From DLRE: May 14, 2021

The Stories We Tell Ourselves

We all have stories that we tell ourselves. Some we learned as young children. And some we have been retelling ourselves for decades. Some stories are ones from the communities we are connected to – our families, friends, schools, workplaces, and yes, our congregations.

As a part of the interim ministry period these past two years, Rev. Karen has had this congregation look back at the stories that have been told over the years, and to explore how they have helped shape UCE into the congregation that it is now. Although I have only been here for 18 months, I have heard some of these stories myself. I don’t wish to rehash any of these stories here. Rather, my focus is on some of the broader stories we may be telling ourselves as a congregation.

Have you heard the story about faith formation? You know, the one about the kids and youth and what we think they should be learning? It’s the one we struggle with a bit. First, we seem to have an “upstairs/downstairs” approach, as in the young people are downstairs, out of sight and mind, and the adults are upstairs making the decisions and participating fully in the life of the congregation. What would it look like if the adults were downstairs, and the young people were upstairs?

And then there is the term “faith formation” – why can’t we simply keep saying ”religious education”? After all, isn’t that what we are doing- educating our young people? The short answer is “yes and no”. We value education, intellect, and reason – it’s even part of our UU Sources. However, faith formation is a whole lot more! It is done in and through worship, multigenerational relationships, social activism, spiritual practices, leadership, in the arts, and in play.

I have one more story to look at – the one where faith formation is something that only children and youth do. That is a very old story! Faith formation is something we all do at every age and throughout our lifespan. Why should the young people have all the fun anyway?

So how can we re-write the endings of these stories? That is what the Faith Formation Force has been exploring. Beginning in July, we are going to start writing some alternative endings to these stories by trying some new things. While the details are still being worked out, we will have Wednesday evening gatherings outside. Each week will start with a picnic on the lawn, followed by a special activity. We invite you to be a part of the new story we are creating!

In Faith,

Kathy Underwood, Director of Lifespan Religious Education

From DLRE: May 14, 2021UCE UCE2021-05-13T17:16:09+00:00

May 16, 2021

We will host an online worship service on Sunday, May 16th at 11:15 am.

For All that Has Been, ‘Thanks’, for All That Is to Be, ‘Yes!’
by Rev. Karen Gustafson, Interim Minister

There are many stories to tell about the last two years: personal stories that reflect the joys and sorrows, the transitions and accumulated experience in the life of each individual reading these words. There are also stories about the individual and collective experience of being part of the UCE community as you have engaged in the process of looking at the ways you embody your mission to nurture the human spirit for a world made whole, as you made your way to settle your next Senior Minister. Add to the mix a pandemic that completely altered the way you are in community. How has all of this changed the story of who you are and what you may become?

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 the UU Prison Ministry of Illinois.

May 16, 2021UCE UCE2021-05-10T17:28:35+00:00

May 7, 2021

Click here to read this week’s newsletter.

May 7, 2021UCE UCE2021-05-07T19:30:33+00:00

VirtUUal Faith Formation: May 7, 2021

What’s Happening in Faith Formation?

Welcome as we continue our theme, Story! This week we focus on the segments Around the Neighborhood, and At Play. Check out this week’s video here. You can access the Soulful Home packet here at your own leisure.

Many Ways to Connect

Taking Flight Sex Ed Program for 7th-9th Youth – Sunday at 1 pm. Note that we will not meet on May 16 due to the Annual Meeting after worship.

Pre/K Kids and Families – POP (Parents of Preschoolers) – May’s materials are available here. The password is YouGotThis2020 (case sensitive.) This UU-based program is to be used all month long. Do whatever fits your family’s schedule.

High School Youth – Sunday at 4 pm. Look for an email with details.

Current & Upcoming Adult Faith Formation

Intersectionality in Speculative Fiction: N. K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season – Tuesdays, May 11, 18  at 7-8:30  pm  - Facilitated by UCE member  Emily  Eckwahl-Sanna. Imagine a world where apocalypses are commonplace. Where frequent seismic activity—whether volcanoes, earthquakes, or other environmental disasters—result in extended winters and the widespread loss of human life.

Learn More and Register

Join the Class on Zoom

Deepening UU Identity – May 26 at 7-8:30 pm via Zoom – Join us for our next session UU Spirituality: what does spirituality mean to us and how can we practice spirituality however we answer ultimate questions. Led by Rev. Eileen and Rev. Susan Frances.

Learn More and Register

Join the Class on Zoom

Sealed by Katie Langston: Q&A with the Author – Tuesday, June 1 at 7 pm – Katie Langston’s memoir, Sealed, tells the story of her conversion to mainline Christianity out of Mormonism. Attendance at the 4/27 reading group led by Ruth Orme-Johnson is not required to also attend the Q&A.

Learn More and Register

Join the Class on Zoom

VirtUUal Faith Formation: May 7, 2021UCE UCE2021-05-07T15:55:18+00:00

May 9, 2021

We will host an online worship service on Sunday, May 9th at 11:15 am.

The Mother in All of Us

Mothers are often expected to possess super human capacity for loving, giving, and forgiving. Of course, mothers are only human. But how would the world be different if each of us practiced loving all children as our children?

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 the UU Prison Ministry of Illinois.

May 9, 2021UCE UCE2021-05-02T18:53:43+00:00

VirtUUal Faith Formation: April 30, 2021

What’s Happening in Faith Formation?

Welcome to our new monthly theme, Story! This week we focus on the segments The Welcome Mat, At the Table, and On the Message Board . Check out this week’s video here. You can access the Soulful Home packet here at your own leisure.

Many Ways to Connect

Popcorn Theology for 6th-8th Youth – Sunday at 1 pm. “Stargate: The Ark of Truth” Join the Zoom Meeting.

Taking Flight Sex Ed Program for 7th-9th Youth – Sunday at 1 pm. Youth must be registered to attend. See the email with Zoom info.

Pre/K Kids and Families – POP (Parents of Preschoolers) – May’s materials are available here. The password is YouGotThis2020 (case sensitive.) This UU-based program is to be used all month long. Do whatever fits your family’s schedule.

High School Youth – Sunday at 4 pm. Look for an email with details.

Current & Upcoming Adult Faith Formation

Intersectionality in Speculative Fiction: N. K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season – Tuesdays, May 4, 11, 18  at 7-8:30  pm  - Facilitated by UCE member  Emily  Eckwahl-Sanna. Imagine a world where apocalypses are commonplace. Where frequent seismic activity—whether volcanoes, earthquakes, or other environmental disasters—result in extended winters and the widespread loss of human life.

Learn More & Register

Join the Session

Deepening UU Identity – May 26 at 7-8:30 pm via Zoom – Join us for our next session UU Spirituality: what does spirituality mean to us and how can we practice spirituality however we answer ultimate questions. Led by Rev. Eileen and Rev. Susan Frances.

Learn More & Register

Join the Session

Sealed by Katie Langston: Q&A with the Author – Tuesday, June 1 at 7 pm – Katie Langston’s memoir, Sealed, tells the story of her conversion to mainline Christianity out of Mormonism. Attendance at the 4/27 reading group led by Ruth Orme-Johnson is not required to also attend the Q&A.

Learn More & Register

Join the Session

VirtUUal Faith Formation: April 30, 2021UCE UCE2021-04-30T20:37:42+00:00

April 30, 2021

Click here to read this week’s newsletter.

April 30, 2021UCE UCE2021-04-30T19:09:40+00:00

From Rev. Karen Gustafson: April 30, 2021

Dear ones,

There is a large window in our upstairs bathroom that looks out into a patch of woods. Northern Minnesota is fully a month behind Central Illinois relative to the arrival of spring, and so, on this rather dreary day the view outside is all shades of brown and gray – except for the intrepid moss that grows on the north, south, east and west sides of the trees. Whereas I love the dazzling green of spring in your neck of the woods, I oddly treasure this fallow time of year when change comes more slowly and moves me to think about the nature of all things. This year especially as I move out of Covid and toward the end of my interim time with UCE, I am aware of the hidden changes that emerge out of winter.

Clearly there is deadfall, brought down by heavy snow or angry lake winds. But in the absence of leaves, it is impossible for me to tell which of the standing trees will bloom and which will, this summer, begin their journey back to earth. At ground level there are tiny sprouts making their way toward the light. Only a skilled botanist would be able to tell one from another and even they can’t predict which ones will survive to reveal their true identities. Late frost, hungry deer, stampeding squirrels all waiting to lay claim.

And in the end, spring will prevail. What is lost will most likely be forgotten as the living puts on its most extravagant show.

For me, the essence of Earth Day is to reclaim this poignant reality as it mirrors the nature of human systems. There is at once so much beauty and so much loss. Beauty and good fortune can be so seductive that the embedded presence of loss can be ignored.

At best what is lost becomes the stuff of regeneration in the form of lessons learned, mistakes corrected and wisdom claimed. At worst what is lost is human potential and the capacity for compassion and the will to work for change.

We are all emerging from many winters – the season itself can be harsh and especially so with the additions of Covid and growing urgency to address systemic racism and white supremacy in all forms.

At UCE there is much emerging beauty: the calling of Eileen Wiviott as your Senior Minister; the formation of the Anti-Oppression Task Force; a successful canvass; the structural review of many aspects of congregational life including Life Span Religious Education; wonderful virtual All Music Sunday and so much more.

Let us not in the presence of all of this splendor, forget the losses: those who have been left behind due to lack of access to technology; those who have not been able to engage because of illness; those who have drifted away because they have not felt welcomed or invited into connection. These tender shoots need our attention even in our grateful celebration of spring.

As you slowly re-emerge from this time of pandemic, please think of those with whom you have been long disconnected. Today would be a good day for reaching out with a phone call or an e-mail or a personal note. Let the power of those small gestures nourish the ground of your beloved community.

In love and gratitude,

Karen Gustafson

Interim Minister

From Rev. Karen Gustafson: April 30, 2021UCE UCE2021-04-30T17:25:13+00:00

Anti-Oppression Task Force Invitation: April 30, 2021

As you may recall, the Board of Trustees commissioned an Anti-Oppression Task Force at UCE in response to a call from the congregation, Evanston Interfaith leaders, the UUA through the Commission on Institutional Change, and Black Lives of UU “to engage in the struggle to dismantle white supremacy as it collectively exists” and “to become more inclusive, equitable, and diverse while… work[ing]…to be accountable to those most affected by injustice.” The purpose of this task force is to determine the ways in which this congregation might answer this call, making justice a reality both in our congregation and beyond.

Accomplishing this mission while working within the system of white supremacy that pervades all our institutions has proven much more complicated than anticipated. We decided we needed the assistance of an outside consultant. For that reason, a dedicated group of UCE members interviewed three outside consultants and chose the YWCA Equity Institute to work with us. We chose the YWCA because of their depth of knowledge and experience, their track record in working with Evanston institutions, and their familiarity with our church and its history. The YWCA will be assisting us with creating the task force, training its members, and beginning the work at UCE.

We would like to invite you to contact us about joining the task force. All are welcome who feel called to help build the Beloved Community. We need your voice.

We are looking for task force members who are willing to commit to these goals:

To elevate consciousness and self-awareness, and to expand our shared desire and motivation to address oppression throughout UCE
To identify policies and practices throughout UCE which offend, marginalize, or oppress those from marginalized communities and dismantle those policies and practices
To develop and implement strategies, policies, and practices that reflect a commitment to equity and anti-oppression
To shine a light on the harm that has been caused to marginalized people in our congregation in the past without causing further harm
To commit to anti-racism and anti-oppression work within, among, and beyond our congregation
To be an open, welcoming, anti-racist, anti-oppressive beacon of faith

We want to form a group that will bring as many different perspectives as possible to this endeavor. We encourage UCE members who have connections to organizations within our larger Evanston and Chicago community, such as Interfaith Action, Community Renewal Society, and Connections for the Homeless. Our hope is that a spectrum of voices from within our congregation will make up the task force.

We will strive to make it possible for anyone to lend their abilities and experience to the work. In doing this work, we will endeavor to create, as Micky ScottBey Jones states, “brave space./Because there is no such thing as a ‘safe space’…we will not be perfect. This space will not be perfect…we will work on it side by side.” We need to be in this work together.

Please fill out the attached form if you are interested in joining the task force and send it to bot@ucevanston.org. Please fill out the form before May 14, 2021. If you know someone who would be an excellent addition to this task force, please encourage them to fill out a form. We will be meeting with the YWCA on May 18th, when we will be reviewing the response forms of those who indicated their interest.

If you have questions, please send an email to bot@ucevanston.org.

Submit an Interest Form

Download an Interest Form

Anti-Oppression Task Force Invitation: April 30, 2021UCE UCE2021-04-28T23:58:04+00:00

May 2, 2021

We will host an online worship service on Sunday, May 2nd at 11:15 am.

The Formation of Our Faith
We are at an exciting point in time, as this pandemic has given us an opportunity to breathe – to re-evaluate and re-think things in our lives, with our UCE community being one of those. Our Faith Formation Force has been exploring new ways of “doing church” that better supports the spiritual, educational, and social needs of our community throughout the lifespan. Today, we celebrate the faith formation of our young people and families through pictures, videos, readings, and music. We will recognize our 8th graders as they bridge into high school, and hear from our graduating high school seniors as they bridge into young adulthood, and we will welcome our newest members joining our beloved community.

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 the UU Prison Ministry of Illinois.

May 2, 2021UCE UCE2021-04-26T16:11:13+00:00

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