Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Evanston | | Nurturing the Human Spirit for a World Made Whole | | |
IN THIS ISSUE:
• Sunday Service
• Children/Youth/Lifespan Faith Formation
• Staff Column
• Hats Off!
• This Week’s Events
• Congregational Connections
• Our Community Partnerships
• Ongoing UU Connections
• UUCE Resources
| | Hi friends, please take the time to review our busy and exciting Event Calendar for opportunities to put your FAITH IN ACTION | | |
Sunday Service
September 27, 2026, at 10:30 a.m.
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Beginning Again with our Covenant of Engagement
Following the Board’s retreat we will introduce our hopes to begin a process of reflecting on the Covenant of Engagement that has guided us in our relationships to each other and the congregation over the last 15 years. We will also reconstitute our covenant by welcoming new members! Rev. Eileen leads the service, with Rev. Susan leading the new member covenant. Kera Beskin, Board President, will be our Worship Associate. The UUCE Choir is directed by Vickie Hellyer, Music Director, and Gregory Shifrin is on piano.
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September 27 Kinship Time is Outside
Bike the Ridge
Ridge will be closed from 8 am - 2pm. If you are able to walk, bike, or carpool, please do. If you drive, please enter Greenwood from Asbury Avenue.
Green Sanctuary Network
Street Party on Greenwood after Service
Come celebrate the renewal of our Green Sanctuary certification with a street party on Greenwood. There will be food, music, Bike the Ridge riders to greet, Garden Tours to take with our Garden Team docents, and progress information from our Emissions Reduction Task Force.
We'll be outside from 11:30 am - 12:30 pm during Kinship Time, weather permitting, on Greenwood between Ridge and the UUCE Parking Lot Driveway. Come party with the Green Sanctuary Network!
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Spiritual Practice Series
Join Rev. Eileen on the first Wednesday of the month for this series that helps participants develop regular disciplines of the spirit – practices that help us connect with the sacred. Spiritual Practice affirms religious diversity while seeking unity in our communal quest for meaning and wholeness. Each session offers a forum for learning, sharing, and growth that can enrich our personal faith journeys. Join us on October 7, 5:30-6:30p in Room 3. Here is the Spiritual Practice schedule:
10/7 - Defining and Finding Your Spiritual Practice
11/4 - Keeping Sabbath
12/2 - Prayer
1/6 - Meditation
2/3 - Mindful Walking and Eating
3/3 - Worship and Ritual
4/7 - Discernment and Devotional Reading
5/5 - Hospitality and Belonging
6/2 - Work and Service
Register HERE
| | Children/Youth/Lifespan Faith Formation | | |
This Sunday…
Children and youth will go to their faith formation groups after joys and sorrows.
Childcare (0-3 years) is available in room 11 from 9:45a – 2:15p.
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Chalice Children (Pre/K/1) in room 9 – our children will hear a story about welcoming others and play a get-to-know-you game.
Heads, Hearts, & Hands (2nd-5th) in room 8 – our young people will hear a story, create a Promise Heart Wall, and play a get-to-know-you game.
Middle School Youth (6th-8th) in room 10 – the youth will consider our UU Values as a part of their covenant, and play some games.
High School Youth (9th-12th) in room 13 – the youth will learn about the Crossing Paths program that they will be using this year to explore world religions.
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Faith Formation Registration time is here!
Parents are asked to fill out a registration form in order for their young people to participate this year.
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We’re looking for 8 more adults who can help 5-6 times this year
in our Faith Formation program for young people and youth.
Stop by the program table for details or email Kathy Underwood.
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FFUUN! Faith Formation UU Network
Join us on Zoom on October 12 at 7-8pm as
we continue making connections happen across the ages!
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Staff Column
by Rev. Susan Frances
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Hi, Friends,
Congratulations! On August 31, 2026, our congregation received its Green Sanctuary renewal for having successfully fulfilled the requirements of the revitalized Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice program with the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). To celebrate, we will be having a street party on Greenwood during Kinship Time this Sunday. It is Bike the Ridge Sunday, so Greenwood will be blocked off at Ridge, and the Green Sanctuary Network (GSN) will be hosting the party between Ridge and our driveway. We are still looking for 3 more volunteers to assist with our usual set-up of tables, awning, and water service for Bike the Ridge at 8:30 am. If you are available, please click here into SignUp.com and select the Set-up Awning role. Also, during Kinship Time, our Garden Team, in their new t-shirts, will be giving tours of our 13 gardens. I hope you will stroll around the gardens and then join us on Greenwood to celebrate. One of our guests will be the praying mantis living in our gardens. Rev. Eileen and I arrived at UUCE yesterday morning to find the praying mantis I am pointing to in the photo hanging out by the keycard swiper.
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Our hats are off to the volunteers with the 29 groups and teams who hosted tables at the Engagement Fair this past Sunday. In addition to the many wonderful signs, there were information sheets and sign-up forms. There were organic grapes, cookies, lollipops, ginger candies, and chocolate. There were coloring sheets and a spin-the-wheel game with prize bags. Most of all, there were lots of great conversations and new connections formed!
Thank you to everyone who entered our Realm Raffle by working with Adam Gough to set up your Realm login or download the app on your phone or by getting a new profile photo taken by Cathy Deamant. The Serendipity Auction donated prizes and these were our Realm Raffle winners:
- Olga Chwa won a Bibliophile 1000 piece puzzle;
- Patrecia Lenore won a Succulent Garden 500 piece puzzle; and
- Karen Courtright and Jeanne Kerl won vintage UCE t-shirts.
We are grateful to everyone who attended as we continue to expand and deepen our shared ministry!
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Friday, September 25th:
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Board of Trustees Retreat, 6-9pm, Room 3 and Zoom
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The Play's The Thing, Room 6, 6:30-9pm, Room 6
Saturday, September 25th:
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Board of Trustees Retreat, 9-3pm, Room 3 and Zoom
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Virtual Pilates, 9:30am, via Zoom
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Beginner Tai Chi, 9:45-10:45am, Room 3
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Intermediate Tai Chi, 11am-12pm, Room 3
Sunday, September 27th:
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Bike The Ridge, 8-1pm
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Choir Rehearsal, 9-10:10am, Sanctuary
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Chris Isley Cancer Support Group, 9-10:15am, Room 6 and Zoom
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Worship Service, 10:30-11:30am, Sanctuary
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Green Sanctuary Party,Kinship Time, 11:30-12:30pm, Outside on Greenwood St.
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Garden Walk, 11:45-12:45pm, UUCE Gardens
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Abortion Access Care Packages Event, 11:45-1:15pm, Room 3
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Etchen Covenant Group, 12-2pm, Room 2
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Parents Covenant Group, 12:15-2:15pm, Room 6
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Non-Fiction Book Group, 2-3pm, via Zoom
Monday, September 28th:
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UUCE Addictions and Recovery, 6:45-7:45pm, via Zoom
Tuesday, September 29th:
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Meeting Our Interfaith Neighbors Visit to Ginchigamiin Museum, 12:30-2:30pm
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Retired Women's Group, 5-7pm, Room 3
Wednesday, September 30th:
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Yoga, 9:30-10:30am, via Google Meet
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Meeting Our Interfaith Neighbors Visit to Ginchigamiin Museum, 5:30-7:30pm
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Heart to Heart Covenant Group, 7-9pm, Offsite
Thursday, October 1st:
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Meditation Group, 5:30-6:30pm, via Zoom
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Beacons of Light, 6-6:30pm, Dempster and Ridge
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Choir Rehearsal, 7-8:45pm, Room 3
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Have Something for the Newsletter?
Please submit your article and images using our Newsletter Request Form by noon on Wednesdays.
| | Congregational Connections | | |
Share Your Gifts ♥ Build Belonging
Welcome to the 2026 Serendipity Fundraiser!
Serendipity begins long before the bidding starts. We’re gathering the gifts, talents, experiences, and treasures that will become this year’s auction. Do you have a talent to share? A meal you could host? A skill you could teach? A project, adventure, or gathering that would bring people together? We’d love to hear your ideas and invite you to donate.
The magic of Serendipity comes from the generosity and imagination of our community. The auction is a collection of invitations to connect, play, learn, and celebrate.
And there’s Serendipity to enjoy! Raffle tickets are on sale now. Grab a ticket (or a few!) for your chance to win while supporting the fundraiser. The auction opens for browsing and bidding on Wednesday, October 28. Donate a gift. Buy a raffle ticket. Share an idea. Invite a friend.
Visit the Serendipity Fundraiser website or contact the Serendipity Fundraiser Team at auction@ucevanston.org with questions.
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UUCE Young Adult Group
Please join us on 3rd Fridays for games, snacks, and connection among UUCE young adults (18-35). We gather for some spiritual grounding and then enjoy time for games. Bring a snack to share if you can and your favorite group games.
Reach out to Rev. Eileen at ewiviott@ucevanston.org or Kathy Underwood at kunderwood@ucevanston.org if you want to join or have questions
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UUCE Garden Walk This Sunday
Did you know we have 13 gardens around our building?
Join us for a Garden Walk after the service on Sunday, September 27, and hear the stories behind each of our gardens.
Our Garden Team has worked hard—and had fun together—removing invasive or overly aggressive plants that prevent biodiverse gardens from prospering. The Endowment Fund has been very supportive in helping us create beautiful new gardens for everyone to enjoy.
We have two rain gardens filled with native perennials, a patchwork pollinator garden, a peace garden, a family garden, an intergenerational garden, and many others. We also have a new garden that needs a name!
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Meeting Our Interfaith Neighbors
Meeting Our Interfaith Neighbors: Gichigamiin Indigenous Nations Museum
This year’s Meeting Our Interfaith Neighbors series begins with two opportunities to learn about the Indigenous peoples recognized in our Sunday land acknowledgment.
Tour the museum’s new exhibit on September 29 at 12:30 p.m. or September 30 at 5:30 p.m. We have 2 spots available for Tuesday, September 29 at 1:30pm and 6 spots available for Wednesday, September 30 at 5:30pm. Register for a museum tour.
Then join us on October 7 at 7 p.m. for a presentation by a guest from the museum. Youth and adults are welcome to attend in person or on Zoom. Register for the October 7 program.
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Retired Women’s Monthly Meeting
Join us on September 29 from 5–7 p.m. in Room 3.
Did you have expectations for your retirement? Did they come to be? Why do you think they did—or didn’t? Have your expectations changed over time?
Come share your experiences and hear from others.
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Mike Czarnik’s Celebration of Life
On Saturday, October 10, 2026 at 11:00 am, we will celebrate the life of Mike Czarnik, the father of member Lia Czarnik. The hospitality is being organized by Catherine Deamant. If it would please you to take on a small role or bring a favorite food to honor Mike click HERE to make your selection and click SignUP!
If you want to opt out of the technology, email Catherine Deamant (catherine.deamant at gmail dot com) with your offer to help.
Many thanks!
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Get More Connected at UUCE – Join a Short-Term Covenant Group
If you’re looking for a way to foster connection and get to know some members of the congregation more deeply, consider joining a short-term covenant group this year.
UUCE will be offering four short-term covenant groups this year. Email Susan Carlton (susan.carlton at sbcglobal dot net) to sign up. Available meeting dates/times are as follows:
- 1st and 3rd Mondays beginning in October and through January, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
- 4th Tuesday of the month beginning in October through June, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
- 3rd Sunday of the month beginning in October through June, 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm - FULL
- FOR NEW MEMBERS: 2nd Monday of the month beginning in October through June, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
- ZOOM group - meeting day/time to be decided by participants
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TAI CHI @ UUCE is welcoming new students to the Beginner’s Class on Saturdays, 9:45-10:45 am. The class will run from October 17th to December 19th.
Spots are limited; so to register, click HERE
UCE member Renée Gatsis teaches the class. She has practiced Tai Chi for over 45 years and taught it for over 25. Renée credits Tai Chi in large part for her equanimity and good health.
Participants will learn the first part of a Sun-style tai chi form adapted and popularized by Dr. Paul Lam M.D. This meditation in motion is a gentle exercise with graceful, flowing movement performed at a slow tempo. The Sun style is a simple, upright form ideal for people of all ages from teens to elders.
Regular Tai Chi practice yields many benefits: relaxation, concentration, well being, lower blood pressure, a way to manage chronic illnesses like arthritis.
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The UUCE Fiction Reading Group is reading Carson McCullers' 1940 classic "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter." A Southern Gothic Novel set in a Georgia mill town in the 1930’s. John Singer taps in to the spiritual isolation, racial tension, and also quiet beauty of character in a very small town American south.
Future Reads:
November 20: "What We Can Know" by Ian McEwan. One hundred years into the future, the year 2014 looks like an age of abundance. Those who survive nuclear holocaust are haunted by the richness of the world that has been lost. How wild and full of risk their lives were, in retrospect human life at its zenith! McEwan, however, always finds the hope.
December 18: "Hag-Seed" by Margaret Atwood. Felix, an up and coming theater entrepreneur , is exiled by treachery to a job leading a group of prison inmates in staging "The Tempest." The take of these folks roughened by the world on Shakespeare’s gem is humorous, heart-warming and insightful.
Meeting Friday, October 16 at 7p.m. by ZOOM
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The Nonfiction Book Group will meet Sunday, September 27th at 2 p.m. using our recurring Zoom link. to discuss The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource by Chris Hayes.
In this book cable news host Chris Hayes explains why new technologies make it ever harder for us to concentrate. The central metaphor of the book compares Odysseus lashing himself to the mast of a boat to modern attempts at resisting screen notifications and the infinite scroll of the information age.
Looking ahead, on October 25th we'll discuss Shakespeare: The World as Stage by Bill Bryson.
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1946!
If this is the year you were born, you're part of a cohort of Baby Boomers turning 80! If you would like to join in our mutual celebration and we have not yet found you, please contact Lynn Kendall at lynndotkendall at gmail dot com.
On Sunday, October 11th we will be celebrating all boomers. With the 1946 cohort being the first set of boomers to turn 80, we will have an 80th Birthday Party Cake during Kinship Time. We hope you can join us!
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Join the Mutual Aid Book Group
Explore how systems exploit us—and how we can work together to create change. Our first book is A People’s Guide to Capitalism by Hadas Thier.
October 11 at 12:15 p.m. in Room 3
Contact Nellie at neastman at gmail dot com to join or get help finding the book.
| | Picnics in the Park - October 4 and 18 at noon | | Our Community Partnerships | |
Our Shared Offering Program
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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 something else) are shared equally between our operating budget and the current Shared Offering Program recipient.
This Sunday's offering will be shared with Building Peaceful Bridges, whose mission is to is to foster multicultural relationships by assisting in the integration of refugees into American society and educating communities on the challenges facing refugee populations through their stories.
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Help Create 200 Abortion Care Packages
Sunday, September 27
11:45 a.m. in Room 3
Help us create 200 care packages and sweet, supportive notes for Chicago Abortion Fund clients.
Enjoy coffee after the service, then join us to pack one care package—or several! We need as many helpers as possible.
This is some of the work of LOVE!
Refreshments will keep our energy high.
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Faith in Place
2026 Annual Environment and Spirituality Summit
UUCE is a sponsor of this year's Summit. Join one or all of the 4 virtual Summit sessions, including the keynote address by Bill McKibbeen.
Click here to register here. All registrants will receive recordings after the Summit.
There are also local Watch Party Locations at First United Methodist (516 Church St.) & Windfree Solar Cafe (517 Dempster St.) in Evanston.
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LAST CHANCE TO PURCHASE TICKETS
for the 2026 IAE Vision Keeper Dinner
Join us in honoring Dana Deane, UUCE’s 2026 Vision Keeper, and Vision Keepers from other Evanston-area faith communities.
Sunday, October 25 at 5:30 p.m.
Hilton Orrington Hotel, Evanston
Tickets: $90 per person
Proceeds support Interfaith Action of Evanston’s overnight shelter and warming center, Hospitality Center for the Homeless, soup kitchens, and SNAPGap.
PAY BY CREDIT CARD:
Click this link to purchase your ticket through REALM:
https://onrealm.org/ucevanston/PublicRegistrations/Event?linkString=M2UwNzJjMGQtOGQ2ZC00ODZmLWIwNzMtYjRiZDAxMWIyZDVj
Note: Payment will be $93. to cover our processing fees.
Select your meal and list any accessibility accommodations needed.
Credit-card deadline: Monday, September 28. Link will be inactive after Sept. 28.
PAY BY CASH or CHECK:
Visit the IAE Vision Keeper Dinner table after services on September 27 or Oct 4.
Checks should be made payable to Interfaith Action of Evanston.
Please place your payment in an envelope. Write the following on the envelope:
- Name
- Email address
- Phone number
- Meal choice: chicken, salmon, or vegetarian/vegan
- Any accessibility accommodations needed
Give the envelope to Toni Rey.
Cash/check deadline: Sunday, Oct 4
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SAVE THE DATE: Saturday, October 17, 2026 national mobilization
Details to follow for Evanston & Chicago. Please join and bring others. “We the People” means all of us! This is also a Vote Early campaign.
In preparation for the marches, it’s time to make new signs. The Catalyst for Democracy team is hosting a sign-making event on Thursday, 10/15/26 from 5-6 PM in Room 5. Bring your creative energy! You can then join the Beacons of
Light Vigil at 6 PM at Dempster and Ridge and try out your new signs!
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Postcard Party! Let's Win Michigan!
Gather Sunday, Oct.11, 12-1:30 at UUCE to help WIN MICHIGAN! Postcards make a difference on the margins, and Michigan is key to amplifying UU VALUES in Washington.
Join your friends, write some cards, and bring some home to host your OWN party!
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Souls to the Polls Campaign
Join our Catalyst for Democracy Team in supporting the "Souls to the Polls" campaign organized by the Social Action Committee of the Evanston-North Shore Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. along with the Evanston Branch NAACP.
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority members will be at the Early Voting site at the Robert Crown Community Center @ 1801 Main St, Evanston on these days:
• Sunday, October 25 at 2:00 p.m.
• Sunday, November 1 at 2:00 p.m.
Voters are requested to check in at the #SoulsToThePolls2026 Campaign table and provide the name of their faith community so their participation can be recorded. After the election, the faith community with the highest number of voters on these two days will receive special recognition from County Board Commissioner, Josita Morita, for its leadership in promoting civic engagement.
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UUCE OFFICE HOURS
Tuesday, 10 am - 12:30 pm & 1:30 - 4 pm
Wednesday, 10 am - 1 pm
Thursday, 10 am - 12:30 pm & 1:30 - 4 pm
Friday, 10 am - 1 pm
Sunday, 10 am - 1 pm
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Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Evanston
1330 Ridge Ave. Evanston, IL 60201
847-864-1330
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