What’s all this I hear about Shared Ministry?: April 1, 2022
What’s All This I Hear About Shared Ministry?
The UUA describes Shared Ministry as the concept that the “ministry of the congregation does not belong exclusively to ordained clergy, but to everyone.” As a faith community we believe that all have equal access to the divine. Shared ministry means that each of us–ordained minister, staff, UCE member—contributes to carrying out the mission of the congregation. You might serve on the Board, sing in the choir, participate in a covenant group, join a social action group—the list is long at UCE.
What is the COSM?
The Committee on Shared Ministry helps the congregation live into shared ministry. That is, it helps members recognize and improve the contributions we each make to UCE. Shared Ministry has a sacred quality to it: it is not just “what we do” but also “how we do it.” As both the “great covenant” that we say each Sunday and the Covenant of Engagement state, we agree to engage with each other with compassion and respect as we strive to carry out our mission.
What are the Main Goals of the COSM?
The COSM focuses on three goals:
- Greater Transparency: identify groups contributing to UCE’s shared ministry, share information about them, and provide additional channels for congregants to share feedback on our shared ministry.
- Greater Accountability: work with the ministers, staff and Board to assess how well the congregation is meeting its goals and identify needs we should address.
- Greater Partnership: serve as a sounding board for the senior minister and support their continued development.
How is COSM organized?
The committee was organized in 2020. It consists of six members, the Senior Minister, and a Board liaison. Below is a list of the current members. Please contact them with questions or suggestions.
Susan Carlton
Ben Kornfeld
Ann McCallister
Jim Strickler
Jenny Walsh
Carla Williams
Rev. Eileen Wiviott
Michelle Novak, Board Liaison 2021-2022
Endowment Funds UU Prison Ministry of IL: April 1, 2022
Endowment grants come in different sizes and the impact of each may be difficult to measure. The use of Endowment funds by the UU Prison Ministry of IL for Solidarity Circle grants clearly shows that a small amount of money can make an impactful difference in an individual’s life.
These Endowment grants, distributed over the past year, benefited four Solidarity Circle leaders making their way back into society after being in prison.
- Robert, in his Evanston circle for over three years, has recovered from health problems and currently has a job as a tow truck driver. He used $400 in September 2021 to help replace his car. He received $400 in March, 2022 to repair damage to his car from an uninsured motorist.
- Jimmie, in a solidarity circle at 2U for two years, used $400 in November 2021 for groceries, money on his bus pass, and some winter clothing items. He is in a job training and housing program and is eligible for another grant.
- Thomas, in a circle since 2019 at First and Third Unitarian, received $400 in December, 2021 for a warm jacket and boots and housing supplies. He is eligible for another grant.
- James is a new circle leader at Tree of Life. He received $400 in December 2021 for brake repair on his car. He is eligible for another grant.
Members of the UCE UU Prison Ministry of IL Team are: Becky Taveirne (convener ), Les Butler, Mary Ellen McGoey, Steve Serikaku, Gail Smith, Jordan Strueber and Dale Griffin. Thanks to Dale Griffin for this report.
Whatever size grant may be under consideration, the first deadline for Endowment proposals is May 31. At the June Endowment Committee meeting applications for the next fiscal year, beginning July 1, will be reviewed and recommended to the Board of Trustees for funding approval.
If you have questions about submitting a grant application to the Endowment Committee, please contact an Endowment Trustee:
- Margaret Schatz, chair, mesharbor@gmail.com
- Tom Hempfling, thempfling45@gmail.com
- Bill Hartgering, bhartgering@gmail.com
From Kathy Underwood: April 1, 2022
Spring Awakenings
With signs of spring in the air and the earth, there is a feeling of hope and renewal. The encouragement in the lowering of Covid cases recently certainly helps as we can gather with others a little more comfortably and be outdoors more. Nature is awakening and is surely a salve for the soul!
Springtime is a time for celebration for so many faiths – Bahá’í, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. With two of our Unitarian Universalist Sources being “wisdom from the world’s religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life” and “Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to love our neighbors as ourselves” we are called to learn about other faiths and their traditions. For many UUs, Easter is the holiday usually celebrated, although the reasons vary. And for children, it is a fun time with egg hunts. With being back in person this year, the Family Ministry Team will be coordinating a canned goods hunt with the collection of goods going to Connections for the Homeless. Be sure to look for upcoming announcements on where to drop off donations.
Awaken the artist within at our Afternoon of the Arts event on April 9 from 3-5p. This is a “rebirth” of the former Night of the Arts begun by Rosemary Zwick. And if that isn’t enough for you, our awesome youth will “awaken” us with a worship service on April 10, “Gender: Bending the Narrative”.
April is also when we witness the Earth re-awakening from its winter slumber, and we celebrate Earth Day. Once again this year, UCE is playing a key role in an Earth Day celebration, being coordinated by Kristin Lems and Lucinda Lindstrom Lodder among others in the community. I am always amazed at the dedication and passion we have at UCE, especially when youth are involved. The celebration will be at 7p on April 22, and the hope is to offer it in person as well as virtually. Look for details in the newsletter.
For our last Sunday in April, our Faith Formation Hour will focus on Social Action and being eco-friendly. The Green Team will be facilitating a fair with activities for all ages, and the Family Ministry Team will coordinate making lunch bags for Connections for the Homeless. We will look at lunches and how we can make them more eco-friendly, especially in regards to composting.
And as we head into May, Rev. Eileen and I will be hosting some listening circles to hear your experiences with our new faith formation hour. What have you participated in and how was that experience? If you didn’t participate, what kept you from doing so? And what would you look forward to that can help awaken your spirit and faith? These conversations will take place as follows:
In Faith,
Kathy Underwood
April 3, 2022
We will host an in-person and virtual worship service on Sunday, April 3rd at 10:15 am.
Awakening Curiosity
To nurture the human spirit and make the world more whole, we must practice together being open to all there is we don’t know. We will explore what it means to cultivate curiosity through cultural humility. Rev. Eileen Wiviott leads the service and Robb Geiger is our Worship Associate.
Please submit your Joys and Sorrows through this online form. If you submit a message by 9 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 Faith in Place.
UUtheVote Launches Soon: March 25, 2022
This year UCE’s UUtheVote team has a 40,000 Points of Love initiative that we will live into through our partnerships with the UUA Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team, Unitarian Universalist Advocacy Network of Illinois (UUANI), Reclaim Our Vote (ROV), and local non-partisan non-profits organizing around getting out the vote and voting our values!
Shirley Adams is our lead organizer. We will be engaging in the following 4 areas:
- Get Out The Vote (postcard and letter writing from home or in small groups), led by Carolyn Laughlin.
- Voter Registration (in-person at various locations).
- Advocacy/Education Virtual (phone banking or text banking).
- Values Conversations (in-person at community locations or door-to-door).
What can you do?
- Contact Carolyn Laughlin if you are interested in working on the Get Out The Vote work.
- Contact me or Shirley Adams if you are interested in working with Shirley to organize one of our voter registration, advocacy/education, or values conversations areas.
- Attend the UUA Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team’s UUtheVote Launch, on Sunday, April 10 at 3:00 pm CT. This 90-minute live webinar will feature UUA President Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, state partners, and the new UU the Vote Campaign Manager. Learn how UUtheVote is going deeper into values-based conversation, showing up for ballot measures to combat voter suppression, fight for reproductive justice, and resist the criminalization of BIack, Indigenous, and people of color communities. Click here to register.
Unitarian Universalists understand that democracy is a process and a practice. It is one way we live our values out in the world. Join us!
Rummage Sale Update: March 25, 2022
When is the Rummage Sale?
- Friday, 5/20/22 from 9 am – 6 pm
- Saturday, 5/21/22 from 9 am – 1 pm
What is the format? How will it be different from previous sales?
Rummage sale veterans told the planning group that, although they loved the sense of community surrounding their volunteering in years past, the workload has become too burdensome. The new rummage format is a streamlined version of the way we used to do it. The sale categories have been narrowed down to those yielding the highest sales and the sale will be inside the building (first floor only/no basement sales.)
Our theme this year is “share the work”
This means that we are all joining in as a congregation to make this the most successful, easy to manage and interactive event as possible as we transition from the traditional sale to this new, condensed version.
- Share the work by donating items. A list of specific items and our requirements will be forthcoming in a direct email to our congregation. Drop off will begin at 3 pm after the annual meeting on May 15 until 7 pm. Drop-off time will resume on Monday from 9 am – 8 pm.
- Share the work by making sure all clothing is in really good condition, clean and ON HANGERS which will be provided by UCE weeks leading up to the sale.
- Share the work by volunteering in whatever capacity you can. Click here to sign up.
- Share the work by volunteering to stay after the annual meeting to help transform the sanctuary from worship to rummage sale. Set up time during the week will begin Tuesday through Thursday evening with the sale on Friday and Saturday.
For questions about the sale, please contact Co-Chairs Lynn Kendall at lynn.kendall@gmail.com or Margaret Schatz at mesharbor@gmail.com.
Let’s make this fundraiser a huge success. Let’s “Share the Work”.
From Rev. Susan Frances: March 25, 2022
Dear Friends,
You are invited to our New Member Reception in the sanctuary this Sunday after the worship service!
We are welcoming 9 new members during our service this Sunday. Plus, the 29 members who joined us since our building closed in March 2020 will be part of the New Member Reception. It will be a time for introductions and connecting. I hope you join us!
I am taking a class right now with the Interim Ministry Network and in the paper I wrote this week I used the Buddhist sacred story of Indra’s Net:
“Far away in the heavenly abode of the great god Indra, there is a wonderful net which has been hung by some cunning artificer in such a manner that it stretches out indefinitely in all directions. In accordance with the extravagant tastes of deities, the artificer has hung a single glittering jewel at the net’s every node, and since the net itself is infinite in dimension, the jewels are infinite in number. There hang the jewels, glittering like stars of the first magnitude, a wonderful sight to behold. If we now arbitrarily select one of these jewels for inspection and look closely at it, we will discover that in its polished surface there are reflected all the other jewels in the net, infinite in number. Not only that, but each of the jewels reflected in this one jewel is also reflecting all the other jewels, so that the process of reflection is infinite.”
~ The Avatamsaka Sutra
Francis H. Cook: Hua-Yen Buddhism : The Jewel Net Of Indra 1977
In this metaphor, whatever affects one jewel affects them all. There are jewels that are close to us, such as each of our new members becoming a closer jewel in our faith community’s part of the jeweled net, and jewels that are farther from us, such as UUs in other states and residents of our city who we don’t know. How we choose to connect and engage with the world, our city, our neighborhood, our congregation, and our family affects those near and far from us in the jeweled net. With this in mind, I invite you think about how you will be engaged this week, this spring, or this year.
Several folks have already made new connections and gotten engaged through our Social Justice Program Fair held on February 27th. Thank you to the members of the 8 teams and affinity group who participated!!! The photos are of:
- BLUU Haven Chicago
- Food and Shelter Team
- Green Team
- Immigrant Solidarity Team
- Legislative Action Team
- Prison Ministry Team
- Racial Equity Action and Leadership Team
- Rainbow Alliance
Team 8th Principle is working on a resolution in support of national and local reparations for Black Americans and Black Evanstonians that will be voted upon at our congregation’s annual meeting on May 15, 2022. You are invited to attend one of their Reparations & UCE Conversations. Contact Martha Holman through REALM or at admin@ucevanston.org or see the article in this newsletter for more information.
Our UUtheVote initiative will launch on April 10, 2022! Voting is one of the ways in which we live our values in the world. I invite you to be part of our 40,000 Points of Love initiative to reach out to fellow voters. Contact Shirley Adams through REALM or at admin@ucevanston.org or see the article in this newsletter for more information on how to get engaged.
If you are interested in how our worship services are created, you are invited to participate in a Worship Play Date with Rev. Eileen Wiviott. The next Play Date is on April 9, 2022, from 9:00 am – 12:00 pm. You can register through the article in this newsletter. You are also invited to join the choir by contacting our Music Director, Vickie Hellyer, at vhellyer@ucevanston.org.
The Denominational Affairs Team is gearing up for our national Unitarian Universalist Association’s General Assembly, being held virtually as well as in-person in Portland, Oregon, from June 22-26, 2022. Our Association is in the midst of a national review of our 7 Principles and 6 Sources and you are invited to engage in this review process. Contact Peggy Boccard through REALM or at admin@ucevanston.org or see the article in this newsletter for ways to participate.
If you are interested in connecting with a small group of people, you are invited to join a covenant group, one of the groups that participate in spiritual practices such as yoga or tai chi, or one of our four women’s circles. Contact Adam Gough at agough@ucevanston.org for more information.
The pandemic has created a new way of being in the world and each of us is emerging this spring in ways different than before. You are invited to go slow and follow what is good for your body, mind, and spirit. If getting more connected and engaged feels right, I hope something I’ve mentioned calls to you. If you are in need of more rest and to continue to rejuvenate to get through difficult days, please take the time you need to care for yourself. If you or another member or friend in our community need support, please reach out for assistance through our Congregational Care and Support Teams. You are invited to connect and engage in the ways that support your whole being.
This spring, may you feel the connection of all of us as reflected in Indra’s Net. May the feel of the rain, the sight of the returning migratory birds, the sound of the wind, or the smell of moist soil remind you of that connection and that you are an essential part of the interconnected web of life.
In faith,
Rev. Susan
March 27, 2022
We will host an in-person and virtual worship service on Sunday, March 27th at 10:15 am.
Faith in Meaning
We are meaning making people, and we make meaning in our lives out of the stories we share. But what is meaning making when our stories are so subjective and there is little to no agreement about what is true? How do we create meaningful lives without being attached to any one meaning or single story? Rev. Eileen Wiviott leads the service and Marianne Griebler is our Worship Associate.
Please submit your Joys and Sorrows through this online form. If you submit a message by 9 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 UU Advocacy Network of Illinois (UUANI).