September 5, 2021
We will host an online worship service on Sunday, September 5th at 11:15 am.
To Work with Love
God cursed humanity with labor, to toil in working the land. Certainly the powerful and wealthy few have used this message to control the means of production, dehumanizing workers. The Labor Movement has tried to empower workers to collectively assert their right to worked without being worked to death. Where are we now? What does it mean to work with love – for ourselves, each other, and the earth?
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 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 Deborah’s Place.
VirtUUal Faith Formation: August 27, 2021
This Summer in Faith Formation
Parent/Volunteer Conversation – Based on the feedback from the Family Engagement Survey so far, there is a need to get more information out to you so that you can make the decision on how your family participates this year at UCE. You are invited to one of two virtual gatherings for this purpose:
Monday, August 30 from 7-8 pm OR
Thursday, September 2 from 7-8 pm
Come hear about the format for Sundays at UCE for worship and the faith formation hour. Bring your questions and share your ideas! Those who are considering whether to volunteer this year are invited too!
Backpack Blessing – Join the virtual worship service for our backpack blessing on September 5! Rev. Eileen will offer a blessing for our backpack tags for those who are beginning a new school year. You can pick up yours at UCE at the Ingathering Service on September 12, or in the lobby during office hours all week long.
Back-to-School pictures? If you took some pictures to mark the occasion, we’d love to show them during the worship service on September 5! You can drop them in this Google folder or email them to Kathy Underwood.
Family Engagement Survey – Parents, please fill out this short survey regarding your family’s participation at UCE this fall. It should take 5 minutes or less!
Registration for Faith Formation begins! This year more than ever, it is important that parents register their young people, so that we can plan according to current guidelines. Please complete the form here for all young people, 0-18 years old.
Worship and Faith Formation this Fall – If you haven’t seen the video about our worship and faith formation format for this fall yet, check it out here. And if you missed Kathy’s article about this you can find it here.
Playscape Steppingstone Event – September 25 and October 2 – Families are invited to help make steppingstones. For more details and to register, click here.
College-bound youth and young adults! A network to connect with UUs wherever you are! Join Rev. Byron Tyler Coles & Rev. Stevie K Carmody Eama for an information session about the recently launched Bridging Youth Hospitality Network!
- Wednesday, August 18th, 5pm ET
- Thursday, September 2nd, 5pm ET
- Thursday, October 7th, 7pm ET
Check the links below for Zoom registration and more information. Spread the survey to recently bridged youth and the communities that want to welcome them!
UCE Book Groups
UCE Fiction Book Group is reading My Favorite Thing is Monsters, Book 1, a graphic novel by Emil Ferris. Discussion meeting September 17, 7-8:30 pm via Zoom.
Set against the tumultuous political backdrop of late ’60s Chicago, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters is the fictional graphic diary of 10-year-old Karen Reyes, filled with B-movie horror and pulp monster magazine iconography. Karen Reyes tries to solve the murder of her enigmatic upstairs neighbor, Anka Silverberg, a holocaust survivor, while the interconnected stories of those around her unfold. When Karen’s investigation takes us back to Anka’s life in Nazi Germany, the reader discovers how the personal, the political, the past, and the present converge.
The Nonfiction Book Group will meet via Zoom at 2 pm on Sunday, September 26th to discuss How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America.
The author, Heather Cox Richardson, writes about how the South was the ideological victor of the Civil War as expansion of the Western frontier allowed the hierarchies of the South to proliferate. The book has been called “a thought-provoking study of the centuries-spanning battle between oligarchy and equality in America.”
Update: Syrian Refugee Family: August 27, 2021
Five years ago, UCE sponsored a Syrian refugee family—the Haj Khalafs. We learned recently that Fatoum (the mother) will welcome her sister Ghufran Bakir, to the U.S. on September 2 along with her three children Ryaan, 13; Hatty, 12; and Talib, 8. Ghufran, was widowed in the war, and has spent the last eight years in a refugee camp in Turkey. They are delighted to be reunited.
A few members of the congregation and the Immigrant Solidarity Team would like to help the new family. Our goal is to raise $5000 (or more) that will help them pay their rent for 4 or more months. The settlement agency that works with them has a very limited budget for 2 months of rent. Ghufran will need to learn English and get a job so she can provide for her children. The young adult Haj Khalafs will try to help the family out, but their finances are quite limited. Any amount, large or small will help them
To donate to the refugee family
- Send a check made out to UCE to the church and write Refugee Family Fund in the memo line.
- You can also go to the Web site and choose GIVE in the top line (donate here). Follow the directions and put the amount in the Refugee Family Fund box.
After the family arrives, we’ll have a better idea of exactly what they’ll need outside of rent. The immediate need will be school clothes and supplies. They will no doubt need help learning English. We will keep you posted as to specific needs in the newsletter and on the UCE Facebook pages.
Thank you in advance for your generosity. May it bring joy to you. Reach out to one of us with any questions (our email addresses are in Realm).
By Jeanne Kerl and Jane Kenamore
Highlights from August 19 UCE BOT Meeting: August 27, 2021
This is not meant to be a complete description, just a note to let you know what was discussed. Please look for the minutes from the previous meeting which are posted each month after they have been approved. To view the minutes for the previous month, go to the Board Page on the UCE website.
If you want to contact the Board, our e-mail is BOT@ucevanston.org.
From Rev. Susan Frances: August 27, 2021
Dear Friends,
As we are transitioning back to being in-person while maintaining virtual options, I have been thinking a lot about hospitality and how we engage and communicate with each other. You will soon be receiving emails and calls from me about our Hospitality Teams, which will have roles for volunteering in-person and online. I look forward to connecting with you as we phase into being back in the building together.
We will be returning to the sanctuary for our worship service at 10:15 am on Sunday, September 12, 2021. Our return to an in-person worship service will be accompanied by our adherence to the following COVID-19 community mitigation protocols:
In addition to these four items that each of us can do as we strive to keep our community healthy, we have long range air purifiers throughout the building and are adding high quality filters to our furnace system. The lower level has a special dehumidification and air purification system and the sanctuary exhaust fans above the ceiling panels will run continuously while we are in the building.
We invite you to join us for worship in the sanctuary, where we have spaced chairs to accommodate 100 people. If the crowd gets too large for your comfort, the service will be livestreaming in room 6, where a maximum of 20 people can gather. The service will also be livestreaming in room 3, where our children, including our children under the age of 2 years who will not be masked, and their friends and family are invited to gather if they need a break from the sanctuary. Returning to our sanctuary will require us to listen to each other, accommodate each other, and interact with patience and grace.
If you are feeling anxious about returning to in-person worship or have a day when someone in your family is not feeling well, please stay home, knowing that you may still participate remotely. Thanks to a generous endowment grant and the expertise of Adam Gough, we will be livestreaming the Sunday worship service indefinitely.
In this time of transition, listen to and trust yourself regarding your anxiety about how our community is transitioning into a multiplatform (in-person and online) worship service. We are moving forward with the information we have, knowing that new information could change our plans before September 12th. Just as we have over the past 17 months, we will continue to find creative ways to maintain our connection with each other.
In faith,
Rev. Susan
August 29, 2021
We will host an online worship service on Sunday, August 29th at 11:15 am.
Living Our Mission Through the Arts: Visual Arts
Nurturing the Human Spirit and Making the World Whole Through the Arts: living our mission through the arts. The creative endeavor is more than the fluff of life. It is essential to our humanity to create, express, and process our struggles through the arts. This August we will explore five modes of artistic and creative expression and their centrality in making meaning in our lives. This Sunday, we will discuss building community through the tactile/visual arts. Worship participants include Johna and Will Van Dyke, Eleanor Boyer, Jean Durkin, and Maggie Wilson.
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 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 Black Lives of UU.
Sept 4, 11, & 12 Drop Off Days for much needed Items: August 27, 2021
Interfaith Action of Evanston operates a monthly Produce Mobile, year-round, providing free groceries and toiletries to around 250 families. 
For the September 14th Produce Mobile, they are in need of the following items:
- Fingernail clippers
- Bar Soap (preference is Dove)
- Shaving cream
- Disposable razors
- All-purpose cleaner
Please limit your generosity to the items requested.
In addition to providing groceries, the Produce Mobile tries to fill in the SNAPGap for families by requesting donations of specific items to also be distributed to families through the Produce Mobile. SNAP is the government program that helps provide people living under the poverty line with groceries. SNAP does not help with essential toiletries, so there is a GAP in needs.
Here is the information if you would like to help:
DROP-OFF LOCATIONs & DATES
- Trinity Lutheran Church, 3637 Golf Road (East of Crawford); Saturdays, September 4 and 11, from 11:00 am – 2:00 pm.
- UCE congregants may drop-off items in the UCE Giving House on Sunday, September 12 ONLY, during our 10:15 am worship service. Please do not drop off anything except the items requested.
ITEMS NEEDED – Please limit your generosity to the items requested.
- Fingernail clippers
- Bar Soap (preference is Dove)
- Shaving cream
- Disposable razors
- All-purpose cleaner
You may buy one kind of product or mix and match. They are grateful for donations both small and large.
ONLINE ORDERING
You may order online or buy from your favorite store – their brands, or your favorites. If you order online, you may have the items shipped directly to:
Cathi White
5001 Golf Road
Skokie, IL 60077
Skokie, IL 60077
Thank you for your generous responses to our pandemic-time projects to help alleviate the suffering of our neighbors.
Toni Rey and Betty Walker, Food and Shelter Team
VirtUUal Faith Formation: August 20, 2021
This Summer in Faith Formation
Parent/Volunteer Conversation – Based on the feedback from the Family Engagement Survey so far, there is a need to get more information out to you so that you can make the decision on how your family participates this year at UCE. You are invited to one of two virtual gatherings for this purpose:
Monday, August 30 from 7-8 pm OR
Thursday, September 2 from 7-8 pm
Come hear about the format for Sundays at UCE for worship and the faith formation hour. Bring your questions and share your ideas! Those who are considering whether to volunteer this year are invited too!
Family Engagement Survey – Parents, please fill out this short survey regarding your family’s participation at UCE this fall. It should take 5 minutes or less!
Registration for Faith Formation begins! This year more than ever, it is important that parents register their young people, so that we can plan according to current guidelines. Please complete the form here for all young people, 0-18 years old.
Worship and Faith Formation this Fall – If you haven’t seen the video about our worship and faith formation format for this fall yet, check it out here. And if you missed Kathy’s article about this you can find it here.
Playscape Steppingstone Event – September 25 and October 2 – Families are invited to help make steppingstones. For more details and to register, click here.
College-bound youth and young adults! A network to connect with UUs wherever you are! Join Rev. Byron Tyler Coles & Rev. Stevie K Carmody Eama for an information session about the recently launched Bridging Youth Hospitality Network!
- Wednesday, August 18th, 5pm ET
- Thursday, September 2nd, 5pm ET
- Thursday, October 7th, 7pm ET
Check the links below for Zoom registration and more information. Spread the survey to recently bridged youth and the communities that want to welcome them!
UCE Book Groups
UCE Fiction Book Group meets Friday August 20 at 7 pm by ZOOM to discuss Circe by Madeline Miller.
“A bold and subversive retelling of the goddess’s story,” this #1 New York Times bestseller is “both epic and intimate in its scope, recasting the most infamous female figure from the Odyssey as a hero in her own right” (Alexandra Alter, The New York Times).
The nonfiction book group won’t be meeting in August to discuss books but we look forward to selecting books for the coming year at our Zoom meeting at 2 pm on August 22nd.
We’re hoping that everyone who has a nonfiction book they recommend and, perhaps, would like to discuss with others at UCE, will add the title to this google document. We’re hoping that this document will encourage UCErs to share their love of books by recommending titles. The nonfiction book group will consider all titles added to this google doc and we hope that many people who submit titles will join us at the August 22nd meeting and then continue with us throughout the church year.