Dear Friends,

Relationships are one of the touch points in our lives that helps us heal and renews our hope. Intertwined with continued self-care and ongoing personal growth, relationships are often places where we experience the gifts of comfort, care, and love.

I spent last week in a hermitage on the grounds of Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center in Hiawatha, Iowa. Each day, I spent an hour with Sister Lucille in a spiritual direction session. Most of my time was spent alone walking the snow-covered trails through the woods, reading, and reflecting. I had not tried this style of retreat before and I ended up really enjoying it. I returned home refreshed in mind, body, and spirit. I also returned home renewed in my belief and affirmed in my experiences that one of the most profound places where we experience the spirit of love, compassion, and joy is through our human relationships.

Sister Lucille informed me of Tyre Nichols’ death during one of our sessions. Alone in my hermitage, it was difficult for me to hold and process this news. It was not until returning home to the relationships of my family, friends, and colleagues that I have been able to unpack my grief and anguish, to shore up my path of hope and healing. It is often through relationships that we are able to find comfort and compassion to accompany us through difficult times. It is also through relationships that we are able to share our communal heartbreak and grief, express our anger and frustrations, and work in solidarity for social change.

This past Tuesday, I sent out the first alert to our congregation’s newly formed Local Response Network inviting members of the Network to attend a vigil for Tyre Nichols the next day, the day of his funeral. Being in solidarity with our Evanstonian community is one way we heal, strengthen our hope for the future, and transform society. Rev. Jennifer Bailey, the founder and executive director of the Faith Matters Network, reminds us that “It’s in the process of doing community together that we build relationships and trust. Relationships move at the speed of trust, but social change moves at the speed of relationships.” If you would like to join our Local Response Network to get alerts about how to show up to be in solidarity with our larger community, please email me at sfrances@ucevanston.org.

Sometimes it feels like there is too much to process, too much change to make, but we can do it together. Seek out your family, friends, ministers, colleagues, or neighbors for conversation, support, and innovative ideas. In relationship, we can check up on each other to make sure we are getting the care we need and engage each other in creative ways to live our values out in the world.

Our faith community is here to help care for the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects of your being. Taking care of yourself is one way to nourish the energy and creativity to live into your values. Click HERE to contact the Pastoral Care Team if you need support. Seek out beauty, joy, and rest to restore yourself. I am grateful for the privilege of being able to take a week-long retreat. I know that type of retreat and that much time off doesn’t work for everyone. I hope you will make some time to figure out what you need to feel more whole and then rely on your relationships to assist you in making time to find those ways to replenish your mind, body, and spirit.

Simultaneously with taking good care of ourselves, we must continue to work together to critically address how we talk about violence and the history of violence within our country, to examine how our current culture implicitly and explicitly creates spaces where violence can continue, and to show up to be in solidarity with those within our congregation and in our larger communities who are working toward social change.

Yours grounded in relationship and seeking transformation,

Rev. Susan

Most of our congregation knows Vickie Doebele, a 20+year UCE member and our Staff Accountant since 2019. And maybe even more importantly, Vickie knows most of us. Vickie is the one who keeps all of our pledge payments and donations straight, makes the bank deposits, pays our vendors and prepares our monthly financial statements. Handling the accounting for UCE is more complicated than one would think with so many members’ payments to track, and Vickie’s knowledge of the congregation has proven to be very helpful in keeping everything running smoothly.

When asked how members could help us run even more smoothly, Vickie knew the answer right away. “Remind members to fill out the memo line on their checks so I know how to apply their funds! And ask them to look at their Giving Statements when we email them. Sometimes they catch errors, or they are reminded about their pledge.” Another confusing issue can arise when folks make payments to UCE directly from an investment account.  Please make sure your name has been attached to the contribution.  Currently, we’re trying to solve a mystery of who is making monthly payments from JP Morgan Chase.

Bringing her daughter to Sunday School is what brought Vickie to UCE. They greatly enjoyed the UCE family camping trips as well as the family friendship dinners, and her daughter is still close with the friends she made at UCE. These days, Vickie enjoys the non-fiction book club. A voracious reader, Vickie’s current book recommendations are Kindred, which the REAL team led group discussions of this past fall, and The Great Believers, a novel set in Chicago during the AIDS epidemic. Vickie also has another book recommendation “The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted American’s Enemies.” A fascinating true story that begins in Chicago.

Being in the administrative office several days each week, Vickie enjoys helping people who phone the office or stop by the church. Recently, she answered the door buzzer and was asked, “Who’s serving dinner tonight?” Vickie quickly realized that it was someone looking for the Soup Kitchen for that evening and they must have unsuccessfully stopped by our neighbor, Beth Emet. Vickie apologized, saying she didn’t know which church hosted dinner on Tuesday. The visitor said, “It’s Tuesday? Thanks, bye!” Being willing to have the conversation, Vickie often provides a bit of clarification as she assists in the office. [Editor’s note: The rotating schedule and addresses for the overnight shelter and the soup kitchen are now located on the Community Events bulletin board and in the red folder in the Welcome Center cabinet.]

Thank you, Vickie! We very much appreciate all you do to keep UCE running well!

Citizen’s Greener Evanston (CGE) is Reconvening on Climate Action & Resilience on Saturday, January 28th, 2023, from 3:00-5:00 pm at the Evanston Lorraine Morton Civic Center 4th Floor Parasol Room. Please bring your ideas about how we can best coordinate climate action across organizations in Evanston.

Evanston organizations are invited to provide an update on what their organization is working on that is related to climate action. UCE is not planning to provide an update at this meeting. If you are interested in getting involved with CGE and attending what will be quarterly meetings, please contact Rev. Susan at sfrances@ucevanston.org.

Many of us are concerned about climate change and are taking actions to decrease our environmental impacts and prepare for a changing climate. Building on a series of meetings that took place in 2019 and 2020, the City of Evanston, the Evanston Environment Board, and CGE are bringing people together to share information about what everyone is working on and to coordinate climate action efforts across organizations.

The January 28 gathering will be the first of four quarterly meetings planned for 2023. Individuals not affiliated with a specific organization are also welcome. Here is a brief agenda:

1. Welcome remarks.

2. Updates from each group or organization in the room.

3. Introduction of individuals.

4. Networking, mobilizing for action, and prioritizing goals.

5. Confirmation of the next meeting date.

Register HERE!