Hi Friends,

 

Congratulations! Our congregation received its Welcoming Congregation designation renewal on July 21, 2026. The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) defines a “Welcoming Congregation” as one “that explicitly commits to the radical inclusion, affirmation, and full engagement of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) people across all areas of faith life.” 

 

You may read about our congregation’s Welcoming Congregation history on our website. We were designated a Welcoming Congregation in 1997. We renewed our status in 2016, shortly after the UUA created a renewal process. In creating the renewal process, the UUA expanded its vision for how we, as a faith community, think about what it means to be a Welcoming Congregation. The “5 Practices of Welcome Renewal” process encourages integrating the following into the life of the congregation:

  1. regularly addressing themes in worship and religious education that inform, educate, and raise awareness about the issues and needs of the LGBTQ+ and the trans, genderqueer, and nonbinary (TGQNB) communities;
  2. observing days of awareness for the LGBTQ+/TGQNB communities, which our congregation does regularly for the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) on November 20th and Pride in June; and 
  3. providing financial support to nonprofits that support LGBTQ+/TGQNB communities, which we do through our Shared Offering Program and Community Project Endowment Grants.

 

I, personally, want to thank you for choosing to be part of a community which seeks to affirm and nourish people of all identities. A community whose foundation is shared values and all those who resonate with those values are welcome. The UU world, and especially UUCE, has been a space where my identity as a queer woman is a part of my story, not the focus. I do not have to explain myself. I get to be myself. And for that I am deeply grateful. 

 

I want to acknowledge, as we continue to expand our welcome and to share our stories and learn about each other, that we sometimes make mistakes. My experience at UUCE has been that we are committed to recognizing and acknowledging those mistakes, and then to making amends, asking and granting forgiveness, and seeking to stay in relationship. This covenantal way of being welcoming and engaging in inclusivity is, for me, the core of our community’s ability to continue to live into the 5 Practices of Welcome Renewal.

 

To learn more about the UUA’s LGBTQ+/TGQNB programs and activities, click here. They have a quarterly UPLIFT newsletter and regular UPLIFT blog. You are also invited to join the new Welcoming Congregations of Unitarian Universalism Facebook Group and follow UPLIFT Twitter and Instagram @uua_lgbtq.

 

The image accompanying this staff column is of our Welcoming Renewal certificate, which is posted on the “Acknowledgments and Gratitudes” section of our bulletin board in the wing hallway. I invite you to check out the refreshed bulletin boards in the lobby and the wing. Not only has the Acknowledgments and Gratitudes section moved from the lobby to be by the office, we have also combined the “Community Events” section from the wing hallway to be with the UUCE Events section in the lobby. You are invited to post flyers with a designated date for UUCE and Community Events here. 

 

We moved the photos of our staff and Board of Trustees to be on the bulletin board by Room 3. The bulletin board next the office now also has “Community Resources” posted. This is where we have information about the Evanston soup kitchens schedules, the overnight shelter hosted by Interfaith Action of Evanston, and how to connect with Connections for the Homeless and the local PFLAG chapter. The Immigrant Solidarity Team put together a good list of resources for immigrant families and the QR Code for this list of resources is posted here. This is not a bulletin board to advertise paid services. If you have community resources that you think would be helpful for folks to know about, please post them here.

 

As summer vacations draw to a close and school starts, I invite you to continue to make time for yourself. Yoga, art, jogging, journaling, swimming, reading, napping, walking, whatever it is that brings your spirit a moment of rest or renewal. 

 

As the chaos arising from the actions of the federal administration continues and the current election cycle gears up, I invite you to continue to embrace moments of joy. Maybe you discovered a new toy that your pet adores, maybe you saw some of the beautiful photos from the August 12th solar eclipse, maybe you read a story to the delight of the littlest person in your life, maybe you visited with friends on Sunday morning after worship, maybe it is something I would never guess. I wish you all the joy you can find or create in the weeks ahead!

 

Yours in community,

Rev. Susan