Sunday Service: In-person and Online Sunday at 10:30am
9:15am – “The Christmas Story”
Telling of the Christmas Story, with Christmas carols.
11:00am – “Participatory Pageant for All”
We’ll enact the Christmas story and reflect on its meaning. Have you always wanted to be a star? Or maybe an angel, a wise person, or a shepherd? This is your chance! No advance preparation is required: costumes, props, and stage directions will be provided on the spot. A worship service for all ages.
”The Power of Silence”
“All I want for Christmas is a little peace and quiet,” someone recently said. This sounds like a cry for freedom: from the media, from the holiday blitz, from politics as unusual. Silence is one tool in our kit that we might cultivate, especially this time of the year, to regain our sense of equilibrium and even power. Rev. Bret Lortie speaking.
The past several weeks have been brimming with good work and community connection at UCE.
November 12, 170 UCE congregants shared fun and fundraising together at Serendipity Auction.
Friday evening, November 18 through Sunday morning, November 20, UCE hosted CON, the Northern Area Youth Conference, with over 120 high schoolers and adult chaperones in attendance, supported by numerous congregation members who assisted with food preparation and serving.
Sunday, November 20, four Democratic legislators convened a rental event in our sanctuary to discuss “where do we go from here” following the election. Four hundred people filled our sanctuary to capacity, with an overflow crowd of 200 plus unable to enter.
Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Trilogy, a Rogers Park mental health social service agency, held a holiday party for two groups of 180 people throughout the day. The sanctuary was bedecked in red and white cloths and large vases of festive flowers while holiday music filled the air.
That afternoon our sexton Liz and custodian Steven turned the room around to set up for UCE’s Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, attended by 10 Navy recruits and 50 or so UCE members and guests.
Next time you see Liz and Steven, please let them know how much they are appreciated. When we sit down on Sunday morning in our beautiful sanctuary, it is hard to imagine that the day before it was a space for others to enjoy, hold shared values and be engaged in meaningful work together. This space and our work is important not only to this congregation but also to the community!
Actions you can participate in with CRS, UU Prison Ministry, and UUANI:
CRS (Community Renewal Society) held its annual membership assembly on November 12 and several UCE members participated. This year’s actions will focus on violence prevention, jobs in the inner city, employment opportunities for people with records, and implementing the Fair Cops Ordinance in Chicago.
Our Evanston team gathered with CRS teams from congregations in the north suburbs (there are 6 of us) to plan to work together to bring CRS issues forward in our own communities, linking with local community groups addressing like issues. We will continue to meet periodically to strategize and energize. We are meeting with our legislators in December to inform them of the CRS agenda and invite them to the Annual martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Faith in Action in January. Our north suburban legislators have been enthusiastic supporters of CRS.
Join Community Renewal Society for our Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Faith in Action on Monday, January 16, 2017. Contact Dale Griffin for more information or to RSVP today!
The UU Prison Ministry of Illinois is conducting its annual fundraising campaign with individuals who would like this ministry to thrive. You can donate online by clicking “give” on the UCE homepage.
We expect to have a presence in Logan Correctional Facility and Cook County Jail soon, and have begun to help people returning from prison. We are working together on ways to be radically welcoming congregations to those who have been incarcerated.
UUANI (UU Advocacy Network of Illinois) begins a new year with emphasis on raising the minimum wage (economic justice), passing a clean jobs Illinois bill (environmental justice) and passing anti-solitary confinement legislation (racial justice).
UUANI recently completed a very successful fundraising campaign, exceeding our goal of $12,000 to complete a package to hire the very energetic Rev. Scott Aaseng as half-time director. UCE folks have been very generous in their support and we are grateful!
For more information on any of these please contact Dale Griffin or other participants. DaleCGriffin@comcast.net
The Board of Trustees of the Unitarian Church of Evanston recommends that the discussion about a change to our name be concluded for the balance of the 2016-2017 church year. This does not preclude any member from filing a petition to put a name change on the ballot at a special or annual meeting in the future.
The Board of Trustees bases its recommendation on the response forms which members turned in to the Board. From October 2 through November 13 the Board provided twenty-two circle opportunities, for open and empathetic discussion of the issue. Fifty-five response forms were turned in over the course of those forty-three days. The breakdown of those fifty-five responses was: twenty against going forward, twenty-three for going forward with a commitment to a name change, ten for going forward without a commitment to a name change, and two with no choice marked. More than three hundred sixty members did not respond at all.
The Board has accepted a staff recommendation to add “A Unitarian Universalist Congregation” to “The Unitarian Church of Evanston” on our sign on Ridge Avenue.
We would like to thank all those who participated in this discussion in whatever way they felt was appropriate. We are particularly grateful to Brian Meister, who facilitated the circle process with loving concern for the well-being of all members of the congregation.
Barbara Ghoshal, for the Board of Trustees
Music Sunday!
Come celebrate the beginning of Advent with a service featuring movements from Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols (complete with harp), a few additional carols, and poetry celebrating the meaning of this time of year.
Six books are now available for sign-out on transgender issues, as put together by the Rainbow Alliance. Ranging from historical perspective to fiction, from bios to personal essays, from adult to children, in their own way all present a truth worthy of exploration.
Available for sign-out now. Look for them on the new lending library shelves.
Transgender History: Covers the history of the transgender movement from the mid-20th century through 2008. The first chapter includes a useful vocabulary breakdown. There’s an extensive resources list for other materials.
Gender Outlaws: the Next Generation: A personal look at the lives of a range of transgender folks. Essays, commentary, comic art, and conversations, all of which explore what gender means. Written by Kate Bornstein, who authored the original Gender Outlaws. Kate’s collaborator S. Bear Bergman is an award- winning author, storyteller, and performer.
Gender Failure: a creative book with alternating biographical essays. Includes song lyrics, photos, and art. Spoon, an indie folk-electronic musician, writes of the difficulties of dating when questioning one’s identity. Coyote, an author and spoken-word performer, writes of the decision to get a bilateral mastectomy.
Red: A Crayon’s Story: A picture book that makes the point to be true to your inner self, despite the opinions of others. A blue crayon mislabeled red tries to live up to the expectations of others who want him to conform to what red is. A new friend offers a fresh perspective that makes all the difference. Works as an uplifting story for children (pre-school through kindergarten) and as an allegory for adults.
10,000 Dresses: about a gender-variant child’s struggle to become who she feels she is inside. Bailey dreams about magical dresses but no one appreciates her passion. When Bailey meets Laurel, her life changes. NOTE: some reviewers thought negative elements in the story were not resolved. We advise you read Dresses before sharing with your child. Elementary reader level.
Symptoms of Being Human: the teen offering in our compendium. A debut novel in which Riley, the protagonist, is tagged an “it” in high school. Riley identifies as gender fluid and is forced to decide if they should come out when their anonymous blog attracts threats. Deals with many teens’ feelings of isolation.
1330 Ridge Ave
Evanston, IL 60201
Directions
(847) 864-1330
uce@ucevanston.org
UCE’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.
Member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association covenant to affirm and promote the Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism.
The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Evanston is recognized by the Unitarian Universalist Association as a Welcoming Congregation, a Peace Advocate Congregation, and a Green Sanctuary.
