COVID-19 – Updates and Resources 

Thursday, December 24 at 7:00 p.m. via Livestream

Join us online for an evening of carols, readings, and stunning music by our UUCUC Virtual Choir and music staff, from our Sanctuary illuminated by candlelight. There will be one service at 7 pm, with Christmas readings from the great African-American theologian and poet, Rev. Howard Thurman. Afterward we will gather with candles on Zoom to the sounds of “Silent Night.” The service will be followed by a shared candle-lighting on Zoom.

If you would like a special candle lit for your family during the Christmas Eve Service, please drop off a pillar or votive candle in the bin outside the south doors starting on December 19th. Please place your candle in a bag with your name on it, and put a note inside telling us what to read aloud when we light your candle (for instance, "The Smith family offers this candle especially for our daughter Mary, far away this Christmas" or "Sarah Moore offers this candle remembering my parents"). One candle per family please, and please drop off by 5 pm on Christmas Eve! Also, if you would like to have one or more of our special Christmas Eve candles to light at home at the end of the service, those will be in a separate bin outside the doors, also starting on the 19th.

Due to the dire situation of many of our neighbors, our Christmas Eve Shared Offering will go toward the utility bills of people in the CU community struggling during this pandemic time. There is a new “Unitarian Universalist Utility Fund” administered by Cunningham Township. To donate, please visit our UUCUC “Online Donations” and choose either "50/50 Shared Christmas Eve Offering" or “UU Utilities Fund.” To read the article featuring UUCUC published in the News-Gazette, click this link.

Sunday, December 27 at 10:15 a.m. via Livestream

OK, this year, what can we say? A year like no other. What are you going to be very glad to say goodbye to from 2020? Are there unexpected blessings you are grateful for from this year? Let’s laugh and cry and tell stories. If you have something to share, send to minister@uucuc.org, subject line “2020.” I will do a “burning” of everything you’d like to throw out from the year!

Let's have a little dark-humor fun with this ridiculous year. Let me know three things you'd like to wave goodbye to from 2020 (answers are anonymous) and I will video myself burning all the things you all mention, as part of our service. https://www.menti.com/p3migai8cq

Please send your joys or sorrows to joysandsorrows@uucuc.org by Fridays at 5pm prior to the upcoming service. They will be read aloud.

Join our online Zoom Fellowship Hour after the service on Sunday (around 11:30 a.m.). Come chat with UUCUC members and friends! All are welcome.

If you have missed any of the previous live streamed services, you can view them at our past streamed services page. You can also view previous live streamed services on our YouTube channel.

"HYGGE"

Sunday, January 3 at 10:15 a.m. via Livestream

For this first service of 2021, Rev. Caplow wants to share a little hygge with you, "Hy-what?" you may ask. Hygge is a Danish word (derived from Norwegian), generally translated as "cozy" or "well being." We all know that even with vaccines on the way, we have a long winter ahead. How can we settle in and bring a little hygge to our situation? Get yourself a nice cup of tea, a comfy blanket, and watch this service in your jammies. Our accompanist Juan may even play you some lullabies. To learn more about hygge, click this link.

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

UUCUC in the News on the Christmas Eve Shared Offering!

Terry and Barbara England made a second generous gift of $50,000 to a special England Endowment, which was gratefully accepted by voting members at the recent Special Congregational Meeting in which members also affirmed the new 5-Year Strategic Plan. In her introductory remarks, Rev. Caplow said that if UUCUC is like a big sailing ship, the Strategic Plan is its keel and the generosity of members and friends are the wind in its sails. She especially thanked the Englands for their inspiring generosity.

Terry and Barbara have these words: "We are pleased to be able to add to the church endowment. The endowment is inspired by the generosity, energy, warmth, support, music, and mission of this church and its congregation and leadership."

New adult religious education offerings for 2021 were announced in the Adult Religious Education Prospectus earlier this month. It promises to be a fun semester of classes, workshops, discussion and creative learning. If you are one of the 98 adults who participated in one of UUCUC’s adult learning experiences, please tell others about your experience. These classes are not restricted to UUCUC members and friends. The community is encouraged to attend. Read more.

New! Theology Ablaze Part II Starts January 6, 2021

Whether or not you participated in Part I this fall, come join us for in-depth conversations around the short chapterettes in the book Theology Ablaze by Rev. Tom Owen-Towle. Each session explores the different themes from a UU perspective. Join us in figuring out what a UU identity means for each of us individually. This spring some of the topics we will look at are: peace and non-violence, hospitality, love, evil, faithfulness and God, plus others. All viewpoints are encouraged to participate, the more diversity of perspective, the richer the exploration. Read more.

Dear UUCUC Community,

As you put together your giving plans this holiday season, please consider donating to the Little Free Pantries run by Julie Laut and AJ Herzog, which they have kept active daily since late spring. In order to address increased and unique needs this winter, they have created an Amazon wish list. All items will be delivered to Julie's house and shared between the two pantries. Donations of all items will continue to be accepted as usual at both locations, if you want to bring them in person.

Thank you for your support and generosity,

Julie and AJ

If it would be helpful to have someone deliver groceries for you, we have several folks who have volunteered to do this. Contact Julie Laut at: jlaut@hushmail.com or 513-544-2682 & she’ll put you in touch with a volunteer.

UUCUC'S "BUDDY SYSTEM"

During this time of social distancing, staying in touch and checking in with each other is going to be very important. We hope you will consider being part of our "Buddy System" so we can care for one another.

You can sign up here: https://uucuc.breezechms.com/form/2184f1. Buddies will check in with each other regularly by phone to provide connection, companionship, and connections to help if needed. This is a great way to help each other.

JOYS AND SORROWS sent to joysandsorrows@uucuc.org for last Sunday, December 20.

From Julie Laut: It was an honor to be named the 2020 Outstanding Community Partner by UIUC's International Students & Scholar Services. Friends and family from near and far attended the zoom ceremony on Thursday. This recognition has been a ray of light at the end of a difficult year and I am deeply grateful.

From Ali Newbold: My Dear Friends! Though I’d been far too ill with 3 serious infections to safely remain on treatment for a period of two whole months, it was a huge surprise that: instead of my quarterly PET scan on December 7 showing negative disease progression, as expected, it has regressed. It’s not yet entirely gone, but I was assured (while fearing this could be my last Christmas), that I WILL have MORE Christmases!

From Anonymous: My joy is the pride I feel for all the students and teachers who navigated an unprecedented semester of teaching and learning. It wasn’t easy but you persisted and made it work in whatever way you could. I am especially proud of my own child who did this on her own as her dad and I had to leave home to go to work everyday.

From Paul Kaiser: Joy at our ability to muddle through, heads down to the Earth, through the toughest times. Sorrow at not understanding when to stop and look up to the sky again.

From Michaela Kruse and Kids: Sorrow for bumping my head this morning. - 3-year-old. Joy for being able to (safely) visit my grandparents. -8-year-old.

From Tesla Burack: My joy is that Christmas is coming up and then I get to see grandparents.

From Umeeta Sadarangani: Gratitude for my students at Parkland College, who have persisted during this strange semester of Zoom classes and online discussions. Many of them are in their first semester of college, a number of them juggled jobs as essential workers, and some of them suffered and came through COVID during the semester. Joy for them as they complete this semester. May they be safe and well as they continue their journeys.

From Kimberlie Kranich: Prayers for Bobby, Jack, Peter and Zjide Fetterer as they have their first Christmas without their mother, Sarah Fetterer, who died of breast cancer on November 6.

Please send your joys or sorrows to joysandsorrows@uucuc.org by 5pm on the Friday before the Sunday 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:

During the month of December, we will support our Partner Churches with our social action offering. The mission and objectives of the Partner Church Committee are to develop long-term, mutually supportive relationships with our fellow UUs in Transylvania, Romania, and in the Khasi Hills in North East India.

During the month of November 2020, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee was selected to be the shared offering. The UUCUC congregation contributed a total of $1,830 that month!

Dates are subject to change. For the most up-to-date information, visit our UUCUC Calendar page.

As of Monday, March 16, the UUCUC building closed as a preventative measure to minimize the spread of the COVID-19 virus in our community.. All upcoming scheduled meetings and events at UUCUC listed on the calendar should be considered tentative. If you are planning on participating in a recurring meeting, please verify with the facilitator that the meeting or event is still scheduled to meet and is shifting to an online format. UUCUC leadership and staff are working to move all recurring meetings to an online format, but this may take some additional weeks. Stay tuned for more information! At this time, we are strongly recommending that no groups meet in person.

Read our policy on publications for details.

IMPORTANT! Send your submittals to pubs@uucuc.org

Please do not send to admin@uucuc.org.

Closed until further notice

Need reimbursement for a purchase or two made on behalf of a committee project? Fill out this online reimbursement form, which will go to the DCA, and submit your receipts via email, if applicable.