Dear Friends,

As the year comes to a close, we are launching our 2025 Eliot Chapel Chalice Keepers Fundraiser, anchored in gratitude and love for our congregation and all we serve. 

Our Chalice is sacred space . . . filled with the light of truth, warmth of community, and fire of commitment . . . continually renewed through our presence. 

Our Chalice is a beacon of hope in troubling times, guiding newcomers, friends, and members through our flashy red doors to find strength in community. 

Our Chalice is eternal love, honoring those who have passed, affirming that the shadow of their absence is felt because their light lives on in our hearts.

Our Chalice guides us forward, as our mission calls us to love courageously, grow in  spirit, and inspire compassionate action.

Here are just a few of the ways I have seen Our Chalice shine bright in 2025:   

• We have more people coming to Sunday worship.  You know how full it’s been! 
• Our Religious Education Program has grown by over 20% from last year. 
• We are enjoying a strong and vibrant adult enrichment program.
• We invested in our facilities – a new electric sign was installed on the front lawn, we have a brand new grand piano in our sanctuary, and we re-dedicated our renovated Memorial Garden.
• We are always finding new and better ways to center love in our care of one another.
• We show up for Social Justice in Action – to marches and demonstrations, to meetings for Solidarity Strategies which includes immigration reform, reproductive justice, voting rights, environmental justice, LGBTQIA+ rights, racial justice, and economic justice. 
• We support our community partners – including launching a weekly food drive for three food pantries.
• We continue Bergfried stewardship – our “Peace in the Hills” – putting love of and learning from nature into action on over 500 acres of woodlands.
• We give of ourselves – through countless volunteer hours – committing our time and hearts to the many teams and roles that keep our church going.

May we continue to love, grow, and inspire together. 

We started the end-of-year Chalice Keepers Fundraiser during the pandemic when our finances were not enough without a “2nd ask.” Our finances are in better shape than ever, yet the need for this community is also stronger than ever. So we are still including this campaign in our budget process, to continue investing in each other and in our community. This is how we live our mission. 

Our 2025 goal is $10,000, which is easily doable in a congregation like ours that is growing and filled with joy.