October 4, 2020
We will host an online worship service on Sunday, October 4th at 11:15 am.
“Listen to the Animals” – Rev. Susan Frances
It’s World Animal Day on October 4th! A day to honor our respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
Join us in celebrating our beloved pets and all living creatures that are a part of our ecosystems. Have your pet, or a photo of a beloved pet who has died or you haven’t been able to visit during the pandemic, or a photo of your favorite animal nearby during the worship service for a ritual blessing.
Please submit your Joys and Sorrows through this online form. If you submit a message by 11 am, we will try to read it that Sunday. Thank you for your patience as we are adapting to best serve you all! Note there will only be one service time during the summer so that we can gather together as a whole community of faith. You can still give to the shared offering through “text to give,” mail a check to the office with “shared offering” in the memo line, or go to our website and hit “give” on the upper right or click here. This Sunday’s shared offering recipient is the Crossroads Fund/Black Lives Matter Chicago.
Transcendentalism and Today with John Buehrens
This 4-part virtual Series “Transcendentalism and Today” with author of “Conflagration: How the Transcendentalists Sparked the American Struggle for Racial, Gender, and Social Justice,” John Buehrens. Sessions were hosted via Zoom.
September 12 – Spiritual Friendships Across Differences
September 19 – Women’s Rights Then and Now
September 26 – Anti-Racism Then and Now
October 3 – Saving and Savoring Nature
- Click here to access the recording of session 4. – coming soon
This series is co-sponsored by Unitarian Church of Evanston, Unity Temple, and North Shore Unitarian Church. All are welcome to attend.
VirtUUal RE: September 27, 2020
Welcome to a New Year in Religious Education!
This week in the Soulful Home packet we focus on the segments On the Porch, At the Bedside, and Blessing. Check out this week’s video for a short synopsis.
Registration Time
Although we might not be having in-person RE on Sunday mornings yet, it is important to know who wants to connect – whether virtual or not. By registering, we can ensure that you get information on all programs and events for all ages this year. Sign up here!
Many Ways to Connect
All Families:
Fellowship – Sunday after worship – Join the virtual coffee hour zoom where parents and families can meet and greet in their own breakout room!
Family Fun on the Lawn (weather permitting) October 7 and 21 at 5:30-6:30 pm – Sign up here.
Parents on the Porch – October 25 at 8:30-9 pm – Grab your favorite beverage and join other parents on the porch – virtually – to share thoughts on parenting as it relates to the pandemic and our monthly theme of Renewal. Sign up here.
Pre/K Kids and Families – Here is a new program for you – POP (Parents of Preschoolers)! Check it out here. More info in the newsletter. Do whatever fits your family’s schedule. We’ll have a parent’s virtual gathering on September 28 at 8 pm to share our experiences. Sign up here for Zoom info to be sent via email this weekend.
2nd-5th Kids and Families – Thursdays, October 1, 15, and 29 at 4-4:45 pm – Sign up here.
6th-8th Families – Popcorn Theology Online – Sunday, October 11 at 9:30-10:30 am – Make a bowl of your favorite popcorn and join us for this popular program. Sign up here.
High School Youth – TBD – Look for emails with details!
For Adults
UCE Forum – Sunday, October 4th at 10 am
Brenda Russell presents the Forum Discussion topic for next Sunday, “Virus vs Human: winners and losers in the interdependent web of all existence.”
Come discuss your role in our complex world in the battle between the COVID—19 virus (Darwin, survival of the fittest) and humans (Genesis 1:28 “Be fruitful, and multiply”). All are welcome. Click here to see the full Fall 2020 Forum Discussion schedule. Zoom info is available in the newsletter.
New Program! Visions of God – Tuesdays at 7-9 pm via Zoom
Facilitated by UCE members Bob Mesle and Dan Solomon.
This class aims to help people explore a range of important visions embracing or rejecting “God,” and to share personal journeys with each other. We hope class members will learn some new ideas, clarify familiar ones, make new connections, and enrich in their own thinking.
The question, “Do you believe in God?” is not productive unless we can get some clarity about what a person mean by “God.” But for us, the question certainly raises interwoven questions of both REALITY and VALUES. It asks about what exists and how the universe works. Talk of “God” also raises important questions about what values “God” stands for and what feelings are invoked. Geneticist and religious naturalist, Ursula Goodenough, notes that religion is about both “What is, and what matters.” –i.e., truth and ethics. Religions, including atheistic secularism, propose visions of reality coupled with claims about how we should treat each other given those beliefs. This class will explore how some concepts of “God” engage us in those reflections.
Zoom info available in the newsletter. For more information, See the Adult RE page on the UCE Website, or email dan.solomon.45@gmail.com.
From DLRE: September 25, 2020
I hope you have seen emails and Facebook posts about the upcoming Stuffies Sleepover at UCE! This is a sleepover for stuffed animals only because they deserve to have fun too! Stuffies of all ages, sizes, colors, and species are welcome to attend! Put your name on the bottom of your stuffie and bring it to UCE and place it in the marked bin by the door before Sunday evening (the 27th). Call the church ahead to make sure someone is there to let you in. The stuffies will be busy recording their antics, which you will get to see in the Animal Blessing worship service on October 4. Arrangements for their return home will be made next week.
Parents should have received an email last Friday looking for feedback on what they are comfortable having their kids participate in. If you missed it, please look for it and send me your thoughts. I will also send another email this weekend with an update and an opportunity to voice your opinion.
So far, this is what I am learning from your replies and conversations:
- Most are comfortable with small in-person gatherings with masks and physical distancing. Since this isn’t 100%, having outside opportunities is still important.
- Some screen time for virtual RE is okay – no more than 1 hour and preferably not weekly
- For younger kids, afternoons around 4p is best
- The jury is still out on 6th-8th grade youth, although Sunday seems to be preferred
- There is some interest in parent groups: book group, parents of teens group, and forming a second covenant group
While collecting more feedback, I have set up a schedule of events for different age groups this month as follows:
- Family Fun on the Lawn (weather permitting) – October 7 and 21 at 5:30-6:30p. Sign up here
- POP – Parents of Preschoolers – Monday, October 26 at 8-9p. Sign up here.
- 1st-5th Grades – Thursdays, October 1, 15, and 29 at 4-4:45p. Sign up here.
- 6th-8th Grades – Popcorn Theology Online – Sunday, October 11 at 9:30-10:30a. Sign up here
- High School with MidAmerica Youth – Sundays, October 4, 18, 25 at 6-7:30p
- Parents on the Porch – Sunday, October 25 at 8:30-9:30p (Join any time in the hour!) Sign up here.
Please remember to register your child/youth too. You can do so here.
I will also be sending out an invite to those who have expressed an interest in forming one of the parent groups to meet virtually and share thoughts on what you wish to get from participating as well as logistics for meeting.
The Children and Youth Team is looking at ways to connect people across the ages, so if you have an idea that can bring people together, let me know! As always, I welcome your thoughts and feedback on how we can create beloved community for all ages during this unusual time.
In Faith,
Kathy
September 27, 2020
We will host an online worship service on Sunday, September 27th at 11:15 am.
“The Big Loop Back to a New Beginning” – Rev. Karen Gustafson
What happens to the old stuff when change happens? Is there such a thing as a “new beginning”? These are questions that hover around us in every aspect of our unfolding futures. In our personal lives, in the lives of our families, communities and now, certainly in our nation, we are faced with changes that are offering few clues to the nature of the “new normal”. This is a time when fluctuations between reactivity and paralysis are showing up in decisions about everything from how many feet is a safe social distance, to the nature of the congressional response to COVID relief funding.
And in the midst of all of this, UCE is moving forward to make a decision about your next settled Senior Minister, a decision that will significantly impact your future. What might it look like for every member of UCE to use this opportunity to engage in a thoughtful, nonreactive approach to understanding the nature of beginnings in your own lives and the life of your church?
Please submit your Joys and Sorrows through this online form. If you submit a message by 11 am, we will try to read it that Sunday. Thank you for your patience as we are adapting to best serve you all! Note there will only be one service time during the summer so that we can gather together as a whole community of faith. You can still give to the shared offering through “text to give,” mail a check to the office with “shared offering” in the memo line, or go to our website and hit “give” on the upper right or click here. This Sunday’s shared offering recipient is the Shorefront Legacy Center.
Brain Health and Wellness Series Materials
Brain Health & Wellness Series: Aging, Memory, and Care
A 4-session Seminar | Saturday August 1st & 8th, 2020 from 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. | Wednesday August 19th & 26th, 2020 from 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. |
The Pastoral Care Committee hosted the Brain Health and Wellness Series: Aging, Memory, and Care in partnership with the Great Lakes Clinic Trials. This 4-part series began August 1, 2020 and was held via Zoom, featuring various speakers each week.
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August 1 at 10-11 am: Acti-V8 Your Brain: Brain Wellness
presenters: Steve Satek, President & Founder, Great Lakes Clinical Trials &Cheryl Butterbach, Registered Dietician, Great Lakes Clinical Trials. Click here to watch the recorded session.
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August 8 at 10-11 am: Introduction to Alzheimer’s and Dementia: Signs and explanation of the disease
presenters: Steve Satek, President & Founder, Great Lakes Clinical Trials & Dr. Concetta Forchetti, Neurologist, AMITA Alexian Brothers Medical Center. Click here to watch the recorded session (only part of this session was recorded).
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Wednesday, August 19 at 7-8 pm: New treatments and clinical trials underway for Alzheimer’s
presenters: Amber Holst, Director Clinical Operations, Great Lakes Clinical Trials & Ida Manning, Alzheimer’s (prevention study) clinical trial volunteer. Click here to watch the recorded session.
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Wednesday, August 26 at 7-8 pm: Pointing to Resources, Help and Information for Caregivers
presenters: Susan Scatchell, CDP, Gentle Home Services and board member of the Memory Care Coalition of Chicago. Click here to watch the recorded session. Click here to download the presentation handout from Susan Scatchell, Memory Care Coalition of Chicago.
From Rev. Susan Frances: September 18, 2020
Dear Friends,
I’m enjoying reconnecting with more and more of you each week. In this time of being physically apart, I have been relying on REALM, our new database and membership directory, in order to find your email addresses and occasionally to look at a photo to make sure my memory of name and face match. So, I am pleased to announce that we are rolling out REALM for our members and pledging friends this week.
You are invited to attend coffee hour at 12:15 pm this Sunday, September 20, 2020, via Zoom to learn more about REALM from Jessica Meis, our Communications Coordinator, and Adam Gough, our Congregational Life Assistant. They have a virtual scavenger hunt planned!
In 2016, UCE created its current Long Range plan. Part of this strategic planning included providing an accessible database to build connection, develop leadership, increase engagement, and enable members and friends to share their gifts, talents, and interests with one another. This was an expressed aspiration for the membership, social justice, stewardship, and lifespan learning councils.
As a result, a volunteer task force was formed to explore several options, leading to the recommendation of REALM. An Endowment grant to purchase the REALM software was drafted by Rev. Eileen Wiviott, Sandra Robinson, and Brian Nielsen and approved by the Endowment Committee and the Board of Trustees in 2018.
Since September 2019, pledge payment statements are being sent via email through REALM, which has been more reliable, as well as saving staff time and postage. And now, the final information from MEMINFO, our previous and limited database, has finished being migrated to REALM, and the staff and congregational leadership have started to receive training on the various features. In addition to the ability to promote connections within our community, REALM also has four levels of privacy settings, so you can work with Adam or Jessica to make sure you are comfortable with what information is viewable by others.
Be on the lookout for an email that reads “Join our Online Community.” Open this email and click the link to set up a password. You may also click here for video tutorials on creating your password and updating your profile. I am hopeful that you will take a moment to attend to your profile. As we continue to meet virtually, having access to email addresses, phone numbers, and a photo will help us continue to connect with each other.
I know it sounds a bit silly to say that a robust database will lead to a richer community, but because of the communication features in REALM, I actually think it will, especially while we are physically separated.
Speaking of a richer community, I am feeling fortunate to be able to conduct the pet and animal blessing on October 4, 2020. My mild allergy to animal dander has increased over the years, so I no longer attend worship service when there is an animal blessing. Since we are having virtual services right now, I am able to lead our Pet and Animal Blessing! My family has had many pets, furry and scaly, over the years, so being able to participate in this service is a great joy and one of the gifts I have received in the midst of this challenging pandemic. Please take a moment to send Adam (agough@ucvanston.org) a photo of your pet, you with your pet, or your favorite animal!
As we navigate this virtual world of new databases and online services together, I am continually reminded that these are tools that assist us in living out our values of caring for and connecting with each other. These tools do not define us, our relationships do. I’m looking forward to continuing to build my relationship with you.
Blessings,
Rev. Susan
September 20, 2020
We will host an online worship service on Sunday, September 20th at 11:15 am.
“Risk Tolerance” – Rev. Eileen Wiviott
As danger mounts, a natural reaction is to seek protection, safety and shelter. Yet, in this time of great upheaval and societal breakdown, we are called, as progressive people of faith, to resist injustice. This moment requires a greater tolerance for certain risks. As we look to keeping people safe from needless harm, how can we increase our risk tolerance?
Please submit your Joys and Sorrows through this online form. If you submit a message by 11 am, we will try to read it that Sunday. Thank you for your patience as we are adapting to best serve you all! Note there will only be one service time during the summer so that we can gather together as a whole community of faith. You can still give to the shared offering through “text to give,” mail a check to the office with “shared offering” in the memo line, or go to our website and hit “give” on the upper right or click here. This Sunday’s shared offering recipient is the Shorefront Legacy Center.