I think Kate Braestrup could make a big difference in your spiritual life, too. Please come if you can, and bring your friends.  

Kate Braestrup's first book, "Here if You Need Me," was a New York Times best-seller when published in 2007.  Her third book on prayer, is one of the best I've read, so I've led three book groups on it, at three different churches. All participants have found her writing funny, real, and deep.  There is no fluff, no religious mumbo-jumbo.  Just arresting words about Love.  And life and death. And kids and God.  And marriages that break or last.  And conflict and forgiveness.  The things all of us need help with.  She helped me.

Kate Braestrup is the Minns Lecturer this year, an annual lectureship sponsored by King's Chapel and First Church Boston.  A Unitarian minister, Kate Braestrup will speak four times:
King's Chapel 7 p.m. Friday Nov. 7

First Church Boston Saturday at 10 and 12:30

King's Chapel  Sunday 11 AM (guest preacher)

All sessions are free and open to all comers. Books will be available for purchase and signing. If possible, please register in advance, although walk ins are welcome. For more information and registration, click HERE.

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Parent's Prayer  

O God be with my darling child

My dear, charming, impulsive, stormy one

Hold her for me.

Free her that she may grow;

Grow in her

That she may grow in You.

May my child be loving and beloved. 

Amen. 

Prayer After Weeping 

O God whose work and will and very name is love

we thank you for the gift we were given in [name].

We yield with confidence to the grief,

knowing that pain will pass and sorrow ends, 

but love does not die and will not end.

Love abides in us, around us, and beyond us, forever and ever. 

Thanks be to God. 

Amen. 

In this short message I want to thank Todd and Karen for their tireless efforts as co-chairs of the King's Chapel annual appeal. They have done a magnificent job, but they need your help. There are just two months left for you to pledge for the first time, complete your pledge made earlier in the year, or increase the pledge that you have already made. While there are many organizations in our lives that
we support, reflect for a moment and consider what King's Chapel has meant in your life or in the lives
of your parents, children, or other family members.

At this moment in time, King's Chapel has the opportunity to expand its programming and take its place among other Boston churches that are prominent in discussions of theology, initiatives in social justice, music, and opportunities for adult and children's religious education. There are more people at King's Chapel at morning worship, our membership is beginning to grow (including seven young people last month), there are plans for two new worship services for those who are unable to join us for Sunday morning worship, and plans to expand our Visitor Program to share the message of King's Chapel. Join with those who have already pledged, to keep the momentum going.

Our goal for 2014 is $172,000. The amount of $133,500 has already been pledged, of which $100,000 has been received. Assuming that the $33,500 of unfulfilled pledges is received in the next two months, we need about $40,000 to reach our goal. Help us make that goal a reality.

In the next several weeks, you'll receive from the church a draft Narrative Budget. In the process that we started last year, the narrative budget will describe possible plans for our future, in the context of our budget.  We want to know what you think! Plan to attend an informal meeting after church on Sunday, Nov. 23rd, so you can share your thoughts with the Wardens, the Chair of FIscal Affairs, and the Ministers. 

Hold the date!

Karen and Todd spent last week getting to know Gabriel Coureton Dalton (b. 10/28/14) in Cummington, MA, being Grandparents-in-Residence and doing farm chores. (Hillsidehomestead.com.)

What does it take to get 600 kids from Boston to the King's Chapel Parish House --  staff and members found out on Halloween Night, when we dressed in our Christmas pageant Wise Men regalia, and were transformed into the King's from King's Chapel, handing out 600 King size candy bars to the many children who came down Branch Street toward our lit parish house backyard. Each large Hershey's bar had our name and address on it.  And oh the irony -- one of our volunteers, new member Joseph Kubiak, is a fourth year dental student at Tufts! 

We hope that you also saw the well-liked Facebook post of our Assistant Minister Shawn Fiedler, donned as Prince William, and our own knight in shining armor, church school member Felicia.    

Have other ideas of how we can get the word out about our church and church school?  Let us know.

In This Issue

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 9

• Anne Sexton, Head Usher
• William Sears, Usher-in-Charge
• Julie Hyde, Gregg Sorensen & David Wheeler, Ushers
• Medb Sichko, and Charles Perry, Lectors
• Hallie Speight, Volunteer Guide
• Amy Meyer, Host for Coffee Hour

The lessons are:

At the communion rail following the service,  Hallie Speight will greet those interested in learning more about King's Chapel.

 

One of the most important lessons we talked about at Church School this past Sunday is that God cannot be contained. We heard about David bringing the Ark into Jerusalem and dancing before God, and also God's promise to Israel to be with them even after Solomon's Temple was destroyed years later. Emmanuel, Will, Charlie, Omar, Kare and myself pondered some of the "big questions" that human beings wrestle with- especially questions about who God is and how God relates to us. It is such a gift and a pleasant challenge to have space to ask such questions in an inter-generational space, which characterized our Godly Play classroom on Sunday. We also acted out a couple of short plays on St. Francis and San Oscar Romero, two of our most important and beloved saints. We learned about the importance of caring for the poor, caring for creation, and remembering that God loves us always. I was touched by how engaged the children were as we did this; their fresh perspectives  which they brought to the story allowed me to experience the stories of these two incredible people in a new and more powerful way. 

I am also grateful to the church school committee for a heartfelt and productive meeting. However small we might be, each navigating our own busyness and the ups and downs of life in addition to the life of the King's community, we go forward and ponder the invitation to remember the old and incorporate the new. God goes with us. 

With gratitude,

Eva Englert