Act Now to Support Reproductive Rights in Kansas: July 29, 2022
Kansas will have the first vote in the nation to determine reproductive rights since the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs. On August 2, 2022, the primary voters in Kansas will be asked to vote on an abortion access referendum. Kansans For Constitutional Freedom is leading the effort, supported by the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, Trust Women, and other groups, to inform voters about the urgency to vote in the Kansas primary. You can help!
- July 27-August 2, 5:30-8:30 pm, Phonebank to alert Kansas voters that there is a referendum that would eliminate the state’s guarantee of the right to abortion on the August 2nd primary ballot.
Phonebanking will go on every evening from 5:30 – 8:30 CT (Kansas is on Central Time too). Each phonebanking session begins with a 30-minute training on Zoom. The Zoom conference provides support during the phonebanking and finishes with a wrap-up discussion. You will need both a computer for the Zoom conference and a phone for the phonebanking.
Register here with the Kansans For Constitutional Freedom: https://secure.everyaction.com/p/pxhMyyaMZ0eyrMhpLruvXw2.
Register here through the ACLU People Power website: https://go.peoplepower.org/go/call-kansas.
Here are other ways to live into our UU values and support Reproductive Justice:
VOTE! If you want to get involved with UUtheVote, please contact Shirley Adams through Realm or at admin@ucevanston.org.
Get involved in conversations with your legislators! If you want to work with our Legislative Action Team, please contact Jane Bannor through Realm or at admin@ucevanston.org.
Be Engaged, Get Trained, Go March!
- August 9, 23 at 7:00 pm, participate in the ACLU People Power’s Abortion Activist Services, Know Your Rights: Digital Privacy and Abortion Access.
Donate to one of the organizations helping people who are pregnant have abortion access as an option:
- Healthcare providers with abortion access:
- Abortion funds, which remove financial and logistical barriers to abortion access:
- Direct service providers (help with travel coordination and costs, lodging, food, medicine, and emotional support):
- Educating medical providers on a wide range of comprehensive reproductive health care topics that improve access:
Volunteer with an organization providing abortion access:
Finally, one of the best ways is to talk with others about your values and your support of self-determination, abortion access, and privacy rights! At UCE, we have formed a Reproductive Justice Ad Hoc Group. If you would like to be engaged with this group, please contact Rev. Susan at sfrances@ucevanston.org. Knowing this is a long-haul issue, we are already partnering with our sister congregations through the Unitarian Universalist Advocacy Network of Illinois, our local interfaith colleagues, and abortion access providers in the Midwest to determine how we, as a congregation, can support Reproductive Justice for all.
From Susan Frances: August 5, 2022
Dear Friends,
I hope you are enjoying your summer. My wife and I are still being cautious about where we go and who we see, so we have been spending a lot of time enjoying our back porch. The photo is of our climbing morning glories, snap dragons, geraniums, herbs, and the ridiculous fish planter that we imagine looks like a lionfish, which are bringing bees and butterflies flying through our lunch breaks on the porch.
I am starting to look toward the fall as the programming staff and I start to collaborate on fall classes and events. Save the date for our Ingathering on Sunday, September 11, 2022 at 10:30 am. Please note that our service time is changing. Ingathering Sunday is when we come back together after the summer to share stories and resume regular programming. We have big plans for this year’s Ingathering Sunday.
During our Ingathering worship service, we will have our annual water communion. Please be thinking about the source of the water you might bring that Sunday. Maybe some place that has brought you comfort, joy, respite, or adventure – your bathtub, your kitchen sink, Lake Michigan, or water from somewhere you have visited.
We will be ending the worship service with an evacuation drill. With the pandemic, this will be the first one in many years. Once all of us are outside after the evacuation drill, we will gather around our Black Lives Matter sign on Ridge and take a congregational photo. If you are not able to join us at 10:30 am for the worship service, we hope you are able to stop by at 11:30 am to be in the photo.
We will end our morning together with a congregational potluck picnic. There will be tables and chairs set up outside. We now have the mechanism for the door at the top of the ramp completed, so you are able to get in and out of the building without having to knock on the glass door. You are encouraged to bring a blanket, bubbles, or anything else that will contribute to our picnicking fun.
Please bring a food dish to share for our picnic. We will be using compostable plates and our new silverware and plastic glasses. We will serve inside and eat outside. We will continue to wear masks inside. Masks are not required outside. One of the new kitchen guidelines is that we will not be leaving any food behind in the kitchen, so before you leave for the day, please make sure to collect your dishes and any leftovers.
While you wait in line for food, a representative from the hearing loop company will be available to answer your questions. If you have hearing aids, please make sure to wear them and bring your phone to find out if you are able to download the app and use the new hearing loop system with your hearing aids.
And that, my friends, is a preview of our first Sunday of the new congregational year. There are many ideas and lots of energy percolating within the congregation. When you return in the fall, here are some of the upcoming programs and events:
- The Denominational Affairs Team will be facilitating a discussion series about the Unitarian Universalist Association Article II Study Commission’s review of the Principles and Sources;
- Our New Member Team and Membership Engagement Task Force have restyled the membership classes to include new and returning members;
- The Anti-Oppression Task Force is engaging us in a congregational survey and then will be addressing those results;
- An emerging Reproductive Justice team is determining how our community can best support abortion access;
- The UU the Vote team, which has already reached 20% of our 40,000 Points of Love initiative, will continue to provide opportunities to get out the vote through the election in November;
- The REAL Team is running a two-session book discussion of Kindred by Octavia Butler; and
- The four restructured hospitality teams have reduced the volunteer days to 4 days a year per person for the Greeters Hospitality Team, Kitchen Hospitality Team, Money Counters Hospitality Team, and Virtual Hospitality Team.
If you are interested in getting involved with any of these, please contact me.
I will be on vacation and then study leave from August 12-29, 2022. I’m wishing you an August full of whatever you need right now – comfort, joy, respite, or adventure – and I’ll see you in September!
Yours in faith,
Rev. Susan
From Sandra Robinson: July 29, 2022
Greetings,
As I write this article, I am thinking about the many newsletters Jessica Meis has created for UCE. Jessica leaves us for a wonderful new opportunity in her field, and we are delighted for her, and will miss her steadfast, graceful approach to the work she has done for us and with us. We will celebrate her today at staff meeting and send her out in the world with love and support.
A job description was posted on Indeed, in the AUUA (Administrators) listserve and Facebook, as well as a few local churches. Two good candidates have resulted to the search and we are doing final interviews and checking references on this individuals. Jessica will spend two hours with each to do a mini training session and this will help us decide which candidate best fits the position requirements.
I want to take a moment to honor the memory of Judith Ramey. Judith was a long time church member, and for a period of years our Communications Director at UCE. I so enjoyed working with Judith and remember her strength and knowledge, her devotion to her children, and her sense of humor and imagination. She left behind a legacy of good work at UCE and I will miss giving her hugs on Sunday morning.
This summer we have been busy doing construction projects. The sanctuary roof repairs were done, the wing hallway painted on the bottom half to repair many dings and damage, interior repairs to the concrete will be done, and the outdoor railings were painted at the main west entrance. Capital Campaign projects continue. As you know the Hearing Loop is installed and working well. Final touches on the lobby are being done. A new small sofa in the lobby, new signage in the welcome center, beautifully painted bathrooms in the lobby with artwork Johna VanDyke had pulled to the side at one of our previous rummage sales. The church is coming together in so many ways. I noticed several new families visiting and feel that we are creating a welcoming, inclusive, clean and organized place for everyone to call their spiritual home.
In the fall planning for the lower level inclusive and accessible bathroom will resume. Nature’s Perspective has provided a landscaping plan for the west garden. A tree will be replaced, several evergreens, grasses, small bushes and perennials will grace the area just north of the lobby and a memorial bench for John LaPlante will be installed.
As we continue to improve our outdoor spaces we expand our possibilities to gather. I was delighted to see a group gathering under the big tree on the south lawn last Sunday. It is delightful to see children enjoying the berm and the outdoors. It is gratifying to see the new accessible ramp in use and appreciated by all. Thank you to the UCE Garden Team headed by Janelle Brittain for weeding and watering our garden spaces.
Rentals are going well. We welcomed Evanston Symphony last evening for a rehearsal in the sanctuary. We have three music groups who want to rent the space and contracts are being let this week for two of them, and a wedding for 2023 is planned. Udumbara and Northshore Weavers Guild, our longtime renters remain with us. If you know of anyone who needs meeting space or a place to do a wedding or memorial or other event, please let me know. Our new air conditioning is such an asset as we move into August and September for rentals. Summer memorials were comfortable and appreciated by our renters and their guests.
Please feel free to contact me at srobinson@ucevanston.org at any time with your questions or suggestions.
Sandra Robinson, Executive Operations Director
Stop Privatization of Medicare Action of Immediate Witness: July 29, 2022
One of the Actions of Immediate Witness (AIW) passed at the 2022 Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) General Assembly was Stop the Privatization of Medicare. This AIW opposes the implementation of the ACO-REACH program and privatized Medicare Advantage plans and calls on:
Why these actions?
“There is a concerted effort to privatize Medicare, to enroll people in private practices without their understanding or consenting to what is happening—in practices in which medical practitioners in private businesses can refuse needed care and reap profits. This can happen despite individuals consciously and deliberatively choosing the original Medicare, which does not have the same limitations. Although the Trump Administration’s Direct Contracting Entity (DCE) Program, which privatized care, was cancelled by the Biden Administration, a similar new program is proposed to take effect on January 1, 2023. It is called ACO-REACH (Accountability Care Organization-Realizing Equality, Access and Community). It would allow third-party middlemen to manage senior care, enrolling seniors in for-profit programs without their understanding and consent—programs that will often profit the providers while denying seniors the care that they need. Similar privatization practices are currently occurring in many Medical Advantage plans. Seniors should scrutinize them carefully before they enroll.”
Why are we called to support this AIW?
This AIW is grounded in our beliefs:
“Compared to other Developed nations, our nation ranks lowest in health care; and has the lowest life expectancy and the highest infant mortality; in 2019 spent about $11,000 per person on health care while other comparable nations spent an average of $5500; and profoundly limits access to health care by income inequality. It is imperative that we have Medicare for all:
Here are some of the ways you can live into this AIW and our UU values:
Taking actions will help to secure the worth and dignity of each U.S. resident.
July 31, 2022
We will host an in-person and virtual worship service on Sunday, July 31st at 10:15 am.
Exploring Spiritual Journeys
Each of us travels a journey of the spirit, which has shaped us and led us to this moment. Our connections in this community deepen when we share these stories and hearing them inspires us to live more purposeful lives. In this service we will hear from two people who have been raised in our tradition, one as a UU in this congregation, and one as a Universalist who joined UCE many years ago: Lee Bannor and Linda LaPlante.
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 the Mother and Child Alliance.
Book Discussion – Kindred by Octavia Butler
Monday, September 19th from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. Session #1
Monday, October, 17th from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. Session #2
The Real Team is sponsoring a book discussion of Kindred, written by Octavia E. Butler. The book discussion will be held via ZOOM and facilitated by UCE member Jean Butzen. Participants will meet twice and prior to the first session will have access to online materials available through a Google docs folder which contains background information for the book, author, and the topic of slavery. Here are the meeting dates for the book group:
- Monday, September 19th: 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. on Zoom, Session #1: Introductions to the participants, the author, the book, and to several Google doc materials being made available to participants for the book and the topic. Then we will break for a few weeks for participants to read the book, however, feel free to start reading the book right away. Some people need to read Ms. Butler’s books a little more slowly, to absorb the material.
- Monday, October 17th: 7:00 – 9:00 p.m., Session #2: Inter-active discussion of the book Kindred, facilitated by Jean Butzen.
Octavia Estelle Butler was an American science fiction writer that challenged White hegemony. She was also one of the best-known science fiction writers among the few African-American women in the field. She won both Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, she became the first science fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grant.
Her 1979 novel Kindred tells the story of Edana “Dana” Franklin, a black woman in 1976 whose connection to a young white boy named Rufus Weylin allows her to time travel to 1800s Maryland. As she jumps between 1976 and the 1800s, she learns how she and Rufus are connected, and she must survive as an enslaved person in the antebellum South to fit in.
The novel has been praised for its raw and compelling depiction of slavery, bringing it to the forefront to remind us to never forget the sins of our past. Butler’s use of time travel highlights the importance of keeping the past present because the trauma left behind continues to shape our daily lives.
To register for the Kindred Book Discussion, go here.
Sanctuary Cooling System is in!: July 22, 2022
The UCE Sanctuary Cooling System is in! And we are ready for Chicago’s hot Summer.
Thank you to everyone’s contributions to the Capital Campaign which made it possible for us to install a cooling system for the Sanctuary and adjacent Social Area. We’ve been enjoying this system since the end of May. It simply “takes the edge off” the indoor environment by cooling the room and removing some of the humidity. The intention is to make the Sanctuary & Social Area more comfortable on oppressively hot and humid days in Summer. It is not UCE’s intention to have cold storage facility-like conditions. Instead, the goal is to create a space that will be more comfortable for the members, community members and friends of UCE as well as for renters, who approach to share or rent the Sanctuary and Social Area. We researched many options and chose the best one that balanced caring for the environment and costs. We are pleased with the results.
Here are a few details about our new cooling system. Like our gas-fired furnaces, the cooling equipment mirrors the zoning arrangement of the furnaces. These zones include the east & northeast portions of the Sanctuary, the west & north west portions of the Sanctuary and the South zone which is basically the Social Area at the back of the Sanctuary. We’ve retained our existing furnaces and retrofitted them with eight new indoor cooling coils. We’ve also added eight, new outdoor condensing units and had the systems filled with R410a refrigerant, an environmentally favorable refrigerant with an ozone depletion potential of zero and a low global warming potential value. R410a also has a low toxicity, is not flammable and has an A1 safety classification. The seasonal energy efficiency ratio, or SEER, of the condensing units is as high as 19. The new cooling systems are zone controlled by three Ecobee programmable thermostats each one paired with a wireless remote temperature sensor for accurate control of operation. And, as a plus, the systems can be controlled remotely via a phone app!
Restorative Justice Action of Immediate Witness: July 22, 2022
How Will You “Live Into” Restorative Justice?
One of the Actions of Immediate Witness (AIW) passed at the 2022 Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) General Assembly was “Anti-Racism and Reparations via Restorative Justice.” This AIW statement admits the inhuman sufferings of Americans of African descent through forced labor and egregious punishments, and recognizes that the reality of this violence has not been taught, discussed or acknowledged which has given rise to the belief in and practice of white supremacy. In alignment with our UU faith values, this AIW, adopted by a resounding majority, resolved that the member congregations of the UUA engage in the principles of restorative justice and truthful American history, to fully understand and reject white supremacy.
Here are some of the many ways to live into this AIW and our UU values:
EMBRACE & ENGAGE – Create Study/Action Groups in our UU congregations, which engage in Restorative Justice. Embrace the principles of restorative justice and partner with marginalized communities to seek societal repair/reparations as an essential underlying aspect of our social justice work.
PROMOTE & SUPPORT cultural and gender identity in leadership and learning environments.
SPEAK UP & OUT – Condemn current misconceptions of true history as political and religiously motivated censorship.
JOIN & ORGANIZE – Be a part of national and local initiatives and organizations fighting for Reparations via Restorative Justice.
UCE continues to work toward restorative justice. Learn more about social justice work opportunities at UCE and beyond:
Join the UCE Racial Equity Action Leadership (REAL) Team, UU Advocacy Network of Illinois, and UU Prison Ministry of Illinois
Participate in Reparations, Reconciliation and Repair: Evanston’s Interfaith Reparations Effort