Keeping King's Chapel's members, friends, and subscribed visitors connected each week between Sunday worship services with updates from the Parish House.
Spotlight On...

This Friday and Saturday! Alto Extravaganza 5: Flashback Time Machine

 
The wild and zany Altos of King's Chapel Choir, Mindy Hinkel and Heather Holland, return to transform the Parish House into a Flashback Time Machine for the 5th Annual Alto Extravaganza! These broads will bring the bass - stepping out of the loft and into the spotlight once more -  reprising favorites from the past five years and singing new renditions for future past favorites!
 
You never know what might happen at Alto Extravaganza ... that's why you've got to come! Doors open at 7 - remember to come around the back and enter through the Branch Street garden door. 
 
Donations to benefit the King's Chapel Concert Series will be strongly encouraged and shamelessly solicited throughout the show.
From the Minister

Sermon Series: The Big Questions We All Have

This fall your preachers are offering a Sermon Series:  The Big Questions We All Have. The full list can be found on the church website.

For the next two Sundays, we'll wrestle with these topics:
 
Sept. 27 - "When Can We Ignore the Bible?"
October 4 - "Does Jesus Ever Get it Wrong?"

In the proud heritage of King's Chapel, allowing all their freedom of conscience, we'll explore these big questions together. Join us!
Upcoming Events
TONIGHT!

Wednesday, September 23rd, 7:15 pm, at the King's Chapel Parish House, 64 Beacon Street
 
A Conversation with Rev. John Buehrens: King's Chapel and Its Role in the UUA. 
 
John was a member of King's Chapel while he served as President of the Unitarian Universalist Association, 1993-2001. He is co-author of A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism and author of Universalists and Unitarians in America: A People's History. He is now Sr. Minister of the UU congregation in San Francisco.
Feting Our Parish Administrator Julina Rundberg: Sunday, October 4th after church

Our faithful Parish Administrator, Julina Rundberg, will be leaving King's Chapel as of October 1, so that she can return full-time to her Ph.D. studies this fall, completing her credentials to be a psychoanalyst. We will all gather at the Parish House on Sunday, October 4th, after our 11 AM service to fete Julina and offer her thanks. 
 
-Joy
Morning Light - A New Service at King's Chapel

We inaugurated the new 9 AM "Morning Light" Service on September 20 (Homecoming Sunday) and will continue every week through the year.  As you know, we've been considering this for some time, and have concluded, based on the good experience we've had with the new Wednesday evening 6 PMservice, that "Morning Light" is another experiment worth undertaking for the next few years. We'll meet in the Little Chapel of our Parish House, at 64 Beacon Street.

"Morning Light" is a less formal, intergenerational service, with an opening hymn, a psalm, a scripture, the homily, and prayers with candle lighting.  The homily will be a shorter version of the full sermon Shawn or Joy will preach at the 11 AM Morning Prayer Service. We are dedicated to excellent music in all of our  services, a hallmark of King's Chapel worship, so we are excited that our music will be led by Skip Lewan, hired by Heinrich. He will lead us in song, using the 
new baby grand piano that was recently donated to the Little Chapel. 

Sometime during the fall, be sure to check out this service, and see if it feeds your soul. Perhaps on occasion it will also meet your scheduling needs for an earlier worship opportunity. You'll be done by 10!

Young Adults Brunch | This Sunday

Young Adult members and friends of King's Chapel are invited to the home of Caroline & Orian Welling for a casual brunch following Morning Prayer onSeptember 27th. To RSVP or for more information, contact
Join the King's Chapel community in Building on Faith

Saturday, October 10: Volunteer for the the KC build for Habitat for Humanity Greater Boston. 10 participants are needed. Contact Emanuel Genovese
[email protected] or Peter Sexton
[email protected] to sign up. Building is from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM at a Boston site. Fee $40 per adult; $20 youth. Matching funds come from the KC Community Action Committee. If this is a financial hardship, other arrangements can be made.

Sunday, October 11: Celebrate at Morning Prayer the International Day of Prayer and Action for Human Habitat.
  • The proceeds of the "Second Sunday' Offertory has been designated for Habitat for Humanity Greater Boston.
Sunday, October 11: View after Morning Prayer  presentations of King's Chapel Habitat for Humanity activities:
  • Honduras
  • Romania (in Kolozsv�r home of our partner church)
  • Greater Boston

News from the Parish
Honoring Anne Sexton and Amy Meyer

On Sunday, at our Homecoming Luncheon, we honored two of our longtime leaders, Anne Sexton and Amy Meyer, for their many years of service to this congregation.  This honor is a new custom being developed by the Membership Committee, co-chaired by Cathy Price and Ray Hardin.
 
This week, we share with you about Amy's remarkable work for King's Chapel over the years.  Next week we'll share about Anne's.
 
Amy served on the Vestrty for 3 terms (9 years total); on Annual Appeal as Chair for 6 years; on the Community Action committee (and its predecessor committees) for 18 years, 10 of it as Chair. She also did a summer-long "study" for the Vestry, working with the Visitors Program, which resulted in a major change to enthusiastic support of visitors/guide program as a burgeoning revenue source. Amy wrote a successful proposal for $30,000 of historic preservation funds. In addition, Amy has served on other committees including Membership and Fiscal Affairs, as well as doing many coffee hours and other Hospitality.  She's most proud of being a consistent giver to the church, whatever the state of her finances or current doings at the church, on the theory that churches needed to be supported, in sun and rain. Her favorite spot is the one she adopted at the end of our Homecoming Luncheon - helping wash the dishes. Many thanks from all of us to Amy Meyer.

The Annual Appeal wants YOU!

Half the goal of $195,000 has been raised already - not so bad for this time of year.  But we still have to raise the other half by the end of December.
 
Our gifts support the church programs we voted at the Annual Meeting - our strong music and choir, more church school, our three weekly worship services. It also supports the immediate physical changes most of us want:
 
            - better amplification and assisted                    listening (coming next month),   
            - an accessible toilet at the church                   (drawings being completed), and 
            - critical repairs to the Parish House,               with good help from the Trustees                   (started).
 
By now, members and contributing friends should have gotten our fall solicitation -
clearly identified as "King's Chapel 2015 Annual Appeal." Only fourteen weeks left until the end of the year and the close of this Annual Appeal.  We look forward to hearing from you (all).
  
Many thanks. Many blessings.

Todd Lee and Orian Welling, Co-chairs - 2015 Annual Appeal
 
Access to the Parish House

Construction has begun!  Access to the Parish House will be re-routed as we reconstruct the porticos of 63 and 64 Beacon.  As long as the scaffolding and enclosures shroud our front entrances, we invite you to come and go through the Parish House Garden off of Branch Street.  During regular hours, the garden door will remain unlocked. 
The Syrian Refugee Crisis: How You Can Help

This week the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Unitarian Social Service Committee launched two efforts to address this grave world crisis:  a special fund to assist refugees, and a petition drive to urge President Obama to increase the number of refugees the United States will receive to 200,000.  For more information, click here.

In This Issue
Sunday September 27th

The Rev. Joy Fallon,
preacher
  • Anne Sexton, Head Usher
  • Charles Perry, Usher-in-Charge
  • Marie Wells, Paul Luca, Judy Luca, Ushers
  • Amy Meyer, Hospitality
  • Carolyn Conley, Verger
The Readings:
  • Psalm 19:7-14
  • Old Testament: Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
  • New Testament: Mark 9:38-50
The flowers on the communion table are given in loving memory of Mildred Montano and Florence Perry by their nephew, Charles M. Perry.
From the Bench
By Heinrich Christensen
For this Sunday's Pre- and Postlude you will hear Mendelssohn's Sonata in B Flat Major, opus 65, no. 4.

New choir member Emily Bieber will sing With Verdure Clad from Haydn's Creation for the Introit.

Our anthems combine an echo of last year's Americana tunes with Alice Parker's classic arrangement of Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal, and the first in a series of previews of the beautiful pieces coming up in our October choir concert program A New Britain (Save the date! Sunday, October 25, 5 PM).This week you will hear Welsh composer Paul Mealor's Locus iste. Here is a capsule bio of Maestro Mealor:

Described in the New York Times as, 'one of the most important composers to have emerged in Welsh choral music since William Mathias... A real and original talent', Paul Mealor's music has rapidly entered the repertoire of choirs and singers around the world. His music has been described as having, 'serene beauty, fastidious craftsmanship and architectural assuredness... Music of deep spiritual searching that always asks questions, offers answers and fills the listener with hope...' His sacred motets, songs and cycles have been performed, broadcast and recorded by artists in the UK, USA and much further afield.

Mealor was catapulted to international attention when 2.5 billion people (the largest audience in broadcasting history) heard his Motet, Ubi caritas performed by the choirs of Westminster Abbey and Her Majesty's Chapel Royal, conducted by James O'Donnell at the Royal Wedding Ceremony of His Royal Highness Prince William and Catherine Middleton (now TRH The Duke & Duchess of Cambridge) at Westminster Abbey, 29th April 2011.

Born in St Asaph, North Wales, UK in 1975 Paul Mealor studied composition privately from an early age with John Pickard, at the University of York with Nicola LeFanu (1994-2002) and in Copenhagen with Hans Abrahamsen (1998-99). Since 2003 he has taught at the University of Aberdeen, where he is currently Reader in Composition, and has held visiting professorships in composition at institutions in Scandinavia and the United States. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Meet Our Choir
You may have noticed some new faces in the choir loft. Over the coming weeks, we will introduce them here in Between Sundays, and you will get to hear them as featured soloists at Morning Prayer. 

Emily Bieber, soprano, is a freelance musician in Boston and surrounding areas. A current chorus member of Boston Baroque, she recently made her international debut with the group, performing in the chorus for Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 and Handel's Messiah. She has appeared as a soloist with Boston Baroque, the Michigan State University Chorale, MSU Symphony Band, and MSU Jazz Ensemble. Her favorite stage roles include Luisa (The Fantasticks) with the Lansing Civic Players, Monica (The Medium) at the New England Conservatory, and Adele (Die Fledermaus) at the Quisisana Resort. Emily frequently performs (vocals, mediocre electric bass) with Diva's Daughters, a folk trio affiliated with The Diva Day Foundation, a non-profit for women's advocacy. She currently studies with Brandon Martinez.
Tuesday Recitals
Tuesday, September 29, 12:15 p.m.

New England Chamber Players
Works by Kreutzer & Piazzolla
Interested in Membership?
King's Chapel formally welcomes new members throughout the year. We are preparing to welcome new members in January 2016 with new member gatherings this fall. If you are curious about King's Chapel, or interested in membership, contact Cathy Price [email protected].
Church School
Back to Church School
Church School registration began September 20th. Our programming for Children & Youth is based upon our heritage as Unitarian Christians. We are grounded in biblical wisdom and Christian identity yet free to exercise the individual use of reason to seek our own truth. From this perspective, we strive to nurture in our children and youth the seed of a curious and questioning faith, in the hope that their faith will continue to grow throughout their lives. Church School classes for preschoolers (Godly Play), elementary-age children (Superheroes of Our Faith), and middle and high school youth (Coming of Age) are offered between Morning Light 9AM and Morning Prayer 11AM from September to June. Contact [email protected] for more information. 
More News from
The Parish
Roots and Wings - Theme for the Year

Last Sunday I asked, What are your "roots," that make you feel like you belong; that let you bend and sway in life's storms, but not topple, like a tree that is deeply rooted?
 
What gives you "wings," allowing you to soar to new heights courageously, giving you perspective from a loftier perch?  For more,click here.

-Joy
Midweek Bible Study
Wednesdays at 12:00 p.m. at the Parish House, starting September 23rd

Join us on Wednesdays at the Parish House for an informal study of both the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and the Christian Scriptures (New Testament). Each week, we will examine and reflect on the upcoming preaching texts. Participants are invited to bring their own lunch. These sessions are led by Rev. Shawn Fiedler. All are welcome. No homework assigned. No preparation necessary. R.S.V.P. Encouraged. 
If you are interested in attending a weekly bible study, but this time/day does not work, please email [email protected] with hope that a better time/day may be selected in the future.
Beacon Hill Block Party

Last Sunday, Cathy Price represented King's Chapel at the annual Beacon Hill Block Party. Cathy handed out beautiful brochures designed by Jim Power. We are grateful that we were able to warmly greet and introduce ourselves to the wider Beacon Hill community! Thank you Cathy & Jim!
We Weep with those Who Weep

The Memorial Service for our former Senior Warden and dear friend, Mason Fernald, will be held on Sunday, October 18, at 4 PM at King's Chapel.
Dan Wakefield Park - Effort & Petition

An effort has begun to name a park in Indianapolis in honor of author and King's Chapel member Dan Wakefield. Dan had stopped attending church until 1980 when he went to a Christmas Eve service at King's Chapel. Subsequently, he took a writing course taught by Carl Scovel, titled "Religious Autobiography", which led to the piece "Returning to Church", published in The New York Times Magazine and later his book Returning: A Spiritual Journey. To sign the petition to name the Indianapolis park in Dan's honor, click here

Senior Warden Announces Sound System To Be Installed This Fall

I am pleased to announce that through the generosity of a number of members of King's Chapel, who provided private donations amounting to one-half the cost of the purchase and installation of a sound system, a contract has been signed with Adtech Systems.  The installation has been tentatively scheduled for the middle to end of October.  We will be taking another step in our effort to welcome all to King's Chapel, including current members who have stopped coming to services or who are unable to hear portions of the spoken word when present, and visitors who will be able to hear our ministers and other speakers.  The system will direct the sound of the spoken word (there is no need to amplify our beautiful music) throughout the center of the sanctuary from a single source, and provide an assistive listening component for those with significant hearing loss, which will enable people to hear the spoken word by using a small device, or by making an adjustment to their own hearing aids.

This process began with the convening of the ad hoc Audio/Sound Committee for King's Chapel on January 28, 2015, the committee's exploring many different options by visiting churches and speaking with church staff, consulting a sound expert, soliciting cost estimates from several sound contractors, and providing demonstrations of similar amplification systems at King's Chapel.  The committee was chaired by Cynthia and Richard Perkins and included John Bowman, Heinrich Christensen, Shawn Fiedler, Bill Sears, Mebd Sichko, Dan Taylor, and Cliff Allen.  Thank you also to the Officers and Vestry of King's Chapel, the many parishioners who provided their thoughts and insights, and our Senior Minister who has focused us on the thought that "All Are Welcome Here."

Cliff Allen, Senior Warden


Accessibility and Hearing 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.  

Many of us have trouble hearing in our sanctuary, which does not have amplification. Sound carries best on the main floor of the sanctuary, in areas that are not covered by the balcony. In June, the Vestry approved a hearing system which we hope will be implemented in the near future.
Submitting to Between Sundays

Want something in Between Sundays? Feel free to email Simon ([email protected]) with a written piece and/or pictures before Wednesday at Noon!
 Volunteer to Host Coffee Hour!