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In-Person & Virtual Worship Service

this Sunday, June 11th at 10:30 am

Quorum Needed for Voting at Special Meeting

This Sunday, June 11, at 11:45 am.

We need a quorum to be able to Vote on Endowment Agreement Language and Bylaws Changes. If you are a voting member, you may vote in-person or through the polling feature in the Zoom meeting. Contact Adam Gough at agough@ucevanston.org if you did not receive the Zoom link in your email on Wednesday.



Everyone is invited to attend the meeting in-person or to watch on our YouTube channel.

Note about June 25th Sunday Worship time difference!

On Sunday, the 25th, we will be livestreaming the UUA General Assembly Worship Service from Pittsburgh which begins at 10 a.m. CST rather than our usual 10:30 worship time and runs for 1.5 hours. Come to UCE to enjoy worshipping with Unitarian Universalists from around the country!

Faith Formation Hour this Sunday!

• Childcare (0-3 years) is available in room 11 from 10am-11:45am

• Wisdom Tales & Wild Games: Visiting Turkey - for ages preschool through 8th grades, we will meet in room 3 this summer so we can enjoy the South Lawn on nice days. Helpers are needed too - sign up here!

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

Summer Concerts -

June 14 for One Night Band

Join UCE folks for this outdoor concert in Skokie filled with a diverse repertoire of Top 40’s hits spanning over 6 decades. Janice Milanovich is our point person, so look for her and the UCE sign. To get email updates, register here. Our next concert will be June 20 in Evanston.

Fair Trade Shoppers - Summer is arriving, and the Fair Trade Cart will be taking a vacation during July and August. It's time to stock up on coffee, chocolate, and other goodies. Don't wait too long; some items could run out before our last day on June 25! 

Hats off to Ellen Rieger

Our Hats are Off to Ellen Rieger who has, for many years, offered her gifts as a grief counselor to members and friends of the congregation through periodic grief groups. Her compassion and skill as a facilitator have helped many people move through the pain of loss toward healing. Ellen, we are so grateful for this expression of shared ministry and community care. 

Prom Cancelled

Rainbow Alliance's Be Yourself Prom will be postponed until the fall. Please keep an eye on the newsletter for more updates about this event later this year.

Happy Pride!

Spots Available for 2 Serendipity Auction Group Events

TONIGHT - Square Dancing (June 9)

GUUrls’ Night Out (June 16)

Missed the chance to bid on these two group events from the UCE Serendipity Auction? There are still spots available, while they last. Put on your best “Wild West” outfit for a fun-filled, square-dancing event for age 8 years to ‘ageless’ TONIGHT, Friday, June 9 from 7:00-9:00 pm at $15/person and $30/family.

Join the annual GUUrls’* Night Out Party for delicious dinner, delightful desserts, wonderful wine and convivial conversation on Friday, June 16 at 6:30 pm at $45/person. Don’t miss this UCE tradition designed to honor the positive aspects of the feminine. Join us if you wish to spend an evening living up this side of you (*GUUrls=female, transgender, femme, womxn, non-binary).

To reserve your spot, email us at: auction@ucevanston.org.

Second Baptist Church Invitation to Film Screening

Second Baptist Church (SBC) has invited the members of the Unitarian Church of Evanston to a screening of the second half of the documentary Who We Are and then for a conversation afterward. We hope you will join us!

Date: THIS SUNDAY, June 11, 2023

Time: 2 pm – 4 pm

Location: Evanston Public Library, located at 1703 Orrington Avenue, Evanston, IL 60201

Room: Falcon Room, 303 on the third floor.

Program:

2 pm - 3 pm, we will watch the second hour of WHO WE ARE: A Chronicle of Racism in America.

3 pm - 4 pm, we will discuss the second hour of the film, along with the themes and history discussed in the film.

WHO WE ARE: A Chronicle of Racism in America can be found on Netflix and Amazon Prime if you want to watch the entire film. Some of us joined SBC for the screening of the first hour of this film on March 19, 2023. Even if you did not attend the first screening, you are invited to participate on June 11th!

UCE Parents of Trans Kids Group

June 18 at 12:00 pm at UCE

Many of us know the joy and pride of having children (of all ages) who identify as trans, non-binary, or gender non-conforming. Join Rev. Eileen on Sunday, June 18 for a gathering of parents, grandparents, or caregivers of people in their lives who are transitioning or have transitioned. This will be a space for connection, support, and holding of complexity and questions. Please let Rev. Eileen know if you plan to join us or if you have questions.

2023 UUA General Assembly

The 2023 UUA General Assembly will be held in Pittsburgh, PA from June 21 – 25 online and in-person. 

Registration is now open. Click here for details.

The Denominational Affairs Team is asking you to consider being a Delegate to this General Assembly. Delegates will be considering changes to the UUA Bylaws, Article 2, that address racism, non-human life, and the inclusivity of the democratic process in our Principles, Purposes, and Sources. Delegates can attend in-person and virtually.

If you are interested, please contact Peggy Boccard via REALM or at admin@ucevanston.org.

We will continue to provide information via the Newsletter. 

Looking ahead in Faith Formation...

You can see a working calendar here that includes multi-age events. As in life, things change, so you can refer to this calendar throughout the year for updates or read them in the newsletter.

Want to know more about Faith Formation this year? Read our brochure here.

UCE Fiction Book Group 

Trust, by Hernan Diaz.

The Fiction book group will meet Friday, June 16, 2023 at 7 p.m. via Zoom.

A genre-bending, time hop-scotching saga of New York city’s elite from old-money New York in the last years of the 19th century to the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression. Hernan Diaz takes a closer look at the human cost and cost in natural resources that undergirded wealth as amassed by the American elite. Diaz turns a dazzling light on wealth in America, revealing an underside we’d rather not know, but an underside — or backside — we Americans are complicit in covering. Shades of Henry James and Edith Wharton.

UCE Non-Fiction Book Group: 

Mistakes and Miracles: Congregations on the Road to Multiculturalism by Nancy Palmer Jones and Karin Lin

The nonfiction book group will meet Sunday, June 25, 2023 at 2:00p.m. via Zoom.

In this year’s UUA Common Read, the authors share the experiences of five UU congregations across the U.S. as they take on the call for Beloved Community, to practice a radically inclusive and compassionate, anti-racist, anti-oppressive, and multicultural faith within their churches and to act powerfully in partnership and solidarity for justice and liberation beyond.  Rev. nancy and Ms. Lin hope that these stories of transformation will inspire readers to take the risks, make the mistakes, discover the creativity, and be enriched by the joys of multicultural, antiracist work.

Shared Offering Program Nominations Open

Nominations for the 2023-2024 Shared Offering Program are now being accepted by the Social Justice Council. If you have any questions about this Program, please contact Rev. Susan at sfrances@ucevanston.org.

RefugeeOne Needs Volunteers to Set-Up Apartments

Want to help prepare apartments for dozens of newly arriving refugees this summer?

The RefugeeOne housing team is looking for 8-10 on-call volunteers to support with apartment set-ups. This could include cleaning, unpacking household goods, putting away groceries, and generally getting an apartment ready for an arriving family!

The ideal volunteer has some daytime, weekday flexibility and is comfortable jumping in where needed. They should be able to travel to the Chicago Rogers Park and West Ridge neighborhoods.

If interested, send an email to volunteer@refugeeone.org with the subject 'Housing Support' and they'll get back to you!

Join the UCE Team in the Race Against Hate

Now in its 24rd year, the Race Against Hate will be held on Fathers’ Day, June 18, 2023, at 7:30 am in Long Field, Evanston, and UCE will again be a part of it! 

Some of us run, some walk, some roll! Please join us for the Race Against Hate by joining the UCE Racial Equity Team 2023. (The YWCA has generously offered UCE 2 free registrations. So, the first 2 people to register using the code unitarian23, will be able to register for free!) If you can’t be with us in the Race, but want to join in spirit, support the team through your donation. Click this link to get to our Team page where you can register or sponsor the UCE Racial Equity Team or one of its members. 

Dana Deane is coordinating the UCE Racial Equity Team 2023. Please let her know if you have any questions at Dddeane847@gmail.com .

How to Help Refugees and Asylum Seekers Locally

Chicago-area organizations have responded quickly to assist immigrants to our region. UCE’s Immigrant Solidarity Team (IST) and other Evanston-based faith groups are working with the Sanctuary Working Group (SWG) of the Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America (CRLN) to help.

You can support the SWG of CRLN in three ways:

1. Donate Money: Your contribution helps purchase basic necessities such as toothbrushes, shoes, etc. To donate, click HERE.

2. Provide Short-Term Housing: Welcome an individual or family into your home for a night or two while they wait their turn to move into a shelter. To sign up, click HERE.

3. Provide Long-Term Housing: Share your home for several weeks or months with individuals or provide ongoing financial support to people who are moving into their own apartments. For more information, click HERE.

Separately from CRLN, people in Rogers Park, with the help of Ald. Maria Hadden, are organizing emergency overnight housing for people who are currently sleeping on the floor of the Rogers Park police station.

For more details, please contact Michelle Novak or Jim Strickler of the UCE IST through the Realm Membership Directory or at admin@ucevanston.org.

What’s Next for the Anti-Oppression Task Force?

Last week, we shared information about Aim 1 of the Anti-Oppression Task Force: “expanding the Congregation’s ownership of the anti-racism, anti-oppression work.” For the second aim, to increase power sharing at UCE, our three priorities are:

1. Communicate and message that ALL members of the Congregation are responsible for creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for ALL, including visitors, current and new members of the Congregation, through radical hospitality.

2.  Engage in regularly scheduled accountability sessions, using the Racial Justice in UU Congregations Rubric, to assess how projects are helping move the Congregation toward a lived “commitment to building a racially just and loving world”.

3. Provide opportunities for varied voices in the pulpit and in all levels of UCE’s educational programming (Lifespan Faith Formation). These may include pulpit exchanges; curriculum materials with AR/AO (Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression) themes for current youth education and family programs; incorporating the voices and stories of our youth; and connecting our young people with youth groups at other congregations.

To be a part of fulfilling this aim and expanding ownership of this vital work, please contact Carla Williams via the Realm Membership Directory or Rev. Susan at sfrances@ucevanston.org.

Get Invited to an Abortion Access Team House Meeting

The UCE Abortion Access Team is working with several UCE members to host informational and fundraising meetings to benefit the Chicago Abortion Fund, which provides support for people facing barriers to accessing abortion care. House meetings are scheduled from May 16 through June 25. If you have not yet been invited to attend a meeting but would like to hear more, please reach out to Jean Butzen or Jon Siegel through REALM or at admin@ucevanston.org and ask to be included in another upcoming event!!

Giving House Continues...

For the month of June, we are accepting donations of pasta in the Giving House.

The Giving House is a small wooden "house" that is located in the front lobby. We are partnering with C&W Market & Ice Cream to distribute free foods to those in need.