Susan Frances Archives - Page 3 of 5

From Rev. Susan Frances: June 17, 2022

Dear Friends,

Happy Pride! This week I am reveling in the diversity of the queer communities living in and around Chicago. The photo is of me early this week on my next door neighbors' porch. My entire block is decorated with a plethora of flags, signs, and banners. Many of which I've had to look up to find out what the colors represent. It has me feeling grateful for where I live and the communities of which I am a part. Thank you, to all of you who are part of our wonderful UCE and wider UU communities, for being exactly who you are!

This joy has been starkly contrasted by the realities being supported at the hearings being presented by the House Select Committee Investigating the January 6, 2021 Insurrection at the US Capitol. Right now, I am finding some hope that our democracy will continue to thrive and improve by looking back at some of our country's history. I want to share the words of our UU ancestor Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, who was born a free African-American in Baltimore, Maryland, was raised in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church, and became a Unitarian in 1870 when she joined the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia.

In May 1866 she addressed the Eleventh National Women's Rights Convention in New York City. This quote from her speech titled "We Are All Bound Up Together" could sadly have been written about our current events.

"We are all bound up together in one great bundle of humanity, and society cannot trample on the weakest and feeblest of its members without receiving the curse in its own soul. You tried that in the case of the Negro. You pressed him down for two centuries; and in so doing you crippled the moral strength and paralyzed the spiritual energies of the white men of the country. When the hands of the black were fettered, white men were deprived of the liberty of speech and the freedom of the press. Society cannot afford to neglect the enlightenment of any class of its members. At the South, the legislation of the country was in behalf of the rich slaveholders, while the poor white man was neglected. What is the consequence today? From that very class of neglected poor white men, comes the man who stands to-day, with his hand upon the helm of the nation. He fails to catch the watchword of the hour, and throws himself, the incarnation of meanness, across the pathway of the nation."

'The man who stands to-day' she references was our 17th US President, but Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's sentiments from 1866 apply aptly to our 45th US President. I know it is overwhelming to think about all that is happening in our country right now, but I encourage you to continue to draw strength from and live into your UU values in each moment as you are able.

Our congregation is involved in so much work for social change. As Marian Wright Edelman, an American activist for civil rights and children's rights, reminds us, "We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee."

Here are ways to get involved right now. Email any contact person listed here at admin@ucevanston.org or find their personal information in REALM.

Vote! Reach out to Carolyn Laughlin and find out how to get involved with UUtheVote.
Join our newly forming Reproductive Justice group by contacting me.
Sign up to be a Pen Pal with someone who is currently incarcerated by contacting Steve Serikaku. Learn how we can how hold each other accountable without isolation from society.
Find out who is on your library board and your school board and share your values with them. Contact Dennis Wilson to join one of our Advocacy groups to talk with your state representative or senator.
Make lunches for our neighbors experiencing homelessness or food scarcity. Contact Sheila Holder to find out how to contribute to this immediate need through Connections for the Homeless.
Learn about Reparations and determine how you might contribute through acknowledging our history or providing financial support. Contract Rev. Eileen to get involved.
Engage with the Green Team’s Plastic Free July EcoChallenge. Contact Shirley Adams to join our UCE team.
Watch the January 6th hearings so you can refer your friends and family back to the facts being shared.

I know that is a lot of options. And if what you need right now is to take care of yourself in some other way, that is okay. If you are having trouble navigating life right now, whether it is figuring out how to be engaged with the world or how to address your complex emotions in response to a personal problem or social ill, reach out to your friends or family, to your co-workers or your ministers. You may request support from our Caring Team or Pastoral Care Team for yourself or someone else through this form on our website. Reach out – relationships are one way to build hope and create joy and beauty to endure and overcome these hardships.

This past weekend, my wife and I sought out some joy and beauty by venturing out to the Andersonville Midsommarfest to meet up with friends that we have not seen in-person for a long time. It is the first large, dense gathering we have participated in since March 2020, and we wore our KF94 masks. We didn't see many other masked individuals, but we also did not encounter any hostility toward us. A few odd looks, but for our family's medical history, masking will continue to be something we will choose to do when others with a healthy family history are able to choose maskless options. I encourage you to continue to do what is right for you and your family as we continue to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.

We met our friends at Midsommarfest to watch the cover band called She's Crafty. They are an all-female Beastie Boys tribute band. In the middle of their set, they honored our black and brown siblings who have been killed by law enforcement officers by asking for a moment of silence. My first thought was that a request for silence in the midst of a bustling street festival would not feel respectful. But it only took a moment for there to be complete silence in the block leading up to the stage. A silence that spread out and was held for longer than I expected.

In that silence, I felt my individual sadness, and then I started to feel a connection, a silent connection to all those strangers. I felt my sadness being held and I also felt the anger, despair, uncertainty, heartbreak, helplessness in that group of strangers. What I took away from that moment, knowing that I sometimes read too much into such moments, is that this sharing of a moment of silence, in the midst of a crowd of mostly white cisgendered able-bodied strangers in the midst of a busy street fair in the midst of a big city, is one sign of a growing comprehension by those who hold white and other social privileges that we are all in this together. That none of us are unaffected by the violence against our black and brown neighbors. A growing comprehension that this violence and the violence against the Asian and Asian-American communities, against the gay and trans communities, and against women are all interconnected. A growing comprehension that the racism embedded in our culture and influencing our implicit biases must be addressed in order to fuel the change needed to make our democracy stronger and to transform our culture so we are a just and equitable society.

Take care of yourselves, my Beloveds. Find joy and beauty where you can. Get involved when you can. Seek support and nourishment when you need it. We are all bound up together.

Yours in faith,

Rev. Susan

From Rev. Susan Frances: June 17, 2022UCE UCE2022-06-17T16:59:25+00:00

From Rev. Susan Frances: May 27, 2022

Rev. Susan Frances on an Atlantic Beach at Sunset

Dear Friends,

I just returned from a road trip to Chesapeake, Virginia, where I participated in the installation of The Rev. Viola Abbitt as the minister of the Coastal Virginia Unitarian Universalists. The photo is of me enjoying the beauty of the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean. The ceremony was a beautiful reaffirmation of our faith tradition’s reliance on covenant to bind us together.

Covenant, or the promises we make to each other about how we will be in relationship, is the how to our what. The what is our mission and our vision. Having just adopted our new Values Statements or vision at our annual meeting, my thoughts are on how our agreement to be in a covenantal relationship as reflected in our Sunday morning covenant, our Covenant of Engagement, and our Principles aids us as we live out our stated values within our UCE community and out in the world.

When I think of covenant, I often think of a story from my childhood. The story of Noah and the ark. The version I learned as a child is the version from the Torah and the Biblical Old Testament, which ends with a rainbow to mark God’s covenant with humankind. The story is about a great flood sent by God that destroyed everything on earth but the people and animals in the ark that Noah built. When the waters of the flood subsided, God made a covenant with Noah that God would never again send a flood to destroy the earth. And as a sign of that promise, God said, “I have placed My rainbow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth, the rainbow will be seen among the clouds. I will then recall the covenant that exists between Me, you and every living soul in all flesh.” (The Book of Bereshith (Genesis) 9: 13-15, The Living Torah: The Five Books of Noah).

The part of this story that I have been thinking about this week is that God left a reminder of the covenant. Not a reminder for the humans, but a reminder for God. That when God next becomes mad, angry, disappointed, exasperated, or heartbroken with how humans are behaving, and again sends the storm clouds for a flood to destroy the earth, a rainbow will appear in the clouds as a reminder of how God promised to behave. It is a story that affirms for me what I have experienced about how the promises we make about how we will engage with one another are often hard to keep. That we break our promises with each other and need to be called back into covenantal relationship.

Some reminders are put into place so that we come across them on occasion, like the rainbow. Each Sunday morning, we say our covenant from 1894, written by The Rev. James Vila Blake:

Love is the spirit of this church
and service is its law.
This is our great covenant:
to dwell together in peace,
to seek the truth in love
and to help one another.

It is a reminder of our promise to engage with each other fully and honestly. It is a reminder of our fuller Covenant of Engagement that this congregation proactively developed in 2011 to help us engage with each other as we do the hard work of caring for and growing our community. It is a reminder of our Congregational Relations Team that is available to support us when being in relationship is difficult.

Reminders may also be something unplanned that reminds us of our commitments. My time at the Atlantic coast this past week was a reminder to me of my personal promise to care for the earth. My time with colleagues during Rev. Viola’s installation was a reminder of my personal promise to care for my colleagues. This week, as I vacillate among rage, heartbreak, and numbness after the school shooting in Texas, I am trying hard to be open to those unexpected reminders that bring me back to my commitment to living out our new Values Statements and our 8 Principles in the world.

Before I returned home from the wonderful installation ceremony in Virginia last Saturday, the horrible school shooting in Uvalde, Texas occurred. Already in 2022, before the horrific events in Uvalde, there had been at least 77 incidents of gunfire on school grounds, resulting in 14 deaths and 45 injuries across 31 states. And that does not count what we call mass shootings at locations other than schools.

Deeply disappointed by the lack of gun control policies, the lack of mental health care services, the lack of funding for education and support for educators, the overfunding and lack of accountability of the police, and the way we are failing our children, I must admit that I am struggling to find those reminders that bring me back to the covenants articulated through our Principles. Those promises to address my anger by acting to make our society a safer and more peaceful place (6th & 8th Principles), to address my despair by caring for myself and others (2nd & 3rd Principles), and to address my numbness by finding ways to connect with other people and with nature (7th Principle). So, I hope this note may act as a reminder for you to care for yourself as well as caring for others. To get engaged in caring for and improving our society, in whatever form that takes from conversations with children and youth to letters to protests. To do what you can to stay connected, whether online or in-person, with friends, family, and this faith community that shares in the many ranges of emotions we are feeling in the wake of the ongoing gun violence.

We are often practicing how to hold both hardship and joy. Figuring out how to bask in the glory of our celebrations and successes, whether that is the birth of a grandchild or participating in an installation service, and simultaneously embrace the depths of grief, whether that is due to the death of a loved one or of strangers in a far-away place, is challenging. Our covenants and promises to each other, to our society, and to the earth are there to guide us on this complex journey. To comfort us. To buoy us up. To bind us together.

You are invited to leave yourself a reminder that you will come across on occasion to remind you that you are part of a covenantal community, called into accountable and loving relationship. To remind you that you are loved, you are valued, and that if you need help, to reach out to me, or Rev. Eileen, or someone on the Pastoral Care Team.

Yours in covenantal community,

Rev. Susan

From Rev. Susan Frances: May 27, 2022UCE UCE2022-05-27T16:29:04+00:00

Ministers Response to leaked US Supreme Court draft: May 6, 2022

UCE Ministers Response to Leaked U.S. Supreme Court Draft Opinion for Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health

We know that many of you are struggling, as we are, with the leaked draft opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court that appears to overturn the decision in Roe vs. Wade establishing the right to an abortion. The viewpoint in the leaked draft opinion is a direct threat to many of the values we hold dear as Unitarian Universalists. It would overturn the decision in Roe vs. Wade, which established the right to an abortion as a privacy right guaranteed by federal constitutional law. In addition to impairing reproductive rights (which are human rights) for many people, particularly marginalized people, this opinion would create a threat to all other privacy rights critical to maintaining our liberty. In this climate where our Unitarian Universalist values are so deeply politicized, it is hard to feel safe and easy to feel defeated. But we must work to stay together, to support each other and those who are most vulnerable to the stripping away of human rights. Let us work together to stay engaged and emboldened in protecting and advocating for our values in the world, in whatever ways we can.  

Here are some resources you might find useful: 

Attend the We Won’t Go Back Rally this Saturday, May 7, 2022, at noon at Federal Plaza, 219 S. Dearborn, Chicago: https://fb.me/e/1ES4xL5hD. Meet Rev. Susan and Rev. Eileen at 11:45 am outside Garrett Popcorn, 27 W. Jackson Blvd, and walk over to Federal Plaza together.
Train to help provide resources in Illinois, a state that is an oasis of reproductive rights:
Self-Managed Abortion and the Law Training, Wed May 11 from Noon-1:30 CST , REGISTER HERE: https://forms.gle/UuuKH1bgnDL2zgy7A

More info: Knowing that Illinois will become a critical source of access to abortion for surrounding states if the Supreme Court rolls back Roe v. Wade (which is expected in late June), faith communities are organizing to identify what we can do–and the potential legal risks of doing so. This training on Self-Managed Abortion and the Law will be provided by If/When/How, a national organization of lawyers dedicated to reproductive justice. https://www.ifwhenhow.org/.

Read the UUA’s Side With Love Campaign response, which includes other action steps, including being involved in Voting Rights efforts.

You are not alone with your sorrow and worry, Beloveds. Please reach out to either one of us if you want to talk, cry, rage, or move into action. 

~ Rev. Eileen and Rev. Susan

Ministers Response to leaked US Supreme Court draft: May 6, 2022UCE UCE2022-05-06T18:04:13+00:00

From Rev. Susan Frances: April 22, 2022

Dear Friends,

Today is Earth Day! I hope you are able to join us in the sanctuary or online from 7:00-9:00 pm tonight to celebrate. Details are in this newsletter.

As a teenager, the first label I ever consciously claimed was "environmentalist." It is a label I still strive to live into and that still impacts my day-to-day living. Over my lifetime, I have found that it is a label that means different things to different people. For some, it is about how you live your daily life by composting or biking instead of driving. For others, it means extreme living, such as being off the grid. For some, it means financially supporting the conservation of land and animal species. For others, it is reserved only for environmental scientists. Are you or your family environmentalists in some way?

My senior year of high school, I was the co-chair of the Social Studies Club. That year (1990-91), we started a recycling program at the high school. We used Club funds to buy blue recycle bins to put around the school. My carpenter dad and I built two large holding bins. Those bins lived outside by the school's dumpsters. The school wanted proof the program would work, so while they agreed to pay for the pickup from the holding bins by the local recycling company, student volunteers were responsible for taking the contents of the inside bins out to the holding bins at the end of each school day. By the end of the school year, whatever proof the administration had wanted had been fulfilled and the recycling program became a regular part of the building maintenance. I am still proud of that.

A few years ago, my wife and I decided to start composting. Since we live in a condo building, we looked into several options. We tried a spinning barrel on our back porch and our neighbors tried a worm bin in the basement. Both of these are good composting options, but they didn't work out great in our building. Finally, we proposed a building wide composting plan that allows us to collect compost like we do here at UCE, which means we can put any organic material, plant or animal, as well as compostable paper into the collection bins and the composting company picks up the bins every other week. Now more than half of our building participates. I learned in the process of researching about composting options that around 40% of the food in the U.S. goes into a landfill and then turns into greenhouse gases as it decomposes. The food we compost is processed until it is nutrient rich soil that is returned to us twice a year for our small garden.

Our congregation has a great recycling and composting system. Look for the line-up of four bins around the building. Use the bin for compost, the one for paper only recycling, the one for all types of recycling, or, when needed, the one for waste going to the landfill.

As we find ways to care for our environment, we also receive so many benefits from it. Beyond the physical care the world provides us with air, water, and materials for shelter, there are the spiritual, mental, and emotional benefits. For me, the natural world is the basis of my theology, my guide to slowing down and being present, and the place where I find solace and inspiration.

Donald A. Cosby describes Religious Naturalism as "the recognition that to be is to be natural and the conviction that nature in all of its forms and manifestations is a proper focus of religious commitment." The natural world, including our relationships with nature and other people, is my theological foundation.

Rachel Hopman, Ph.D., a neuroscientist at Northeastern University, and other researchers describe the benefit of spending time outdoors. "20 minutes outside three times a week is the dose of nature that had the greatest effect on reducing an urban dweller's levels of the stress hormone cortisol." I have found that walking to the rose garden just two blocks from UCE and back to the building clearly benefits my mind and mood on any given day.

And, even when I can't be out and about, or when life is exhausting and I spend a night watching television, I have been able to fulfill my curiosity, experience joy at this marvelous planet of which we are a part, and find beauty and awe in the natural world by watching documentaries like Night on Earth, The Wonderful: Stories from the Space Station, or Our Great National Parks.

There is always an invitation to feed your spirit with the wonders of the natural world and a simultaneous invitation to care for it. And if life is overwhelming right now and contemplation of the benefits and concerns of the environment is too much, that's okay. Take care of yourself. Reach out when you need. You are a valuable part of the world.

I'll leave you with these 10 ways that I regularly try to make every day Earth Day:

Avoid car traffic. Being stuck in traffic wastes gas and unnecessarily creates CO2. Use traffic websites or apps and go a different way or wait.
Group your errands to make fewer trips.
Eat locally produced food. An estimated 13% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions result from the transport of food.
Reduce the amount of meat you eat in a week.
Turn off lights when you’re not using them and when you leave the room.
Wash your clothes in cold water. Roughly 75 percent of the energy required to do a load of laundry goes into heating the water. Using cold water saves energy, putting less pressure on electricity grids.
Fly economy class for the same reasons you would carpool or take public transportation. Each flyer’s share of a flight’s carbon emissions is relatively less because it’s spread out over more people.
Pay for carbon offsets when you travel. Carbon offsetting and carbon footprint reduction should be done in tandem.
Call your state and federal legislatures to encourage legislation supporting fossil fuel free energy production.
Talk with your family and friends about the reality of climate change. The more people who understand climate change is a fact based in science, the more people who will be part of the many solutions.

Yours in the interdependent web of life,

Rev. Susan

From Rev. Susan Frances: April 22, 2022UCE UCE2022-04-22T17:23:37+00:00

From Rev. Susan Frances: March 25, 2022

Dear Friends,

You are invited to our New Member Reception in the sanctuary this Sunday after the worship service!

We are welcoming 9 new members during our service this Sunday. Plus, the 29 members who joined us since our building closed in March 2020 will be part of the New Member Reception. It will be a time for introductions and connecting. I hope you join us!

I am taking a class right now with the Interim Ministry Network and in the paper I wrote this week I used the Buddhist sacred story of Indra's Net:

"Far away in the heavenly abode of the great god Indra, there is a wonderful net which has been hung by some cunning artificer in such a manner that it stretches out indefinitely in all directions. In accordance with the extravagant tastes of deities, the artificer has hung a single glittering jewel at the net's every node, and since the net itself is infinite in dimension, the jewels are infinite in number. There hang the jewels, glittering like stars of the first magnitude, a wonderful sight to behold. If we now arbitrarily select one of these jewels for inspection and look closely at it, we will discover that in its polished surface there are reflected all the other jewels in the net, infinite in number. Not only that, but each of the jewels reflected in this one jewel is also reflecting all the other jewels, so that the process of reflection is infinite."

~ The Avatamsaka Sutra
Francis H. Cook: Hua-Yen Buddhism : The Jewel Net Of Indra 1977

In this metaphor, whatever affects one jewel affects them all. There are jewels that are close to us, such as each of our new members becoming a closer jewel in our faith community's part of the jeweled net, and jewels that are farther from us, such as UUs in other states and residents of our city who we don't know. How we choose to connect and engage with the world, our city, our neighborhood, our congregation, and our family affects those near and far from us in the jeweled net. With this in mind, I invite you think about how you will be engaged this week, this spring, or this year.

Several folks have already made new connections and gotten engaged through our Social Justice Program Fair held on February 27th. Thank you to the members of the 8 teams and affinity group who participated!!! The photos are of:

BLUU Haven Chicago 
Food and Shelter Team 
Green Team 
Immigrant Solidarity Team 
Legislative Action Team 
Prison Ministry Team 
Racial Equity Action and Leadership Team 
Rainbow Alliance

Team 8th Principle is working on a resolution in support of national and local reparations for Black Americans and Black Evanstonians that will be voted upon at our congregation's annual meeting on May 15, 2022. You are invited to attend one of their Reparations & UCE Conversations. Contact Martha Holman through REALM or at admin@ucevanston.org or see the article in this newsletter for more information.

Our UUtheVote initiative will launch on April 10, 2022! Voting is one of the ways in which we live our values in the world. I invite you to be part of our 40,000 Points of Love initiative to reach out to fellow voters. Contact Shirley Adams through REALM or at admin@ucevanston.org or see the article in this newsletter for more information on how to get engaged.

If you are interested in how our worship services are created, you are invited to participate in a Worship Play Date with Rev. Eileen Wiviott. The next Play Date is on April 9, 2022, from 9:00 am – 12:00 pm. You can register through the article in this newsletter. You are also invited to join the choir by contacting our Music Director, Vickie Hellyer, at vhellyer@ucevanston.org.

The Denominational Affairs Team is gearing up for our national Unitarian Universalist Association's General Assembly, being held virtually as well as in-person in Portland, Oregon, from June 22-26, 2022. Our Association is in the midst of a national review of our 7 Principles and 6 Sources and you are invited to engage in this review process. Contact Peggy Boccard through REALM or at admin@ucevanston.org or see the article in this newsletter for ways to participate.

If you are interested in connecting with a small group of people, you are invited to join a covenant group, one of the groups that participate in spiritual practices such as yoga or tai chi, or one of our four women's circles. Contact Adam Gough at agough@ucevanston.org for more information.

The pandemic has created a new way of being in the world and each of us is emerging this spring in ways different than before. You are invited to go slow and follow what is good for your body, mind, and spirit. If getting more connected and engaged feels right, I hope something I've mentioned calls to you. If you are in need of more rest and to continue to rejuvenate to get through difficult days, please take the time you need to care for yourself. If you or another member or friend in our community need support, please reach out for assistance through our Congregational Care and Support Teams. You are invited to connect and engage in the ways that support your whole being.

This spring, may you feel the connection of all of us as reflected in Indra's Net. May the feel of the rain, the sight of the returning migratory birds, the sound of the wind, or the smell of moist soil remind you of that connection and that you are an essential part of the interconnected web of life.

In faith,

Rev. Susan

From Rev. Susan Frances: March 25, 2022UCE UCE2022-03-25T15:51:26+00:00

From Rev. Susan Frances: February 25, 2022

Dear Friends,

Stewardship may be viewed as an ethic that embodies the responsible care for items that belong to someone other than yourself. For our faith community, it is our ethic for how we take care of UCE: its building, its grounds, its programs, its members, friends, and employees. Stewardship may take many forms. At UCE, we talk about giving of our time, treasure, and talent to support the stewardship of our faith community. Here are a few ways you can get more involved and share your:

Time – Volunteer with one of our Hospitality Teams!
Treasure – Pledge! Our pledge drive starts February 26th!
Talent – Share your talents through our Faith Formation programs!

Time – Volunteer with one of our Hospitality Teams!

After being closed for six weeks, we again reopened our doors on February 13th to hold our Sunday morning services at 10:15 am, engage in Kinship Time (formerly Coffee Hour) at 11:15 am, and then to have our all-ages Faith Formation Hour at 11:35 am. In order to have in-person greeters, kitchen attendants, and offering counters and to maintain our online livestream service with an online host, we have restructured our Hospitality Teams to have 4 teams. One way you may give of your time to care for our community is to join one of these teams and commit to volunteer on a Sunday morning twice in a year:

Hospitality Team for Greeters – If you enjoy making others feel comfortable or appreciate how you were welcomed to UCE and would like to provide that for another, this is the team for you. No training needed; you will receive instructions on the morning you volunteer. To volunteer contact Rev. Susan Frances at sfrances@ucevanston.org.
Hospitality Team for Money Counters – If you like ushering during the service or counting the offertory funds after the service or if you prefer a role where you don’t have to talk with a lot of people, this team is for you. There is training provided. To volunteer contact Peggy Boccard via REALM or Rev. Susan Frances at sfrances@ucevanston.org.
Hospitality Team for Kitchen Ministry – If you enjoy providing food to show you care, this team is for you. We are planning to start serving coffee, tea, and lemonade during Kinship Time on March 27, 2022. In the meantime, we are providing water and hard candies. There is training provided in using our newly renovated kitchen. To volunteer contact Rev. Susan Frances at sfrances@ucevanston.org.
Hospitality Team for Virtual Only – If you are not yet comfortable volunteering in-person, this is the team for you. There is training provided. To volunteer, contact Rev. Susan Frances at sfrances@ucevanston.org.

Treasure – Pledge! Our pledge drive starts February 26th!

Join us in-person or online this Saturday and Sunday to kick off our annual pledge drive! Information about when and where can be found further down in this newsletter. The pledge drive each spring asks members and pledging friends to make a commitment to support our congregation for the following year, so our requests over the next few weeks are for the July 2022 – June 2023 congregational year. Please respond to the volunteers who will be reaching out via email, text, and phone calls to members who haven’t returned their pledge form. If you are not a member, but feel a part of UCE and would like to pledge, you are invited to become a pledging friend by reaching out to me at sfrances@ucevanston.org or Rev. Eileen Wiviott at ewiviott@ucevanston.org.

Talent – Share your talents through our Faith Formation programs!

Do you like to work with youth? Are you interested in facilitating a program on a topic dear to your heart? Are you a musician or magician? Are you good at organizing? All of these talents are needed to run our children, youth, and adult faith formation programming. If you are interested in getting involved, but not sure where your talents might be best used, please reach out Kathy Underwood, Director of Lifespan Religious Education, at kunderwood@ucevanston.org.

These are just a few ways to get more involved and share your time, treasure, and talents with our community.

I also want to offer that if life is hard right now and sharing more of your time, treasure, or talent is not good for you, that is okay. If you need support and care right now, please use your time to attend or watch Sunday morning services or other programs that fill you up and sustain or restore you, or use your time to reach out for assistance through our Congregational Care and Support Teams. If finances are challenging right now, that is okay. There is no required pledge amount. You are part of our community regardless of the financial support you give. If sharing your talents sounds exhausting instead of uplifting, that is okay. My wish for you is that tapping into those talents at home just for yourself without the expectations of others might bring you some joy.

Wherever you are in your life right now, you are part of this community. You are invited to take care of yourself and you are invited to join in being a steward of this loving faith community.

In faith,

Rev. Susan

From Rev. Susan Frances: February 25, 2022UCE UCE2022-02-25T20:06:39+00:00

From Rev. Susan Frances & the Committee on Shared Ministry: January 28, 2022

Dear Friends,

Some of you have already been collaborating with the Committee on Shared Ministry. For others, you may not even know that we have a Committee on Shared Ministry or know they exist, but not know their mission and purpose. In the spirit of shared ministry, we (Carla Williams, the chair of this Committee, and Rev. Susan Frances) have prepared this deeply meaningful (a/k/a highly contrived, yet immensely informative) note for you. 

Carla: Are you ready for examples?

Susan: Maybe a definition first.

Carla: Okay. Shared Ministry refers to shared endeavor. Living the mission of this church is a shared endeavor, a shared ministry. That means, each of us, whether ordained minister, staff, or lay leader, newcomer or long-term member, has a part to play and important contributions to make. 

It means creating a welcoming environment that supports participation in our ministry, ensuring there’s a clear way of offering feedback and communicating with ministers and each other, and clarifying expectations for how we participate in the endeavor to support our mission. Are you ready for examples now?    

Susan: Yes, I’m ready.

Carla: Examples of shared ministry are when members help plan and assist with worship and provide pastoral care for the congregation or work with the religious education program as teachers or serve as social justice advocates within the church and the larger community. 

What each of us does for UCE “is” the ministry we each share with one another; be it serving on the Board or a committee, singing in the choir, being a worship associate, devoting time to an aspect of Lifespan Faith Formation, participating on social justice teams, composting or caring for the natural habitats around us — the list goes on. In the midst of all our efforts it is important to remember that shared ministry has a sacred quality to it that strengthens the congregation, strengthens us, while also serving our mission.

Susan: Shared ministry is such a wonderful community model. What is the purpose of the Committee on Shared Ministry?

Carla: Well, glad you asked. The Committee on Shared Ministry (COSM) was formed to grow greater transparency, accountability and communication into our shared ministry. This means conveying to the congregation that each person has something to contribute to the shared ministry of the congregation, which is our mission: nurturing the human spirit for a world made whole. How ever you participate in that mission is shared ministry.

For example, do you remember just last spring when Rev. Eileen, Rev. Karen Gustafson, and Jessica Meis worked on creating an annual review process for all the groups and teams?

Susan: Yes, I do. In fact, Rev. Eileen, Jessica, and I just finished updating the online annual review form based on feedback from last year. We’re about to send it out to leaders to complete by April 20th for this year’s congregational annual meeting.

Carla: Well, the COSM is now involved in the annual review process and is available to work with teams to help them complete their annual review process and form.

Susan: That’s a lot of teams for the COSM to work with each spring. Do you meet with teams at other times?

Carla: Yes. Some teams complete their annual review process and realize they need to reflect more on one aspect or another from that review and we can assist with that. For example, members of the COSM met with the Green Team in early December and facilitated a conversation about communication practices and the structure of their working groups. It is great to work with our various teams. There’s a lot to be learned about all that we are doing! 

Susan: Knock. Knock.

Carla: Who’s there?

Susan: Orange.

Carla: Orange who?

Susan: Orange you glad you said yes to joining the Committee on Shared Ministry!

Carla: That’s a terrible joke. But, in fact, I am glad to have joined the COSM. I have found the more I learn about shared ministry, the more I see the deep benefits to our community in living out our principles, especially our 8th Principle to accountably “build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community”. COSM members continue to seek ways of creating synergy with the various groups, teams, and councils. 

One key aspect of Unitarian Universalism is our belief that ministry of the congregation does not belong exclusively to ordained clergy, but to everyone. In Our Professional Ministry: Structure, Support and Renewal, the UUA Commission’s 1992 study, Neil Shadle stated, “Ministry is the vocation of every person of faith, [and] Unitarian Universalism, as a democratic faith, affirms the ‘priesthood of all believers’; we are all lay ministers, whether or not we choose to be professional religious leaders.” This belief in the “priesthood of all believers” is central to who we are as a religious movement.

Despite the challenges of the past two years we have accomplished much. We have a newly settled Senior Minister with the skills, talents and passion we require, professional staff committed to our success, a congregation of members generous in their time, talents, and treasure, and a collective commitment to revisit what’s important and evolve and change in ways necessary to achieve our mission.

Volunteers are teaming with staff to reimagine religious education as Faith Formation Hour. Councils, committees, and teams are looking inward at their work and outward to their relationship with the whole to confirm alignment with the mission and seek synergy when possible. The New Member Team is looking across groups to find common opportunities to radically welcome and engage potential and new members in the work. Guidance by our professional staff supports intentionality and top of mind thinking about the things we say are important, like the 8th Principle. Everywhere you look there are groups of people engaging in conversation, looking for opportunities, doing things to make a difference. The work is all around us. The work is us, together, in shared ministry.

Susan: This is a such a great way to explain that shared ministry involves all of us and is all of us. 

Carla: Let’s turn this conversation into an action of shared ministry! If you are reading this and are part of a group, team, council, committee, or working group, you are invited to reach out to me about how the Committee on Shared Ministry might make a presentation to elaborate on what we’ve shared here or assist you with this year’s annual review process! 

Susan: Another way to engage is to look for examples of where you see shared ministry in action and acknowledge that good work. Then, share those stories with me, Rev. Eileen, Carla or someone else on the COSM, Susan Carlton, Ben Kornfeld, Ann McCallister, Jim Strickler, or Jenny Walsh. We’re looking forward to continuing this shared ministry journey with you!

Yours in building a diverse multicultural Beloved Community,

Rev. Susan & Carla

From Rev. Susan Frances & the Committee on Shared Ministry: January 28, 2022UCE UCE2022-01-28T18:24:51+00:00

From Rev. Susan Frances: December 17, 2021

Dear Friends,

As the longest night of the year approaches, I have been spending more time with a cup of tea and a notepad being introspective. Some of the wonderful gifts during this dark time of year are nature’s examples of slowing down and settling in, which I find to be an invitation for spending some time reflecting on where I am, where I have been, and where I am going. This year I find myself thinking mainly about what connections I would like to make in the new year and what I would like to learn this year.

I have been voted onto the Board of Directors for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois (ACLU-IL) and will start a three-year term on January 1, 2022. I am humbled by the caliber of the other Board members and am looking forward to learning from and networking with them to continue to make Illinois a state where women have access to all types of health care, where the police have some accountability under a consent decree, and where trans students have a legal ally to assist them with negotiating safe space in their schools. I am hopeful this connection will provide possibilities to enhance our community’s already deep commitment to social justice.

What connections are you interested in making? Would you like to be in a Covenant Group? Do you need the support of the Addictions and Recovery Group, the Caregiver Support Group, or the Cancer Support Group? Do you need guidance on how to connect with BLUU Havens or Rainbow Alliance? Have you been waiting to volunteer to teach our children, advise our youth, join one of our social justice teams, or spend a day in the administrative office? If I can help you get more connected within our UCE community, please reach out to me at sfrances@ucevanston.org. If you would like someone from the Pastoral Care Team to talk with you, please let me know or complete our Request for Care form.

One of the joys of my monthly meetings with the Committee on Ministry for my Preliminary Fellowship with the UUA is that we spend time sharing our values and the underlying theology and talking about how we are living those values out in the world. I spent some time earlier this week finding a good resource for them on Religious Naturalism and it made we want to spend time this year reading some of the Religious Naturalist theologians that I know about but haven’t read their texts yet. Side note: If you look up Religious Naturalism on Wikipedia, you will find reference to and a photo of our own retired community minister, The Rev. Jerry A. Stone.

What are you interested in learning about? In January and February, we have two classes that everyone is invited to take to deepen your understanding of Unitarian Universalism or your own belief system. For new and ongoing visitors, we have a third class about UCE and membership.

Would you like to learn more about Unitarian Universalist history? Our Introduction to Unitarian Universalism class takes an in-depth look at our progressive faith, including Unitarian Universalist principles, sources, and covenant. This class is a must for visitors wanting to learn about Unitarian Universalism, but it is also a class for anyone wanting a reminder on how the threads weaving our faith tradition together have been woven from the 2nd Century into the 21st Century. This is a single session class that will be offered virtually on Sunday, January 16, 2022 at 1:00-2:30 pm or in-person on Sunday, January 23, 2022 at 2:30-4:00 pm. Click here to register.

Would you like to enhance how you express your personal theology? What do yUU Believe? is a 4-part class designed for youth and adults (age 12 and up) to take you on a journey toward better understanding and articulating your Unitarian Universalist theology. This 4-session class will alternate between being in-person and being on Zoom on the following Tuesdays, January 18 (in-person), 25 (via Zoom), February 1 (via Zoom), and 8 (in-person), 2022 at 7:00-8:30 pm. Click here to register.

Would you like to learn more about becoming a member of UCE? Journey Toward Membership is a 2-part class that explores our spiritual lives and what it means to be a member of an intentional community like the Unitarian Church of Evanston. The next in-person class, parts 1 and 2, will be on Tuesdays, February 1 and 8, 2022 at 6:30-8:00 pm. Click here to register. The next virtual class, parts 1 and 2, will be on Wednesdays, February 2 and 9, 2022 at 6:30-8:00 pm. Click here to register. You may also mix up the sessions, for example taking part 1 virtually and part 2 in-person.

As the Winter Solstice on December 21st approaches, embrace the long nights. Make time to slow down, settle in, and reflect on what is happening in your life, in our community, and in our country and world. Many of us are not feeling holiday festive this year and that is okay. If you don’t have the energy to reflect on making new connections and learning something new, that is okay. Be present in the here and now, however that is for you.

Whatever holiday traditions you celebrate during this time of year, I’m wishing you love, comfort, and joy to fill the long lovely nights of winter.

In faith,
Rev. Susan

From Rev. Susan Frances: December 17, 2021UCE UCE2021-12-17T18:52:03+00:00

From Rev. Susan Frances: November 12, 2021

Dear Friends,

New Times Call for New Plans!

I want to thank everyone who has provided feedback to me, the other staff, and the Faith Formation Force about the worship service and faith formation hour on Sunday mornings. We've been back in-person for Sunday morning worship for 9 Sundays now. We have a sense of how many people are attending, a sense of how our traditional 13 Hospitality Teams schedule is going, and a sense of what people are enjoying.

As with most things in this pandemic, we are making plans with the information we have and then we are adjusting as we gather feedback and experience. With this in mind, we are making two adjustments to our Sunday morning in-person flow.

Kinship Time

The first adjustment is creating time for Kinship, which some of us call Fellowship, after the worship service each Sunday. After the service, please stick around in the sanctuary for 20 minutes to greet visitors, get to know new members, and reconnect with your friends. At 11:35 am, Faith Formation Hour will commence with the same activity pattern that we used in October.

Wander back through the café area next to the kitchen to interact with our committees and teams. There will be three program tables available to our committees and teams each Sunday during Kinship Time. Please contact Jessica Meis at admin@ucevanston.org if you would like to reserve one.

The tables outside the kitchen will have a variety of hard candy treats. Try a new flavor each week! Water will be our only beverage available through February. You are welcome to bring warm beverages from home in your travel mugs. Please practice entering the kitchen along the hallway by the sanctuary doors and exit into the café area. We will continue to wear our masks snuggly over our nose and mouth with breaks to take a sip or pop in a candy.

Reshaping Hospitality Teams

Our faith calls upon each of us to engage in radical hospitality, creating a place of welcome for the stranger and the friend. Our shared ministry calls us to figure out how to do this together. UCE has a long tradition of everyone in the congregation being assigned to one of the Hospitality Teams. This tradition is continuing, but in a new format.

Our new Sunday plan is that we will have 4 dedicated Hospitality Teams:

Hospitality Team for Greeters – If you enjoy making others feel comfortable or appreciate how you were welcomed to UCE and would like to provide that for another, this is the team for you. No training needed; you will receive instructions on the morning you volunteer. Our Team Coordinator for Greeters is Marianne Griebler.
Hospitality Team for Money Counters – If you like ushering during the service or counting the offertory funds after the service or if you prefer a role where you don't have to talk with a lot of people, this team is for you. There is training provided. Our Team Coordinator for Money Counters is Peggy Boccard.
Hospitality Team for Kitchen Ministry – If you enjoy providing food to show you care, this team is for you. We are planning to start serving coffee, tea, and lemonade on March 6, 2022. In the meantime, we are providing water and hard candies during Kinship Time. There is training provided in using our newly renovated kitchen. Our Team Coordinator for Kitchen Ministry volunteers is yet to be determined.
Hospitality Team for Virtual Only – If you are not yet comfortable volunteering in-person, this is the team for you. Training will be provided if you are invited to host something online. Our Team Coordinator for Virtual Only volunteers is Rev. Susan Frances.

It is my hope that everyone in the congregation will continue to be on one of the hospitality teams. Hospitality is one of the foundations of creating community, of building relationships, and of engaging in something larger than ourselves. For some it is a spiritual practice, for some it is a social connection, and for some it is an act of service. For all of us, it is vital to our congregation's ability to flourish.

You may sign up for a team in two ways. The first is to log into REALM, go to Groups/Find Groups/Hospitality Teams, click on the Hospitality Team you are interested in, and then click "Join". The second is to respond to the email from the team coordinators or me (sfrances@ucevanston.org) and we'll get you added to the Hospitality Team of your choice.

The new Sunday morning volunteer schedule for our 4 dedicated Hospitality Teams will commence on January 2, 2022. The Team Coordinators have committed to this plan through 2022. We'll see how we, and the world, are doing then and either continue on with this plan or shift again. Our traditional 13 Hospitality Teams will be deactivated after each has completed its scheduled Sunday between now and the end of December.

If you have any ideas, questions, input, or concerns, please let me know. As with all things right now: We will try it and see how it goes. We will embrace patience and flexibility. We will do it together.

In faith,
Rev. Susan

From Rev. Susan Frances: November 12, 2021UCE UCE2021-11-09T23:23:35+00:00

From Rev. Susan Frances: October 15, 2021

Dear Friends,

It is cliché to say that change is the only constant in life, and yet it feels more true right now than it has for over a decade in my life. While most of us have experienced numerous changes over our lifetimes, this past year has been full of constant changes to the pattern of our daily lives. From the disinfecting of groceries to the lockdown to wearing masks to getting vaccinated, it has been non-stop change that has affected our every day. In addition to those changes to our daily patterns, some of us have had larger life changes. Some of us are now permanently working from home or lost our jobs and have new jobs or moved or experienced long-term changes to our health or became parents or lost a loved one. In the wake of so much change, what grounds us? What buoys us up to ride the waves of change?

For me, there is something about being by the water that grounds me and nourishes my spirit. I have lived in Chicago for 16 years now. For the first 15 years, I worked in a building that was less than a 15-minute walk from Lake Michigan. I used to walk to the lake for an hour lunch break about 3 times a week.

Then, in 2020, during the statewide pandemic lockdown, I left that job and started working full time as a chaplain resident at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and part time with UCE. I missed my pattern of spending time by the lake and it took me a while to figure out when I could walk to the lake when I was downtown at the hospital. The photo of me in a mask is by the Chicago Avenue underpass to the lakefront in November 2020.

This fall, I am adjusting again to navigating being in-person as well as virtual at UCE, and I have not yet figured out my pattern for regularly visiting the water. I have started driving into Evanston early in my day so I have time to stop at various lakefront parks. The photo of the waves meeting the rocks is from Clark Square earlier this week.

While there is change that happens to us, there is also change that we purposely create and cultivate. Our ability to nourish our spirit and ground ourselves – which some call a spiritual practice – is important whether we are responding to change or initiating it. A spiritual practice is one way to prepare ourselves to listen deeply to others, to be open to unexpected ideas or experiences, and to respond to challenges to our current way of thinking or acting. Having a spiritual practice, that nourishes and grounds us, will be helpful as our congregation moves deeper into the work of becoming an explicitly anti-racist organization. It will build our resilience as we continue to return to our building and practice radical hospitality to the stranger and the long-time member. It will sustain us as we become a more environmentally conscious and responsible community. These lenses of anti-racism, environmental responsibility, and radical welcome will continue to be shaped by our upcoming review of our ENDS Statements, which express who we want to be in the world.

This work of reviewing our ENDS Statements may lead to some friction, which is a normal part of change. That rubbing of new patterns against old patterns. The rubbing of new ways of thinking and being against implicit bias. The rubbing of unexpected experiences against preconceived expectations. All of this causes friction. I was reminded this week by Dr. Gilo Kwesi Logan, one of our consultants from the YWCA’s Equity Institute, that friction in itself is not a bad thing. Friction is the tool that sharpens a knife. “It’s what we do with the friction that matters.”

As our community cultivates change, cultivates being anti-racist, environmentally responsible, and radically welcoming, how will we use the friction to help us flourish? Can we recognize the friction for what it is and then put it to good use as a tool? A tool that helps us learn, change, and grow. A tool that helps us talk through the hard conversations with openness instead of defensiveness, with appreciation instead of dread, and with love instead of fear.

Having a spiritual practice, finding that which nourishes and grounds us, will help us remain in relationship during upcoming times of change, times of friction. So, I return to the water again and again. I tell it my worries and my joys and then I listen. Listen to the water meeting the land. Listen to the wind moving the water. Listen, until I feel full of love and grounded in the vast expanse that is the interconnected web of life. And then I return to UCE in all its in-person and virtual spaces and work to engage with the friction while remaining in relationship as we cultivate change. I will see you there.

In faith,

Rev. Susan

From Rev. Susan Frances: October 15, 2021UCE UCE2021-10-15T02:27:29+00:00

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