Honoring the Sacred Circle of Life/One Love – Lynn Murphy 

We will honor the beauty of nature and the sacred circle of life. We will also honor the idea of the world being united by love. You are invited to help create an altar to honor nature by bringing a small natural item or photograph to place on our table.

About our guest speaker: Lynn Murphy has been a member of Eliot Chapel since the 1980s. During her years here, she has been a board member, a religious education teacher, a leader of children’s worship, co-chair of the Welcoming Congregation Forum, worship leader for women’s retreats and summer services, choir member, and a drum circle leader.

Large-print orders of service and hearing assistance devices are available from the greeters on Sunday. We livestream our service; find it at eliotchapel.org. After the stream, a recording will be available there all week. You can also find it directly on our YouTube channel.

If you're worshipping with us on livestream, you can always find a digital order of service, including lyrics to the hymns, on our website. 

At Eliot Chapel, we follow CDC guidelines regarding COVID-19. When St. Louis County is at a Yellow or Medium Level, we will:

Read the letter about the review of our policy and the change in measures in response to a change in levels. You may access the policy document on Eliot Chapel's website for more of the details. 

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 period supplies and by raising awareness about the causes and consequences of diaper need and period poverty in our community. It costs about $1,000 each year to diaper a child and $478 each year to purchase period supplies for one woman or girl. No public benefit programs allow for the purchase of diapers or period supplies.

Let us be good neighbors. Let us be a generous people. You can give in one of three ways:

Children of all ages should attend the worship service with their family. Activity bags with crayons and UU coloring pages are available at each sanctuary entrance. Families may also use Adams Hall for freedom of movement while the service is livestreamed on the large-screen television.

The nursery is closed from July 2 to August 6 for staff vacation. The nursery will reopen on Sunday, August 13.

We keep this tradition of hospitality alive by taking turns hosting. This is a simple task (instructions are available in a binder in the kitchen) and a great way to serve and connect. Please check the SignUpGenius for coffee hour volunteers to sign up to host Coffee Hour on a Sunday morning after the service. If you need help using SignUpGenius, please contact Rebecca Schuder at hospitality@eliotchapel.org and she will help you get signed up.

If there is no host by 3:00 pm on Thursday afternoon, there will be no coffee served on Sunday though we will still gather for social time. Please be respectful of Sunday staff as they have other responsibilities. We still need volunteers for some August dates.

Zoom Coffee Hour takes place at 12:30 pm on Sunday. You are invited to "walk down the hall" and come to our Zoom Coffee Hour! We'll take a few minutes to say hello and let people settle in, then we'll say a few words of welcome and briefly review the service that day. We typically really enjoy the wisdom story and discuss how that story reflects on the theme of the sermon. Then we'll create breakout rooms of 5-6 people for conversation and sharing. We love making new friends and the small groups are great for that! In approximately 45 minutes, everyone will return to the big group and we'll say our goodbyes for the week. We usually end shortly after 1:30 pm, but those who wish to can stay a few minutes longer. Please watch your email for "Eliot on Zoom" on Sunday morning which will include a link to join the Zoom Coffee Hour. If you're not on our mailing list, sign up here. We look forward to seeing you!

Tuesday, July 18

Women’s Alliance – 9:30 am in Adams Hall

Vigil for Hope & Healing – 5:00 pm on the front lawn

EUC Board Meeting – 6:30 pm in Adams Hall

Stein Covenant Group – 7:00 pm in the Susan Frederick-Gray Room

Planning a meeting or event? Start with our Room & Event Request Form! 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.

Have you clicked through to the Eliot website this week? Then you probably noticed that it's all new!

Plans for the new website took shape last summer when a group of Eliot members including Carl Serbell, Mary Meihaus, and Kalen Ponche met with Communications Specialist Debby Lovell and began to map it out. The goals expressed were to streamline content, make things easier to find, and be mobile-friendly and welcoming to all, especially newcomers.

In addition to that, we have a new website platform through ACS, our management software, that comes with all sorts of shiny bells and widgets! "Refresh" is a modern website solution. It should allow better integration of our events, make information more readable, and even has a blog feature!

This was a big project and it's still in process. Keep an eye out for regular updates on the site! If you find yourself missing something from the old website, get in touch with Debby at news@eliotchapel.org. It may be added down the line but almost everything from the old site was archived so we should be able to find that for you.

We want to represent life at Eliot on this site! If you are at an event, why not take a photo and send it to us so that it might be featured where we can tell everyone the story of Eliot Chapel?

Big thanks go to Carl, Mary, and Kalen for the time they've invested in bringing this

about for the Eliot community!

The Front Office will be closed on Tuesday, July 18. Christie Lee and Camille Novak will be away to finalize the renewal of their notary licenses.

If so, you know at least one of the people who completed the Wellspring program offered at Eliot over the last two years. We challenge you to ask any of them about the program. How has it changed the pace and quality of their lives? Was the ten-month commitment worth it? How has it made them more committed, more empathetic members of the Eliot community – and of the wider world?

If you need more evidence of the program’s worth, listen to what three of them, who will be facilitating the new groups this fall, have to say about their experience.

We hope you’ll consider joining a Wellspring group in September. We think you’ll be glad you did!

Email uuwellspring@eliotchapel.org with any questions you have – or to sign up.

It's that time again to start collecting backpacks and school supplies for the Meacham Park Neighborhood Improvement Association (MNIA)! Please leave your donation of new school supplies and backpacks for the MNIA in either the box in Adams Hall or in the one at that entrance to our building. Supplies for all grade levels are being sought and will be collected through July 30.

Last year 300 backpacks filled with supplies for kindergarteners through high schoolers were given out. The MNIA backpack giveaway will be on August 12 from 12:00 to 3:00 pm at Meacham Park Memorial Park. Thank you for your compassion for the school children in Meacham Park.

The service on July 16 will be honoring the theme of nature and the sacred circle of life. You are invited to help create an altar to honor nature by bringing a small item to place on our table such as a potted plant, potted flowers, seashell, a favorite rock, feather, crystal, or a leaf. It could also include a picture of your favorite place in nature such as the beach or the Grand Canyon.

After the service, there is a summer family activity at the Forest Park Nature Playscape which is a perfect follow-up to the service. See details below.

The balcony in the Sanctuary is closed until the new railing is installed. Thank you for your patience as we care for our surroundings.

July 1, 2023 was the first day of the new Eliot Chapel fiscal/pledge year of 2023-2024.

We realize Eliot Chapel's fiscal and pledge year are confusing. Everyone thinks of "year" as the calendar year of January to December. However, a corporation like Eliot Chapel (EUC was incorporated in 1959), follows a different calendar year for its fiscal year. Eliot Chapel's fiscal calendar year is July 1 to June 30. This means that the pledge card members and friends were asked to fill out and return to Eliot Chapel in March/April became effective July 1, 2023.

There are several things pledgers who pay via online giving need to do in a new fiscal/pledge year.

If the following directions confuse you, please contact the Front Office at frontoffice@eliotchapel.org or DFO@eliotchapel.org and we will help you delete your 2022-2023 pledge payment and/or set up a new online giving pledge payment for 2023-2024.

If you have not yet submitted your pledge card for 2023-2024, please use this link to access the online pledge form or a printable pledge card to download and mail.

Thank you for your support of Eliot Chapel!

The Eliot Ride Team provides rides to church and to medical appointments for Eliot members and friends who cannot drive themselves. If you need a ride, email ineedaride@eliotchapel.org with your name, your address, where you need to go, and the date and time needed. We will be in touch to make arrangements. 

The Eliot Meal Train provides meals to Eliot members and friends who need some love and care. For example, we will provide meals for those who have recently lost a loved one or are recovering from medical care. If you would like to request meals or offer to provide meals, please email mealtrain@eliotchapel.org with your contact information and someone will be in touch with you.

At Eliot Chapel, we care for our earth and our building! One way you can express this is by joining the Eliot Recycling Team! This committee is responsible for taking the recycling from Eliot to the Kirkwood Recycling Depository at 350 S. Taylor Avenue each week. Sign up for a week that works for you and plan to grab the recycling after service to drop it off. Thanks for being part of the team!

Providing receptions after a Celebration of Life is another way we care for each other at Eliot Chapel. The Reception Team sets up, serves, and cleans up after these receptions. If you can be available once in a while to help, please email receptions@eliotchapel.org. Your efforts will be appreciated!

Eliot Summer Adventure #2: Sunday, July 16, 11:30 am–1:30 pm, Forest Park Nature Playscape 

Sign-ups are open for Eliot Summer Adventure #2, a series of informal opportunities for families and children to gather and experience fellowship and connection during the summer months. Huge thanks to Kalen Ponche for initiating and hosting this time.

The gathering is at the Forest Park Nature Playscape on Sunday, July 16 from 11:30-1:30. The location is near the bathrooms which are next to the World's Fair Pavilion and across the street from the Anne C. Albrecht Naturescape. Recommended parking is along Concourse Drive near the World’s Fair Pavilion. A detailed map of the playscape area can be found on their website.

You can RSVP in advance via SignUpGenius. Advance sign-ups are helpful, though not required.

Please contact Kalen Ponche at eliotadventure@eliotchapel.org if you have any questions.

Please join Women’s Alliance for our regular meeting on Tuesday, July 18, at 9:30 am in Adams Hall. Terry Neal will present “An Art Experience,” an interactive program. Ellen Luckow is the coordinator. There will be no Zoom for this meeting. For more information, contact womensalliance@eliotchapel.org.

It is often said that for UUs, the question is the answer. In this service, Rev. Krista will answer questions you have about Unitarian Universalism, Eliot Chapel, and the issues we care deeply about. We encourage questions from children. They will be answered during the Time for All Ages. Please submit children’s questions ahead of time to ktaves@eliotchapel.org.