Between Sundays

Keeping the Parish Community Connected

Thursday, September 29, 2022

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Worship With Us | Sunday, October 2

Scripture Readings: Psalm 137: 1-8

First Lesson: Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4  Second Lesson: Luke 17: 5-10

Morning Light Worship 9:00 AM

In person at 64 Beacon Street and on Zoom at 9:00 AM.

Doors open at 8:45 

Morning Prayer Worship 11:00 AM

In-person at 58 Tremont St. and live-streamed. Doors open at 10:30 AM.

From the Minister

My Dear Friends—

What a Sunday we have before us! At our 9 AM Morning Light service, we’ll bless the animals of our community in the Parish House garden. At both Morning Light and our 11 AM Morning Prayer service, we’ll celebrate Communion, joining the church universal in World Communion Sunday. And at 5 PM we’ll return to our sanctuary for another sumptuous feast as we welcome the long delayed, eagerly awaited performance of Handel’s Alexander’s Feast, featuring our King’s Chapel Choir, Soloists, and Orchestra, directed by our own Heinrich Christensen. An alternate title for Handel’s oratorio is The Power of Musick, and I’ve been thinking of the music and poetry that weave through the Sunday ahead.

Our Blessing of the Animals pays tribute to St. Francis, whose “Canticle of the Sun” inspired two of the hymns we’ll sing at Morning Light. On this, his feast day, we’ll consider his life in light of the second letter to Timothy, pondering family, faith, and the gifts of the Spirit within us. At Morning Prayer, we’ll hear a motet inspired by Psalm 137, a song of lament sung by the waters of Babylon. And we’ll wrestle with the poetic complaint of the prophet Habakkuk as we grapple with the meaning of faith in the face of difficulty and sorrow. And, of course, in the evening we’ll discover in Alexander’s Feast a beautiful intermingling of history, mythology, and Christian devotion, encouraging us to consider the full panoply of the human experience—and the human experience of the divine!

This Sunday, in myriad forms and expressions, we’ll explore these themes of communion and faith, suffering and servanthood, mission and mercy. I smiled to read our Heinrich’s summation of the Feast we’ll enjoy on Sunday evening: “In spite of all the carousing, war, pyromania, and whatever else may befall humanity in an evening’s entertainment, only two things remain, love and music, and greatest of these is music…” Well, dear friends, there are times when the minister and the maestro may respectfully disagree about the ultimate concerns and their relative merits, but I urge you—join us at table this Sunday! Bread and wine, poetry and music, communion and fellowship abound—the feast awaits!

In faith and love,

David

King’s Chapel Pet Blessing this Sunday | 9 AM | Parish House Garden

The Annual Blessing of the Pets will take place this Sunday at 9 AM outside in the Parish House garden (64 Beacon Street). We welcome all pets – physically with us in the Garden, present on Zoom, or represented by a photo. In the past we’ve had dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters and a garden snail! Our St. Francis Day worship will follow the Morning Light liturgy and include Communion. Come one, come all!

From the Bench

For communion this Sunday, the choir will sing Harold Friedell’s beloved 1945 anthem Draw Us in the Spirit’s Tether, as well as a German Renaissance setting of Psalm 137 and an Agnus Dei by Josef Rheinberger. The prelude is German-American composer-organist Wilhelm Middelschulte’s multiple movement Toccata on A Mighty Fortress, and the postlude is Christian Præstholm’s birdsong inspired interpretation of the Danish morning hymn Alt hvad som fuglevinger fik. 

Coffee Hour to Start Again!

This Sunday marks the beginning of our weekly coffee hour, to be held after Morning Prayer each week. This week's host is Gregg Sorensen, who promises to bring delight and fun with him, along with goodies! If anyone is interested in signing up to host coffee hour, know that it need not be a burden! The joy is in the community! Contact Gregg if you have any questions. 

Dinner Honoring Environmentalist and UUSC Thursday, Oct 13 - Seats Available

As a supporter of the UUSC (Unitarian Universalist Service Committee), King’s Chapel has 10 tickets to their annual celebration of a Human Rights leader, this year Catherine Coleman Flowers, an internationally recognized environmental activist and author of Waste: One Woman's Fight Against America’s Dirty Secret.  The dinner is on Thursday, October 13 at the Kennedy Library, with the UUSC board of trustees and many grassroots leaders.  

We are very proud that Mary Katherine Morn, President of the UUSC, is also our member and Vestry leader. In addition to the speaker, she promises great music, and generally a festive time together celebrating the work. Tickets will be distributed on a first come-first serve basis. Contact Laura@kings-chapel.org if interested.

Our 65th Concert Season begins

Sunday October 2, 5 PM

We are opening the 65th season of our Sunday Concert series with a bang: the long awaited (since March 2020) Handel oratorio Alexander’s Feast, featuring the King’s Chapel Choir, Soloists, and Orchestra. The whole extravaganza is presented in memory of Jay Schochet and will take place on Sunday October 2, at 5 pm, and runs approximately 2 hours with one intermission. As always, you save $5 on each ticket by purchasing ahead of time at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/5545029

Free Personalized Tour of the Black Heritage Trail for King’s Chapel Community

Sunday, October 16, 12:20 pm at the Shaw 54th Memorial

You are invited to a special tour of the Black Heritage Trail designed for the King’s Chapel community and led by one of the long-time King’s Chapel historians, William Stilwell. Will also works for the National Park Service, and regularly leads Black Heritage Trail tours for the general public, so his combined knowledge of our church and the Trail is ideal. To see Will’s lecture last year about King’s Chapel before the Civil War click here.

The tour is free, thanks to the National Park Service. Those at the church for Morning Prayer worship will leave at 12:15 from the church. Those not at the church can meet us at the first stop, the Shaw 54th Memorial across from the State House on Beacon Street, just two blocks from the church. This is a walking tour covering 1.4 miles of Beacon Hill so bring comfortable shoes and some snacks. The tour will last about 2 hours. We end at the African America History Museum on Joy Street (Sunday hours 10-4). RSVPS to Laura appreciated but not required (laura@kings-chapel.org)

From Denominational Affairs 

Join us for a trip to Transylvania | June 2023

Breaking news - we’re invited to visit our partner church in Transylvania next June! In a long-distance call initiated by our minister, Joy Fallon, the minister of the Downtown Unitarian Church of Kolozsvár, Reverend Norbert Rácz, enthusiastically extended the invitation. It’s dependent on improved conditions in the Covid pandemic and the Ukrainian War, of course. Nevertheless, we expect to choose dates and begin developing an itinerary as soon as possible in collaboration with our Hungarian friends. Their minister has already sent us an extensive list of prospective activities and sites to visit. Joy, Kathe, and I are eager to participate, hoping that other parishioners will join us. If you would like to receive updates on this opportunity, please send your email address to dentoncrews@gmail.com -- Denton Crews

From Environmental  Action Initiative

Last Tuesday the EAI Conversation Series season opener was a talk by Scott Budde on “Banking, Investing and the Environment”.  The topic was perfect for King’s Chapel’s Faith in Action theme this year, and attendance was high.  Many of us are interested in what our banks may be doing with our money and whether the banks’ actions may be consistent with our values. Scott cited many examples of the largest banks continuing to fund fossil fuel development, and he spoke positively of community banking alternatives that many of us may want to consider. A recording of the talk and the discussion, along with Scott’s slides, is available via YouTube on our web page Http://kings-chapel.org/environmentalaction.html.

Save the date

October 18 5pm | Parish House 64 Beacon St. and Live-streamed and recorded

The next Environmental Action Conversation in October will be a hybrid: both in-person at the Parish House, and via Zoom.  King’s Chapel member John Natoli will host a talk by a member of the Conservation Law Foundation. [sentence from John here.]  All are cordially invited!

From the Stewardship Committee

Stewardship is the outward sign of our love for and commitment to King’s Chapel and each other. Your generous support of the church during the Covid-19 pandemic allowed our beloved community to innovate, grow, and thrive despite external challenges. Now, it is time to come together to build upon that success as we define King’s Chapel’s next chapter.  Our responsibility as members and friends is to raise $250,000, which is 24% of the church's total anticipated income for 2022. We have only a few more months to reach out goal.  How can you help?

Special Match Opportunity for First-Time Donors

If you have never supported the Stewardship campaign before, now is the perfect time! The Stewardship Committee is pleased to offer a dollar-for-dollar match of the first $1,500 received from first-time supporters to the 2022 campaign. We'll let you know if your gift qualifies for the match!

October Hours

As the days grow shorter, the History Program is adjusting our hours. In October, site hours will be Wednesday through Saturday from 10 am-4 pm. If you are interested in scheduling a private tour (minimum 2 people) outside of normal operating hours, please email history@kings-chapel.org with your desired date

Tales From the Crypt

Our popular Halloween crypt tours are back this year! Every Friday and Saturday from October 14th through 29th the History Program will lead our popular Tales from the Crypt tour. Tours are at 5:30 pm and 7:00 pm and last approximately 45 minutes. These tours sell out every year so we encourage you to purchase your ticket in advance via Eventbrite here. If you are interested in scheduling a private tour for your group, please reach out to history@kings-chapel.org.

Tuesday Recital

Tuesday, September 27 | 12:15 PM

Next week’s Tuesday Recital features recorder player Emily O’Brien in some exciting new works written by by her father(!) and another local composer, Melika Fitzhugh. 

Virtual Bible Study | Wednesdays | 6:15 PM via Zoom

Join us for our weekly lectionary based bible study, beginning at 6:15 PM. Contact Tim Nelson Hoy to register.

Weekly Thursday Coffee

Thursdays at 10:00 AM on Zoom

Bring your cup of coffee or tea and join other King's Chapel folks for an informal conversation by Zoom every Thursday morning. Drop in for any part of the hour. Register here to join.