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Sunday, November 16, 2025

The Alchemy of Gratitude

As we explore nurturing gratitude we consider how to transform gratitude into generosity, the kind that comes from a place of abundance and mutuality rather than scarcity. Rev. Eileen leads this service with Kiley Korey as Worship Associate. Jenn Wisegarver is our Hymn Leader with Gregory Shifrin on piano.

Today’s offering will be shared with Restore Justice Foundation, which advocates for fairness, humanity, and compassion throughout the Illinois criminal legal system, with a primary focus on those affected by extreme sentences as youth.

Upcoming Services

November 23rd – Bread Communion – Rev. Eileen

November 30th – UUPMI – with Rev. Susan

December 7th – Hope in the Darkness – Rev. Eileen

December 14th – Music Sunday – UCE Choir led by Vickie Hellyer

Sunday, November 16, 2025adminuce2025-11-13T16:47:30+00:00

2025-2026 Shared Offering Recipients

October 2025: Run On Climate Education Fund
November 2025: Restore Justice Foundation
December 2025: Forging Opportunities for Refugees in America (FORA)
January 2026: C&W Foundation
February 2026: Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU)
March 2026: Unitarian Universalist Advocacy Network of Illinois (UUANI)
April 2026: TBD by Youth Group
May 2026: Children’s Best Interest Project
June 2026: Deborah’s Place
July 2026: Zacharias Center
August 2026: Mother Child Alliance
September 2026: Building Peaceful Bridges
Fifth Sundays: Unitarian Universalist Prison Ministry of Illinois (UUPMI)

2025-2026 Shared Offering Recipientsadminuce2025-11-13T21:20:00+00:00

Update from Rev. Susan, 11/7/2025

Hi, Friends,

I had so much fun at our SOLARbration! I loved singing along with the live music, meeting the speakers, and especially the ribbon cutting. Mary Beth Roth took the photo of me immediately following the cutting of the green ribbon with the giant scissors to celebrate the installation of our solar panels.

Each week I am grateful to be part of this faith community that values finding ways to celebrate and restore one’s spirit alongside the social engagement needed in this moment to continue to seek accountability for the ongoing abuse of power within our federal government systems. You inspire me.

Our Catalyst for Democracy Team has joined our Social Justice Council and is launching a Love Resists: Engaging in Noncooperation campaign. The focus areas of the Love Resists campaign are:

· Action

· Building Community

· Training geared toward engagement

Catalyst team members will be organizing within these areas and sharing ways to engage through the newsletter and through our UCE Local Response Network. Right now, there are many ways to get engaged. Please remember that you don’t have to do or attend all the things. That if each of us is engaged when and how we can be, then we are able to take turns and continue to make a difference. The vital part is that we all are participating, which includes reaching out for support when we need it, making time to rest when we need it, and then doing the one next thing that we can do.

The hard work of social change includes the laughter and joy of community building. I encourage you to reach out to each other, to your friends and families, to your neighbors and colleagues and talk with them about what it is that you are able to do together.

Here are four ways to support Building Community through Mutual Aid:

· Sunday, November 23, 2025. Bring a gift card of any kind and any denomination along with your loaf of bread to our Bread Communion service on November 23rd. We will be giving the collected gift cards to Interfaith Action of Evanston to distribute through their Hospitality Center run out of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church from 7-11 am, Monday – Friday.

· Thursday, November 27, 2025. Volunteer on Thanksgiving Day at the Annual Thanksgiving Dinner for our Interfaith Action Soup Kitchen Guests. You may sign-up to donate food to be delivered between 12:00-12:30 pm. You may sign-up to volunteer at the dinner between 12:00-4:30 pm.

· Fill up the UCE Giving House located in our lobby. We are collecting pasta, rice, grains, beans, cereal, soups, canned fish, and canned meat to donate to C&W Market Foundation in Evanston.

· Support the Evanston Community Fridges. You may contribute funds online or donate food at one of the three locations.

If you could benefit from some material, emotional, or spiritual support, please connect with Rev. Eileen, ewiviott@ucevanston.org, Rev. Elizabeth, eharding@ucevanston.org, or myself, sfrances@ucevanston.org, or complete our Request for Care form. You are not alone.

Here are four Actions in the Chicagoland area in which UUs are organizing to attend together:

· Tuesday, November 11th, 11 am – 1 pm, join a coalition supporting Vets Say No! at the Chicago Vietnam Veterans Memorial along the Chicago Riverwalk at 24 E. Wacker Drive. All are welcome.

· Friday, November 14th, 9 – 10 am, join a coalition of faith leaders at the Broadview Detention Center with this cry, “God Demands Freedom! Faith Leaders Say No More Abductions!” NOTE: It is anticipated that there will be a large police presence and recent history suggests that the police may act aggressively towards demonstrators, so interested persons are encouraged to proceed with caution.

· Sunday, November 16th, join a statewide coalition including the Unitarian Universalist Advocacy Network of Illinois (UUANI) at protests across Illinois in front of your local AT&T store to demand that AT&T cancel its contract providing communication services and equipment to ICE. Gather outside the Evanston AT&T store located at 1620 Chicago Avenue from 1:30-2:30 pm. All are welcome.

· Every Thursday join our Beacons of Light gathering at Dempster & Ridge. The time has changed and we now meet from 4:00-4:30 pm so drivers are able to read our signs before the sun sets. All are welcome.

Details of these events will be sent out through our UCE Local Response Network (LRN). If you would like to be added to this email list to receive details about these and future events, please click here to submit the form to request being added to the LRN. If you would like to join the organizing work within our congregation, which assists in determining what is shared through the LRN, please contact one of these team leaders with the Catalyst for Democracy Team: Mary Dudek, Shirley Adams, Mary Ellen McGoey, or Michael Skilton.

Our values of interdependence, equity, transformation, pluralism, generosity, and justice, grounded in love, lead us to nonviolent action, lead us to care for each other, and lead us to be involved in shaping our future. Knowing that there are many months of engagement ahead, it is important to continue making time to rest and enjoy the things and the people who fill you up so you can continue being involved.

Yours in shaping our future,

Rev. Susan

Update from Rev. Susan, 11/7/2025adminuce2025-11-07T23:58:21+00:00

MITTEN TREE 2025

MITTEN TREE 2025

Mitten Tree gift sign-up is up and running (HERE). It may seem too early to be thinking about the holidays, but gifts are due back at UCE for sorting and wrapping by SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30th, so don’t delay in signing up! Don’t want to shop? You can donate money and the mitten tree elves will shop for you–you may Zelle or Venmo Jenny Walsh, jmw99free at gmail dot com or 847-309-3648, or write a check to UCE with Mitten Tree in the memo.

This longstanding tradition is a beautiful snapshot of our community’s shared values and a privilege to help organize. Read on below about where your gifts will go this year, AND MAY WHAT YOU GIVE BRING YOU JOY!

In addition to providing gifts for two of the asylum-seeking families whom our congregation is supporting, read on for more information on the three organizations we are partnering with this year:

Lydia Home (formerly Rice Child & Family Center) is located just down Ridge from UCE and is a safe home with wrap-around services for children with post-traumatic behavioral dysregulation making traditional foster care inaccessible to them. The facility includes a medical clinic, group therapy classrooms, special education facilities, art therapy and maintains a goal of helping children return to a loving family environment. UCE has supported residents of the center for a number of years as our own Mitten Tree founder, Carol Nielsen is a long-committed volunteer.

Connections for the Homeless is an organization near and dear to our UCE community. Whether through shared plate, Mitten Trees past, Our Giving House donations, or supporting affordable housing programs, Connections has and will continue to be a meaningful partnership for us. Connections supports more than 1500 people a year – preventing homelessness, sheltering those in crisis, providing advocacy services, and fostering development of job and educational skills.

Family Focus Evanston began in 1976 as the original drop-in center for parents in Evanston, Illinois. Forty years later, Family Focus continues to serve the Evanston community. Services available include early childhood home visiting, Family Advocacy Center, after school, Grandparents raising Grandchildren, and community partnership initiatives such as the Foster Street Urban Agriculture program. Family Focus, Inc. offers innovative, community-based programs that help parents, grandparents, and foster and adoptive parents gain confidence and competence as the primary educators of their children.

MITTEN TREE 2025adminuce2025-11-05T20:17:17+00:00

Sunday, November 9, 2025

Cultivating Gratitude in Hard Soil

In a world that can feel heavy and unyielding, how do we keep our hearts open? This service explores the practice of gratitude—not as denial of pain, but as an embodied discipline that softens the hard soil in our lives and helps us stay resourced for the journey.

Dr. Emma Farrell leads this service with Janelle Brittain as Worship Associate. Andy Carpenter shares his talents on the tenor saxophone and Gregory Shifrin shares his talents on the piano.

Upcoming Services

November 16th – The Alchemy of Gratitude – Rev. Eileen

November 23rd – Bread Communion – Rev. Eileen

Sunday, November 9, 2025adminuce2025-11-04T17:33:26+00:00

Family Fall Feedback – Friday, October 31, 2025

DLFF Newsletter – November 2025

Family Fall Feedback

Last week, Rev. Eileen and I hosted a virtual gathering for parents to hear how they are doing and how they are engaging in and feeling about our faith community. They were open and honest and brave to share with us, which is what we hoped for. I wish to share some of this with you here.

Parents expressed overwhelmingly their joy at how much they and their children have been embraced, welcomed, and included. Having childcare available on Sunday mornings for choir rehearsal and worship has made a huge difference. The Nest has certainly been a big part of those with younger children to feel at home. And while it was acknowledged that it can get a bit noisy and parents worry about this, they appreciate that their little ones can make some noise without getting “shushed” and glared at. We also shared some ideas on ways we can help little ones – and parents – learn when to be quieter and when it’s okay to be a little noisy in worship. After all, how can we expect our youngest to grow up to be practicing UUs if we don’t show them how?

Another thing that parents appreciate is how we maintain many of our traditions, such as Ornament Sunday and the rummage sale. Creating community was another major factor, with the restarting of the youth group, Picnics in the Park, Our Whole Lives (OWL) sex ed program, and of course, snacks. Food is always good!

We then had a conversation about what they need more from UCE. The overall arch of their responses was to make more connections – for the parents and especially between generations. Some ideas shared were to have childcare available for things such as a parents’ night out and for a parents’-only program or activity, having the older youth help the younger ones and the young adults help with the youth, and having young people be a pen pal with an older adult who isn’t able to attend worship in person.

Much more was shared – too much to write about here. Rev. Eileen and I would love to hear from others too. You can do so in this Family Fall Feedback form. We will keep you posted on where this takes us.

In the meantime, our last Family Friday had 27 people of all ages gather to help weed one of the gardens and then enjoy a campfire and s’mores. Now that the weather is getting colder, our gatherings will be indoors. On November 7 we will have a family game night. Bring a snack and/or beverage to share and a favorite game. Looking at December, we will have our annual Cocoa, Carols, and Community on the 5th. We’ll wrap gifts for the mitten tree and then enjoy hot cocoa and sing holiday favorites.

My plan is to offer the Our Whole Lives (OWL) sex ed program for youth in 7th-9th grades beginning in January. Parents of youth should have gotten an email about this. If not, please let me know and I will send you the information. I am also hoping to offer the young adult OWL program this year. You older adults might get your turn in 2027!

For adults, Dr. Emma Farrell continues their series on Artificial Intelligence, which will be in person and on Zoom on November 5. And on November 19, join me for Create Your UU Elevator Speech, where you will develop an elevator speech about your UU faith. It is called an “elevator speech” because on an elevator ride when someone asks you, “What is Unitarian Universalism?” you only have a short time to make a meaningful statement.

Lastly, there are a couple of invitations from other organizations in Evanston to join in on: Fall Fire Pit with the Evanston Friends Meeting on November 16, and a story time at the Gichigamiin Indigenous Nations Museum. See the blurbs elsewhere in the newsletter for the details.

As always, we continue to build community within UCE and beyond.

In Gratitude,

Kathy

Family Fall Feedback – Friday, October 31, 2025adminuce2025-10-28T20:29:26+00:00

Sunday, November 2, 2025

Gratitude for Our Ancestors

Honoring our UCE Founders, with thankfulness for those ancestors who planted long ago seeds of possibility so that we may continue to carry on their legacy and be good ancestors for our descendants. Rev. Eileen leads this service with Shirley Adams as Worship Associate. The UCE Choir, directed by Vickie Hellyer and accompanied by Gregory Shifrin on piano bless us with music.

Upcoming Services

November 9th – Cultivating Gratitude in Hard soil – Dr. Emma Farrell

November 16th – The Alchemy of Gratitude – Rev. Eileen

November 23rd – Bread Communion – Rev. Eileen

Sunday, November 2, 2025adminuce2025-10-24T18:57:53+00:00