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Sunday, August 21
Worship Service - 10:00am
"What Do You Really Want?"
Rev. Scott Aaseng has served congregations in Chicago, Quincy, and Oak Park, Illinois, as well as Hobart, Indiana. He current serves as Executive Director of the Unitarian Universalist Advocacy Network of Illinois. Rev. Aaseng will speak about organizing justice work that makes a real difference in our communities.
Rev. Lortie was called out of town unexpectedly and will return for worship on September 4th.
Principles and Sources class - 11:15 - noon
Whether you are new to Unitarian Universalism or you would like to understand the seven principles and six sources of our faith better, join us for this rich 45-minute discussion led by members of the New Member Committee. We'
ll use thought-provoking metaphors to dive deeper into the foundations of being a UU.
Join us to stand in support of Black Lives Matter
11:30am-Noon
You are invited to stand on Ridge Avenue between 11:30am and noon to support the Black Lives Matter movement. Each week, the reception has been a most affirming experience. We hope to continue this on a weekly basis with your help.
Signs and buttons are available for purchase at the back of the sanctuary. Signs and song lyrics will be provided for use.
Sponsored by the REAL team.
The Chris Isely Cancer Support Group
11:15am
The group is open to anyone facing cancer, either personally or through a family member or friend. This lay-led group is a safe place for sharing and hope. Interested participants are encouraged to drop in any time. Questions? Contact Renee Hoff
or Brian Meister.
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From the Executive Operations Director 
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Sandra Robinson |
Please join me in welcoming Jerry Lorann as our new Bookkeeper at UCE. Jerry comes to us with training and experience in the field and after three weeks has already proven to be competent, reliable and friendly. You may reach him on Tuesdays and Fridays between 11 and 4 or email at finance@ucevanston.org.
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Jerry Lorann
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Sarah Baker has joined our staff as Sunday Lobby Staff and Liz Aceves is our new Religious Education Assistant who works Tuesdays, Thursdays and beginning in September, Sunday mornings.
Did you notice the new large print orders of service? Thank you Carli Magel for your creative work in setting up this new format so that we can continue to make UCE a more welcoming place for our congregation and those who walk through our doors for worship. We are now providing additional large print hymnals for those who require them.
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From the Membership Director
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Eileen Wiviott |
Hospitality Training
Take Aways
Thanks to those who were able to attend one of the two offerings of Welcoming Training at UCE this month. We had inspiring and helpful conversations about some of the best practices for being radically hospitable, inclusive, accessible, and multi-culturally sensitive. Our hospitality teams have added so much to the warmth and welcoming of our thriving congregation. It is a joy to share the spiritual practice of hospitality with all of you. We are so much better together! Click here to read more.
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Meet the New UCE Green Team!
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The old Green Sanctuary has a new name and passion for their new focus. Come to the Evanston Farmer's Market on August 27 and meet the team! Visit the flower stand next to the garage starting at 9:00am for a flower and details!
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Christianity Discussion Group
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A Christianity Discussion Group is being formed at UCE. The group will have its first meeting on
Thursday, September 15 at 7:15pm in Room 6. We will be discussing Scott McLennan's
Christ for Unitarian Universalists: A New Dialog with Traditional Christianity (Skinner Books, 2016) in the Fall, and we recommend viewing McLennan's recent presentation on YouTube, at
http://tinyurl.com/christianity-for-uus, before our first session. To learn more, contact
Heike Eghardt or
Brian Nielsen.
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Recently Retired (but never retiring!) Women
Tuesday, Aug. 23, 5:00pm
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Join us for our Welcome Back Eat and Greet! After our potluck, we will discuss plans for this fall. As retired women, there are issues which influence us in ways that, while we were working, we might not have considered. All recently retired women are warmly encouraged to attend. Please contact Margie Rogasner with any questions.
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Refugee Team Partners With RefugeeOne
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In a recent newsletter, you read about the progress of the Refugee Team toward bringing a family to Chicago. We would also like you to know more about RefugeeOne, the remarkable organization with whom we have been working to make this possible. Click here for a story about a refugee mother and daughter making a new life here, and also to find out about the work that RefugeeOne does.
RefugeeOne recently received a $100,000 grant from Impact 100 Chicago. Both these stories and much more information, including a story about a local business that has been recognized for hiring and supporting refugees, can be found at www.refugeeone.org.
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News from CRS, UUANI, UU Prison Ministry
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These three efforts at UCE work in different but mutually supportive ways for positive social change.
CRS (Community Renewal Society) is in active discussions with Chicago officials and the public about police accountability proposals. Come to a town hall meeting Tuesday, August 23, 6:30pm at Granville Avenue United Methodist Church, 1407 W. Granville Ave. to learn about and advocate for the CRS proposal, called FAIR COPS. This is an educational opportunity to see CRS in action along with community leaders and others making a difference. Contact Bedford West, come to the table in back of sanctuary Sunday for more info.
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Women's circles are small, ongoing, self-run groups of UCE members and friends. At a Women's Circle, we create connections with other women and share our life journey in a caring and safe environment. The Womens' Circles still have space for additional members. Contact Gini Sayad if you are interested.
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Soup Kitchens this Fall
October 5 and October 12
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This fall we will host Wednesday evening soup kitchens while our neighbor, Beth Emet, celebrates the high holy days. We will welcome approximately 100 guests for dinner, a sack lunch, and our best hospitality. Please mark your calendars now and watch for sign up sheets online and in the lobby coming soon! Thanks, Janet Hartmann.
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Living the Interdependent Web
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This year, our Sunday-morning religious education program for children and youth will focus on "Living the Interdependent Web." We'll broadly and deeply explore what it means to respect, revere, and participate in the interdependent web. Our curriculum and activities are structured across ages and grade levels to focus on our "seventh principle," which calls for "respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part," in ways that are holistic, multigenerational, and multidimensional. Participants will have the opportunity to explore ideas, develop relationships, and put values into action. Click here to read more.
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From the REAL Team
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Meet Our Community: Inaugural Fifth Ward Festival of Music, Food and Job Opportunities
2016 Spotlight Issue: Youth Gun Violence
Saturday, August 27, noon to 8pm
at Twiggs Park
Meet Our Community: Fifth Ward Festival
is a food, fun and resource fair for all of Evanston, hosted by the Fifth Ward, to bring Evanstonians together.
UCE's Racial Equity Action Leadership team is supporting this festival. Visit our table while you are at Twiggs Park or volunteer to help us staff it.
A wide variety of booths by local organizations will address the need for jobs and job training, mental health care, voter registration, and more, all of which contribute to empowerment and can help reduce gun violence. Police and firefighters will be on hand to share information about public service jobs.
Submitted by Shirley Adams.
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Religious Education Teacher Orientation
Saturday, September 10, 9amÂ- noon
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Together with our community of volunteer teachers, share inspiration and ideas about lesson planning and classroom management, learn procedural information, and plan together. For religious education teachers for kindergarten through eighth grade classes. Childcare will be available if requested by September 5. RSVP to learning@ucevanston.org.
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Religious Education Classroom Open House
Sunday, Sept 11, 10:15 am and 12:00 noon (after both worship services)
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An opportunity for children and their families to visit classrooms, learn about religious education curriculum and programming, register for religious education classes, and meet classroom teachers. Please drop in!
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Journeys: Boston and Beyond
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Seventh- and eighth-graders and their parents are invited to an orientation meeting on Sunday, September 25 from 6:30 to 8:00 pm to learn more about our Journeys: Boston and Beyond program. Our Journeys program focuses on our young people's own spiritual and religious journeys as they develop and articulate their Unitarian Universalist identities. The culmination of the program will be the students' presentation of their Credo statements to the congregation and a trip to Boston in the spring. RSVP for the September 25 orientation meeting to Rev. Connie Grant at
cgrant@ucevanston.org
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Child Dedications Available
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A ceremony of dedication of children will be included in our Sunday morning worship services on September 11. In this ceremony, children are named and blessed, parents dedicate themselves to the young lives entrusted to them, and the congregation dedicates itself to be a loving community in which all may thrive. This ceremony is appropriate for infants as well children who may be new to the congregation or have not previously been dedicated. Please contact Rev. Connie Grant at
cgrant@ucevanston.org if you would like your child to be included.
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Upcoming Membership Classes
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Intro to Unitarian Universalism
Sunday, September 18, 11:30 - 1pm
Led by Rev. Bret Lortie, we'll look at our history, our principles, the sources of our faith, and the meaning of covenant. This is the first step in the membership process.
Orientation Toward Membership
Two Wednesdays, September 7 and 14, 7-8:30 pm
Led by Rev. Connie Grant, Membership Director Eileen Wiviott, and members of the New Member Committee. An interactive class exploring our spiritual journeys, the diversity of our beliefs, and what it means to be a member of this congregation. This is the second step in the membership process.
Sign up at the Guest & Member Table in the lobby or email Eileen Wiviott at
ewiviott@hotmail.com
. Childcare available upon request. Please let us know as soon as possible if you need childcare.
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Upcoming UCE Events
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Sunday, August 21, 11:15am
Principles and Sources Class
Sunday, August 21, 11:30am
Stand in Support of Black Lives Matter
Tuesday, August 23, 5pm
Recently Retired (but never retiring!) Women
Sunday, August 28, 5pm
Fiction Book Group Potluck and Discussion
Wednesdays, Sept. 7 and 14 , 7pm
Orientation Toward Membership
Saturday, Sept. 10, 9am
Religious Education Teacher Orientation
Sunday, Sept. 11, 10:15 and 12:00pm
Religious Education Classroom Open House
Sunday, Sept. 25, 6:30pm
Journeys Student/Parent Orientation
Thurs, Sept. 29 - Sunday, Oct. 2
Fall Weekend
Thursday Nights, 5:30pm
Meditation Group
Thursday Nights, 7pm
UCE Addictions Ministry Group
Sunday Mornings, 9:00am & Wednesday Mornings, 9:30am
Yoga
Saturdays at 10:00am
Open Drumming Circles
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Greenwood Group
Please join the UCE investment club, Greenwood Group,
Thursday August 25, 7:30pm
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Normally we meet on 3rd Thursdays of the month.
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Summer Diaper Drive
Our Giving House will be collecting diapers all summer long. Diapers will be donated to the Bundled Blessings Diaper Pantry at First United Methodist Church. This program provides diapers to low-income families in Evanston. New as well as opened packages are accepted. All sizes needed. Let's fill our house for babies in need.
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Fiction Book Group Potluck and Discussion
Sunday, August 28
5-8pm at UCE
We will be discussing
The Daughters of Mars by Thomas Keneally.
We'll also be choosing books for the fall so bring your ideas.
Open to members, friends and visitors.
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Gen X Family Friendly Campfire
Sat., September 17, 4-6:30pm
at the home of member Sarah Hendershot
If
you are in your 30's to 50's, with kids or without, come and enjoy an outdoor gathering with light refreshments, good conversation and space for the children to play. Please RSVP to
Eileen Wiviott
and
Sarah Hendershot
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UCE Fall Weekend
If you have not yet made a reservation, there are still a few rooms available (sign up by sending an email to pegboc@ameritech.net or seeing Peggy Boccard, Rebecca Fischer, or Luanne Vanderpool at the tables in the back of the sanctuary on Sunday). The rates are per person for the entire noted period, and include all meals from Friday evening through Sunday lunch: Thur-Sun: Single: $400, Double/Triple: $275; Fri-Sun:Single: $300, Double/Triple: $200.
Payments should be sent to the UCE office (or put in the plate on Sunday). Please write the check to UCE or Unitarian Church of Evanston and put Fall Weekend in the memo field.
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Composting at UCE
At the south end of the parking lot, there are two green totes for compost. If you would like to participate in this composting program for church members and friends, please remember to contribute. We are asking for $60 per person, per year to be paid to UCE by check (put
"
composting
"
in the memo).
Thank you for caring for our planet by diverting waste from our landfills. A note to those composting in the bins outside - PLEASE DO NOT BRING YOUR COMPOST IN PLASTIC BAGS! It is not compostable that way. Stop by the compost station after church if you want to purchase an inexpensive kitchen counter container.
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Opportunities
for Spiritual Practice
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Ministers' Schedules
Rev. Bret Lortie
is available on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and by appointment. Monday is sabbath and Friday devoted to writing. To send a message or read Rev. Bret's blog, visit
www.liberalfaith.org
.
Rev. Connie Grant will be on vacation from August 11-15 and August 18-24. She is generally in the office during the day on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and often has evening meetings on those days. She takes Mondays off and works at home on Fridays. Please email or call Connie for an appointment.
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