Nurturing the Human Spirit for a World Made Whole |
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Virtual Worship Service
this Sunday, September 5 at 11:15 am
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To Work with Love
God cursed humanity with labor, to toil in working the land. Certainly the powerful and wealthy few have used this message to control the means of production, dehumanizing workers. The Labor Movement has tried to empower workers to collectively assert their right to worked without being worked to death. Where are we now? What does it mean to work with love - for ourselves, each other, and the earth? We will have our annual backpack blessing to honor the work of our young people.
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UCE Ingathering - September 12 |
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Join the UCE Ingathering on Sunday, September 12th at 10:15 am in person and through the YouTube livestream. Masks are required (ages 2 and up) inside the building.
We invite everyone to send in photos of you with, on, or near water. Photos can be sent to Rev. Eileen at ewiviott@ucevanston.org with the subject line: Water Communion and your name (individual or family name). In the email please answer these questions:
- What does this water carry?
- What do you hope it returns to you?
Bring water from your summer adventures (near or far) to the service, whichever way you participate. We will use the gathered waters from our annual water communion to bless the grounds after the service.
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"Shared Ministry – Who Are We Leaving Out?"
From Kathy Underwood,
Director of Lifespan Religious Education
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Last month I wrote about my weakness: my fear of admitting when I need help, and then asking for help. It sounds silly, and looked even sillier in print, but the truth is hard to see at times.
As I reflect on why this can be a challenge in my life, I thought of a couple of things. The first one has to do with my childhood and growing up in a household where I was told in subtle, non-verbal ways that only weak people asked for help. I don’t remember either of my parents asking for help, but that was probably because I was in my own little world and didn’t notice it, for I’m sure there were times when they did. My parents were both very self-sufficient in my eyes...
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RSVP to Sept 12 Worship Service |
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UCE ministers and staff are so excited to welcome everyone back to the building. Please fill out this 3-question poll to let us know if you are planning to attend in-person worship at UCE on September 12, 2021 at 10:15 am. This will help us in our planning and take less than a minute to complete.
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Last week, we hope you received the mailed letter with details about our return to the building. Here are the details enclosed in that letter for your reference.
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"New" Kitchen Celebration - September 19 |
Just as Covid shut everything down last year, our totally renovated kitchen was completed, so we didn’t get a chance to celebrate all of the wonderful changes and upgrades. So on Sunday, September 19, the Kitchen renovation will be celebrated! There will be a recognition in the worship service, followed by tours in the kitchen and outer area guided by Carol Nielsen and Sandra Robinson after the service. Coffee and cookies will be served outside only while we take turns getting a tour. Our kitchen has always been a warm and welcoming gathering place before, during and after events for our congregation and for our rentals. These improvements are due to your generosity during the Capital Campaign.
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Welcome Back to UCE Capital Improvements: Lobby |
When returning to our beloved church building in September and beyond, you will notice some differences in the lobby and wing spaces thanks to funding from the 2019 Capital Campaign and the hard work and dedication of the Capital Campaign Implementation Committee and UCE volunteers and staff. We wanted to highlight some of these exciting changes and talk a bit about how we made decisions about what updates to make. This is the first of three articles.
Our lobby planning involved a broad, human-centered design approach--a process that starts with the people you’re designing for and ends with new solutions that are tailor made to suit their needs. To do this, we gathered input from the groups that use the UCE lobby space, (hospitality team, membership relations, family ministry, accessibility team, and staff), as well as rentals, safety and security...
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Hats Off to August Worship Leaders! |
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Our hats are off to all the creative folks who contributed to our August Sunday series on the arts. It was a beautiful and meaningful reflection on the way our spirits our nurtured and the world is made more whole through theatre, dance, poetry, music, and visual arts. Thanks for sharing your insights and your talents: Shirley Adams, Eleanor Boyer, Jo Lynn Cotton, Jean Durkin, Heike Eghardt, Ann Gadzikowski, Robb Geiger, Marianne Griebler, Jen Halman, Alicia Hempfling, Lynn Kendall, Melanie Kitchner, Kristin Lems, Jay and Norell Liddell, Lucinda Lodder, Ann McCallister, Susan Moss, Laura Pettibone, William Phillips, Joe Romeo, Barry and Nancy Schultz, Jon Siegel, Craig Spidle, Jessica Tomell-Presto and Izzy Presto, Sarah Vanderwicken, Johna and Will VanDyke, Annette Wallace, and Maggie Wilson. Our gratitude goes out as well to our incredibly talented section leaders - Morgan Mastrangelo, Karina Stribley, and Jenn Wisegarver - as well as our gifted and generous staff - Adam Gough, Vickie Hellyer, Gregory Shifrin, and Kathy Underwood. Each of you contributed your vibrant spirits to these worship services. Thank you one and all! |
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If you have music to share in worship, we would love to add your to our list. We are looking for either live or recorded performances for Sunday mornings to enhance our worship. Reach out to Rev. Eileen or Vickie Hellyer.
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Wednesday Zoom Gatherings Continue on 2nd & 4th Wednesdays at 5:30 pm via Zoom.
Faith, Justice and Reparations in Evanston Virtual Workshop is September 19, 26, and
October 3. More info below.
Rev. Eileen Wiviott's installation is on Saturday, October 23 at 3 pm in the UCE Sanctuary or Zoom. More info below.
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This Week's Events & Links |
Saturday, September 4
Sunday, September 5
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Chris Isely Cancer Support Group at 9:30 am via Zoom. Email Renee Hoff for details.
Monday, September 6
Tuesday, September 7
Wednesday, September 8
Thursday, September 9
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Virtual Meditation at 5:30 pm via Zoom. Email Lisa Solomon for the link.
- Choir Rehearsal at 7 pm in Room 3.
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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!
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Congregational Connections |
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Join us in Creating Opportunities for
Richer Engagement in the UCE Community
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After almost 18 months of virtual gathering we will all be newcomers when we return to our building in September 2021. We will be starting anew, learning how to be together again – to connect in new and different ways, embracing our mission and working to build an even stronger, more vibrant community to “nurture the human spirit for a world made whole”.
The Membership Engagement Task Force has been meeting since February to learn more about what we do well in welcoming and engaging members and where we could improve our efforts to facilitate meaningful and satisfying participation in the life of UCE...
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After Labor day (September 6), UCE staff will be available for limited office hours:
Tuesday through Friday
10 am - 5 pm
Please note most staff will continue a hybrid work schedule, where they may be working from home throughout the week. If you would like to meet with a particular minister or staff member, you are encouraged to email or call to set up an appointment.
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Congratulations to our 2021-2022 Shared Plate Recipients! |
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The Social Justice Council is pleased to announce the recipients of our 2021-2022 Shared Plate Program. The selected recipients are:
- Assata's Daughters
- Community Renewal Society
- Deborah's Place
- Faith in Place
- Interfaith Action of Evanston
- Moran Center for Youth Advocacy
- Mother and Child Alliance, formerly Pediatric AIDS Chicago Prevention Institution
- NAACP Evanston North Shore Branch
- Renaissance Social Services
- Restore Justice Foundation
- UU Advocacy Network of Illinois (UUANI)
- UU Prison Ministry of Illinois (UUPMI)
- Unitarian Universalist Service Council (UUSC)
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Grief Group Resumes Monday, September 13 |
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If you have experienced the loss of a loved one, a decline in health or other difficult life transition you are welcome to join this grief group. We will meet on Zoom beginning Monday, September 13 from 6:30 to 7:45 pm every other Monday through December. Please email Ellen Rieger at ellenerieger@gmail.com if you are interested in attending.
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UUA GA 2022 in Portland? But what is the theme? |
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It's time to plan for next year's General Assembly and one of us could create the theme!
The UUA is asking members to suggest themes for the 2022 GA in Portland OR. We have so many creative folks at UCE, it could easily be one of us who wins this contest! Submit your entry by September 13!
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Registration for Beloved Conversations
Extended to September 14th
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You can still register for Beloved Conversations until Sept. 14!
The Beloved Conversations in-person curriculum has evolved to be a three-part online curriculum divided into the Within Phase, the Among Phase, and the Beyond Phase. If you took the original in-person curriculum, the new online Beloved Conversations: Within is a restyled individual curriculum that will bring you something new. If you have not taken any form of Beloved Conversations, now is a good time to take the Within Phase curriculum, because the next phase, Beloved Conversations: Among, is a congregation wide curriculum that the REAL Team is exploring.
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UCE Hosts Vaccination Clinic Continues on September 14 |
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UCE Hosts Covid-19 Vaccination Clinic: September 14, 2-6 pm - We are hosting a 2nd day for our Vaccination Clinic with the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH). Register at the link below or Walk in on the day of.
- Ages 12+ are welcome
- No insurance or ID needed
- Pfizer (2 dose) and Johnson & Johnson (1 dose) vaccines will be available
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Immunocompromised Individuals are eligible to receive a booster vaccine. More info here.
Please share about this opportunity with everyone you know! This will be a quick and easy way to get vaccinated against the COVID-19 Virus.
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Faith, Justice and Reparations in Evanston,
September 19, 26, and October 3
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Register today to attend a three-part workshop on Faith, Justice and Reparations in Evanston. Sessions will take place on Sunday afternoons from 4 to 5:30 on September 19, 26, and October 3, via Zoom. We will explore what “reparation” means, how Evanston’s history of exclusion and discrimination calls for repair, what is happening with our current Reparations programs — and consider how we, as people of faith, are called to act at this significant moment in history.
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You're Invited! Rev. Eileen Wiviott's Installation - Oct 23 |
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f you did not receive a Paperless Post Invitation, know that all members and friends are invited. Please RSVP by emailing the office at admin@ucevanston.org if you would like to attend and note whether you will be joining in-person or virtually.
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What's Happening in Faith Formation this Fall? |
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Backpack Blessing – Join the virtual worship service for our backpack blessing on September 5! Rev. Eileen will offer a blessing for our backpack tags for those who are beginning a new school year. You can pick up yours at UCE at the Ingathering Service on September 12, or in the lobby during office hours all week long.
Back-to-School pictures? If you took some pictures to mark the occasion, we’d love to show them during the worship service on September 5! You can drop them in this Google folder or email them to Kathy Underwood.
Playscape Steppingstone Event – September 25 and October 2 - Families are invited to help make steppingstones. For more details and to register, click here.
Registration for Faith Formation begins! This year more than ever, it is important that parents register their young people, so that we can plan according to current guidelines. Please complete the form here for all young people, 0-18 years old.
Faith Formation Help this Fall – If you’d like to join in making this new format fun and engaging, look here for some of the ways you can do so! If you haven’t seen the video about our worship and faith formation format for this fall yet, check it out here. And if you missed Kathy’s recent article about this you can find it here.
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Bridging Youth Hospitality Network |
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College-bound youth and young adults! A network to connect with UUs wherever you are! Join Rev. Byron Tyler Coles & Rev. Stevie K Carmody Eama for an information session about the recently launched Bridging Youth Hospitality Network!
- Thursday, October 7th, 7pm ET
Check the links below for Zoom registration and more information. Spread the survey to recently bridged youth and the communities that want to welcome them!
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Forum - Sunday, September 19 |
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The first Forum session for the 2021-22 church year is titled “What is meant by Defund the Police?” Our speakers will be Daniel Biss, mayor of Evanston, and a representative from Defund CPD. Each speaker will present their ideas on the subject, then we will open up the floor for questions. Members can attend in person or virtually. This will be an exchange of ideas, not a debate. Among the topics we will explore are the role of police and whose safety is protected. |
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UCE Fiction Book Group is reading My Favorite Thing is Monsters, Book 1, a graphic novel by Emil Ferris. Discussion meeting September 17, 7-8:30 pm via Zoom.
Set against the tumultuous political backdrop of late ’60s Chicago, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters is the fictional graphic diary of 10-year-old Karen Reyes, filled with B-movie horror and pulp monster magazine iconography. Karen Reyes tries to solve the murder of her enigmatic upstairs neighbor, Anka Silverberg, a holocaust survivor, while the interconnected stories of those around her unfold. When Karen’s investigation takes us back to Anka’s life in Nazi Germany, the reader discovers how the personal, the political, the past, and the present converge.
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The nonfiction book group will meet via Zoom at 2 pm on Sunday, September 26th to discuss How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America.
The author, Heather Cox Richardson, writes about how the South was the ideological victor of the Civil War as expansion of the Western frontier allowed the hierarchies of the South to proliferate. The book has been called "a thought-provoking study of the centuries-spanning battle between oligarchy and equality in America."
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From the Immigration Support Team |
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If you would like to help Afghans and Afghan refugees, you can volunteer with or donate to Refugee One, which settles refugees in the Chicago area. They are in great need of both volunteers and money. You can also donate to International Refugee Assistance Project Legal Aid, which helps refugees with our complex and difficult legal processes, from securing their legal status to getting a social security number.
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Update: Syrian Refugee Family |
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Five years ago, UCE sponsored a Syrian refugee family—the Haj Khalafs. We learned recently that Fatoum (the mother) will welcome her sister Ghufran Bakir, to the U.S. on September 2 along with her three children Ryaan, 13; Hatty, 12; and Talib, 8. Ghufran, was widowed in the war, and has spent the last eight years in a refugee camp in Turkey. They are delighted to be reunited.
A few members of the congregation and the Immigrant Solidarity Team would like to help the new family. Our goal is to raise $5000 (or more) that will help them pay their rent for 4 or more months...
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Countryside UU Church in Palatine converted its parsonage to a temporary shelter for refugee families awaiting their legal findings. You may recall that the Immigrant Solidarity Team did some fundraising to help. Now Chalice House needs some in-kind help. They need a lawn mower, a 3/8 wrench for their tool kit, and they need someone who knows how to repair a rattan chair. If you can help with any of these please reach out to Lee Bannor (contact info in Realm). They have a long list of other needs and Lee can forward their email to anyone who wants to review it. |
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September 4, 11, & 12 are Drop Off Days for much needed Fingernail Clippers, Shaving Cream, Razors, & More |
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Interfaith Action of Evanston operates a monthly Produce Mobile, year-round, providing free groceries and toiletries to around 250 families.
For the September 14th Produce Mobile, they are in need of the following items:
- Fingernail clippers
- Bar Soap (preference is Dove)
- Shaving cream
- Disposable razors
- All-purpose cleaner
Please limit your generosity to the items requested.
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Unitarian Church of Evanston
1330 Ridge Ave. Evanston, IL 60201
847-864-1330
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