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Calendar
Sunday, Nov. 30
Worship at 10am & 11:30am: "A New Day - Gratitude"; music by Sarah Buino and Brett Rowe
All Ages Children's Chapel at 10am & 11:30am in Fleishman Hall
Wednesday, Dec. 3
7:10pm - Sight reading class
7:30pm - Choir Rehearsal
Saturday, Dec. 6
1-3 pm Join with the Young Adult Ministry to decorate and winterize the church. All our welcome!
Sunday, Dec. 7
Ingathering Sunday
Worship at 10am & 11:30am: "A New Day - Peace"; music by the 2U Choir
All Ages Children's Chapel at 10am & 11:30am in Fleishman Hall
Monday, Dec. 8
Anvil Deadline
Wednesday, Dec. 10
7:00pm - Board Meeting
7:00pm - Young Adult Strategic Planning Advisory
Thursday, Dec. 11
12:00pm - Retiree potluck
6:00pm - LFD Council Meeting
7:10pm - Sight reading class
7:30pm - Choir rehearsal
Sunday, Dec. 14
Worship at 10am & 11:30am: "A New Day - A Season of Rest"; music by the 2U Band
All Ages Children's Chapel at 10am & 11:30am in Fleishman Hall
11:30am - Membership 101
12:30pm - Young Adult potluck brunch
Wednesday. Dec. 17
7:00pm - Pastoral Care Team Meeting
Thursday, Dec. 18
7:10pm - Sight reading class
7:30pm - Choir Rehearsal
Saturday, Dec. 20
9:45am - Council Meeting
5:00pm - Winter Solstice Celebration
Sunday, Dec. 21
Child Dedication Sunday
Intergenerational Worship at 10am & 11:30am: "A New Day - The Green of Winter"; music by the 2U Choir
11:30am - Parenting in multi-racial families
12:30pm - WIDE Community meeting
Monday, Dec. 22
Anvil Deadline
Tuesday, Dec. 23
5:00pm - Night Ministry cooking
6:30pm - Social Justice Meeting
Wednesday, Dec. 24
7:00pm - Christmas Eve Candlelight Service; music by 4 Now
Sunday, Dec. 28
Intergenerational Worship at 10am & 11:30am: Katie Norris preaches; music by the Folk Ensemble
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Communication Deadlines
Sunday Order of Service Mondays at noon Please make sure that the events are inclusive of all members. No additional inserts will be included in the order of service without the prior approval of the church office. Send announcement requests to secondunitarian@att.net.
The Anvil
2nd and 4th Monday of the month Send newsletter submissions directly to the office at faithdev_2u@att.net. Please note that this is a change from the last several months.
Scheduling Events
All space for church activities must be scheduled in advance through the Membership Coordinator, Lisa Todd secondunitarian@att.net. The church is open for group activities on Sundays 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and Tuesday through Thursday from 6:00p.m. to 9:00 p.m. |
| Church Office Information & Staff
Office Hours
Tues-Thurs, 9am-1pm
Parish Minister: Rev. Jennifer Owen-O'Quill
Intern Minister:
Katie Norris 773-549-0260 ext. 29,
Business Manager: Suzanne Larimer
Membership Coordinator: Lisa Todd
Acting Music Director: Brett Rowe
773-549-0260 ext. 31
Choir Director:
Blake Adams
Early Childhood Manager:
Lani Schuster
773-549-0260 ext.28
Nursery Attendant: Noemi A. |
Holiday Service Opportunities
Many people have asked how they can volunteer or donate this holiday season. We have compiled a list of opportunities, supporting some of the organizations with whom we partner.
Howard Area Community Center
Adopt a family or individual for the holiday, purchasing specific items from a wish list.
Contact: Sue Loellbach, Volunteer Coord. 773-262-6622 x.223
The Night Ministry
Prepare gift "stockings" that are distributed to people served by the Outreach bus.
Contact: Julie Delezenne, Coord. for Congregational Community Relations
773-506-6004
Lakeview Shelter
(Northside Housing)
Need servers and hosts for Christmas and New Years.
835 W. Addison
Contact: Lisa Todd, 773-549-0260 x. 11 |
Support World Bicycle Relief this Holiday Season
Please donate one bike (or more). One bicycle costs $134, and it helps many-like a caregiver who can now treat up to 20 patients. Five bicycles can help 100 people and ten bicycles can help a whole community.
Donations make the best gifts. Buy a bike in honor of a friend, your clients, your boss, your family-they will receive a card or e-mail acknowledging your kind gift with a personal message from you.
World Bicycle Relief helps healthcare, education and economic development initiatives-please help us, help others. Just donate with our online form. |
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Share some of your Unitarian Universalist values with everyone you meet, without saying a word, through this newly designed canvass tote bag.
The back of the shirt reads: "Peace, compassion, resposibility, love, dignity, humanity, harmony, equity, community, liberty, interconnectedness, justice, reason and wonder. Unitarian Universalist values."
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| Membership 101 - Orientation to Unitarian Universalism
When? Dec. 14 (usually the 3rd Sunday) 11:30-1:30
Where? the Loft (top floor)
Who? Anyone who wants to know more about UUism, Second Unitarian Church or who wants to meet some other good people.
What? A conversation about UU ideas and a sharing of our own questions and paths. Lunch and child care are provided so please RSVP.
Why? Because if you've gotten this far in the blurb you have some questions about church or faith or belonging to a community in an intentional way. Join us! | |
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From the Board of Trustees
by Matthew
Hello everyone,
I hope you had a good Thanksgiving. The economy, election and other events have certainly taken their toll on many of us, so I encourage you all to take pause this holiday season and think about your life's blessings. At the very least, take time to revive your body, mind and soul.
I'd like to thank everyone who contributed to our successful fundraiser earlier this year. As you may recall, we raffled off some prizes, including a Wii gaming system. We raised more than $1,700, which will be used to help fund staff benefits. Your generosity is greatly appreciated. I would be remiss if I didn't give a special thanks to the board's fundraising committee. They put in a lot of time and their own resources to make this first fundraiser a success. They have other exciting programs in the works for the remainder of the church year.
The board also formed a stewardship committee, which will build off of last year's effort to connect with members on a more personal level. Board members and other leaders will be reaching out to congregants in hopes of further developing our sense of community and belonging. More details will follow shortly.
Finally, I want to address the issue of having children attend Sunday services. I know that many of you miss having a Story for All Ages, or at least having the opportunity for the children to share in the adult worship experience. Director of Faith Development Gabrielle Parra has an excellent column in the November Anvil on the situation and I encourage everyone to visit the church Web site and read it. Be assured that the board and leadership has heard your concerns. The staff is working on a solution that they think will be positive for the entire church community. Please look for further details in the coming weeks and for changes to be launched early in 2009.
Thanks and happy holidays.
In faith,
Matthew
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Children & Youth Faith Development News
by Gabrielle Parra
As we head into the holiday season, we have an exciting worship series planned for our children and youth. Beginning Sunday, Nov. 30, the children will gather together in Fleishman Hall for a three-week worship series about prayer. The first week we will focus on spiritual practices, the second week we will discuss what it means to pray for others, and we will wrap up with a session on prayer for the larger world.
On December 21, we will gather for intergenerational worship for our Child Dedication ceremony. On December 28 we will have the opportunity to gather again for intergenerational worship at our last service of 2008.
I look forward to seeing you all in church.
Faithfully,
Gabrielle
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Wanted: Cookies and Other Edible Holiday Treats!
Annual 2U Holiday Bake Sale-December 14th!
Come and Buy!
We want your cookies (brownies, quick breads, candies and other delights) for the annual 2U bake sale. Nothing says, "Holiday" like the taste of ginger, molasses, chocolate, peppermint, or a good old-fashioned frosted sugar cookie. As you plan for the season of baking plenty, throw an extra batch or two (or three or four) in the oven for the benefit of 2U.
Bring as many dozens of bake sale goodies as you are able to the sale. Please label your cookies if they are vegan, or contain tree nuts or peanuts. The Cookie Team will do the rest. Cookies will be sold by weight.
As an additional treat this year, we will be auctioning off pies, cakes and other holiday desserts fit for a festive table or Sunday supper. This is the time to share your family's best ever pecan pie or your justifiably famous apple tart.
If you're not inclined to bake or dip pretzels in chocolate, come and buy! If you're sick of your own cookies, come and buy. If you need a last minute treat, come and buy. If you have no baking skills but are trying to impress your current or future mother-in-law, come and buy. If you need cookies for the school holiday party, come and buy. If there's too much to do and too little time to bake this year, come and buy.
Please let us know how you'll help by dropping this coupon in the offertory plate or by contacting the office at secondunitarian@att.net.
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Social Justice News
by Curtis
 I want to thank all those who attended the 2008 Social Justice Kick-Off: without you it would not have been the success it was.
As you may know, working for justice in our community is an important way for Unitarian Universalists to express our faith. During the Social Justice Kick-off those who attended learned many different ways in which here at 2U one can participate in social justice work. In case you missed it, below is a sampling of what was discussed.
1) Night Ministry - The Night Ministry needs people to help prepare and deliver meals to a community of homeless youth in Chicago. Jobs would involve preparing food for the Night Ministry's van and then going out on the street to serve it to the youth.
2) Green Sanctuary - If you are concerned about the environment in which we live, work, and worship, please join us in helping our community lead a sustainable lifestyle at 2U and create an environmentally friendly neighborhood and city.
3) Lakeview Action Coalition - If you think globally about the larger world, but have a need to act locally, LAC is looking for leaders from 2U who seek to be a part of grassroots organization for the purposes of increasing social justice, integration and power in communities on north side of Chicago (Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Uptown, Rogers Park, North Center). Participate in a LAC taskforce and help bring about justice in:
a. Affordable Housing
b. Access to Healthcare
c. Homeless Youth
d. Environmental Justice
4) WIDE (Welcoming, Inclusive, Diverse, Equitable) Community- For those who know that our church community is great, but who want to make it even greater! This ministry works toward enhancing 2U's capacity to be a faith community where each of us is held in a Welcoming, Inclusive, Diverse and Equitable embrace!
5) Community Renewal Society - If eradicating racism and poverty is a calling, then join the Community Renewal Society. The Society works toward the elimination of racism and poverty by organizing and training individuals at our church to action--to go out in our communities, in a sustained strategic effort, to engender systematic change.
a. Criminal Justice
b. Education
6) Lifespan Faith Development Program - Building the foundation of social justice begins early in our Unitarian Universalist faith tradition. The Lifespan Faith Development Program gets children involved in social justice work.
7) Jane Addams Senior Caucus - The more things change, the more things stay the same. The fight for justice is forever an enduring one. The Jane Addams Senior Caucus is a grassroots, membership based organization of Chicago area older adults organizing to build relationships, develop leaders, educate people and create the power necessary for older adults to play a central role in determining their quality of life. The Jane Addams Senior Caucus challenges and transforms social injustices impacting seniors through leadership development, community organizing and grassroots policy advocacy.
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Help us Give the Gift of Warmth!
A coat drive benefiting the homeless youth of Lakeview began Sunday, November 16th and runs through Sunday, December 14th. The streets of Lakeview are home to many LGBQT youth who have been  forced to leave their home because of their sexual orientation. We can help! Please bring new or gently used coats and other winter outerwear items and put them in the the designated bin in the Palmer Room. The drive is sponsored by the Tuesday Night Small Group.
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4 Now participates in the Chicago AIDS Quilt Songbook. 
The first day of December has customarily been designated as "A Day Without Art". However, the concert tradition of The AIDS Quilt Songbook was started in 1992 by the late baritone William Parker, himself a 1993 casualty of AIDS related illness, for which he invited composers to add a "song panel" to a quilt of remembrance commemorating those infected or affected by the HIV/AIDS crisis. Unfortunately, in recent years, the idea of presenting these concerts has largely fallen by the wayside.
In the face of this still prevalent epidemic, a number of Chicago based or associated composers and writers have committed to creating new songs written in direct response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic as a continuation of this important artistic legacy.
Season of Concern is the Chicagoland theatre community's fundraising effort, providing compassionate care to those in our community who are experiencing the effects of catastrophic illness. This effort supports the fight against HIV and AIDS by contributing to programs that provide direct care (personal financial support, housing care, meals, medications, legal assistance, and other services) to members of the Chicago and Midwestern theatre community; and by addressing emergency needs expressed by theatre community members in their struggles against other life-threatening illnesses. More information on Season of Concern can be found at www.seasonofconcern.org. |
Eco-Factoid: Save Energy and Have your Christmas Lights too!
by Leo
Would you like to have your Christmas lighting and save energy, too? You can do
both with LED Christmas lights. The initials, "LED," stand for "light emitting
diode," quite possibly the most efficient technology for producing light
available today.
The savings in power compared to incandescent lights is
compelling, and anyone doing holiday decorations would do well to consider LED
Christmas lights in their decorating plans. LED are somewhat dimmer than
incandescents, so that some consumers may need to purchase more LED lights to
achieve the same effect as would be achieved with incandescents.
I
recently purchased a set of LED Christmas lights (25 size C9 bulbs on a 26 foot
string spaced 12 inches apart) and incandescent lights (25 size C9 bulbs on a
25 foot string also spaced 12 inches apart) from a local hardware store. The
rating of the LED light string is 2.4 watts for all 25 lights. The incandescent
light string comes out or 175.2 watts, or over 70 times more wattage than for
the LED lights!
How much did these lights cost me? I got them on sale
(20% discount) at $9.99 (regular price: $16.99) for the LED string, and $6.99
(regular price: $10.99) for the incandescent string.
Similar results are
shown in tests by Consumer Reports magazine and reported on their website,
consumerreports.org. Regarding the amount of money saved, CR researchers report
that for the size C9 lights, that for 50 feet of stringing and 300 hours of
operation, the operating costs were $11.00 for the incandescents, and $0.14 for
LEDs.
LED bulbs are made of break-resistant plastic and are not prone to
breakage as are incandescent bulbs, which are made of glass. The LED bulbs
generate very little heat, reducing fire risk. Finally, CR researchers noted
that in their tests, all LED bulbs were still working after 4,000 hours of
service, whereas, each string of incandescent bulbs showed one or more burned
out bulbs after less than 2,000 hours of operation.
Check out the variety
of environmentally-friendly LED bulbs available at most retailers (Jewel, Home
Depot, Ace Hardware, etc.), and make your own comparisons.
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Young Adult Ministry
by Liz
The Young Adult Ministry is geared towards people aged 18-35. As a welcoming outreach ministry, we aim to bring young people together in fellowship and help everyone feel at home in our congregation. We encourage spiritual formation, social justice work and involvement in the larger church community. For more information on the Young Adult Ministry, contact the office at secondunitarian@att.net.
Upcoming Events:
Dec. 10: Strategic Planning Advisory Meeting. All young adults are welcome at our monthly planning meeting, held on the second Wednesday of the month. We will meet at the church from 7:00-9:00 pm to plan events for the upcoming months and discuss long-term goals for the ministry. (We'll order pizza for dinner so please bring a few bucks to chip in.) If you've been thinking about getting more involved, why not come join us?!!
Dec. 14: Potluck Lunch & Worship. The Young Adult Ministry holds a potluck lunch followed by a worship service on the second Sunday of every month from 12:30-2:30 pm in the Loft. This is a great way get to know each other on a deeper level by engaging in meaningful conversations and sharing a community meal. Mia Mapes will be facilitating our next Potluck Lunch & Worship on the topic of Spiritual Practices.
Canned Food Drive
The Young Adults are collecting
supplies for the Lakeview Pantry. The
most needed food items are peanut butter, jelly, tuna, juice, canned
meats, soup, stews, canned fruit, canned beans and chili. The most needed non-food items are toys,
canvas bags, personal hygiene products and winter coats. Please place your donations in the collection
barrel located in the Palmer Room. Envelopes
for cash donations are available on the What's Happening table. Thank you for giving generously!
Dec. 6: Winter Work Day
The Young Adult Ministry is sponsoring
a winter work day on Saturday, December 6 from 1-3 pm. We will be putting up holiday decorations and
winterizing the church windows to prevent drafts and save energy. All members and friends - young and old - are
invited to help. Join us for holiday
music, hot cocoa and plenty of holiday cheer!
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2U Now Has Blue Bins!
What can we put in them to be recycled?
- Glass jars and bottles
- Aluminum cans, foil and pie tins
- Tin or Steel cans
- Cereal boxes, paper towel rolls
- Cardboard (flatten all boxes)
- Plastic bottles and containers (numbers 1-5, 7 accepted. No Styrofoam- avoid it at all costs!)
- Junk mail
- Magazines and catalogs
- Telephone books
- Paper bags
- Office paper and file folders
- Newspaper and inserts
- Beverage cartons (milk, juice, soy cartons)
Why recycle? 1) Chicago and the suburbs will run out of landfill space in less than 8 years! Then we'll have to pay to have it trucked elsewhere. 2) Toxins from our landfills will eventually seep into the land. 3) We can use fewer resources by recycling and then closing the loop by purchasing recycled products.
Please locate and use the recycling receptacles around the building!
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