Our Christmas Eve hospitality is a collective effort. All are invited to bring in a plate of holiday treats to share in our fellowship hour between services on December 24.

Bring your plate into the kitchen & remember to take it home at the end of the fellowship hour that evening. Please include a note about any possible food allergens.

Please send your joys or sorrows to joysandsorrows@uucuc.org any time before the Joys and Sorrows portion of the service. They will be read aloud.

We welcome and affirm people of all abilities and we want to be sure that no one is excluded for full participation in the life of our church. Our church building offers:

For more information about the accessibility options we offer, please visit our website here, and if you have any questions please feel free to reach out admin@uucuc.org.

Your contributions and support allow us to continue to respond with love and resources to the needs in our congregation and the wider community. We couldn’t do it without your support and we are grateful to each of you.

Join our online Zoom Fellowship Hour after the service this Sunday

As of December 15, 2022, the COVID-19 transmission level in Champaign County is HIGH. That means this week's in-person Fellowship Hour has been cancelled, and masks will be required in UUCUC's building for all activities until the transmission level drops to Medium or Low. Disposable masks for children and adults are available at UUCUC, but we encourage you to bring your own masks to wear. Please visit this link for UUCUC’s current COVID Safety Guidelines.

Bookmark our UUCUC Events and UUCUC Calendar webpage for future reference.

Throughout December in our weekly eNews Reverend KB will be offering the UUCUC community a short guided meditation by way of prerecorded video.

Please consider donating to the Little Free Pantries run by AJ Herzog (Champaign) and UUCUC (Urbana). Their Amazon wish list has been updated to include the most high priority items. All orders sent through Amazon are split between the two pantries. You are also welcome to drop off items in person at both locations. Questions? Contact AJ (zogs92(at)gmail.com) or Penne Beckett (penne.beckett(at)uucuc.org).

JOYS AND SORROWS sent to joysandsorrows@uucuc.org for last Sunday, December 11, 2022.

From Bunny: After many years of isolation, chronic illness, and a number of other difficult circumstances that began before covid, I have begun to find community. Yesterday, I attended my first social gathering on over a year. Though I attend virtually now, UUCUC and it’s members have continued to be an integral part of my journey. I’m so happy I stumbled in one Sunday many years ago.

From Rev KB: Holding awareness and sending love for those whom the Christmas season is difficult.

From Gail Cohen: At 2am tomorrow morning, I turn 80!! So grateful that my brain still works!! ❤️

From Rev. Sally Fritsche: Deep grief for the 12-year-old who died at the hospital this week after experiencing a medical emergency at Urbana Middle School. His family, friends, classmates, and teachers are in our hearts, and we will hold his memory in the light always.

From Rev. Sally Fritsche: Please keep in your thoughts and prayers Becky Harper, a member of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh, who is the named respondent in Moore v. Harper, a case that will be heard tomorrow at the U.S. Supreme Court

From Wendy Graves: We were blessed with the birth of our new granddaughter Tatum Jo Graves, 7lbs 7oz on Tuesday December 6th! So thankful!

From Tanja Hodge: My Aunt Evalyn Oretha Shaw passed away in hospice yesterday evening.  She was a fine loving person who will be missed by many.

From Karla Peterson: Sadness for the death of Senator Scott Bennet whose values so often aligned with those of UUCUC.

From The Search Team: Grateful to our wonderful director of congregational administration, Brian Franklin for all his help in getting questions answered as the search team prepared our congregational record and documents packet. He was incredibly responsive and always had the information we needed.

From Beth Simpson: I bring my sorrow and joy - it's just today.

From Tim Temple & Jerry Carden: Tim's brother-in-law, Eric Witruk, who grew up locally, is moving toward hospice. Eric was diagnosed with multiple myeloma a few years ago and has had enough of hospitals and rehab facilities. We will be spending a few days this week in St. Louis with their family.

Please send your joys or sorrows to joysandsorrows@uucuc.org any time before the Joys and Sorrows portion of the service. They will be read aloud.

UUCUC Social Action Offering. Each month a selected organization is chosen to receive offerings from our congregation. You may donate to the social action offering for the month in one of the following ways:

My name is Brigitte Pieke, and I was the chair of the partner churches committee for 20 years – but I am getting old.

I really love our partner churches congregations in Szekelykal, Romania, and in Nongtalang, India.

This church here in Urbana has a long history with our partner churches in Romania and in India. This congregation has made a commitment to both partner churches.

The UNITARIAN Church in Romania lies right on the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. It has a lot of fruit orchards, and the village lives of farming. When you wake up in the morning, the cows are coming out of their barns and going down the dirt road to pastures outside of the village. We helped them build a community house for their congregation.

The church in India is in the North East in Megalaya and about three hours away from the state capital, Shillong. Culturally, it is in what is called the tribal area of Khasi Hills. This is an area where they have the last working matrilineal culture. Their dream was always to build a new church. The old one was damaged by monsoon floods. We helped the to realize their dream of building a new big beautiful church, where we are remembered each time they hold a service.

Here in our church, we have had wonderful Indian Dinners, Romanian Lunches and Dinners, and snacks during coffee hours. Oh well, people got older (including me) and the pandemic happened. The international partner churches organization is being reorganized. Now it is headed by the Unitarian-Universalist Association. The UUA has experience with the United Nations and other international organizations.

The Partner Churches have survived, we have survived, and the relationships have survived. I went to Romania in 1996 with my daughter. Peri Ceperley (who has passed) also went with her daughter to Romania. And Kathleen Robbins went 4 years ago to Szekelykal. Kathleen also wanted to go to India, but the pandemic got in the way.

The pandemic made in-person contacts more difficult, but it has not destroyed the relationships. With such distant friends, the video component of broad familiarity with things like Zoom has actually made keeping up with what’s going on in our partner churches easier. And definitely “Whatsapp” is a great and cheap resource for people in India and Romania, and for us.

So, out of the challenges of the past three years has come a new and hopeful opportunity. Let’s not forget what the Romanian minister wrote several years ago: He was so happy that they were not forgotten, that people on the other side of the world here in Urbana remembered them, and think about them and their situation in Romania.

What we most need here in this church, is a person who is interested to learn about our partner church congregations and their histories. Who would keep up the contact with them over Facebook, Whatsapp, or Zoom and inform our congregation about their progress. It is a great learning experience. I learned a lot about their lives and their situations. It enlarged my life and I would not have missed it for anything. Think about it. You can always contact me. and I can help with whatever is necessary. My e-mail is available in the membership booklet, or just call the church office.

Read our policy on publications for details.

Please send your submittals to pubs@uucuc.org and not to the admin email.

9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Monday - Thursday

By appointment on Friday

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Sunday REE Coordinator sundayree@uucuc.org

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Director of Business Administration admin@uucuc.org

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