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In-Person & Virtual Worship Service

this Sunday, March 5th at 10:30 am

Rev. Eileen Wiviott is currently on a scheduled sabbatical until Sunday, May 28th. In her absence, please contact:

• Rev. Elizabeth Harding (eharding@ucevanston.org), Sabbatical Minister covering pastoral care: Tuesdays, 10:30am-3:30 pm, or by appointment.
• Rev. Allison Farnum (afarnum@ucevanston.org), Sabbatical Minister covering worship and staffing: Tuesdays, 10:30am-3:30pm, or by appointment.
• Rev. Susan Frances (sfrances@ucevanston.org), Assistant Minister for Congregational Life: Thursdays, 10:30am-3:30 pm, or by appointment.

Due to a recent website update, Realm is encountering some difficulties relating to signing in. If you are experiencing such problems, please contact the office at admin@ucevanston.org.

Parents Circle – THIS SUNDAY, March 5 at 9:30am in Room 13 – All parents are invited to meet to share the joys and challenges of parenting before the worship service.

Hats off to the Woody Haynes

Woody is our Music Librarian Extraordinaire!

His many duties include assigning folders to new choristers, pulling and filing choir music from our music library, and has scanned over 700 pieces of sheet music and hymnals in our library including many large, multi-movement works to be used for reference.

Woody is a familiar face in the UCE office, dropping in often to fulfil his duties, and has a keen eye toward how to better improve the library system, including creating a Music Librarian Google Drive folder and has an uncanny ability to anticipate the Music Directors’ needs. 

He has lent his fine bass voice, his musicianship and his keen sense of humor, to the choir for decades.

Thank you, Woody, for your very thorough and very thoughtful behind-the-scenes work! The UCE Choristers and the Director of Music thank you for this wonderful work you do!

New Endowment Grants

The Endowment Committee and the Board of Trustees have completed their review and approvals for the last round of grant making for the current fiscal year, and are very pleased to announce the new grants:

Denominational Affairs: $1,025 General Assembly Scholarships

Hospitality Team: $1,600 for First Aid/CPR training for Hospitality team members

Native Communities Solidarity Team: $1,500 to jointly sponsor a play at Reba Place Church

Prison Ministry Team: $500 for Family Circle training for UCE families

Immigrant Solidarity Team: $5,290 for rent for the Afghan refugee family we have been assisting

The Endowment Fund has disbursed a total of $75,675 to support a wide variety of projects this fiscal year. The amount available for the next church year is expected to be similar, and the first application cycle will end May 31. More information will be coming soon!

From Nominating and Recruiting Committee

Bylaws Revision Proposal

In anticipation of the annual congregational meeting this spring, the Nominating and Recruiting (N&R) Committee is proposing a few bylaws revisions related to their work.

First, is to change the committee name to the “Nominating Committee,” which will align with UUA and UCE leadership development team models. Second, to seek and retain leaders at UCE, we propose to reduce to six members serving two-year terms (three members elected each year for two-year terms). We also propose inclusion of language on how to handle vacancies on the committee. Click here to read the proposed bylaws changes.

N&R members will be available for seeking comments and discussion at a Bylaws Revision Informational Meeting on Sunday, March 5, 2023, at 9:30 am on zoom.

Explore our Sources and Inspirations Together

Our Journey of Belonging Series is a 3-part class for visitors and members. Get to know folks in our UCE community as we delve into our UU history, sources, and values. This series is great for all members and highly recommended for visitors and new members. Attend one session or attend all.

Please join Rev. Susan for our next session, Spiritual Journeys & Inspirations, on March 12, 2023, from 9:30-10:20 am in Room 12. Delve into our UU Sources and share your personal journey. Register HERE.

Report of the Article II Study Commission Issued

The UUA Article II Study Commission has issued its report making suggestions for transforming our principles and sources in our UUA Bylaws. Read the full Report HERE.

The UCE Denominational Affairs Team will be exploring these anticipated revisions to our UU Principles and Sources in several sessions between now and when we will vote on the revisions at General Assembly in June 2023. Join us for one or all of the sessions to delve into what it means to shake up our UU Principles & Sources.

The next session via Zoom is on March 15, 2023, 6:30-8:00 pm, with Rev. Susan and Betty Walker of the Denominational Affairs Team. The theme is Article II Covenant. Register below.

Our remaining session is April 19, 2023, 6:30-8:00 pm, via Zoom, led by Betty Walker & Carla Williams and Cheryl Mounts. The theme is Article II Connecting. Register below.

UCE is co-sponsoring this production with Reba Place Church and Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. If you are available to usher during either performance, please contact Rev. Susan by March 9.

Celebrate 20 years of the Soup Kitchen with Beth Emet

Soup Kitchen 20-Year Celebration

Sunday, March 19 at 5:00 pm

Doors Open at 4:45 pm

Beth Emet

1224 Dempster Street

Evanston, Il 60202

$25 per adult; $12 per child (12 and younger)



Over the past twenty years, thousands of nutritious and delicious meals have been lovingly prepared by countless volunteers and served in a warm and congenial environment. UCE collaborates with Beth Emet every year by preparing and serving the Soup Kitchen meals during the Jewish high holidays.

On March 19, we will have the opportunity to celebrate the Soup Kitchen’s accomplishments, raise money for Beth Emet's operations, and honor the legacy of Rabbi Peter Knobel, under whose leadership and in conjunction with a team of visionaries, the Soup Kitchen was founded in 2002. The Knobel family has generously offered to match, dollar for dollar, the first $50,000 of donations received. 

8th Principle Concert by Kristin Lems

UCE's own professional folksinger and songwriter, Kristin Lems, is offering a concert with music inspired by the 8th Principle on Friday, March 24, 2023 at 7:00 pm in the sanctuary or watch virtually with special guest Gloria McDaniel-Hall. This is a Serendipity Auction event and tickets are still available at $15. Pay in advance through Eventbrite (click button below) or at the door. For those wishing to watch the concert virtually, a link will be sent to those who have purchased a ticket. Further questions, contact: auction@ucevanston.org.

The 8th Principle that UCE adopted reads: “We, a member congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote: journeying toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.”

You’ve heard her wonderful music and her singing at our services and this is a chance to hear her in concert. Kristin’s music has been performed nationwide at events for the ERA and women’s rights, safe energy, peace, racial equality and other social justice causes.

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. 

Lunch-Making for Connections for the Homeless



The Family Ministry Team invites all ages to help make lunches for Connections for the Homeless. You can sign up here to donate supplies or to deliver them or help assemble the lunches after worship on March 12.

Our Whole Lives (OWL) Sexuality Education program

Of course, there are also programs and events that we continue to cherish, such as the Our Whole Lives (OWL) Sexuality Education program. This year, our youth are gathering one weekend a month with youth from 1st Unitarian and 2nd Unitarian for this important curriculum. UCE will be hosting the youth on March 17-18, and we could use some help with greeting and directing youth and facilitators, providing snacks for the weekend, and tidying up on Saturday afternoon. It’s an easy way to support our youth and our UU values! If interested, please sign up here.

UCE Non-Fiction Book Group: Covered with Night: A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America by Nicole Eustace

The nonfiction book group will meet Sunday, March 26, 2023 at 2 p.m. via Zoom.

On the eve of a major treaty conference between Iroquois leaders and European colonists in the summer of 1722, two white fur traders attacked an Indigenous hunter and left him for dead near Conestoga, Pennsylvania.  This act of brutality set into motion a remarkable series of criminal investigations and cross-cultural negotiations that challenged the definition of justice in early America. Frantic efforts to resolve the case ignited a dramatic, far-reaching debate between Native American forms of justice-centered on community, forgiveness, and reparations-and an ideology of harsh reprisal, unique to the colonies and based on British law, which called for the killers' swift execution.

UCE Fiction Book Group: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.

One of the most important works of twentieth-century American literature — perhaps the most widely read and highly regarded novel in the entire canon of African American literature — Zora Neale Hurston's beloved 1937 classic, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is an enduring Southern love story sparkling with wit, beauty, and heartfelt wisdom. A Black woman who refuses to live in sorrow, bitterness, fear, or foolish romantic dreams, Janie Crawford is fiercely independent, dodging the suppressions her men urge on her until she meets TeaCake, who loves her full potential.  

Friday, March 17, 7-8:30pm on ZOOM

Next Reads:

April 21: Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

May 19: I Will Die in a Foreign Land by Kalani Pickhart.

The REAL Lending Library 

HELP!! I’m Lost and Can’t Find My Way Home!

20% of the books from the UCE Lending Library are missing. 5 different books will be listed each week, so keep checking the titles! If you have any, please return them at the back of the sanctuary.

We are currently looking for the following:

  Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin

     Many thousand Gone by Ira Berlin

     Slavery by Another Name by Douglas Blackman

    Some of my Best Friends are Black by Tanner Colby

    A Season for Justice by Morris Dees

The Wisconsin Supreme Court is Supremely Important!

The April 4 election for WI Supreme Court judge will determine their future on reproductive rights and equitable redistricting, and voter access.  The impact will likely be felt in the 2024 national election. This election is considered one of the most important in our country this year! Help ensure our UU values are advanced! 

Pick-up your bundle of PRE-PRINTED (minimal writing!) postcards at the back of the sanctuary on Sundays, March 5, 12, and 19. Or, contact Carolyn Laughlin (REALM or admin@ucevanston.org.

Want to drive to Milwaukee to help voters register? The Milwaukee Chase and Teutonia DMV locations graciously host volunteers. The training is quick and easy, and folks waiting for processing are overall friendly and appreciative! Contact Jim Balk of our partner organization, Supermarket Legends or contact Carolyn Laughlin (REALM or admin@ucevanston.org)

Thank you for your commitment to living our values out in the world.

Join the Abortion Access Team

Are you ready to take action to address the access issues caused by the Dobbs decision? UCE’s Abortion Access Team meets the 2nd Wednesday of each month on Zoom from 7:00-8:30 pm. Please join us for the next meeting on March 8, 2023. Please contact Jean Butzen or Jon Siegel through REALM or at admin@ucevanston.org to learn more.

Abortion Access Fundraising

The UCE Abortion Access Team is seeking individuals to host informational and fundraising meetings to benefit the Chicago Abortion Fund, which provides support for people facing barriers to accessing abortion care. Hosts invite congregants and friends to either a Zoom or in-person gathering during April, May, or June. The Abortion Access Team will provide the invitation, a facilitator, and a script for the meeting. Thank you for taking action to reclaim abortion access! Please contact Jean Butzen or Jon Siegel through REALM or at admin@ucevanston.org to learn more.

Giving House Continues... March is 

Dry Cereal & Oatmeal month

We are accepting donations of Dry Cereal & Oatmeal in the giving house for the month of March.

The Giving house is a small wooden "house" that is located in the front lobby. We are partnering with a new free food supplier for the food insecure.

Clarence Weaver and his wife Beverly in March 2020 responded to the covid crisis by setting up a nonprofit organization and using 

their storefront (C&W Market & Ice Cream) to distribute free foods to those in need.

They provide fresh meat, vegetables and fruit along with nonperishable food items to seniors, District 65 families and those experiencing homelessness and food insecurity. They serve almost 50 people every other Saturday morning. They are continuing this service to our community

Since they have plenty of storage, we can support their generous work by providing nonperishable items. We will be collecting one type of non-perishable food each month. March is Dry Cereal & Oatmeal month.

 C&W Market & Ice Cream is a Black owned business on the corner of Dodge and Church. This is a prime location for food distribution.  You can also support this business by buying Ice Cream and/or other sundries there. Thanks for your donation.