Rev. Jennifer Innis and Amy Popp, CRE, UU Church of Peoria, IL

President Franklin Roosevelt spoke of the Four Freedoms in 1941, including freedom of speech, freedom to worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Author Margot Lee Shetterly names these freedoms in her account of the Black women who advanced the effort to send people to space. We explore freedom from want as found in the movie, Hidden Figures, and how moving beyond such oppression brings us closer to the stars.

Our service video will be available at 10:00 am at eliotchapel.org and will remain there all week. You can also find it directly on Eliot Chapel's YouTube channel.

In July, Eliot Chapel will share its bounty with the St. Louis Area Diaper Bank. The Diaper Bank exists to help strengthen low-income families in the St. Louis region by ensuring access to an adequate supply of diapers and by raising awareness about the causes and consequences of diaper need in our community.

Bottoms up! 

Here’s how you can give:

UU Resources for at-home exploration: Families are encouraged to explore the online Religious Education Resources on the church website, found here, for at-home UU exploration. Resources include a Social Justice Summer Reading List for children, UU coloring pages, YouTube videos, parent resources, and more.

For more information about activities for children and youth, please contact Scott Stewart at scott@eliotchapel.org or Christie Lee at christie@eliotchapel.org.

At 11:30 am on Sunday, you are invited to “walk down the hall” and come to our Zoom Coffee Hour! We’ll take about 10 minutes or so to gather and let people settle in. We'll say a few words of welcome and then create break-out rooms – random groupings of 5 or 6 people. Everyone will likely make a new friend at Eliot from this exercise! You’ll have the chance to introduce yourself and then share your answers to a few questions, like “How has this week been for you?” and “What feelings has it brought up for you?” Each person has about 5 minutes to speak; you are welcome to pass if you like. In half an hour, everyone will return to the big group and we’ll say our goodbyes for the week. Please watch your email for "Eliot on Zoom" which will include a link to join the Zoom coffee hour. If you're not on our mailing list, sign up here.

Vigil for Hope & Healing – 6:00 pm in front of Eliot

Many groups at Eliot are meeting despite the distance between us all. Check with your group leader or get involved with a new group! Find contact information in our Getting Involved booklet.

Group leaders, have you set up an area for your group in Realm? You have a secure place to chat and share documents and photos. Contact Christie Lee to set up your group.

If the following directions confuse you, please contact the Front Office at frontoffice@eliotchapel.org or admin@eliotchapel.org and we will help you delete your 2020-2021 pledge payment and/or set up a new online giving pledge payment for 2021-2022.

If you have not yet submitted your pledge card for 2021-2022, please use this link to the Online Pledge Card.  

Even if you are a Sustained Member or Sustained Friend, the Front Office still needs a "physical" pledge card so a pledge can be entered into Eliot's database by which to track your pledge contributions. You can fill out the Online Pledge Card, or simply email frontoffice@eliotchapel.org or admin@eliotchapel.org and state the amount you wish to pledge for the Fiscal/Pledge Year of 2021-2022.

We need volunteers to water Eliot's gardens in the mornings throughout the summer and early fall. Contact admin@eliotchapel.org if you can help.

July 11 - Castlewood State Park, 1401 Kiefer Creek Rd, Ballwin. Register here.

July 18 - Queeny Park, 550 Weidman Rd, Manchester. Register here.

July 25 - Tower Grove Park, 4257 Northeast Drive, St. Louis. Register here.

We recently sent out a survey about vaccination in our community. We were thrilled with the response of Eliot friends and members.

Using the results of the survey, the UUA's guidance on reopening, plus monitoring the wider community, our reopening team is working on what regathering at Eliot Chapel will look like. We are greatly encouraged! Our goal is to reopen in September. Stay tuned!

Please check with the front office if your group wishes to use video media during a meeting. Whether you're showing clips or a whole piece, whether you're on campus or not, the video needs to be covered under Eliot Chapel's media license. A very wide range of content is available so it shouldn't be hard to stay in legal compliance. Thank you!

Our COVID team is here for you. If you are quarantining and need support having groceries and prescriptions picked up, please email pastoralcare@eliotchapel.org with your contact information. 

In an email letter to members and friends, Rev. Barbara outlined "How We Do Church Now" as Eliot Chapel suspended face-to-face meetings. As a guiding document, it was always open to changes as we found out what worked and what didn't in our response to this extraordinary situation. You can find this document on our website now. We will keep it updated as things change. We'll also try to let you know here of any changes. No changes were made this week.

All staff are working from home. The building and grounds are closed for general use. A staff person is checking on the building and grounds periodically throughout the week for any facilities or maintenance issues. If you need assistance or have any questions, please email the appropriate staff person.

Women’s Alliance will meet via Zoom on Tuesday, July 6, from 9:30 to 11:30 am. We’ll begin with conversation then have a brief business meeting followed by discussion of the book Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. Our discussion leader will be Mary Widmer. Please feel free to join us whether or not you’ve read the book. For more information, contact womensalliance@eliotchapel.org.

All are welcome; wearing a mask is required as is maintaining the 6-foot social distancing guideline. Please remember that the building is not open so there are no available restrooms. 

Shawshank Redemption: “Revisiting Redemption”

Rev. Sean Parker-Dennison and Allison Cole Duren-Sutherland, Rogue Valley UU Fellowship, Ashland, OR

What have we learned since 1994 when The Shawshank Redemption was released? How does what we've learned about the history of incarceration, the experience of pandemic, the shifts and conflicts in our nation, the persistence of white supremacy, and all that we have learned about ourselves change our experience of the film's message that "hope is a dangerous thing?"