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The Mitten Tree Gift Giving

Happy Everything! Mitten Tree is BACK in full force! This winter holiday tradition of gift giving is a wonderful way to connect with organizations and neighbors outside the walls of UCE.

This year we are leaning into our SHARED MINISTRY all around. There will be opportunities for everyone to lend a hand and fill a mitten that speaks to them. Sign up HERE to fulfill gift requests.

This longstanding tradition is an overwhelmingly beautiful snapshot of our community’s shared values and a privilege to help organize. Read on below about where your gifts will go this year, AND MAY WHAT YOU GIVE BRING YOU JOY!

Hats Off to our members who created the

Transgender Day of Remembrance Service.

Thank you to those who lovingly, and with no small emotional cost, create the service of lament each year to recognize the lives of trans people murdered because of who they are.

• Jordan Strueber, who lights a candle for each name and tenderly blows them out (hot wax and all) as we say, “you are with us.”
• Chris Allender, who spends hours creating the slideshow of names with details of their lives to show while the names are read.
• Christine Peters, who brings flowers for all participants.
• Lizzy Powers, who lends her beautiful voice to our mourning.
• Forrest Marie Peters Linsell, who encouraged us to include international names this year and provided context for greater understanding of the issue of reporting.
• Grey Wiviott and Rev. T.J. Williams-Hauger, who added their voices to the reading of names.

With love and appreciation for all of your efforts to honor these lives, so tragically ended.

What does it mean to Practice Beloved Community?

an open Zoom conversation

With Rev. Eileen and the Committee on Shared Ministry

November 29 at 7pm

As mentioned in the worship service on October 23, our first value statement needs some unpacking. 

Let's gather to discuss what it means to practice Beloved Community. 

What does it look like? Who does it include? How do we know when we've arrived? 

*That last one is a trick question, to see if you've been paying attention 😉

Worship Planning Playdate

Join us for our worship planning playdate on December 6th from 12pm - 1pm.

We meet on the first Tuesdays of every month over Zoom.

Click Here to Register.

Join us on the Zoom Here.

Our Lost and Found is now full!



If you would like to check the box for any items that might be yours, please do so before Monday, December 7th when clothing contents will be turned over to Connections for the Homeless.

Feedback Requested by November 28 on Draft of the

Revised UU Principles & Sources

Feedback for the first draft of the revised Article II will close on November 28, after which the Article II Study Commission will prepare a revised draft for a new round of comment to happen in December.

The Article II Study Commission of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) has reimagined Article II to “lead us into the second quarter of the 21st Century, while honoring the historic roots of our liberal, progressive faith.” Article II of the UUA Bylaws is better known as the home of our Principles, Purposes, and Sources. Please read the first draft and submit your feedback now.

How Are We Living Our Values?

Supporting spiritual growth and well-being

This month, we are looking for your input on our second value statement:

We support the spiritual growth and well-being of our congregational community, cultivating gratitude, joy, curiosity, wonder, and an openness to personal and relational transformation as we strive to build a better world. 

Please take a few minutes to complete this questionnaire on-line. We're looking for your feedback by December 2nd.

Thanks for your participation!

Blue Holiday Service - December 7th at 5:30 pm 

December is not a joyful time of year for everyone. For many, the holidays are difficult, made even more so by the heightened expectation that everyone BE HAPPY. If you are looking for a space of comfort during the holiday season, please join our ‘blue’ holiday service. Together we will help hold, with tenderness, the sorrows that remain with us.  

Unitarian Men's Retreat Friday, January 27 to Sunday, January 29, 2023.

Join other UU men to explore Turning Points In Our Lives. Cabrini Retreat Center, 9430 Golf Road, DesPlaines 60016.

Cost of $200 includes private room for two nights, three meals Saturday and breakfast Sunday, plus pizza party on Friday night.

Scholarships available. We welcome all who identify as male. Our goal is to encourage each other to share, learn and support each other in looking into the meaning of our lives. Men from Unity Temple, UU Church of Evanston, and Countryside UU are already participating.

For the flyer, signup sheet and more information,

Contact Mark Johansen - markeric-j@hotmail.com

UCE builds Beloved Community and offers care to one another in several ways.

The Congregational Care and Support Team, or CCST, is the umbrella for the following teams:

· Caring Team - Meals: Members who bring meals to your home in difficult times 

· Pastoral Care Team: Works with the Ministers to provide spiritual and emotional support for the congregation

· Memorial Reception Team: Coordinates receptions following member memorial services

· Caring Team - Rides: Coordinates rides for members to church and for medical appointments 

The CCST is led by an Intake Coordinator, currently Ellie Feddersen. She forwards requests for care to the appropriate sub-team.

You can access support or offer support through the google form on the website: https://ucevanston.org/care-support-committee

You may also contact Ellie Feddersen at: elliefeddersen@gmail.com

We are a caring community. If you or a fellow member needs support with meals, rides or emotional/spiritual issues, please don’t hesitate to contact Ellie by filling in the form (preferrable) or emailing her.

To volunteer on one of the CCST teams, click here to Offer Care.

Ornament Sunday Potluck – Just 2 Weeks Away!

Join us after worship for this fun tradition at UCE! We’d love to have two more people to staff a table of a simple ornament craft. Sign up here to help with the fun or bring finger food to share!

Christmas Pageant and Treats – December 18

Another annual tradition you can participate in! Choose to be a wise person, an angel, a star, a shepherd, or an animal. We have a few speaking parts too. Sign up here to claim your spot or bring your favorite treat to share!

Photo by Rick Oldland on Unsplash

UCE Fiction Book Group: My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

Join us on Saturday, December 16th at 7 p.m. via Zoom to discuss My Name is Lucy Barton.

Lucy Barton is recovering slowly from what should have been a simple operation. Her mother, to whom she hasn’t spoken for many years, comes to see her. Gentle gossip about people from Lucy’s childhood in Amgash, Illinois, seems to reconnect them, but just below the surface lie the tension and longing that have informed every aspect of Lucy’s life: her escape from her troubled family, her desire to become a writer, her marriage, her love for her two daughters. Knitting this powerful narrative together is the brilliant storytelling voice of Lucy herself: keenly observant, deeply human, and truly unforgettable.

UCE Non-Fiction Book Group: How To Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

Join us on Sunday, December 17th at 2 p.m. via Zoom to discuss Odell's ideas about how we can and must actively and continuously choose how we use our attention, the most precious and overdrawn resource we have.

In a world where addictive technology is designed to buy and sell our attention, and our value is determined by our 24/7 data productivity, it can seem impossible to escape. But in this inspiring field guide to dropping out of the attention economy, artist and critic Jenny Odell shows us how we can undertake bolder forms of political action, re-imagine our role in the environment, and arrive at more meaningful understandings of happiness and progress.

Join the REAL Team on Wednesday November 30th at 7:00 p.m.

As we celebrate National Native American Heritage Month through learning and anti-oppression work, the REAL Team invites you to discuss Common Misconceptions and Injustices Facing Indigenous Peoples Today on Wednesday November 30th from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. (Central Time) via Zoom.

Our Indigenous siblings encounter widespread racism, poverty, and environmental degradation on Indian reservations and in urban areas. This oppression makes it difficult to survive as a people and to live fully according to their traditions. Many do not have the necessary resources, financial support, time, and energy to sustain and teach their language and culture. Survival itself depends on keeping their families intact, surviving rampant gender violence, stopping the destruction of their land, and maintaining their language and distinctive ways of life.

Your Support Needed to Make Housing for Homeless Permanent at Margarita In

Please join Interfaith Action and your fellow faith community members in a show of support for the Margarita Inn on Wednesday, Nov. 30 at 7pm in the City Council Chambers at 2100 Ridge Ave. The Land Use Commission will be discussing a special use permit to allow Connections for the Homeless to continue the Margarita as a transitional housing program. Your presence is requested during public comments by an Interfaith Action board member. We believe the visual effect of so many people standing up for the Margarita will make a powerful statement.  

UCE Native Communities Solidarity Team Forming

The creation of our

UCE Land Acknowledgment was the first step to learning how we might live in solidarity with local and national native communities. We have now formed a UCE Native Communities Solidarity Team. If you are interested in helping to lead UCE’s journey of education, relationship building, and acting in solidarity to engage with contemporary issues affecting Indigenous communities, join us! 

For more information or to become a member of the Native Communities Solidarity Team, please contact Sallie Eggers through Realm or at admin@ucevanston.org.  

Giving House Continues... November is FISH month

We are accepting donations of CANNED  FISH  (not just Tuna, but sardines, salmon, clams, crab etc.) in the giving house for the month of October.

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. November is FISH month (Canned tuna, salmon, sardines etc.) 

 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. 

Save the Date: January 21st 

(Specific time TBD)

for an All-Congregation Workshop

sponsored by the Anti-Oppression Task Force,

the Board of Trustees, and

our Consultants with the YWCA Equity Institute

[Note: There was a mistake in the first email sent out about this event. You should save the date for Saturday, January 21, 2023, and not January 23rd.]



Come hear the results of the Anti-Oppression survey so many of you took part in this August. We will be exploring together where we’ve been, where we are now, and where we’re going on the journey of building Beloved Community. 

We'd like to make this as accessible to as many in our congregation as possible, so please let us know what times would work best for you here.