October 6, 2019
“Take Courage & Build Brave Spaces” – Rev. Karen Mooney
Courage comes in many shapes and sizes, forms recognizable and subtle. Each of us approaches the world with a different set of lenses and experiences. What may be extraordinary bravery for one person might not even register for another. But one thing is true. We can all strengthen our heart muscles in brave space so that we can increasingly live courageous and trust filled lives.
From the Executive Operations Director – 9/27
Sandra Robinson
REALM – UCE Membership Database
Tom Carlton has volunteered many hours dedicated to transferring data and working with Melanie Kitchner to get us closer to our REALM launch. Tom has been working with our Staff Accountant Vickie Doebele to refine reports from Quickbooks to REALM so that our financial reporting and transfers to REALM are in good shape before launch. Adam Gough and Jessica Meis have been working with Melanie to learn reporting of membership information. Next week all administrative staff will begin watching training videos to familiarize ourselves well enough to assist members as we move toward launch. This database will allow members to enter their own personal data, make changes, make pledges and payments and communicate with other groups within UCE, among other features. It has taken much longer than we hoped, but each day efforts continue to make this system work for UCE and provide valuable tracking information. Thank you for your patience. Thank you Tom Carlton and Melanie Kitchner for continuing to devote your time and energy to pulling all of the puzzle pieces together.
Website Insights and Improvements
Staff has been working with the Ministerial Search Committee and others to take a close look at the website to determine where refinements can be made to improve navigation and to make the site more robust. Adam Gough, Congregational Life Assistant and Jessica Meis, Communications Coordinator have begun to make changes based on a spreadsheet Jeanne Kerl assembled and we have been adding to over a period of months. Jessica has reached out to a group of leaders in the church who will serve on a task force to review the Membership Section of the website, providing observations and feedback on how drop downs and features can best reflect the information for congregants and guests who use the site.
Parking Lot
Capital Campaign “Projects Team Leaders” Ann Peterson and Greg Grabowski have been working over the past many months on research and planning of the parking lot & sewers project. We have met with the City Manager of Kenilworth who has had extensive experience with permeable surfaces. Currently Greg and Ann are working with several civil engineers to get RFQs to determine who they will hire to provide in-depth analysis on best methods for upgrading our parking lot. Once the civil engineers do their analysis of the lot and provide best recommendations, whether it is non-permeable or permeable, a town hall meeting will be held. Congregation members will have an opportunity to see the outcome of the studies. The parking lot and sewer work is planned for mid-July through August 2020.
The parking lot, as you know, has been deteriorating rapidly over the past two years. Dick Whitaker, Mike Skilton and I did research two years ago on the sewers and repaving. Funding was not available to do the extensive work required, so this project was proposed to the capital campaign committee as a priority for funding. It is now a priority project.
Over the past several years repairs have been done on the sewers and five years ago we added gravel and repaved. Patching of the indentations was not a feasible option. It would have been a waste of a few thousand dollars that we felt could not be justified if an overall plan was to be part of the capital campaign.
I had a qualified professional plumbing company come out to review the sewers and do some camera work while they were doing the annual rodding of the sewers. It was their opinion that there is no immediate safety threat to driving over these settling areas and thought the timing of the work next summer would be an acceptable time frame.
Last winter we attempted to block off the icy patches by using brightly colored cones to prevent people from parking where they would slip if ice was on the lot. That did not work well as people parked over the cones. This year we will block off a portion at the south end so that those using the lot cannot park in spaces where there is risk of falling due to frozen water in indented sections.
Kitchen Upgrade – Another important Capital Campaign project is the kitchen upgrade. So many issues exist in our current kitchen. While Endowment has provided funding for new stoves and refrigerators, much needs to be done to upgrade storage, sinks, dishwashers, and other key elements to make this a better functioning and safe environment for UCE and others who use it. Carol Nielsen is the project lead on this work. She and I have been carefully planning together to ensure that the work can be done in a time frame that has minimum impact on rentals at UCE. Since the parking lot will be done between mid-July through August next year we are requesting that the scheduling of the kitchen work be done soon so that the demolition and construction can take place during January and early February to avoid impact on rentals. More information will follow as this project unfolds.
All Capital Campaign projects are being closely planned and monitored by the new Capital Campaign Implementation Committee headed by Janelle Brittain. John LaPlante, Vickie Doebele, Carol Nielsen, CJ Presto, and I serve on this newly appointed Committee to help the CC Leadership Team and Board navigate through the complex funding, scheduling and implementation of so many terrific projects.
Sanctuary Lighting – Once a year, light bulbs in the sanctuary are changed. Very soon I will be renting a scissor lift and we will again do the arduous task of replacing the bulbs 25 feet above the floor. We use LED dimmable bulbs in the track system. The project completion date will be scheduled prior to the Serendipity Auction in November.
Lobby Ceiling – Following a waiting period post roof installation to ensure the roof repairs are holding I proceeded with the planned ceiling repair. As you know, there were large areas where water seeped (or flowed in at times) causing damage. The remaining work to be done is replacement of tiles in the lobby. This is a Buildings and Grounds budgeted item.
As part of the Capital Campaign, the remaining upgrades will be done to the lobby. The volunteer project leader is Buildings and Grounds member Johna VanDyke who is working collaboratively with Ann, Greg, and I to accomplish a freshening of our lobby space. This will include new floor tiles for the lobby, wing hallway, bathrooms, office and Room 3.
Please call me or email me at srobinson@ucevanston.org with questions you may have or if you just want to talk about Buildings and Grounds projects you are curious about.
Sandra Robinson, Executive Operations Director
News from Endowment – Sept 27, 2019
By Jane Kenamore, Chair
Thanks to the generosity of many church members, the UCE Endowment Committee has been able to distribute funds for more projects than ever in our history. Two of the projects funded capital expenses, and the rest were for educational and social programs, none of which could have been funded in the regular operations budget.
We’ve been fortunate to enable several learning opportunities, such as member scholarships for the Midwest Leadership School; Beloved Conversations, a series devoted to race relations; a presentation by Oscar Chacon on migration from Central America; Transforming Hearts, a course on transgender inclusion in congregations; Building a Vocal Community, a weekend of African American music and rhythm; an Upswing Workshop to build a gender-affirming community; and A Life Planning Series, twelve sessions on essential life planning topics
Other projects include the Worship Arts Music project that supports continuing education for Music Director Vickie Hellyer, four section leaders to support the existing choir; and instrumentalists for Music Sundays and regular Sundays, when the choir does not sing; two community projects – one to purchase new cots and blankets for the Interfaith Action overnight shelter program and the other to fund Family Focus scholarships for summer camp and after school care; capital expenses for the new front doors and the REALM database software; ministerial search expenses; and a digital marketing program designed connect people of liberal religious interests with UCE.
The last application deadline for this year will be October 31 for projects to be completed by December 31. The next deadlines will be January 31 for projects implemented between January-June 2020; and April 30, 2020, for projects in the next church year, July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021. Applications received after each deadline will be considered in the next grant cycle.
September 29, 2019
“Anger and Forgiveness: Inscribing Our Names in the Book of Life” – Rev. Eileen Wiviott
In keeping with our Judeo-Christian ancestry and one of the Six Sources of our faith, we honor Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish High Holy Days. Jewish tradition says that on this day three books are opened. God inscribes the names of those who are righteous in the book of life, those who do evil in the book of death, and those who fall somewhere in between have ten days to atone. As a Unitarian Universalist, I believe we each hold the capacity to act with love and compassion or fear and hatred and that the book of life remains open as long as we live. In our human struggle to live with integrity in a complex world, anger is part of the package. Is there a place for righteous anger and compassionate judgement? Can we hold anger with our fierce love for this world and our hopes for peace? How do we move from impotent rage to restorative forgiveness?
Video Coming Soon!
Kathy newsletter September 20, 2019
I am so grateful for the warm welcome from so many of you in the past six weeks. While overwhelming, I have been included in many meetings and conversations, and heard many of your stories about your personal and collective histories. I hope to continue being in conversation with you during the course of the year.
I’m sure you have heard the expression “change is inevitable”, and while this is true, I tend to live by another expression, “don’t make changes for the sake of change”. Over the next few months, I will be observing and learning how things are done and why, as well as the events that lead to this. From there, we can choose the ones that hit what is called “The Sweet Spot”. The Sweet Spot is a tool created by the New England Region of the UUA as a way of prioritizing your options and/or ideas. You can check out a graphic of this wonderful tool here. What would it look like if every committee, team, and council utilized this while planning for the year? Perhaps there is only one way to find out!
Looking ahead into October, two adult programs will begin:
Planning for What Matters Most (end of life issues) will be on October 2, 9, 23, and 30 from 7-9p in room 3. This series, led by Cathy Deamant, Carol Nielsen, and Bob Mesle, has been designed to encourage participants to take proactive steps for life planning.
If you’ve done some learning about racism and white privilege and are ready to go a bit deeper, plan to attend the Witnessing Whiteness program, which will be from 7-9p in room 3 on October 2, 9, 23, and 30. This program is sponsored by the Racial Equity Action Leadership (REAL) Team, and will be facilitated by Dr. Gina Logan and Beth McDonald. Registration info coming soon!
For our children and youth, we got off on a good note for our first day of religious education. There were a few kinks, but they were resolved easily. We have 81% of our volunteer spots filled, which is awesome! The ones still left open are mostly as helpers and subs. If you can help out for any part of the year, let me or Sue Larson know.
Many of you raised good questions, and I will do my best to answer a few here:
- Young people from 8th grade and younger (around 13 years old) will begin in the worship service. Before you have eye-rolling from your youth, there are some reasons for this that you can reiterate. First, we want them to be seen by the rest of the congregation. After all, they are a part of the congregation! Second, they will become familiar with our UU rituals and practices, and why we do them. Third, they can lead by example – whether that is by helping lead a part of worship, such as lighting the chalice, or by their presence in worship. This is also a conversation that will be ongoing regarding high school youth. For now however, the high school youth will go to their room at the beginning of worship.
- Parents are asked to sign in their child(ren) if in 3rd grade (or around 8 years old) and younger, and then pick them up and sign them out at 12:15p.
- For 4th and 5th grades (around 9-11 years old), parents are asked to meet them after RE outside of the room.
A few upcoming events:
Youth Lock-In: September 28 at 3p. Parents, please fill out the permission form that was emailed to you this past week!
Bike the Ridge: David Bates-Jeffries has graciously offered to organize this fun day on September 29! As of this writing, we’re hoping the 6th-8th youth will be helping with the bike-decorating station. If you’d like to help in any way, email David at david.wood.bates@gmail.com
In Faith,
Kathy
Letter from Kathy
Greetings, UCE!
I am feeling excited and eager to be your next Director of Lifespan Religious Education! At the same time, change is always a bit of a challenge, even when it is sought out.
A little bit about me: I am a third generation UU, and actually attended UCE as a small child with my mom and sister. My grandfather was a member around 1950, and knew Rev. Homer Jack. It is through my grandfather that my passion for social justice was cultivated.
My partner and I knew each other in high school, and one day on physics class, discovered that we were both UUs! We’ve been together pretty much since then, and have three adult children, with one grandchild on the way.
Like most religious educators, I came into this career accidentally when the DRE resigned at my home congregation, the UU Church of Elgin. Since then, I have learned so much more about our faith than I would have if I hadn’t become a religious educator. When you teach RE, you learn so much about UUism, and yourself, in the process!
I look forward to getting to know everyone in the coming year. Please forgive me if I don’t remember your name the first dozen times we meet – I promise I will eventually get there!
In Faith,
Kathy
The Ministerial Search Timeline
Here are the activities that comprise the search committee’s discernment process. Please note that we have slowed down our timeline a bit to allow our new Interim Minister time to assess what interim work remains to be undertaken. We’ll coordinate rolling out the survey and scheduling focus groups and cottage meetings in collaboration with interim activities.
Stage 1: Preparing for discernment
It might not seem like much is happening during this first stage, but we are spending time setting a strong foundation for the congregation-wide work that comes next. Some of our most pressing tasks include: outlining and preparing for developing a congregational survey, focus and cottage group meetings with congregation members, and beginning to research and write our congregational record (i.e., a detailed description of our congregation that prospective ministers read to decide if they are interested in becoming candidates for our senior minister).
Beyond Categorical Thinking (October 13, 2019): Beyond Categorical Thinking is an anti-oppression program designed to help promote inclusive thinking and prevent discrimination during the process of hiring a new settled minister. The program consists of a workshop and Sunday worship service on Sunday, October 13. We hope as many of you as possible can join us.
Stage 2: Congregational discernment
This second stage involves gathering feedback from the entire congregation regarding how they see UCE and the role of the future minister. Specifically, we’ll be looking for your input and participation in the following.
Congregational survey: This congregation-wide survey has two important purposes. First, it provides all UCE members with the opportunity to share their views on ministry and the skills and experiences they want our next minister to have. It also allows us to provide prospective candidates with accurate information about our congregation.
Focus/cottage groups: We’ll also be holding a series of meetings with various congregational groups to hear about people’s wishes and hopes for a new minister. If you or your group would like to meet with us, please email us and let us know!
Congregational record and document packet: We are working on creating a detailed profile of our congregation for potential ministers. This profile takes two forms: The congregational record is a detailed online questionnaire that includes information on everything from our history to the minister’s role in the congregation, while the document packet is a collection of documents providing additional information, including the results of our congregational survey and our congregation’s budget and bylaws.
Stage 3: Active search
In the final stage of the process, we’ll use the information we collect during the survey and focus groups to start to narrow down the list of interested prospective ministers and move toward calling a new settled minister.
Initial candidate list: During the first part of this stage, the search committee will receive the names of interested prospective ministers. Through discernment with one another and phone interviews, we will narrow down the initial list of candidates to three, whom we will then invite to Evanston for a more extensive interview. Although many of you may be anxious to meet the candidates, these weekends are conducted by the search committee. We need to protect the confidentiality of our candidates, as some may not be ready to announce to their own congregations that they are searching.
Announcement of candidate
Candidating week: This is a time for the congregation to spend time with the candidate. The candidate normally acts as minister during this time and has a chance to interact with congregational leaders, staff, and members. The week culminates with a congregational vote to confirm the candidate’s call to UCE.
September 22, 2019
“Perfect Harm: the violence of unrealistic expectations” – Rev. Eileen Wiviott
What do you do when you feel you’ve lost control? A natural response is to tighten your grip, seize up, and attempt to force the wheel of life to straighten out. In times of crisis, perfectionism is pronounced. However, expecting perfection of ourselves, each other or of life rarely generates transformative or sustainable solutions. What would a life-giving response to uncertainty look like? Can we lessen the immobilizing impact of perfectionism as strive to co-create a more perfect world?