Sunday Service: In-person and Online Sunday at 10:30am
Premeditated Mercy
Says liberation theologian Jon Sobrino, “The church of mercy must be prepared to lose its reputation in the world of anti-mercy.” Throughout history, the Church’s mission has been one of mercy, and some say its only mission. What does “mercy” mean in today’s culture of rabid accumulation and why is being merciful sure to get us in trouble? Service led by Rev. Gregory Stewart. All ages opening worship – 11 am service only (sanctuary)
Our grounds are more beautiful than ever as the hush of autumn is upon us. The color of the leaves range from yellow to red to orange. This week trees were trimmed away from the building and off of the roof. We can now see our south lawn from the wing and sanctuary.
This week Bartco Construction began replacement of our wing roof. This project was well researched. The Buildings and Grounds leaders hired a consultant to help us navigate the complicated world of roof materials, processes and best practices for installing a new roof that will protect us from leaks and last well into the future.
We required administrative approval from the City of Evanston Preservation Council which was issued today and is now visible on the window at the main entrance.
The automatic doors for the main west entrance permits from the City and Preservation were let in early October. Julia Takarada revised the doors order to meet the preservation request. I signed the revised contract and the doors are now ordered. Corrigan & Frese are working together to schedule the electrical work.
The feasibility study for the proposed Capital Campaign has been completed. A report was given to the Capital Campaign Planning Team as well as the Board of Trustees.
Next week the team will meet to review the projects planning spreadsheet. These documents will be shared with the congregation and more information will be provided. Congregants were invited to fill out a survey or participate in a personal interview with the consultant Steven Pratapas. There are many significant projects included in this list, which include repair of the drains and repaving of the parking lot, among other improvements to our aging annex. If you would like more information feel free to email me at srobinson@ucevanston.org. Ann Peterson is chair of the CC Planning Team and you could contact her as well.
Several rental contracts were negotiated and completed this week. $9,000 in deposit income resulted from these new contracts. Our rental program remains strong and contributes significantly to our operating budget. On Saturday, October 13th Curt’s Café held their annual fundraiser in our sanctuary. They were pleased with all of their interactions with our church from beginning to end. It was gratifying to witness the jaws dropping when we walked into our sanctuary before discussing a contract. They knew on the spot that this was where they wanted their event to take place. Liz Kennedy and Steven Eason set up the event. Food for Thought (family of Curt’s Café) catered. Liz was present as lobby staff and helped in many ways to make all go well. I attended and had the pleasure of hearing how much Curt’s Café appreciates the Unitarian Church of Evanston, and I returned the gratitude for being in relationship with this valuable organization. Thank you to all of you who support Curt’s, to our social justice teams, to the individuals who meet for coffee both south and north. You support does not go unnoticed.
Last Sunday the Democratic Party of Evanston held their annual dinner in our sanctuary.
On Sunday evening Filam Music will present a concert. More information is available in this newsletter as well as a flyer in the lobby.
Rev. Greg and his husband Stillman adopted five at-risk children of color through the county of Los Angeles, CA. The boys were between two weeks and seven years old when they were adopted. All but the youngest had been in as many as fifteen previous foster homes. When the family moved to Lincoln, NE, they were part of a successful lawsuit against the state that made it legal for same-gender couples to become foster parents. Their story was also featured in the book “Social Action Heroes: Unitarian Universalists Who are Changing the World.”
Rev. Greg and Stillman and two of their sons will be in attendance, and there will be time for questions and conversation after the screening in the Sanctuary. As with any good movie, there will be popcorn and brownies! Please join us for this opportunity to learn more about the remarkable story of the Stewart family and the values that drive Rev. Greg’s ministry. The Board and the Transition Team are sponsoring this fun event.
Honoring All Souls – The stories of our past and those who have gone before us hold information we can use to move ahead. It is important to thoughtfully explore who we are and where we’ve come from as we create a vision for tomorrow. Please bring your photos and treasured items representing loved ones to place on our altar at 9:15 and 11 am. Also at the 11 am service, we celebrate those who have helped build this beloved community, members of 40-50 years, as well as our Affiliated Community Minister Rev. Jerry Stone.
When I was a child, I had a tree friend. She was a great, grand
willow who grew on the west bank of the
Des Plaines River in Libertyville, where I grew up. Someone, I’m not sure who, showed me to her – at that time you had to crawl through the hole in a tall chain-link fence that stood around a playground there near the river, near the golf course, then walk through some tall grass, where there might be snakes, to get to the woods near the river. None of this took very long – from the playground, once I was there, it took maybe three minutes to get to her. It took maybe ten or fifteen minutes to walk to the playground from my house, though often I biked, so it was quicker. I went with my friends to see her at first – we’d sit together in the place where her four great limbs, one of them already fallen, came together. We’d sit astride sometimes, and sometimes we would make a brief motion towards climbing one of her limbs, but mostly this seemed like trouble, compared with just sitting in her crook, talking about whatever came to mind. It was good, there in her crook. It was safe. She was a secret we knew about and shared with one another – the way the sunlight sifted through her branches, which drooped low to the ground and formed a canopy around us, hiding us from any who might pass by, though no one did.
Some of these friends moved away in time, and others of us grew apart a bit over the years, but I returned to visit my willow friend again and again. I was steadfast. I needed her, you see. Especially when my family was fighting, which happened a lot – especially when my parents were fighting – I would flee the house as soon as I could ask permission – and maybe sometimes without asking – and leave its toxic energy behind me. I would travel the four blocks – two long, two short – to the park, drop my bike near the fence, and slip out to her. She was steadfast, too, even more than I was. She was always there for me. Always.
Occasionally there was evidence that others had visited her. I remember the shock of finding some sawn wood planks and plywood in a tree nearby, thinking, oh no! Who would I run into now when I came? But I needn’t have worried. Their fort idea was a passing fancy – whereas my love for Willow was strong, enduring, as she was. I brought a boy there once to kiss – we sat on the cement arch over the water pipe that spilled out under her branches. I liked this boy so much that I shared this sacred place with him, and he was worthy of it, though it turned out kissing didn’t really work for us, as he told me quietly there that he thought he liked boys better than girls, somehow not a surprise to me. She was a safe space for such confessions. She held our confidences.
I visited her less frequently as I grew up, but still, I would visit. Even after my parents moved, while I was in college, when I returned home, I would go and see her. Even after I moved away, even after my parents’ passing, even during my years in Virginia, I would make not quite an annual visit to her. It’s been a few years now – it’s time to go again. Over the years she has changed remarkably. I think I was still in high school when I found I could no longer sit in her crook – a dense spring of suckers there prevented it, foretelling what was to come. Maybe ten years ago I returned to find she had come apart at the crook, her massive limbs now lying along the ground, the suckers springing up everywhere from her body. She is still, fiercely, growing. She is enjoying what I think of as a very graceful decline. I am not at all alarmed by the state of her – only curious to see her next incarnation.
I am unutterably grateful for her existence. She has been truly one of the great gifts of my life – an accident, a bit of grace, this friend. She has thrived there in the dirty waters of the Des Plaines and had a full life, helping to purify the water, offering habitat and comfort to many creatures, myself among them. She has taught me about myself again and again. As our conversation at church has turned to sanctuary this month, my thoughts are often with her. I especially think about how fortunate I have been to know her – how unusual it might be these days for parents to send their kids even four blocks away unsupervised, how not every child is fortunate to live near greenspace by a river, or greenspace anywhere, how kids in our time might not know to befriend trees. How I might have been an unusual kid, even then. I also think about what I owe her, and how I might pay it back by being a friend to her habitat. As some of us have held a conversation about an imaginative playscape for the southeast church garden, I’ve considered the kid I was, and how I’d like to help other young people access the sort of sanctuary I’ve had in nature my whole life, thanks to my tree friend. Even when I am not with her, she is with me, in me, still showing me glimpses of sunlight through her branches. She restores my soul.
If you were arrested for being a religious liberal, would there be enough evidence to convict you? This Sunday, we’ll consider the examples set by abolitionist Unitarian minister Theodore Parker, and by fugitive slaves William and Ellen Craft, who became parishioners in his congregation after their escape in 1848. Considering their choices in our 21st Century context, how shall we then live? Service led by Dr. Mary Shelden. All Ages Service (sanctuary).