woods

3/15/24: Paul Harding This Other Eden

In Memory

Barbara Young Celebration of Life

Saturday, January 27, 2024, at 2 pm, we will celebrate the life of our much beloved Barbara Young.

Two Margarets (Shaklee & Talmage) are organizing hospitality. If it would please you to take on a small role or bring a favorite food to honor Barbara, log in HERE to make your selection. If you want to opt out of the technology, email Margaret Shaklee with your offer to help.