September 2019 - Page 2 of 2

Important Updates From Sandra – 9/13

Update on 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 RFP’s to determine who they will hire to provide indepth 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 indentions 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 and look at the sewers and do some camera work while they were doing the annual rodding out 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.

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 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 me 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

Important Updates From Sandra – 9/13UCE UCE2019-09-16T20:28:37+00:00

Bike the Ridge 2019

Summer may be ending, but UCE members can look forward to Evanston’s fall event: Bike the Ridge. On Sunday, September 29^th from 9:00-1:00pm, Ridge Avenue between Howard and Church will be closed to vehicular traffic for “Bike the Ridge.”

This event is an excellent community building opportunity for UCE. Hundreds of people will be biking by UCE’s doorstep; let’s give them a UCE welcome! We will have a tent set up on Ridge. Here UCE members can greet bikers, supply them with water, and provide information about the church. We need lots of friendly faces on Ridge to represent UCE!

Please consider biking to church that day. Having Ridge closed to vehicular traffic is an excellent opportunity to support environmental sustainability by biking to church.

For both our community members and UCE members, there will be bike decorating on the church lawn. Anyone who stops by can decorate their bikes with streamers, pipe cleaners, or ribbons.

With us again this year will be members of The Recyclery Collective. The Recylery is an educational bike shop that provides a space for empowerment through education, transportation, and community building. The shop offers Open Hours, Volunteer Hours, Spanish Open Hours, and Youth Programming. There is an “Earn a Bike” program where anyone can log volunteer hours to earn a reconditioned bike. Otherwise reconditioned bikes can be purchased through the shop and a number of bikes are designated for those who cannot afford them. Please stop by and meet our friends from The Recyclery.

Please volunteer for this community-building event! We need the following:

1) volunteers to help decorate bikes
2) volunteers to greet bikers, distribute water and information about the church on Ridge
3) contributions of materials—streamers, pipe cleaners, old playing cards, scotch tape, water, etc.

Please contact David Bates-Jefferys to volunteer or with any questions: 860-501-5300 or david.wood.bates@gmail.com

Bike the Ridge 2019UCE UCE2019-09-12T16:03:34+00:00

Why I Gave: Greg Grabowski

As a recently retired project mechanical engineer, I’ve had some free time available, and I looked for an additional way to volunteer at UCE. So when I was asked by Martha Holman and Rev Eileen to help with some of the projects for the UCE Capital Campaign, I said YES!

The Capital Campaign will allow UCE to enhance the opportunity to welcome both current and new members.

Replacing the parking lot will make sure we will have the full use of all the spaces while adding to the aesthetic appeal of our beautiful building.

Cooling the sanctuary is a good idea because air conditioning has become an expectation during summer months. We’ve become quite used to living in air-conditioned homes, driving in air-conditioned cars, riding in air-conditioned buses and trains, and attending a theater or restaurant, working, or even shopping for food in buildings that are air-conditioned.

Cooling will contribute to better air quality in the sanctuary, allowing us to close the building doors to improve security. And cooling will also increase rental opportunities for UCE.

For both projects we are being mindful of their impact on the environment. We are evaluating several kinds of parking lot paving systems. With cooling, we are exploring systems that will be as small and efficient as possible, with refrigerants that do not contribute to global warming.

And of course, when my spouse Amy and I were ask to make a financial gift to the Capital Campaign, we said YES to that as well and have made our first payment. Please join us with your YES to caring for our beautiful church building.

Thank you!

Why I Gave: Greg GrabowskiUCE UCE2019-09-12T14:56:39+00:00

Why you should attend Beyond Categorical Thinking

This workshop, which will take place on October 13, is an important part of the ministerial and interim search.

Close your eyes and picture your ideal minister. Someone you trust to hear and understand your concerns and support the spiritual life of the congregation. What does that person look like?

We all wonder about who the next minister be: Will they hear me? Will my concerns and needs be met? Will the minister understand what I’m living with? How will the community respond to the new minister?

In thinking of the answers to these questions, we tend to picture an “ideal minister” in our head, someone with a specific age, gender identity, nationality, physical or cognitive ability, race, sexual orientation, etc.

Once this picture is in place, it can be easy to unintentionally exclude ministers who don’t match it. At times, we get caught up in comparing candidates to our mental picture and forget what we hoped for in a minister beyond these characteristics.

To help keep these mental images from getting in the way of a productive ministerial search, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) offers the Beyond Categorical Thinking (BCT) workshop to all congregations involved in the search for a new minister. This program is designed to promote inclusive thinking and prevent unfair discrimination during the search.

UCE will participate in the BCT workshop, led by Jerry Carden and Kathleen Robbins, on Sunday, October 13. The program includes a presentation during both of the Sunday morning services and a three-hour workshop following the 11:00 service with these trained facilitators. Lunch will be provided during the workshop to all participants.

During this workshop, UCE members will have the opportunity to:

learn more about the ministerial search process;
consider their own hopes, expectations, and concerns for a new minister; and
explore how thinking about people in categories can sometimes interfere with choosing the best ministerial candidate.

The search committee invites all congregational leaders, members, and friends to participate in BCT on October 13. This is an important part of both the interim and search process, and this event is a great opportunity for everyone in the congregation to have their voice heard. You are an important part of the search process, and we hope you join us!

To RSVP for the event, please click here or email ministerialsearchcommittee@ucevanston.org

Why you should attend Beyond Categorical ThinkingEmily2019-09-11T18:21:53+00:00

September 15, 2019

“Transition: A Challenge to our Better Selves”– Rev. Karen Gustafson

Change happens. We all know that. Transition is the emotional and psychological aspect of change. Change can be engaged and understood with our minds. Transition is experienced through our feelings and reactions and sometimes breaks open our hearts. Change redefines our circumstances. Transition is an unfolding process of coming to terms with the realities of change. Change is often external, a namable result. Transition is a process of facing ambiguity and discomfort and unfamiliarity. It challenges us to deeper reflection and calls us to be accountable for the ways in which our short term reactivity can lead to long term consequence. UCE is a community awash in change. How might you engage the process of transition in a way that will bring about a more fulfilling future?

September 15, 2019UCE UCE2019-09-18T17:46:53+00:00

September 8th, 2019

We Are From The Water – For our annual Ingathering ritual we come together and gather waters that symbolize our activities during the summer months, the drops of rain that have scattered and regroup to form refreshing, life-giving streams of community. Bring a little container of water – either symbolic or actual – from your travels or staycations or daily activities in the months of longer light. Rev. Karen Gustafson, our Interim Minister, and Rev. Eileen Wiviott, our Acting Senior Minister, will co-lead this service welcoming you to this year of transformation in the life of our congregation. Please join us! This will be a one service, worship for all ages, Sunday at 10 a.m. Immediately following the service, Rev. Karen will lead a discussion of the interim activities planned for this year.

September 8th, 2019UCE UCE2019-09-17T22:37:05+00:00

September 6, 2019: Karen Gustafson

Karen Gustafson, Interim Minister

September 6, 2019

If Interim Ministry is the answer, what are the questions?

UCE will be engaging in a different model of Interim Ministry during the 2019-20 program year. For ten days each month (except December when it will be a shorter time to accommodate the winter holiday juggernaut) I will be present in Evanston. I will be available to individuals and groups engaged in the process of preparing for a new settled minister who can support and enhance the Mission and Vision of UCE into the foreseeable future.

In order to engage the Ministerial Search with integrity you need to be able to present prospective candidates with a clear and honest statement of that Mission and Vision. This statement should reflect a past that has integrated the gifts and legacies of your past ministers and a future that can fearlessly welcome new levels of creative collaboration between minister and congregation.

It is important to build the next part of your congregational history on a foundation of the best that you know of your informing values and goals (Mission) and a shared understanding of what those values and goals would look like when they are actually made manifest in your lives and the world (Vision). The alternative to this is to create a reactive profile of who you are, focused on avoiding the perceived errors of the past and the prevention of future losses.

In the time between September 5 and 15, we will be engaged in conversations that will help us to assess where you are in that process. I sense that we are all awash in questions. On Friday and Saturday, Sept 6 and 7, I will be meeting with the Leadership, Staff and Search Committee to discuss the Interim Plan. On Sunday we will have the service of Ingathering where we will celebrate connections, old and new. Following Worship you are invited to stay for a discussion of insights from the weekend and an opportunity to raise your most pressing questions. Then there will be a lovely lunch!

At each visit, I will be inviting you into conversation about an emergent issue. I am planning to begin with the “low hanging fruit”.

As I have met with your congregational leaders, the specter of ministerial attrition looms large. The departures of ministers as far back as Barbara Pescan and more recently Bret Lortie and last year’s Greg Stewart seem to have given rise to questions and feelings and incomplete conclusions that would be well laid to rest lest they become the source of the reactivity mentioned in paragraph 3 above. To this end, I will host four opportunities for conversation in the coming week. Questions and details are noted elsewhere in this edition.

I look forward to meeting with you to explore both the losses and the legacies of your past ministers and anything else that might concern you as we begin this time together.

Blessings,

Karen

September 6, 2019: Karen GustafsonUCE UCE2019-10-14T20:35:20+00:00

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Sunday Service: In-person and Online Sunday at 10:30 AM

Karen Gustafson, Interim Minister

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