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Milk Punch Sunday!
Please join the Church School families, on December 21st as we gather to celebrate the season with our annual Milk Punch/Christmas Party.
In a grand Yuletide tradition of King's Chapel, on the Sunday before Christmas, all are invited to gather after church for festive food, good cheer, and the famous Milk Punch, something akin to a deliciously powerful eggnog. If you've had it before, we know you'll be returning. If you haven't tried Milk Punch yet, you won't be sorry you did. Join old friends and meet new ones.Festivities will begin following morning prayer: Sunday, December 21st The King's Chapel Parish House
64 Beacon Street, Boston MA 02108
Kindly RSVP to Simon at the Parish House (617 227 2155) by phone or email by Friday, December 19th. If you would like to help with this fun event please contact: Anne Sexton 781-383-9028 or email her
anne.sexton@alumni.norwich.edu |
It's easy to feel like we live in two different worlds at the same time. In part of our day, we see store windows glitter, hear snatches of carols, catch the scent of pine boughs. But the same day, Boston high school kids march past the parish house with raised hands, chanting, "Hands Up, Don't Shoot"; another person is beheaded by ISIS; and the Senate issues its report on CIA torture.
In Advent, church folks like us are always in two worlds - aware of how broken things are now, inside us and around us, but still preparing expectantly forwhat is to come. The story isn't over, we say: the best part is still ahead.
Because the oddest thing is going to happen: world-changing Love will arrive, in a wholly unexpected package -- a vulnerable baby. He won't look like someone likely to make a difference to the chanting kids, but he will, affirming strongly: "All lives do matter," and the kids will hear him whenever his followers speak up.
An infant can't stand between the beheader and the victim, but grown he's willing to do just that, as do any today who courageously refuse to hate, working tirelessly for peace.
A child swaddled won't yet confront a powerful government's army, but soon he will ask us all, "Are you doing unto others what you want them to do unto you?"
Love, stronger than all our fears, is born through a baby? Really? Through your baby? Through you? Isn't Love most often known through us people?
A three year old will light the Advent Candle on Sunday. Before our eyes, we've seen him grow at Sunday School. What is growing in you this Advent? What could grow?
Come and see. The best is still ahead.
--Joy
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ADVENT 2014 HOMELESSNESS MISSION PROJECT:
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King's Chapel is continuing to collect backpacks, personal hygiene items, and non perishable food for our homeless community (check out the photo below). Items can be dropped off at the front of the Parish House, or at the Chapel. We are especially in need of backpacks! If you plan to attend Advent Crafts at the Parish House this Sunday the 14th, bring your materials and Judy Luca, who is heading this project, will lead families in stuffing backpacks.
Some examples of items you might bring include:
-backpacks
-socks, hats, gloves, scarves
-emergency blankets
-personal hygiene items (especially toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, washcloths)
-non-perishable individual food items (e.g. fruit cups, crackers, water, peanut butter)
-gift cards for restaurants/grocery stores
Let us remember those without adequate shelter and basic needs this Advent. For more information or to direct questions, please contact Judy at judyg143@gmail.com.
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Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless -- "A Bed for Every Child"
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If you had planned to order baked goods this year from the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, and have yet do do so, the deadline for placing your order is Sunday, December 14, 2014. Baked goods may be picked up at the Parish House on Milk Punch Sunday, December 21. A check made to the order of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless and mailed to Cliff Allen, 12 Jewett Road, Beverly, MA 01915, is all that is needed.
--Cliff |
Sunday, Dec. 14, 10:00am-12:30pm: Advent Craft Day!
Advent Craft Day at the Parish House: Join us for crafts (with candles, oranges, cards, and more!), fellowship, mission and fun as we prepare for the season of Christmas. Please bring nonperishable food items, warm weather clothing (e.g. scarves, hats, gloves), and/or backpacks for this King Chapel Advent's homelessness mission project. Judy Luca will be leading children and families in stuffing backpacks. For more information, please check Between Sundays and Little Chapel News, and/or email Judy at judyg143@gmail.com. |
Blue Christmas: December 15th 6pm
God of all Seasons, in this time of tree lights and laughter-filled parties, our faces feel pressed to a window, looking in on a scene we cannot join. Be with us as we mourn our losses, and when the time is right, show us thy healing light amidst our darkness. Amen.
For some of us, the holiday season isn't merry & bright. For some of us there is grief, pain and sadness around this time of year that joyous carols and bright lights can't seem quell. Held in the beauty of our stone chapel (School & Tremont Streets), we will gather in candlelight for a service of song and word. We gather to kindle the light of hope and hold in prayer our heartaches and sorrows. All are welcome.
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Hanging of the Greens, Saturday December 20th
Volunteers needed and welcome! Come one, come all to help the Chancel Committee decorate our beautiful church for Christmas on Saturday December 20 from 11am to 2pm. Contact Louise Perkins with any questions.
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Christmas Eve
Family Worship & Christmas Pageant
4:30 p.m. at King's Chapel
The Bible story of Jesus' birth comes alive through word and carols. Any child may participate as an angel or shepherd, without any rehearsal.
Lessons & Carols
10:30 p.m. at King's Chapel
Organ Prelude begins at 10:00 p.m.
A traditional service with full choir and candlelight modeled after the service offered at Truro Cathedral in 1880. The first Christmas Eve service offered at King's Chapel was held in 1929.
Christmas Day
Morning Prayer
10:00 a.m. at King's Chapel
Holy Communion
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King's Chapel New Year's Eve
Evensong
5:30 p.m. at the Little Chapel
64 Beacon Street
The service is partly modeled on the service of Vespers, with additions from Compline, the last of the day-hours, said before retiring for the night.
Dinner & Fireworks
6:15p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
King's Chapel Parish House
64 Beacon Street
A potluck dinner and view of the fireworks from the 2nd floor parlors of 64 Beacon Street. Advance reservations and potluck assignments should be made by December 29th through the Parish Administrator: administrator@kings-chapel.org.
First Night Concert
9:00 p.m. at King's Chapel
Heinrich Christensen plays the C.B, Fisk Organ. Works by Bach, Mendelssohn, and Dupré . Admission by First Night button, or individual tickets available from the Parish House on request.
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New Year's Retreat - 4 PM Friday, January 16 - 10 AM Sunday, January 18
Finding Your Spiritual Home
As you start the New Year, come for a quiet, warm retreat at Glastonbury Abbey, in Hingham. Rev. Fallon will lead us in quiet reflection on where you are on your spiritual journey: who or what is your spiritual home? There will be free time to walk in the woods or at the ocean, rest, eat, and join in conversation. Cost: $130 for a room at the retreat house and all meals. Scholarships are available; talk with Rev. Fallon or Betsy Peterson.
Registration forms for the retreat are now available HERE.
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King's Chapel holds in prayer several families who have recently lost loved ones
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We mourn with several of our members beloved family who recently have been received into God's glory.
- Hallie Speight's father, Paul J. White, died on Thanksgiving Day, at the age of 88. Hallie and her family will be holding private remembrances of him in her home of Philadelphia.
- On Saturday, December 13, at 2 p.m., King's Chapel will hold a funeral service for Richard Wills, an architect on Beacon Hill and longtime Boston resident, who is remembered with love by his daughters Sarah Wills-Viega and Jessica Wills-Lipscomb.
Please join with us in holding all of these families in our prayers.
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SUNDAY DECEMBER 14
11:00 a.m. Morning Prayer
Third Sunday in Advent
Dr. William "Rusty" Park, guest preacher
The lessons are:
- Psalm 126
- Old Testament: Isaiah 9:6-7
- New Testament:Luke 19:1-10
The flowers on the communion table are given by Mindy Hinkel in loving memory of her mother Carol Ann Swietzer, grandmother Ethel Swietzer and recently departed Uncle Lesley Swietzer.
- Anne Sexton, Head Usher
- William Sears, Usher-in-Charge
- Julie Hyde, Gregg Sorensen, and David Wheeler, Ushers
- Levina Wong, Lector
- Barbara Fay, Host for Coffee Hour
At the communion rail following the service, Hallie Speight will greet those interested in learning more about King's Chapel.
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 17th
12:15 p.m. Midweek Service
Rev. Shawn Fiedler, preacher
- Steven Aucella, Lay Reader
- Micah Niemy, Lector
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Second Sundays --THIS SUNDAY
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On Sunday December 14, all donations not designated for the King's Chapel Annual Appeal will be given to the Greater Boston Food Bank.
The Greater Boston Food Bank is the largest hunger-relief organization in New England and its mission is to end hunger in eastern Massachusetts. Its objective is to distribute enough food to provide at least one meal a day to those in need.
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--By Heinrich Christensen
Our "signature tune" this week is Savior of the Nations, Come. You will hear it in 3 organ settings by J.S. Bach, in a double chorus version by Michael Praetorius, as well as in Heinrich's Advent Incantation, a mash-up of that tune along with O Come, Emmanuel and Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence. We also continue our series of O Antiphons, this week O Radiant Dawn by contemporary Scottish composer James MacMillan. For our Introit, tenor Eric Ferring will sing Aaron Copland's arrangement of the old American song At the River, as it is guest preacher Rusty Park's favorite way of gathering for worship.
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One of my favorite Christmastime traditions is watching A Charlie Brown Christmas. Hearing Linus's reading the story of the birth of Jesus and watching the band of friends and classmates dancing to Schroeder's piano playing is truly delightful.
As the church school children and I shared the beginning of the Christmas story together this past Sunday, I shared this Linus clip with them. We came to the conclusion that Charlie Brown's little evergreen tree, despite how much he was teased about it by his friends, was a very intentional symbol for Jesus, the antithesis of the "great, big, shiny aluminum Christmas tree" which Charlie's friends deemed the season called for. It needed love, care, and invitation to flourish; and flourish it did, as the friends decorated and sang together.
It is obvious to claim that the world is more complicated than a cartoon; we know this to be true, as we witness violence, poverty, and injustice in our nation and world. I pray that something, however small, however gently, might be born in us this Advent. May we invite Jesus, the antithesis of commercialism, greed, and violence in all its forms, into our lives.
Grace and Peace,Eva Englert Church School Director |
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Please join us on Tuesday, December 16th at 12:15
as Racha Fora plays "We Wish You a Groovy Christmas"
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The Visitor's Program will continue to welcome tourists and locals alike to our space this December, on an adjusted schedule! Due to weekday morning advent prayer services, the Chapel will be open 9 am-4:00 pm Monday and Friday, 9 am through the concert/service on Tuesday and Wednesday, 10 am-4:00 pm on Saturday and 1:00 pm-4:00 pm on Sunday, all dependent on weather conditions. We will be closed on Thursday. This year we will be open until December 23, to allow guests to see the beautiful greenery in our sanctuary. If you are in the area, please stop by for some holiday peace and cheer in the midst of a busy season!
--Theresa |
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(more) News from the Parish
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Selma Pre-Screening
On Monday, December 8th, Rev. Shawn Fiedler joined Mayor Marty Walsh, Governor Deval Patrick, Unitarian Universalist Association President Rev. Peter Morales, and other Boston area clergy at a preview screening and discussion of upcoming film Selma. The film is based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches led by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and other clergy. In attendance on Monday evening was the Rev. David Johnson. Rev. Johnson is a UU minister who participated in the Selma marches and was a colleague of Boston minister James Reeb-a young Unitarian Universalist minister who was beaten and killed by white segregationists while participating in Selma. Click here to learn more about Monday's post-film discussion of civil rights and race relations in Boston. Selma opens on Christmas Day.
Pictured Above: Rev. Shawn Fiedler with Rev. David Johnson |
Dear Friends:
I am writing to you to ask if you will join the hospitality committee as we embark on a project that will bring King's Chapel members and friends together, by neighborhood, so we can get to know each other better.
The idea is to have small intimate dinners, for eight people or more, that will encourage dinner table conversations. We hope dinners can be scheduled starting in February and March. If this idea appeals to you, either as a guest or host please reply to this email. You may also contact me directly with any questions you may have.
I do hope you will consider joining with us in this project. I can be reached at 781-383-9028. Warmly, |
 | | King's Chapel made a Joyful Noise at last night's Holiday Stroll on Charles Street! Thanks to all the voices that volunteered! |
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Chancel Flowers: Donors Needed!
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| There is one date available the first Sunday in January. If you would like to offer a dedication in honor or memory of a loved one, please contact the Parish House.
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Wanted: Language Translators for King's Chapel Signs
180,000 people come to visit us at King's Chapel every year, many from foreign countries. While we do have self-guided tours available in several languages, currently all of our exterior signage is in English. Anyone arriving during hours we are closed or worshipping, if not proficient in English, often does not understand that they are either warmly invited to join us in worship, or encouraged to return at the time tours will begin again.
If you can speak and write Mandarin, Japanese, Spanish, Italian or French, and can help us devise more welcoming, useful signs for our many visitors, please contact Parish Administrator Julina Rundberg,julina@kings-chapel.org
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Accessibility and Hearing Assists
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Our beautiful Georgian sanctuary designed by Peter Harrison and completed in 1754, has been lovingly maintained by the congregation since its completion. Some of the box pews have been made wheel-chair accessible. Ushers are available to assist those who are wheelchair-bound to those pews.
Many of us have trouble hearing in our sanctuary, which does not have amplification. Small hearing devices are available; an usher also will be happy to provide one, and explain how they work.
The Book of Common Prayer According to the Use in King's Chapel is the cornerstone of worship at our 11 am Morning Prayer Services. Printed orders of service including hymns, Psalms, and responsive sections of the Prayer Book liturgy are available to facilitate participation in worship for everyone. |
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