Sunday Service: In-person and Online Sunday at 10:30am

Sunday, October 11, 2026

 The Courage to Disrupt Denial

Denial is a powerful force that serves a purpose: it gives us a false sense of safety and shields us from discomfort. Trouble is, it prevents growth and depth of connection. Breaking through our systems of denial is easier said than done. Together, we can build our capacity to disrupt denial and dismantle systems that oppress our bodies, minds, and spirits. Rev. Eileen leads this service with Martha Holman as Worship Associate. The UUCE Choir, led by Music Director Vickie Hellyer, and accompanied by Gregory Shifrin on piano offer their combined musical gifts.

Today’s offering will be shared with Unitarian Universalist Prison Ministry of Illinois or UUPMI, whose mission is to equip UU’s in Illinois to ​transform institutions as well as partner with and support people harmed by the prison industrial complex.

Upcoming Services

October 18 – The Courage of Children – Rev. Eileen with Ann Gadzikowski

October 25 – Shared Ministry – Rev. Susan Frances (Choir)

November 1 – Honoring Our Ancestors – Rev. Eileen Wiviott

November 8 – Healing What is Broken – Rev. Eileen Wiviott

Sunday, October 11, 20262026-10-02T17:11:51+00:00

Sunday, October 4, 2026

Instinctual Courage

 Our animal kin can teach us so much including how to listen to the signals of our bodies, without getting hijacked, as well as calming our nervous systems to be responsive rather than reactive to the urge to fight, fly, or freeze. We bless our animal companions this Sunday. Feel free to bring your well-behaved and leashed (or as appropriate contained) pets to receive a blessing from the community. Rev. Eileen leads the service with Annette Wallace as our Worship Associate. Kristin Lems and Tom Hempfling offer music, including one original song by Kristin Lems and Gregory Shifrin will be on the piano.

Today’s offering will be shared with Unitarian Universalist Prison Ministry of Illinois or UUPMI, whose mission is to equip UU’s in Illinois to ​transform institutions as well as partner with and support people harmed by the prison industrial complex.

Upcoming Services

October 11 – Disrupting Denial – Rev. Eileen (Choir)

October 18 – The Courage of Children – Rev. Eileen with Ann Gadzikowski

October 25 – Shared Ministry – Rev. Susan Frances (Choir)

November 1 – Honoring Our Ancestors – Rev. Eileen Wiviott

Sunday, October 4, 20262026-10-01T19:40:06+00:00

BOARD OF TRUSTEES ANNUAL MEETING – 2026

BOARD OF TRUSTEES ANNUAL MEETING

By Sally Parsons

 

The UUCE Board of Trustees (BOT) gathered this past weekend to reflect on goals set for the past year and set new ones for 2026-27.

 

Friday evening Rev. Eileen borrowed from Peter Block’s book Community and reminded us that the role of the BOT is to provide a special kind of leadership — one that shifts emphasis away from the corporate model relying on laws, oversight, and systems to one that centers community, focuses on the members, and practices accountability. Leadership is a quality that resides in all of us, she reminded us.

 

Saturday, we began by reviewing our work on the goals set for the past year: the identity/name change process and communicating across differences. (These goals came from the Big Questions discussions in 2025.) Steps have been taken to formally change our name with state agencies and the City of Evanston. References to our community have been updated in many of our documents, at Sunday services, and in informal exchanges by members as we chat with each other and with our families and friends. Work continues into 2027 under a committee led by the Board, to ensure the legal name change is completed and the marketing branding moves forward. 

 

On the goal of communicating across differences, discussion this past year began on options for improving our ability to bridge differences with love and respect. As we move ahead, this topic will be folded in with the upcoming discussions on updating our covenant of engagement. It is a living document and thus should be revisited regularly. Since our current covenant was created 15 years ago, it is time. The BOT proposed a critical question for everyone’s input: “Does the current covenant help us to engage with one another?”

 

The BOT approved a process for revisiting the covenant, beginning in October and proceeding through various ways to get input from the congregation, then concluding with a final draft to be presented for vote at the annual meeting in May.

 

The Board moved on to a discussion and approval of the next agenda item — a written process establishing an evaluation of our shared ministry. Proposed was a three-year cycle, during which one year would focus on the ways in which the Senior Minister is enhancing our shared ministry and the ways in which more could be done. The next year would ask the same questions of the Board of Trustees, and the third year would address these questions with the congregation as a whole. Unlike corporate performance evaluations, this one consists of a more relational, transparent, honest, open, and mutually accountable process.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES ANNUAL MEETING – 20262026-09-30T17:37:25+00:00

Update from Rev. Susan Frances – 9/25/2026

 

Hi, Friends,

 

Congratulations! On August 31, 2026, our congregation received its Green Sanctuary renewal for having successfully fulfilled the requirements of the revitalized Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice program with the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). To celebrate, we will be having a street party on Greenwood during Kinship Time this Sunday. It is Bike the Ridge Sunday, so Greenwood will be blocked off at Ridge, and the Green Sanctuary Network (GSN) will be hosting the party between Ridge and our driveway. We are still looking for 3 more volunteers to assist with our usual set-up of tables, awning, and water service for Bike the Ridge at 8:30 am. If you are available, please click here into SignUp.com and select the Set-up Awning role. Also, during Kinship Time, our Garden Team, in their new t-shirts, will be giving tours of our 13 gardens. I hope you will stroll around the gardens and then join us on Greenwood to celebrate. One of our guests will be the praying mantis living in our gardens. Rev. Eileen and I arrived at UUCE yesterday morning to find the praying mantis I am pointing to in the photo hanging out by the keycard swiper. 

 

There is much happening in our natural world. Several of you have asked me if I know where to send financial support to assist survivors in Nepal after the catastrophic landslides and flash floods that occurred along the Tibet-Nepal border on August 26th following what turned out to have been a massive glacier collapse and rock-ice avalanche rather than an earthquake. I have two suggestions. The retreat I attended in Nepal was at Kopan Monastery, which is a member community of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT). The FPMT has an Emergency Relief Fund, which is working on the ground with Kopan Monastery and Nunnery to support survivors and the families of the deceased. My other suggestion is World Central Kitchen, which is also currently on the ground in Nepal providing meals to the displaced.

 

The Autumnal Equinox was this past Tuesday, September 22nd. I often make time at the equinoxes (or equinoctes) to think about how I am engaging with the many pieces of my life. I have come to think about the equinoctes as a cycle through phases from daybreak to full sun to twilight to dark night, instead of engaging with them as a balancing act between two events of daytime and nighttime. What most of us are balancing in our lives is much more than two things. I am thinking about how I engage with service to my ministry, precious time with my spouse and family, volunteer work with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), taking care of my mental and physical health, resisting the authoritarian grasp on our country, and being on the Board of my condo association. How do I cycle through all that I am interested in doing, all that is necessary for me to do, and all that is asked of me by others? 

 

Life is full and complex, and there is no one way of being, doing, tending, caring, supporting, and engaging. I am someone who practices imbuing joy in whatever I am doing, even tasks I’m not super excited about doing. I find it more difficult to handle mistakes that I make when getting through the work there is to do. I practice being accountable for those mistakes, correcting them or making amends, working to restore relationship, and moving forward doing better. Whether it is being accountable for mistakes or cultivating joy, it takes intention and effort. Thinking about engaging with it all as cycling through one phase to the next helps me feel, and be, more centered in my life. And feeling more centered helps me be more thoughtful about how to engage with intention and effort.

 

Amnesty International has put out “A Guide to Fighting Authoritarian Practices in the U.S. Without Losing Hope” and after going through ways to educate yourself, protect the right to protest, and defend due process of law, it ends with “Don’t Forget to Create and Find Joy: … 

  • Take a moment to rest, relax, recharge—however you cultivate happiness for yourself and your community.
  • Find joy in meeting and talking to others who are similarly concerned and want to make a difference.”

 

I hope for you in the weeks leading up to our country’s November 3rd general election that you are able to honor the balance you currently have or you are able to make time to think about how to restore the balance to the many pieces of your life. Remember it is a cycle and the next phase is waiting for you. 

 

As our mission statement so beautifully states, we are “nurturing the human spirit for a world made whole.” We, individually and as a community, must continue to nurture our spirits – cultivating joy, restoring relationships when mistakes happen, honoring our grief – in order to have the capacity to continue to act for a world made whole. 

 

Yours in community,

Rev. Susan

Update from Rev. Susan Frances – 9/25/20262026-09-25T13:35:06+00:00

Short Term Covenant Groups update – Friday, September 25

Get More Connected at UUCE – Join a Short-Term Covenant Group

If you’re looking for a way to foster connection and get to know some members of the congregation more deeply, consider joining a short-term covenant group this year.

Short-term covenant groups meet for 8 sessions – monthly or twice a month – for the purpose of building community here at UUCE. Groups meet for 2 hours and are composed of 8-10 members. The meeting’s format includes time for members to check-in and share the state of their spirit. A topic is introduced usually by a short reading on subjects such as Living with Intention, Forgiveness, and Saying Yes. Members then have an opportunity to reflect on their thoughts and reactions to the topic. Deep listening is an important practice used during the covenant group sessions.

Some comments from people who have attended short-term covenant groups:

  • “I felt heard and listened to as an actual person.”
  • “It’s one way to get to know more people in the congregation in a meaningful way and to feel part of a genuine sharing of ideas.”
  • “It’s an easy, meaningful way to get to meet new people.”
  • “Just being heard was powerful.”

UUCE will be offering four short-term covenant groups this year. Email Susan Carlton (susan.carlton at sbcglobal dot net) to sign up. Available meeting dates/times are as follows:

  • 1st and 3rd Mondays beginning in October and through January, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
  • 4th Tuesday of the month beginning in October through June, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
  • 3rd Sunday of the month beginning in October through June, 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm – FULL
  • FOR NEW MEMBERS: 2nd Monday of the month beginning in October through June, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
  • ZOOM group – meeting day/time to be decided by participants
Short Term Covenant Groups update – Friday, September 252026-09-22T20:11:50+00:00

Sunday, September 27, 2026

Beginning Again with our Covenant of Engagement

 Following the Board’s retreat we will introduce our hopes to begin a process of reflecting on the Covenant of Engagement that has guided us in our relationships to each other and the congregation over the last 15 years. We will also reconstitute our covenant by welcoming new members! Rev. Eileen leads the service, with Rev. Susan leading the new member covenant. Kera Beskin, Board President, will be our Worship Associate. The UUCE Choir is directed by Vickie Hellyer, Music Director, and Gregory Shifrin is on piano.

Today’s offering will be shared with Building Peaceful Bridges, whose mission is to foster multicultural relationships by assisting in the integration of newcomers into American society and educating communities on the challenges facing newcomer populations through their stories.

Upcoming Services

October 4 – Instinctual Courage and our annual Pet Blessing – Rev. Eileen

October 11 – Disrupting Denial – Rev. Eileen (Choir)

October 18 – The Courage of Children – Rev. Eileen with Ann Gadzikowski

October 25 – Shared Ministry – Rev. Susan Frances (Choir)

Sunday, September 27, 20262026-09-20T15:37:33+00:00

2026-2027 Shared Offering Recipients

2026-2027 Shared Offering Recipients2026-09-18T20:53:29+00:00

DLFF Update – September 18, 2026

And We’re Off!

September brings a flurry of emotions for me: memories of brand new school supplies and organizing my desk; the anticipation of meeting new people; the excitement of beginning a new year. Maybe these are some of the underlying reasons why I became a religious educator, with the added perks of learning more about Unitarian Universalism, world religions, cultures, and rituals.

This past Sunday as we celebrated the beginning of our year with our water communion and return of the choir, I recognized the parallel to our Jewish friends and neighbors celebrating Rosh Hashanah – the beginning of the new year in Judaism that celebrates the beginning of the universe, and that one’s actions on Rosh Hashanah set the tone for the year ahead. I thought to myself that if this is so, then we’re off to a wonderful beginning!

And indeed that continued to manifest during Kinship Time as I sat at a program table sharing with interested people what we’re doing in faith formation this year. We added five more adults to our community of helpers – and there is room for more! 

In addition to this, a few members loved the idea of helping with a one-time event, such as a Friends & Families gathering, Ornament Sunday, Parent’s Time Out, and the Christmas pageant. Look for our table at this Sunday’s Engagement Fair during Kinship Time, where you can play a game and enjoy some treats too.

Also happening this Sunday is the beginning of faith formation for children and youth. I ask ALL parents to please register their kids so that we have updated information on any health concerns and contact information. I know this may feel redundant for those who have been here a while, but the number of young people registered is also sent to the UUA every year. So please be counted and register today!

Of course, we’re not just about volunteering either. We like to have FFUUN too! We had 30 or so people dance the evening away two weeks ago, with pizza and snacks to sustain us. The weather was very hot and humid, so we brought the party inside rather than be on the lawn. It cooled our bodies but not our spirits!

We have a wonderful opportunity to tour the new exhibit at Gichigamiin Indigenous Nations Museum on September 29 and 30. This is limited to 20 people for each tour. As of this writing, I’m waiting for confirmation on exact times, but I do know one will be in the afternoon and one in the evening. Look for an email via Realm soon.

Mark your calendars for these special events and programs in October. 

  • A Spiritual Retreat on October 3 from 9a-2p led by Renee Gatsis, with lunch and childcare provided. 
  • Spiritual Practice beginning October 7 at 5:30p with Rev. Eileen facilitating. A great way to start each month!
  • Respect Games – October 4 from 2-4p at the Evanston Main Library. An afternoon for those ages 6+ to explore what respect means through games and activities, and meet others from different backgrounds. 
  • Meeting Our Interfaith Neighbors for adults and high school youth, resumes on October 7 at 7p with a visit from Josee Starr from the Gichigamiin Indigenous Nations Museum in Evanston.  We will then gather on October 20 to reflect on our learnings and experiences.
  • For those who enjoy camping, we’re having our first fall campout at Rock Cut State Park October 16-18. We’re getting sites in the Plum Grove Loop, so grab one too or just join us for the day on Saturday.
  • As we head into election season, we are offering two programs from Braver Angels Illinois: Skills for Disagreeing Better on October 27 and Family and Politics on November 10. Braver Angels seeks to de-polarize the political divide in our country with workshops and more.
  • We end October with a Friends & Families Halloween Campfire on the 30th, complete with ghost stories, costumes, and s’mores. This is always a great time!

I’d say we’re off to a great beginning!

In Faith,

Kathy

 

DLFF Update – September 18, 20262026-09-15T00:03:29+00:00

Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Evanston

1330 Ridge Ave
Evanston, IL 60201
Directions

(847) 864-1330
uce@ucevanston.org

UUCE’s office hours:

Monday: CLOSED
Tuesday: 10 AM – 12:30 PM, 1:30 PM – 4 PM
Wednesday: 10 AM – 1 PM
Thursday: 10 AM – 12:30 PM, 1:30 PM – 4 PM
Friday: 10 AM – 1 PM
Saturday: CLOSED
Sunday: 10 AM – 1 PM

In-person and Virtual Sunday Service is held at 10:30 am.

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The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Evanston is recognized by the Unitarian Universalist Association as a Welcoming Congregation and a Green Sanctuary, and by the Unitarian Universalist Peace Ministry Network as a Peace Advocacy Congregation.

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