Keeping King's Chapel's members and friends connected each week between Sunday worship services with updates from the Parish House.
From the Minister:  

I find it appropriate that this upcoming Sunday is Children's Sunday, as well as Pentecost, for the year has flown by like a sudden gust of air.

Last August, I was determined to teach the very intellectual and very curious children of our Church School the deeper meanings behind the stories they have learned from the Bible. They have learned that when Jesus says "love your neighbor as yourself", there is a Greek word, agape, in the original writing of the New Testament that emphasizes unconditional love: to love someone without any prior relationship or circumstance, to give without any notion of receiving. They have learned that God has taught us to do justice, but it is not this justice in which an eye for an eye is given. No, this justice seeks to forgive and reconcile our differences so that we may move forward together. They created a thoughtful mosaic filled with themes of creation and life with Emanuel Genovese, which you will see on June 4th during the Morning Prayer service. They've mapped out "Thanksgiving Trees" in which they pinned every little thing they are thankful for, even the things most of us adults take for granted.

They have learned much and they have taught the Church School staff much. Some of the questions we have heard from children ranging from ages 5-12 include: What is God? Why is God good? Why does science differ from the story of creation? Was Jesus real? These children have also asked questions about homelessness, war, politics and what it means to be the Church. These questions belong in a university, yet they have been uttered in the halls of the Parish House. If you ever doubt the capacity of young minds to challenge your own presumptions, I encourage you to become more involved with the Church School at King's Chapel. Ask any of us who have engaged these growing members of our community, and we will certainly tell you it is entirely worth your time. 

- Ryan Harrison
New Organ Music Dedicated to Heinrich to be Played | Sunday 4:30 PM

Our Organist and Music Director, Heinrich Christensen, is too modest to highlight this: a key moment on our upcoming Pentecost Sunday, will be a new composition played by Heinrich during the 4:30 Recital prior to the beginning of our 5 PM Evensong service. The Composer in Residence at Memorial Church, Carson Cooman, has written this piece in honor of Heinrich's upcoming 50 th birthday. Be sure to arrive early to hear this special premiere.

Joy
Spotlight on


Join historic King's Chapel on June 4th as we celebrate the Festival of Pentecost with a service of Choral Evensong. The King's Chapel Choir leads us in this poem of liturgy and music where   Heinrich will play works by   J.S. Bach and Carl Nielsen, as   well as a new piece written for   him by Cambridge composer   Carson Cooman.  

An organ prelude recital will precede the service at 4:30 P.M.

Based on the services held daily in the medieval Church, Choral Evensong as arranged in the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England has been sung regularly since the sixteenth century. 

Celebrate our Birthday and Welcome New Members
|  June 11

King's Chapel celebrates its 331st birthday on June 11, the same day that we welcome new members to our congregation.  Please join us at the Morning Prayer service to formally welcome our new friends.  A brunch at the Parish House will follow, provided by the Membership Committee.  We hope that you can join us!
If you would like to help with the brunch, contact Cathy Price at [email protected]
From the Freedom Trail Program

Meet the new Educators: Jennifer Roesch


After recently completing her master's degree in Public History at Northeastern University, Jennifer Roesch is eager to join the King Chapel's team and share her passion of making Boston's rich history relevant and exciting. Jennifer's enthusiasm for public history began as a ten-year-old when she started giving tours of her hometown's historic house museum in Wisconsin. She then received her Bachelor's in History and German at Lawrence University where she also played collegiate tennis. Prior to moving to Boston for graduate school, Jennifer worked as a research associate and digital archives assistant for the Papers of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois. When not telling anyone nearby random historical facts of Boston, Jennifer can usually be found playing tennis, reading, or simply spending time outdoors. 
Upcoming Events...

Racial Justice: Addressing Whiteness 
Book Group | Wednesdays through June 7  |
7 PM


Waking Up White by Debby Irving. A book group  meeting at 64 Beacon  Street, Boston (King's Cha pel Parish House).
 
Whiteness results in white people and peop le of color having different lived experiences and levels of awareness about how race,
 racism, and power  function in the United States.  The aim of this book club is to ground participants in an understanding of how they are impacted by/perpetuating issues of whiteness and to motivate participants to see, confront, challenge, and transform whiteness.  Whiteness is, after all, a social construct.  This means that while individuals and groups are shaped by whiteness, we also have the agency to shape it. 
 
Light refreshments provided at Parish House events at 7 PM.  RSVP to Gretchen Horton, Parish Administrator at  [email protected]  
 
Join the conversation online:  Racial Justice at King's Chapel Facebook group
King's Chapel Celebrates Gay Pride Parade | Saturday, June 10 
 
As a welcoming congregation, King's Chapel will once again participate in the annual Boston Gay Pride Parade, New England's largest event of this type.   The event begins in Back Bay, weaves through the South End, and concludes at Boston City Hall.
 
The Parade will take place "rain or shine." We expect to meet between  11:00 AM to 11:30 AM near Boylston and Clarendon Streets. Dogs on leashes are welcome! The exact meeting time and location will be sent to participants on  Friday, June 9.  For more information and to RSVP, visit the  King's Chapel Facebook Event Page or send an email to Gregg Sorensen 
[email protected] and Christopher LaRoche 




For individuals attending the memorial service for Wendy Thomson at 4 PM, we will provide a location for you to clean up and change.

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King's Chapel Habitat for Humanity-Boston Build | June 17

We are gearing up for the King's Chapel Habitat for 
Humanity-Boston build.   The build runs on Saturday June 17,  from 10 AM   to 3PM with a lunch break.   The build will be at one of  the HFH-Boston sites now under construction in  Roslindale, Mattapan, or Dorchester.  The exact location  will be selected by HFH-Boston based upon the specific  build site requirements.  Work will be available for all  skill levels (including none). For more information on  HFH-Boston and the site where they build, go to  www.habitatboston.org  and 

King's Chapel has supported HFH-Boston both financially and with multiple volunteer efforts.  If you haven't done this before, please consider joining now. The minimum age to participate is 16. To enroll or for more information contact Emanuel Genovese at 617-738-6367 or   [email protected]



From the Parish House

Memorial Day

Last Sunday we remembered all those who have died in war. Joy's sermon told the story of Dr. Jane McCarthy, a veteran of the Viet Nam War, and her reason for marching in the Memorial Day parade each year: to remember the huge cost of war, the many lives lost too young. To listen to the sermon, click HERE.
Pet Blessing on May 21 - A Big Success!

41 people and 12 pets gathered at 9 AM on Sunday May 21 at the beautiful Parish House Garden for our special St. Francis blessing of the pets. Many newcomers from the neighborhood joined us, thanks to the recruitment of John Appleton and Susan Playfair, who handed out flyers to those walking their pets nearby over the weekend, and to Jane Kuchefski, who invited several of her neighbors on Pinckney Street. One mother and child even "borrowed" two dogs, so they could bring them to be blessed. "Whoever you are and wherever you are on life's journey, you are welcome at King's Chapel!"



Stewardship 2017

Sincere thanks to those who have responded to our Financial Appeal!   The church thermometer is getting warmer; current pledges have brought us a third of the way to our goal! Thank you to those who are helping to support us.
 
There are other ways you can support us, too!  In the next two weeks, we will have some of our most uplifting Sunday Services of the year:
 
Sunday June 4th is Children's Sunday and a baptism.  The church school will be providing music on their orffs, and you will be able to affirmatively welcome, through baptism,
Judy Luca's granddaughter to our community. 
 
The Evensong Service is that same day, at 4:30 PM.  Come hear special music written especially for Heinrich Christensen, as we celebrate this new season of Pentecost.

Sunday, June 11th, is King's Chapel's 331st birthday and we also welcome new members to our community. A parish-wide brunch will be held at the Parish House after the service.

We know that many of you have busy lives, but we hope that  all who can make it, will come.
 
Cheers,
 
John Appleton, Chair, for the Stewardship Committee


If you did not receive a pledge card, contact Gretchen Horton at the Parish House offices at 617-227-2155 x 108, who will be happy to send one to you!

"We Rejoice with Those Who Rejoice, and Weep with Those Who Weep" 
                                              ~ Romans 12:15

We mourn with Jane Kuchefski and her daughter Kathryn for the sudden death of Jane's husband Bob last Friday. Jane joined King's Chapel last June, and is a regular worshiper at our 9 AM service. She and Bob had lived for years in Wellesley, and moved to Beacon Hill about 12 years ago. Please join us in prayers for dear Jane and Kathryn, and all of Bob's friends, now in shock due to his unexpected death.

We also hold in prayers those who are celebrating birthdays, including Carol Kemp, whose birthday was Wednesday, and Ciael Hills, whose birthday is Friday. If you share with us your birthdays, we'd love to celebrate with you!

We rejoice with Betsy Peterson, who is recovering well from her hip replacement surgery last week.

We ask prayers for the Assistant Minister Search Committee, and for the candidate for whom we wait. May God guide their discernment.

We rejoice with Leo and Dorothy Johnson, that he has returned home again. He and his health care team continue to work on pain management, which is an ongoing concern with his multiple lower spine fractures. Please hold in your prayers all those helping him, as well as Leo, Dorothy, and their son Tim.
May azaleas
In This Issue

Sunday Services
June 4
Holy Communion, Children's Sunday, & Baptism | 11 AM
Ryan Harrison will Preach
  • Joei and Dan Perry, Singers
  • George Boitano and Will Speight, Instrumentalists
  • Cliff Allen, Usher in Charge
  • Cathy Price, Pam and Michael Bergeron,  Cindy, Roger, Caroline, and Roger Wellington, Ushers
  • Lia Atanat, Verger
The Readings:
  • Psalm 104:24-34
  • Old Testament:        
    Numbers 11:23-30
  • New Testament:  
    Acts 2:1-21
At the communion rail following the service,  Bill Kuttner will greet those interested in learning more about King's Chapel.
 
After the service, all are invited to Coffee Hour,  hosted by  friends of the  Hospitality Committee.
Wednesday Service
June 7
Holy Communion |  6 PM
The Rev. Joy Fallon will Preach
  • Sudeep Agarwala, Soloist
  • Lia Atanat, Verger
From the Bench:
By Heinrich Christensen

Our  11 AM service for Children's 
Sunday is modeled on our 
Morning Light service. 
Skip Lewan will play gathering 
music and has written an 
original piece that he, 
Will Speight, and George 
Boitano will perform for the 
offertory. 

Our Evensong service in the
afternoon begins with a 4:30
prelude organ recital, where
Heinrich will play works by
J.S. Bach and Carl Nielsen, as
well as a new piece written for
him by Cambridge composer
Carson Cooman. Carson writes:

Fantasy-Variations on Two 
Themes  (2017) for organ was 
written for  Heinrich Christensen
in celebration of his signifcant 
2017 birthday. The musical
material  for the work comprises 
two different themes. The first
is a short melody by the Danish 
composer Carl Nielsen (1865-
1931). (It  was a sketch originally
intended for inclusion,   but 
ultimately left out, of Nielsen's
 late organ work "29 Little
Preludes.") This theme 
represents Heinrich's  native 
Denmark.  The second   theme is  
the   American folk- gospel hymn
 "Angel Band." This theme 
represents Heinrich's adopted
American  homeland.  It  serves  
also  as   a   remembrance   of   our
dear  mutual friend Harry Lyn 
Huff   (1952-2016), for whom the 
tune  was a  particular favorite. 
Both  these   themes   are   developed  
freely    in   a   set   of   alternating
"fantasy- variations."   The  
opening   variation   begins   with   a  
dramatic  pedal solo  before 
quoting both themes. The  second 
variation is a lyric
setting based on the Nielsen 
melody. The third is a jubilant 
hornpipe on  "Angel Band." The 
fourth is an aria on a 
transformation of the Nielsen
melody. The fifth is a gigue-
toccata on "Angel Band." The 
sixth is an  atmospheric 
contemplation: lush chords in 
the   manuals move slowly and 
hint at  "Angel Band" while the 
Nielsen  melody is heard for the 
first  time in its complete original 
form on a high pedal stop. The 
seventh  and final variation 
begins with a  brief evocation of 
the harmonies of  the late Daniel 
Pinkham (a  mentor to both 
Heinrich and me) before  going on
 to return dramatically and 
jubilantly to the opening  music ,
bringing together both themes 
again in a bold conclusion.
                                                                        
The choir will sing music by 
Eccard, Kirchner, Piccolo, and 
Wood for the service. Our cantor 
is Dan Perry.

Tuesday Recitals
Tuesday, June 6 |  12:15 PM

Handel & Haydn Society
Bach & Vivaldi

Upcoming Meetings

* Tuesday, June 13:
   Parish Council Meeting 6 PM
   Changing of the Guard 7 PM

Sign up for Hospitality
Interested in Membership?
Contributing to Between Sundays

Our  enewsletter is sent each Thursday afternoon.  Want something in Between Sundays? Feel free to email Brad at [email protected]  with a written piece and/or pictures before Wednesday at noon!
Accessibility Assists

Our beautiful Georgian sanctuary designed by Peter Harrison and completed in 1754, has been lovingly maintained by the congregation since its completion. One of the box pews has been made wheel-chair accessible. Ushers are available to assist those who are wheelchair-bound to that pew.

A sound system has been installed in the sanctuary of The Chapel to amplify the sound during worship services. Hearing assistance devices are available for your use. Please see an Usher for assistance.
Whoever you are, and wherever you are on life's journey,
you are welcome at King's Chapel. Believer or doubter, seeker or skeptic, we're all on this journey together.