UCE UCE, Author at UC Evanston

From EOD: July 8, 2022

My heart is heavy as I write this newsletter article remembering again and again the tragic event of July 4th. Throughout my life this has been an amazing day filled with joy and feelings of patriotism as I celebrated my birthday. It will never be the same. Forever etched on my heart and mind will be the horror that turned celebrating into death, trauma and shattered lives. For 7.5 years I led the Highland Park Parade as the Chamber of Commerce Director, and it was a day filled with happiness and pride. I feel a deep connection to the Highland Park community. I grieve with them and for them as they strive to rebuild their community and heal to the extent possible.

Staffing news: Our beloved Jessica Meis is taking on a new opportunity and will leave us at the end of the month. She has been taking master program classes and planned to stay with us a bit longer, but as life would have it her great skills and personality have led her in a new direction. When Rev. Eileen Wiviott returns from vacation, we will continue to develop our staffing plan for the next year and beyond. Job postings are in progress and we will begin interviewing as soon as possible.

Our beautiful playscape is developing day by day. Flowers are blooming, grasses are growing. Staff who were onsite yesterday enjoyed a lovely lunch together at our new tables. We have moved the two tables together as they were designed so that groups such as the retired women’s group can gather and eat outside. We are about to lay another layer of playground chips in the children’s area between the ramp and the wing and install jumping logs. Sandra Danforth and I continue to search for an appropriate solar fountain. Karen Underwood and Susan Frances will be working with our youth to learn about and walk the labyrinth. May our children and our adults continue to make use of the beauty beyond our walls.

The Sanctuary Hearing Loop is installed, but we are awaiting a part that will upgrade the system and provide even better sound quality. If all goes as planned the final calibration will take place next week and we hope to launch the loop on Sunday, July 17. We will keep you posted.

Over the past few weeks several roofers were contacted to assess the sanctuary roof and provide quotes. Buildings and Grounds Co-Lead Robb Geiger and I met with Carol Nielsen of B & G to review the proposals. We selected Tecta America who was recommended by our neighbors Beth Emet. We found their proposal to be thorough, professionally presented, fairly priced, and several good photos were provided to show the work that needs to be done. They hope to begin work on the 11th of July.

Summer is the usual time when we do repairs around the buildings and grounds. Recently, a repair was done to the roof of the outdoor storage shed where a squirrel had chewed through it. Contents were removed, the floor was cleaned, and contents returned. The Garden Team will use the shed to store equipment and tools. Our gate to the garbage area next to the shed was repaired as well with a broken board replaced and painted.

Rentals have been going well. PedalHeads continue through August. A memorial is scheduled for this Saturday. MOMS of multiples return in September, North Shore Choral Society plan to do a concert in November and we are scheduling a rehearsal for Evanston Symphony Orchestra in July. Our long time renter Udumbara remains with us.

Mark your calendars and plan to attend a Howard Levy concert at UCE on Sunday, October 23. Details will follow in the months ahead.

The Board of Trustees, ISC and Staff appreciate your support. We are poised to meet our projections for fiscal year end, which was June 30, 2022. Your contributions of treasure and time are valued. Please email at any time with ideas, comments, or concerns at srobinson@ucevanston.org.

Sandra Robinson,
Executive Operations Director

From EOD: July 8, 2022UCE UCE2022-07-08T18:55:22+00:00

Highland Park Shooting – Another Opportunity for Action: July 8, 2022

In the wake of the mass shooting in Highland Park, many of us are asking the same question: WHAT CAN WE DO?

People for a Safer Society are asking you to contact Governor Pritzker, Senate President Don Harmon, and Speaker Chris Welch to demand that Illinois have a special legislative session dedicated to gun violence prevention in Illinois. 

Specifically, the legislature is asked to immediately consider:

a ban on assault-type weapons
a ban on large capacity magazines
mandatory fingerprinting to get a FOID card

Please call and email the leaders listed below and demand a special legislative session to address the plague of gun violence in Illinois:

Governor Pritzker – Click here to send an email or call (312) 814-2122 
Senate President Don Harmon – Click here to send an email or call (708) 848-2002
Speaker Chris Welch:  Click here to send an email or call (708) 450-1000

Then, call your local state senator and representative, whose contact information can be found here, and ask then to support the legislation.

Highland Park Shooting – Another Opportunity for Action: July 8, 2022UCE UCE2022-07-08T14:11:01+00:00

Article II Study Commission Update: July 8, 2022

Commission Studying UU Principles and Sources Extends Feedback Deadline to July 18th

From UUA.org

After such wonderful feedback from the sessions at the 2022 General Assembly (GA), the Commission studying Article II of the Unitarian Universalist Association Bylaws, which will rewrite our Principles and Sources, has extended its deadline for individual feedback to July 18th.

If you did not attend GA, you may view all the public videos from GA online. The Article II presentations can be found within the following General Sessions under the On-Demand Video section:

Introduction to the work, Purpose, and Freedom of Belief in General Session II (beginning with Dan McKanan’s theological framing at 20:35, followed by a presentation at 32:30).
Values and Covenant in General Session III (beginning at 24:15, followed by Dr. Elías Ortega’s theological framing at 1:29:20).
Inclusion and Inspirations in General Session IV (beginning at 33:00, followed by Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt’s theological framing at 1:20:34).

Record your thoughts, comments, questions, and ideas via the GA 2022 – Feedback for Article II Study Commission hub at padlet.com/a2sc/ga22.

You can learn more at the Article II Study Commission’s website: uua.org/a2sc
Follow the Commission on Facebook:  Article II Study Commission or Instagram: RevUU_A2

Background Information:
Our current Unitarian Universalist (UU) Principles and Sources are listed in Article II of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) Bylaws. Article II is the foundation for the work of our Unitarian Universalist (UU) movement. It encompasses the covenant to which all of our UU congregations and UU covenanted communities pledge themselves when they become members of our UUA.

Since the founding of the UUA in 1961, our Principles and Sources have been amended several times, with a full review having been conducted last in 1987. The 5th Principle was the subject of a report in 2009, which dealt with the ways in which General Assembly (GA) and other UU gatherings do and don’t embody an inclusive democratic process. At GA in 2017, there was discussion of an amended 1st Principle, addressing non-human life, and of amending the Principles to add the 8th Principle, addressing racism. The 7th Principle has also been the subject of discussions about possible amendments. In response to those discussions, in 2020 the UUA Board established an Article II Study Commission to conduct a full review and consider revisions to Article II of the UUA Bylaws.

Article II Study Commission Update: July 8, 2022UCE UCE2022-07-08T14:05:53+00:00

From the Immigrant Solidarity Team: July 8, 2022

Highland Park Shooting – Opportunities for Action

The July 4th Highland Park shooting has impacted our local immigrant community hard. Please see this message from ICIRR, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, one of IST’s partner organizations.

From: ICIRR
Date: Wed, Jul 6, 2022 at 1:24 PM
Subject: Highland Park

The ICIRR family has been devastated and angered by the events in Highland Park this past Monday. Leaders with our member organization Mano a Mano Family Resource Center have lost relatives. We cannot imagine the pain that they and the entire community are enduring right now, and we mourn with them.

We specifically note that many of the victims are members of Highland Park’s thriving Latinx community. They, their families and neighbors need culturally and linguistically competent crisis relief services as they grapple with this horrible tragedy. Those who need immigrant friendly mental health resources can visit Mental Health Resources — The Coalition for Immigrant Mental Health (ourcimh.org).

We also note that a number of leaders of ICIRR member the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs (JCUA) are Highland Park residents, some of whom were at the parade. They witnessed the violence and are in community with those who passed and suffered injuries on Monday. They are in our thoughts as they navigate the trauma from this horrific incident.

Mano a Mano is lifting up four Go Fund Me pages to offer support for the victims’ families who were part of the Mano-A-Mano Community.

Nicolas Toledo
The Uvaldo Family
Alan Castillo
Cristian (Red Oak student): Fundraiser by Rosa Rebolledo : Red Oak Student-Highland Park

ICIRR stands alongside the many others who demand wrap-around solutions and policies that will address public safety and save lives by tackling both root causes and immediate necessary challenges that incidents like these far too often bring to light. Whether at a school near the border in Texas, a grocery store in upstate New York, a parade in Highland Park, or in disinvested neighborhoods throughout Chicago, our communities deserve safety for ALL.

We hold everyone impacted by Monday’s incident in our hearts as we continue to demand action and fight for our collective liberation.

Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
https://www.icirr.org/
228 S. Wabash Ave, Suite 800
Chicago, IL 60604

From the Immigrant Solidarity Team: July 8, 2022UCE UCE2022-07-07T19:47:46+00:00

July 10, 2022

We will host an in-person and virtual worship service on Sunday, July 10th at 10:15 am.

We the People
In the past few weeks, we’ve marked Independence Day and celebrated General Assembly. In this service we recognize the democratic process both within the context of this nation and the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Rev. Julie Taylor is a Unitarian Universalist community minister specializing in critical incident response, community crisis and pastoral care. Rev. Taylor is the Senior Director of Contextual Ministry and an affiliate professor at Meadville Lombard Theological School. Agitating, preaching, and working towards dismantling systems of White Supremacy are key in Rev. Taylor’s theology and work.

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 Moran Center for Youth Advocacy.

July 10, 2022UCE UCE2022-07-08T13:55:50+00:00

July 1, 2022

Click here to read this week’s newsletter.

July 1, 2022UCE UCE2022-07-01T19:27:01+00:00

Reproductive Justice Action of Immediate Witness: July 1, 2022

One of the Actions of Immediate Witness (AIW) passed at the UUA General Assembly last week was “We Do Not Consent: Rejecting Legal Challenges to Abortion.” This AIW is a clear statement that our Unitarian Universalist faith affirms that our bodies are sacred, that we are each endowed with the twin gifts of agency and conscience, and that each of us should have the power to decide what does and doesn’t happen to our bodies at every moment of our lives because consent and self-determination are holy.

The AIW also points out how the change in law will cause greater hardship for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color), people of low financial resources, those with disabilities, and those in the LGBTQAI+ communities, who are most harmed by legal and systemic barriers to comprehensive reproductive health care. This AIW calls upon us to act individually and collectively to organize, advocate, witness, support, educate and fundraise.

Here are some of the many ways to live into this AIW and our UU values:

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.

Go March or Get Trained!

July 12, 26, 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.
July 17 at 10:00 am, participate in Abortion Access Front’s training on abortion activism. Register here.
July 21, 28, and August 4 from 7:00-8:30 pm CT, participate in UUA Side with Love’s Reproductive Justice Congregational Organizing Series. Register here.

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): 

Midwest Access Coalition

Educating medical providers on a wide range of comprehensive reproductive health care topics that improve access: 

Midwest Access Project

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.

Reproductive Justice Action of Immediate Witness: July 1, 2022UCE UCE2022-07-07T21:44:44+00:00

July 3, 2022

We will host an in-person and virtual worship service on Sunday, July 3rd at 10:15 am.

The Circle of Love
This Sunday we gather in the Universalist spirit and are reminded that no one is outside the circle of love. Joining with guest speaker, the Rev. Allison Farnum, we are invited to feel the power of our living tradition through the lens of the Unitarian Universalist Prison Ministry of Illinois.

Rev. Allison Farnum (she/her/hers) is the Director and Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Prison Ministry of Illinois and an affiliated community minister at Second Unitarian Church of Chicago, Illinois. She lives with her partner and two children in Evanston, IL.

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 Moran Center for Youth Advocacy.

July 3, 2022UCE UCE2022-06-27T16:54:09+00:00

June 24, 2022

Click here to read this week’s newsletter.

June 24, 2022UCE UCE2022-06-24T19:34:02+00:00

From Kathy Underwood: June 24, 2022

On the Cusp

In case you haven’t heard, since my last article Todd and I have officially become grandparents. We welcomed Clementine Jennifer Underwood (CJ for short) on May 25. Mom Michelle is struggling a bit but is slowly adjusting to the many unusual sounds of a newborn.

And I am carefully balancing on the cusp between being a supportive mother-in-law and an over-bearing one. I keep offering to help in any way I can no matter how small and have only been asked once to stay with the baby so Michelle could sleep. I know they need to find a new rhythm to their family life though, and so I continue to offer my help and wait to be asked.

As I write this on the Summer Solstice, I can’t help but notice how today is also a day of being on the cusp: the cusp of summer. While our culture celebrates the solstice as the beginning of summer, it is seen as the middle of summer, or midsummer, in many other cultures such as Scandinavia as well as in the Wiccan tradition. From this day until the Winter Solstice, our time of daylight is gradually decreasing with each passing day. We are on the cusp and at the peak of our time with the sun. And while this may seem a bit depressing, we manage to make it a time worth celebrating with joy and gratitude for all the sun and earth provide us.

We are collectively on another cusp at UCE: hopefully coming out of a pandemic. We adapted quickly in 2020 to virtual worship and groups, and from there we explored other ways of doing things as we slowly returned to in-person gatherings. We had many events and groups outside – even OWL, the sex ed program for youth! We needed to discern what was meaningful in the past and what we could let go of in the future. We dared to be brave and tried something new with the faith formation hour.

Being on a cusp gives us a new perspective. It offers us the opportunity to see that we have many paths to choose from and to forge ahead and boldly go wherever it takes us. We will continue needing to ask ourselves, “How much of the past do we continue to uphold and how much do we let go of to leave space for the new? How do we continue to minister in all the ways we want to minister to each other when many of us are still recovering from the past two years?”

I believe we still need to nurture ourselves and each other as we continue on the path to a “new normal”. We need to gather in as many different ways as possible, whether in person or virtually: covenant groups, committee efforts, worship, social action, and faith formation (which includes all of these). And so this summer the Faith Formation Council continues the Wednesdays on the Lawn program and is coordinating local meetups at outdoor concerts around Evanston. The Family Ministry Team is also doing monthly gatherings outdoors. Our first one was geocaching at Emily Oaks, which was a bit challenging and lots of fun. Look for details in the newsletter to see what all we have going on this summer.

As we head into the new church year this fall, our plan is to continue with a variety of ways for you to connect with others, such as potlucks, game nights, holiday rituals and celebrations, campfires, etc. We are also looking at how we can tweak the worship and faith formation schedule based on the feedback we have gotten so far and are reaching out to leadership for their thoughts as well.

We won’t be on this cusp for long – might as well enjoy the view while we can.

In Faith,

Kathy Underwood

From Kathy Underwood: June 24, 2022UCE UCE2022-06-22T17:11:21+00:00

About UCE UCE

Calendar