Sunday Service

November 30, 2025 at 10:30 am 

November 30th is a Mask Required Sunday

Masks are required for our worship service on Sunday, November 30th. As we continue to create space for in-person community time with our immunocompromised members and friends, we will have a mask required service once a quarter. The next mask required services will be February 1st and June 28th. 

On a mask required Sunday, masks are required to be worn by everyone from 10 am – 1 pm on the entire main floor. Gatherings in the Lower Level rooms may be unmasked.

Kinship Time food and beverages may be enjoyed by being briefly unmasked in the café area.

This Sunday…

Childcare (0-3 years) is available in room 11 from 10:15a-12:15p. 

Chalice Children (Pre/K/1st) in room 9 – Our children will hear the story Adventure and make chalk pictures.

Hearts, and Hands (2nd-5th) in room 8 – Our young people will explore Indigenous Peoples’ Month and our UU Values of Interdependence and Generosity in Gratitude & Reciprocity.

Youth Group (6th+) in room 10 – Our youth will explore Indigenous Peoples’ Month and our UU Values of Interdependence and Generosity in Returning Gratitude.

Faith Formation Registration

Please register your young person, ages 1-18 here.

Christmas is Coming!

We have three fun events next month!

Cocoa, Carols, and Community – December 5, 6-8p

We’ll wrap gifts for the mitten tree and then enjoy hot cocoa and sing carols.

 Ornament Sunday – December 7 during Kinship Time

Make several holiday ornaments. Sign up here to staff a craft table or to help set up or bring treats.

Christmas Pageant – December 21 during worship

You can claim a role by signing up here or simply show up before worship to claim one not yet taken.

Join us on Zoom December 8 at 7-8p!

    We’ll share ideas on ways to build connections and community.

Gratitude and Hope

As we end this month and our Soul Matter’s theme of Nurturing Gratitude, I am reflecting on the many things and people I am grateful for this year. My family and friends are the first that come to mind – both those alive and those who have died. They have helped make me who I am today with many lessons learned along the way. I also find myself grateful for little things each day, such as a tree with its crimson leaves still clinging to the branches, or a hot cup of chai on a chilly morning.

At UCE, there are so many people I’m grateful for! The staff, or course, is the best. They’re not only good at their jobs, they’re passionate, respectful, and joyful as they work with each other and the congregation. And in my little corner of it all, I have some dedicated people who care about our young people and make them feel welcomed and a part of UCE life. 

Our hats are off to members of our Garden Team, who came together over two Saturdays to rake and mulch the leaves from our sidewalk and parking lot so that our landscapers could avoid being in our yard during increased ICE activity in October and November.

Thank you to Janelle Brittain for organizing and leading our Garden Team volunteers in this fall yard work. We are grateful for Julia Adams, Mikey Affinito, Mary Dudek, Neil Koreman, Tori Kosmicki, Christine Peters, Carlos Waldron, Maggie Wilson, Roger Young, and Liliana Zecker, who showed up for this unanticipated request of the Garden Team to rake, learn how to use our new mulcher, and spread the mulched leaves throughout our gardens. An extra thank you to Julia and Janelle who spent another day cleaning and organizing our tool shed!

Thank you for caring about our contracted landscapers and for caretaking this land we used as sacred space.

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Friday, November 28th:

• THANKSGIVING BREAK - UCE OFFICES CLOSED

Saturday, November 29th:

• Virtual Pilates, 9:30am, via Zoom

Sunday, November 30th:

• Chris Isley Cancer Support Group, 9-10:15am, Room 6 & Zoom
• Worship Service, 10:30-11:30am, Sanctuary - MASKS REQUIRED
• Kinship Time, 11:30-12:30pm, Sanctuary Cafe
• Young Adult Group Soulful Sunday, 12:15-1pm, Room 12

Monday, December 1st:

• Food With Spirit Group, 5:30-6:30pm, via Zoom
• UCE Addictions and Recovery, 6:45-7:45pm, via Zoom
• Bernstein Covenant Group, 7-9pm, via Zoom
• Durkin Covenant Group, 7-9pm, via Zoom
• Monday Night Covenant Group, 7-9pm, via Zoom

Tuesday, December 2nd:

• Membership Team Meeting, 12:30-1:30pm, via Zoom
• UCE Casual Rehearsal, 6:30-8pm, Room 6
• Caregiver Support Group, 7-8:30pm, via Zoom
• First Women's Circle, 7-8pm, via Zoom

Wednesday, December 3rd:

• Yoga Online, 9:30-10:30am, via Zoom
• Executive Committee Meeting, 4pm, via Zoom
• Endowment Fund Committee Meeting, 4:30-6:30pm, via Zoom
• Congregational Connections Team, 7-8pm, via Zoom

Thursday, December 5th:

• Meditation Group, 5:30-6:30pm, via Zoom
• Choir Rehearsal, 7-9pm, Sanctuary
• Anti-Oppression Task Force, 7-8:30pm, via Zoom

MITTEN TREE 2025

Deadlines are This Week

Mitten Tree gifts are due this SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30, for sorting and wrapping. Did you miss the chance to shop? It’s not too late to donate money and the mitten tree elves will shop for the remaining gifts –you may Zelle or Venmo Jenny Walsh, jmw99free at gmail dot com or 847-309-3648, or write a check to UCE with Mitten Tree in the memo.

Sign up to help with organizing/shopping/wrapping HERE. 

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

UCE Cares

UCE is a congregation of mutual care and support in service of our overall mission to nurture the human spirit for a world made whole. In these difficult and overwhelming times, we’re all struggling in different ways to take care of ourselves and each other. The Congregational Care and Support Teams are here to help.

The Caring Team provides practical care like meals and rides during health challenges or other family transitions.

The Pastoral Care Team works with the ministers to provide spiritual accompaniment for members of the congregation struggling with loneliness, grief, anxiety and other concerns. We don’t provide therapy but a thoughtful listening partner.

If you’re struggling financially or need short term help with a bill or payment, please reach out to one of the ministers to access our pastoral care funds.



If you know of someone who might need care, if you need care yourself, or if you would like to offer care to others, please visit our Congregational Care Page

 Attend A Journey Toward Membership Class

Are you a new or long-time visitor? Are you interested in committing to our UCE community as a member? Are you not sure, but would like some more information? Our Journey Toward Membership class covers UU history and values, what is means to be part of a covenantal faith tradition, and the rewards and responsibilities of being a member of UCE.

Join Rev. Susan and the Membership Team at one of our Journey Toward Membership classes. The class is 90-minutes and you only need to attend it once before joining. The next class date is:



• Sunday, December 7, 2025, 9:00-10:20 am, Room 12, child care provided. Click here to register. 

• Tuesday, January 13, 2026, 6:30-8:00 pm, via Zoom. Click here to register. Click here to register.

If you have any questions, please contact Rev. Susan Frances at sfrances@ucevanston.org.

Making our Holidays More Green!

This month, the Green Team looks at the 2030 version of a UU Green Sanctuary to see how our members can become even better friends of the Earth. Join us on Sunday, Dec. 14 at 9:15am as we look at the progress we are making and set some future goals. Meet in person in room 13 or on zoom. Join the Green Team in REALM for updates and zoom links.

The next meeting of the UCE Fiction Book Group

is Friday, December 19th, using our Recurring Zoom link



The Fiction Book group is reading "The Inheritance of Loss," by Kiran Desai.

In a crumbling, isolated house at the foot of Mount Kanchenjunga in the Himalayas, an embittered judge wants only to retire in peace when his orphaned granddaughter, Sai, arrives on his doorstep.

Winner of the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Award for 2007.

We will also choose books for our winter quarter.

The Nonfiction book group will meet online at 2 p.m. on Sunday, December 28th , using our recurring Zoom link.

Join us to discuss On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes by cognitive scientist Alexandra Horowitz. The author shows us how much there is to see on daily walks if only we would really look.

Her book is structured around eleven walks she takes with experts on a range of diverse subjects, including a geologist, a physician, an artist, and an urban sociologist. Horowitz shows how different perspectives can change the way we see the ordinary world around us.

In January, we’ll discuss The Quiet Before: On the Unexpected Origins of Radical Ideas by Gal Beckerman.

Holiday Greetings for the Incarcerated-A UCE Tradition

UCE’s Prison Ministry invites all congregants to join our team after services on consecutive Sundays, November 30 and December 7, to compose holiday wishes for UUs who are incarcerated in Illinois prisons. This has become an annual tradition at UCE which is deeply appreciated by imprisoned UUs who will spend their holidays far away from family and friends. As we find ourselves in a moment of arrests and incarceration throughout the country, we need to remember those who have been suffering the pain of separation for years, if not decades in Illinois prisons. We hope you will take a few minutes to join us at the back of the sanctuary to send greetings to those who many believe are outside the circle of love. Our Unitarian values teach us that no one is outside that circle and our holiday wishes to the incarcerated are one way we prove the depth of that conviction. Please join us.

Claim your Lost & Found Items by November 30



As winter approaches, it is time to empty out the Lost & Found drawer and make room for more. Any items not claimed by November 30th will be donated.

The Lost & Found drawer and hanging items are located in the lobby across from the bathrooms. Small items, such as keys and jewelry, are kept in a box in the office.

Please look for your lost items on Sunday morning or when the office is open from 10 am - 4 pm Tuesday through Friday.

Our Shared Offering Program

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.

This Sunday's offering will be shared with UUPMI, which works to equip UU's in Illinois to ​transform institutions, partnering with and supporting people harmed by the prison industrial complex.

UCE Young Adult Group

Third Friday Faith Formation & Game Nights

Our next gathering is Friday, December 19th



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@ucevanston.org) with any questions.

OWL Orientation for Parents of 7th-9th Graders

Learn about this popular sex-ed program on

December 7, 2-3:30p.

Friends are able to participate as long as a parent attends this meeting.

Family Fall Feedback – December 14 at 12:15p

Based on our gathering with Rev. Eileen recently, we now invite parents/families to help us prioritize the many ideas that were shared. Childcare available.

If you’d like to add your thoughts, please respond to this short survey.

Come be a Beacon of Light!

With the time change, we have changed the time for our gatherings at the corner of Dempster & Ridge every Thursday to be from 4:00-4:30 pm starting November 6.

(No gathering on November 27th)

Inspired by Beacons of Light, bring a colorful sign with a positive message visioning a future shaped by love and justice (sign inspiration here)or include The Beacon’s QR code to spread the light even further. You may join the Beacons of Light WhatsApp group by filling out their form.

Whether we’re three people or 100, we continue to provide a source of hope and solidarity for the participants, those driving by, and our neighbors. All are welcome!

Sign up to Volunteer at the Overnight Shelter

11/30-12/20

Hello volunteers!

This is the sign-up for the Overnight Shelter at the Unitarian Church of Evanston 1330 Ridge Ave. (Use South Door at the end of Parking lot)

We will be using google docs for sign-up. Please click on this link to sign up.

LOVE RESISTS

Community Mutual Aid

These are a few ways to provide mutual aid to our communities this winter. If you have another idea, please email it to Rev. Susan Frances.

Ideas added this week - 

Patronize local Mexican, South American, and Latin American restaurants, grocery stores, and street vendors, especially in neighborhoods that are predominately Hispanic and Latinx, in an effort to help those small businesses stay in business when so many of their customers do not feel safe being out and about.

Ongoing ways to provide mutual aid -

Donate to your local food pantry and soup kitchen. In Evanston, these include:

• Fill up the UCE Giving House located in our lobby. We are collecting pasta, rice, grains, beans, cereal, soups, canned fish, and canned meat to donate to C&W Market Foundation in Evanston. 

• Interfaith Action of Evanston (IAE) publishes the schedule of Soup Kitchens, sponsored by them and other nonprofits. We keep hard copies of this schedule, along with the IAE Overnight Shelter in the red folder in the Welcome Center cabinet.

• Support the Evanston Community Fridges. You may contribute funds online or donate food at one of the three locations in Evanston: 1601 Payne Street, 1335 Dodge Avenue, 620 Madison Street. 

Donate to Evanston Latinos, which is working with local Sanctuary groups to support local families impacted by ICE detentions. When you donate online, write in the memo line either “Sanctuary Evanston” or “Sanctuary Niles Township.”

Carry a whistle. In neighborhoods across Chicagoland and the country, whistle brigades come together to alert each other to ICE presence in the neighborhood so that vulnerable individuals may hide and less vulnerable individuals may record what is happening. Blow in a short rhythm for ICE agent or vehicle sightings and walk toward their location if possible. Blow in a long continuous rhythm when witnessing an abduction in process. Take photos or video of what you are seeing.

When ICE is active in your area, create a plan for transportation for anyone working inside or outside of your home and also plan to be at home to provide emergency inside space for outdoor workers who are tending to your yard, snow removal, painting, or other home improvements. ICE agents, or any other federal, state, or local agent, may not enter your home without a warrant signed by a judge with a valid date, the name of a specific person, and your address on it.

We Ain't Buying it!



This national campaign allows each of us to use our economic power to send a message to "major corporations that have caved to the administration's policies."  Per the campaign's website: It is a coordinated weekend of economic noncooperation (Nov. 27-Dec. 1) led by a coalition of organizations, workers and everyday people who believe our values are not for sale.  It's a crucial period for big retailers with nearly 20% of annual sales happening between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. We need to send a powerful message that they stop enabling harm for profit. The specific request is to support ongoing boycotts of Target, Home Depot and Amazon. The AT&T action is also ongoing.  

Instead, we're asking you to consider buying local from businesses that support your values and your communities - a true win/win!

ONGOING UU CONNECTIONS

Unitarian Church of Evanston

1330 Ridge Ave. Evanston, IL 60201

847-864-1330