Sunday, October 15 – 10:00 am

“The Burdens and Gifts of Finishing

What Our Ancestors Started” – Rev. Krista Taves  

However our ancestors came to this land, some thousands of years ago, others just recently, there are gifts and burdens that come to rest on our souls and our shoulders. What now?

Featured musicians: Eliot Chapel Choir; David Nalesnik, piano.

Religious Education & Youth Group

The 2023-24 Religious Education and Youth Program continues this Sunday, October 15 during the 10:00 service. Children and youth aged four and older should attend the first 15 minutes of the worship service with their family. The nursery opens at 9:30 for children aged three and younger and those who need freedom of movement. Religious Education (RE) classes and youth gatherings will begin at 10:15.

Reminder: The 6th & 7th grade group and 8th-12th grade group are on field trips this Sunday to the Ethical Society of St. Louis. Gathering time for both groups is 10:00 am in Adams Hall.

Specific plans for each age group are shared with registered families via email each week. To learn more about this fall’s Religious Education program, please contact Scott Stewart at scott@eliotchapel.org.

Coffee Hour

Coffee Hour is an important tradition of fellowship at Eliot Chapel, taking place in Adams Hall immediately after the worship service on Sunday. It's a time to catch up with fellow members and friends and to greet newcomers. Please join us!

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. We have some dates in October that need help!

Coffee, Conversation, and Connections

Find Coffee, Conversation, and Connections on Zoom at 12:30 pm every Sunday! You are invited to join us online for conversation after the service! We'll take a few minutes to say hello and let people settle in, then we'll go around the room to check in and welcome newcomers. Look for "Eliot on Zoom" in your email on Sunday morning; it will include a link to join us for Coffee, Conversation, and Connections. If you're not on our mailing list, sign up here. We look forward to seeing you!

Sunday at a Glance

6th-12th Grade Field Trip – 10:00 am offsite

Sunday Worship – 10:00 am in the Sanctuary

Coffee Hour – 11:00 am in Adams Hall

Madrigal Actors Rehearsal – 12:00 pm in the Sanctuary

Young Adult Group – 11:45 am in the Triplett Room

Coffee, Conversation, and Connections – 12:30 pm via Zoom

In This Week at Eliot

This Week's Events & Meetings

Church News

Classes at Eliot Chapel

Helping Each Other

The Week Ahead

Next Week's Service

Shared Plate

Down the Road

ourEliot

Monday, October 16 

A Course in Miracles – 7:00 pm via Zoom

Tuesday, October 17 

Women’s Alliance – 9:45 am in Adams Hall

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

EUC Board Meeting – 6:30 pm in Adams Hall

Earth-Based Spirituality Covenant Group – 7:00 pm on Zoom

Wednesday, October 18 

Wellspring – 7:00 pm on Zoom

Nominating Committee – 7:00 pm on Zoom

Thursday, October 19

Wellspring – 9:30 am in the Susan Frederick-Gray Room

Shifting from Role to Soul – 10:30 am in Room 001

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

Transitions Support Group – 7:00 pm in the DuBois Library 

Friday, October 20 

Friday Freethinkers – 10:00 am in Room 001

Social Justice Film Series – 6:00 pm in Adams Hall

As we have new staff in the front office scheduling your events and meetings, it is more important than ever to make contact to get on the calendar and then to check your entry for accuracy!

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 Debby Lovell to set up your group.

Dee Evans, Our New Affiliate Minister

We are so pleased to share with you that Dee Evans is joining Eliot Chapel as an Affiliate Minister. Dee is a Community Minister. She intends to serve in the community, not in a congregation. In our free tradition, a Community Minister must be affiliated with a congregation to be in good standing. It is a form of accountability in our congregational polity system. We will benefit from several services that the Affiliate offers to the congregation, including one worship service and an adult religious education class per year. 

Learn more about an affiliate minister and about Dee in the recent letter we shared, and please take the time to welcome Dee to Eliot Chapel when you see her.

Greentree Festival Booth – Success!

Eliot Chapel’s Greentree Festival booth was a wonderful success! The booth was a little out of the way off the main path, but we still “caught" quite a few of the roughly 38,300 visitors to the festival as they strolled by. It was kind of hard to miss us with all the colorful rainbow decorations and bubbles along with the mini pride flags and LOVE stickers we were handing out! It was a fun time! We are already thinking about ways to make it even better for next year.

Together there were 27 volunteers that had a hand in contributing to our effort. Thank you – Mary Meihaus, Bob Meihaus, Jim Lyon, Steven Bain, Tim Gardner, Jeff Bewley, Sue Myers, Julia Berger, Nancy Shepard, Ann Lemon, Trish Williams, Susan Bell, Jenny Anderson, Ellen Duncan, Zoe Heaton, Klara Weis, Sue Blandford, Greg Johnston, Corinne Esneault, Claudia Jean Potts, Janet Solecki, Jim Gender, Karen Gender, Ann Marie Hutson, Carole Glauser, Sara Fleming, and Kalen Ponche – YOU ROCK!

We appreciate that so many of our members responded to our call for volunteers and gave their valuable time to help us reach out to the public and encourage individuals and families to come check us out and see how we UUs do “church” differently. THANK YOU!

Thank You, Hands On Kirkwood (HOK) Volunteers

Ten congregants volunteered to do various jobs for HOK on October 7. Following are their names and the type of work they did: Terry Jones and Mike Fitzgerald: Fr Dickson cemetery groundskeeping, Mary Fitzgerald, Donna Springer and Michael Ross: clothing and toy shop, David Dahlgren: yard work and Claire Robertson, Liz Sale, Janet Solecki and Julie Morris: sorting of donations for Kirkcare and Nurses for Newborns.

For the past sixteen years HOK has brought together many area churches and organizations to do these various jobs in Kirkwood the first Saturday of October. This year they brought together over 300 volunteers. A big thank you to Eliot Chapel volunteers! (Apologies if your name was inadvertently missed.)

New Member Signing: November 12 

Are you considering joining Eliot Chapel as a member? The membership book will be available to sign after the service on the second Sunday of the month. Please contact welcome@eliotchapel.org at least a week in advance if you are interested in becoming a member.

New Member

She spent almost ten years teaching the GED skills to the mail inmates at Tipton Correctional Center and Church Farm Correctional Center.

She is an entrepreneur. She started her own insurance agency and is now a servicer for United Healthcare Medicare Solutions during her retirement.

She also enjoys listening to jazz, attending operas, and sewing. 

St. Louis Area TrUUnk or Treat!

Get on your costumes, decorate your vehicle, fill the trunk with PEANUT-FREE goodies, and head over to First Unitarian Church of St. Louis for our first ever ALL Congregation TrUUnk or Treat! See you on Saturday, October 21 from 4:30 to 6:00 pm at 5007 Waterman Blvd., St. Louis MO 63108.

Show Off Your Trivia Knowledge,

Have Fun, and Help Immigrants

Eliot‘s October Shared Plate recipient, the Migrant and Immigrant Community Action Project (MICA), is holding its 10th Annual Trivia Night on Saturday, October 21 from 7:00 to 10:00 pm at the South Broadway Athletic Club (2301 South 7th Street, 63104). This event will support MICA's work to provide legal services, organizing, advocacy, and education to low-income immigrants and promote the voice and human dignity of immigrant communities.

Let’s create an Eliot Team! Please register individually at www.mica-project.org and indicate that you are part of the Eliot Chapel team. Tickets are $25 per person. Then, send a note to immigration@eliotchapel.org so our organizer Donna S. can coordinate our attendance. It is going to be a fun evening!

Dia de los Muertos

The Dia de los Muertos celebration includes a wide variety of Latin American cultural traditions: music and dance performances, art displays, food and drink vendors, a procession through the park, activities for children, and more. See the full program at mohistory.org/dia-de-los-muertos.

The Immigration Justice Team is pleased to offer Eliot Chapel members a unique opportunity for a guided tour of the Dia de los Muertos altars (ofrendas) on Saturday, November 4 at 2:00 pm. Our guide, Maria Yaksic, is Bolivian and a board member of the St. Louis Hispanic Leaders. We will gather at the reception desk to start the tour. To alleviate parking issues, we can carpool from Eliot Chapel at 1:00 pm. Please email immigration@eliotchapel.org if you want a ride.

Come, participate, and learn more about Latin American cultural traditions!

Eliot's All Ages Game Night Potluck

Saturday, October 14, 6:00 – 9:00 pm in Adams Hall

The Fun

Come one, come all, to a night of games of all kinds sure to delight the inner and outer child! Bring a favorite game or two or three to the event, and be ready to make merry with Eliot members, old pals and soon-to-be-friends across the age spectrum. We'll have quick card games as well as in-depth strategy games, old classics and new challenges – something for everyone!

The Food

This event will be a potluck affair. Bring a dish to share, but be sure to label it with ingredients for those with food allergies. A food sign-up sheet will be on the bulletin board outside of Adams Hall.

For more information, please call Kathy Becker. You can find her mobile number in the directory. 

Women's Alliance

Women's Alliance will meet on Tuesday, October 17.  Janis Cox and Trish Williams will be telling us about their trips to Antarctica. Coffee begins at 9:45 am with the presentation starting at 10:15 am. The program will also be on Zoom.

Join us for

Vigil for Hope & Healing

Tuesday, October 17

at 5:00 pm in front of Eliot Chapel.

Transitions Support Group

The Transitions Support Group is for anyone who is experiencing a significant life transition, such as death of a loved one, transitioning relationships, children leaving home, having children, getting married, transitioning gender, changes in career/employment to name a few. This is a place to share your story and give and receive support for the journey we are on. The meetings are facilitated by Carl Serbell and Lou Salvin. Meetings are on the first and third Thursdays of the month, 7:00 to 8:30 pm in the DuBois Library. Please email transitions@eliotchapel.org if you want to learn more or receive the reminder emails. The next meeting is Thursday, October 19. 

Transforming911 Short Film Screening and Q&A

You’re invited to attend a showing of the film, "Transforming 911: Reimagining Public Safety in St. Louis" and two other shorts on Friday, October 20 at 7:00 pm in Adams Hall. Following the screening, there will be a Q&A featuring the films' Executive Producer Jia Lian Yang (she/they), and Director Cami Thomas (she/her). The event is co-sponsored by Eliot Chapel, Women's Voices Raised for Social Justice, and Metropolitan Congregations United and is the work of local filmmaker Cami Thomas and Forward Through Ferguson. A suggested donation of $5 will go to Forward to Ferguson and to My Friends and I Production Company.

Visit transforming911.org to learn more about how 911 works in St. Louis and understand why transforming the system is crucial for improving public safety.

Sunday, October 22 – 10:00 am

“The Gift of our LGBTQ Heritage”

Rev. Krista Taves and Maxi Glamour  

We welcome Drag Performer Maxi Glamour who will perform some of their own music and have a conversation with Rev. Krista about identity, acceptance, and living your truth.

Sharing the Offering

Every Sunday, Eliot Chapel shares half of the offertory with an organization in the community whose work reflects our shared values. This is one way that we care for our community and our neighbors. We are very pleased that October's recipient is the Migrant and Immigrant Community Action Project (MICA Project). MICA is a community organization committed to working with low-income immigrants to overcome barriers to justice. Learn more at www.mica-project.org.

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

• Online: Click here. Make sure “Shared Plate” is your chosen fund.
• By Mail: Please write “MICA” in the memo line of your check and mail it to Eliot Unitarian Chapel, 100 South Taylor Ave., Kirkwood, MO 63122. 
• By Text: Text "Eliot SharedPlate $(enter the amount)" to 73256. A link in the reply text will take you to our secure database webpage where you can complete your transaction. Please note, "SharedPlate" must be entered as one word to reach that preferred option.

Eliot Life Quest

Used by many cultures and given shape in many ways, Vision Quest is a time of deep reflection, transformation, healing, and a method to experience authentic and profound encounters with Spirit. There are three core elements of a Vision Quest – Solitude, Fasting, and Nature. When these core elements are coupled with preparation and integration, dormant states of creativity and connections come to the surface creating possibilities for deep change and transformation in participants.

Eliot Life Quest brings a Vision Quest into the Eliot community. This spiritual offering will lead you through the preparation phase, support your journey during your solo, and help you start your path in consolidating what you have gained during this process. People in any life stage and with any personal/spiritual growth goal can find meaning in the powerful process of a Solo Fasting Quest.

Some transformative goals that people bring to Solo Fasting Quest are: stepping away from past trauma, solidifying sobriety, developing a deeper relationship with themselves, nature, and Spirit, marking transitions such as becoming a parent, moving to elder status, and for life events that typically do not have a culturally established way of being acknowledged such as releasing a dead name, loss of an affair, committing to a life without children . . . and more.

Come to the Life Quest Informational Meeting on Sunday, October 22 at 11:30 am in Room 006 to meet facilitator Lisa Dahlgren and hear more about this unique opportunity.

SOCIAL JUSTICE IN ACTION FORUM

Understanding the U.S. and Local Abortion Landscape

A presentation by Colleen Lee, Education Coordinator

with Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region

Sunday, October 29 in Adams Hall after the service at 11:45 am

Colleen Lee will present a comprehensive, medically accurate overview of abortion that is designed to empower youth, adults, parents, and professionals to make informed decisions about reproductive health across the lifespan. It will be presented in a way that promotes social justice and freedom from all forms of oppression in keeping with Eliot’s values.  

Topics will include: 

• Framing appropriate language
• Smashing abortion stigma
• Action steps that can be taken  

Please RSVP for this important program by emailing socialjustice@eliotchapel.org.