Shall We Overcome?

What does it mean to sing this song of resistance knowing we have NOT overcome, that, in fact, we seem further from overcoming injustice than ever? We honor the life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, by staying in the struggle while remaining honest about our current reality. Rev. Eileen leads this service with Bob Mesle as Worship Associate. Vocal tenor, Henry Pleas, and pianist Ken Smith offer their musical gifts.

Today’s offering will be shared with C&W Market Foundation, whose mission is to enrich the Evanston community by providing essential grocery access to those facing food insecurity and fostering career skills in the food and culinary industry.

Upcoming Services

January 25 – Finding the Way: Sophia Newman’s Spiritual Journey

February 1 – Pluralism: Resilience Born of Difference; Rev. Eileen

February 8 – Pleasure Activism; Dr. Emma Farrell

February 15 – Inhabiting Our Innate Power; Rev. Eileen

Love Resists and Builds

UUs across the country are joining the UUA’s Love Resists campaign. We will explore building community, training geared toward engagement, and the various forms of action that contribute to collective resistance. Bring your whistle or plan to get one. Rev. Eileen leads the service with support from Rev. Susan, Mary Dudek, and UCE’s Catalyst for Democracy Team. The UCE Choir, director Vickie Hellyer, and pianist Gregory Shifrin provide our musical inspiration.

Today’s offering will be shared with C&W Market Foundation, whose mission is to enrich the Evanston community by providing essential grocery access to those facing food insecurity and fostering career skills in the food and culinary industry.

Upcoming Services

January 18 – Shall We Overcome? Rev. Eileen

January 25 – Finding the Way: Sophia Newman’s Spiritual Journey

February 1 – Pluralism: Resilience Born of Difference; Rev. Eileen

February 8 – Pleasure Activism; Dr. Emma Farrell

 

Fire Communion: Finding Our Gift

This Sunday, in-person participants will be invited to burn flash paper and online participants will be invited to have 1 to 4 candles ready to use during the Fire Communion. We will set an intention toward finding our gift. A gift that reflects our unique qualities and is able to be shared with the world.

Worship is led by Rev. Susan Frances and worship associates Dr. Emma Farrell, Ellie Feddersen, Lynn Kendall, and Bob Mesle, along with hymn leader Jenn Wisegarver and pianist Gregory Shifrin.

Today’s offering will be shared with C&W Market Foundation, whose mission is to enrich the Evanston community by providing essential grocery access to those facing food insecurity and fostering career skills in the food and culinary industry.

Upcoming Services

January 11th – Love Resists – Revs. Eileen and Susan and the Catalyst Team

January 18th – Shall We Overcome? – Rev. Eileen with Henry Pleas as musical guest

January 25th – Sophia Newman’s spiritual journey with Rev. Eileen as worship associate

February 1st – Resilience Born out of Difference – Rev. Eileen

 

Finding Hope when Plans Change

In this all-ages service, we’ll follow a story of setback and adaptation to explore hope…not as certainty or fixed outcomes, but as openness to possibility.  Dr. Emma Farrell, Ministerial Intern, leads our service with Worship Associate Annette Wallace. Gregory Shifrin shares his talents on piano.

Today’s offering will be shared with FORA – Forging Opportunities for Refugees in America, whose mission is to ensure that refugee families are provided access to an education sufficient to prepare them to become economically self-sufficient and robustly engaged in American civic life.

Upcoming Services

January 4th – Fire Communion – Rev. Susan

January 11th – Love Resists – Revs. Eileen and Susan and the Catalyst Team

January 18th – Shall We Overcome? – Rev. Eileen with Henry Pleas as musical guest

January 25th – Sophia Newman’s spiritual journey with Rev. Eileen as worship associate

In the bleak of winter, amidst the night of the soul, when peace feels so far away, we gather to pray for the clarity of a single star guiding us toward a peace we can only create together. Rev. Eileen Wiviott leads our Christmas Eve candlelight service with Worship Associates Shirley Adams, Mary Dudek, Dr. Emma Farrell, and Bob Mesle. Our UCE Choir, directed by Vickie Hellyer and accompanied by Gregory Shifrin on piano, Peter Schifrin on flute, and Nadav Simon on percussion, lead us in song.

 A Story of Hope

The winter solstice brings the promise of returning light and warmth, and the Christmas story as we enact it, helps us to choose hope even when things are bleak. Join us in celebrating the season with the retelling of Jesus’ birth in an interactive and music-filled worship service. Kathy Underwood leads and Rev. Eileen will be the Worship Associate. Jenn Wisegarver, Kiley Korey, Charles M. Anderson, and Patrick Briody will lead our hymns.

Today’s offering will be shared with FORA, which stands for Forging Opportunities for Refugees in America. I invite Sue Larson up to share with us about her experiences tutoring at FORA.

Upcoming Services

December 24th – Christmas Eve Service (7pm)

December 28th – Living Faithfully – Dr. Emma Farrell

January 4th – Fire Communion – Rev. Susan

January 11th – Love Resists – Revs. Eileen and Susan and the Catalyst Team

January 18th – Shall We Overcome? – Rev. Eileen with Henry Pleas as musical guest

Lighting Our Way

In these times of growing darkness, we search together for sources of light to guide us on our collective journey toward hope. Our annual music service lifts our spirits and fortifies our hearts. The UCE choir and soloists led by Music Director, Vickie Hellyer, accompanied by Gregory Shifrin on piano, Kevin Barrow on clarinet, and Nadav Simon on percussion. Kristee Boehm, Ellie Feddersen, Sarah Vanderwicken, Andy Fisher, and Rev. Eileen will be our Worship Associates.

Today’s offering will be shared with FORA, which works to ensure that refugee families are provided access to an education sufficient to prepare them to become economically self sufficient and robustly engaged in American civic life.

Upcoming Services

December 21st – Pageant Sunday – Kathy Underwood

December 24th – Christmas Eve Service (7pm)

December 28th – Living Faithfully – Dr. Emma Farrell

January 4th – Fire Communion – Rev. Susan

January 11th – Love Resists – Revs. Eileen and Susan and the Catalyst Team

 

What Might Rise?

In uncertain times, as all times are, choosing hope is an act of courageous defiance. In community we practice choosing hope and planting seeds of what might emerge from the soil of creative resistance. Rev. Eileen leads this service with Charles M. Anderson as our Hymn Leader and Gregory Shifrin on piano.

Today’s offering will be shared with FORA, which works to ensure that refugee families are provided access to an education sufficient to prepare them to become economically self sufficient and robustly engaged in American civic life.

Upcoming services:

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

December 21st – Pageant Sunday – Kathy Underwood

December 24th – Christmas Eve Service (7pm)

December 28th – Living Faithfully – Dr. Emma Farrell

January 4th – Fire Communion – Rev. Susan

Until We Are All Free

This Sunday’s service is a haunting meditation on what happens to the human soul when it is caged. Keith Talley with the Unitarian Universalist Prison Ministry of Illinois (UUPMI) leads our service this Sunday with Rev. Susan Frances, worship associate Sally Parsons, and pianist Gregory Shifrin.

Keith Talley (him/him) is a system-impacted Muslim leader working at the crossroads of reentry, faith, and narrative justice. He serves as Prison Solidarity Specialist with the Unitarian Universalist Prison Ministry of IL, Reentry Program Coordinator at Phalanx Family Services, and Founder & CEO of Revolutionary Reentry Hub. Introduced to UUPMI through the Pen Pal Program while caged, Keith found not a call to conversion, but a deep alignment of values. Today, he works to build bridges between spiritual traditions and to transform how we see and stand with those returning from prison.

MASKS ARE REQUIRED AT THIS SERVICE to create space for in-person community time with our immunocompromised members and friends.

Today’s offering will be shared with the Unitarian Universalist Prison Ministry of Illinois in its effort to equip UU’s in Illinois to ​transform institutions and partner with people harmed by the prison industrial complex. 

Upcoming Services

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

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

December 21st – Pageant Sunday – Kathy Underwood

December 28th – Living Faithfully – Dr. Emma Farrell

 

Thanks For Being

Our annual Bread Communion service in which we share from the abundance of our traditions, with gratitude for what we have and knowing that what we pay attention to grows. Rev. Eileen leads this service with Ellie Feddersen as Worship Associate. The UCE Choir, directed by Vickie Hellyer and accompanied by Gregory Shifrin and Ken Smith share their musical gifts.