Hello UUCUC! We wanted to start out this week by thanking the 90-or-so participants in our recent cottage meetings. We found these honest and heartfelt conversations to be so powerful and inspiring; you have really solidified our understanding of where we are and where we want to go with our next settled minister. We will be conducting focus group discussions in the coming two weeks, and then the next (and last) congregational ask that we have: attending the “Beyond Categorical Thinking” workshop on Friday, November 18th (7:00 – 8:30 PM) and Saturday, November 19th (10:00 – 11:30 AM). Please plan to attend this important seminar, details of which are below. It will be held on Zoom so you can go from wherever you are comfortable (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSelX4a84xsXg8QHRrPLfJxs8NIIQxDwMrbDSiQX7UkDugIWVQ/viewform).

If you have any questions about Beyond Categorical Thinking, feel free to reach out to us at search@uucuc.org. As an added bonus, we have in our midst a trained leader of these workshops who would be happy to talk to you as well: Jerry Carden! Feel free to reach out to him as well.

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.

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.

With Governor Pritzker recently removing mask mandates in Illinois for healthcare facilities, there's been some discussion among lay leaders and staff about removing the current mask requirement for in-person services in the Sanctuary when the COVID-19 transmission level is reported at low or medium in Champaign County by the CDC.

If you'd like to submit a more detailed response, please feel free to send your feedback to Brian Franklin at admin@uucuc.org. We are collecting data this week through this poll in eNews and the poll on our Members & Friends page on Facebook (and, yes, it is OK if you cast your vote in both polls!). Once we have collected all the data, we will share the results with the congregation in upcoming weeks.

Join our online Zoom Fellowship Hour after the service this Sunday

Join us at 11:30 (or immediately following the service) for an in-person fellowship with coffee, beverages, treats, and good conversation in UUCUC's Fellowship Hall.

As of October 27, 2022, the COVID-19 transmission level in Champaign County is MEDIUM. That means masks continue to be required during services (both in the Sanctuary and Fellowship Hall) as well as in all RE&E program activities. Masks are welcomed (but not required) in UUCUC’s building for non-RE&E activities before and after the service. Food and beverages are also permitted in the building when transmission levels are medium or low. Please visit this link for UUCUC’s current COVID Safety Guidelines.

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

Interested kids and their grown-ups are invited to attend a pizza party info session at church, 5:30pm Wednesday, November 9th, and we’ll have our first rehearsal that night, 6-7pm! If you have copies of music that you would like to sing, or even know some titles, feel free to share those with M.R. at any time.

There has been a lot of work going on behind the scenes and we are ready to share an important update. With the help of the Board, the Operations Council, the Personnel Committee, our ministers, other church staff, and many others, our church is ready to post a job description for a REE Manager to help coordinate our children and youth programming. We hope to be able to fill this position by early November.

Please consider donating to the Little Free Pantries run by Julie Laut (Urbana) and AJ Herzog (Champaign), which they have maintained year-round since March 2020. Their Amazon wish list has been updated to include unique summer items. The wishlist can be sorted to identify high priority items. All orders sent through Amazon are delivered to Julie's house and split between the two pantries. You are also welcome to drop off items in person at both locations. Questions? Contact Julie (jlaut@hushmail.com) or AJ (zogs92@gmail.com).

JOYS AND SORROWS sent to joysandsorrows@uucuc.org for last Sunday, October 23, 2022.

From Rev Sally Fritsche: What’s happening in Iran right now is terrifying, heartbreaking, and incredible. Young girls are rising up, marching into bullets, and refusing to back down in the fight for their own humanity and freedom. May the whole world witness this and not look away. May their bravery and sacrifice not be in vain.

From Ellen Jacobsen: Max and I both have Covid. The good news is that we probably won’t die of it. Bad news is that we feel really crummy and have had to miss some really fun things.

From Katie Madigan: In the past week or so a friend lost her mother and my school lost a student (a 3 year old). I also grieve for the continued gun violence in this community that has injured a 12 year old boy from Urbana.

From The Pitcel Family: Sorrow for the passing of Michelle's great aunt.

From The Search Team: The Search Team has joy and gratitude to the congregation for participating in the cottage group meetings.

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:

Trauma & Resilience Initiative is a non-profit organization and community of individuals who are working to help make Champaign County a trauma & justice informed community where everyone has the right to be, become, and belong.

The strategies used to accomplish these goals are to provide education and information about trauma & structural inequities and its impact throughout the community, helping healers, educators, and leaders address the needs of those affected; and supporting survivors impacted by community violence and community adversity with healing, wellness, and recovery support.

To that end, we provide a range of healing centered support for survivors, their families, and their communities from the moment of crisis throughout their healing journeys; and for those healers, educators, and helpers that work with them. We believe ‘it takes a village to heal.’

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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