The story we tell will be fitting: that of Ruth, the widow who promised to journey alongside her mother-in-law, also a widow. Together they would face the future: "Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people will be my people and your God will be my God." That's the kind of steadfast love we all need when we are grieving, and the steadfast love we can show to one another. It is the steadfast love of God, who journeys with us through all of our seasons

 

Join us as we celebrate this, in music, word and prayer.

Joy

Helen Homans, whose First World War service is commemorated at King's Chapel, was one among millions of women around the world who served in the First World War. She and her fellow nurses witnessed and documented the horror and devastation of the First World War, but also provided vital care to wounded soldiers, pioneered revolutionary medical techniques, and helped reinvent women's role in wartime and postwar society.

In commemoration of the centenary of the Armistice that brought an end to the hostilities of the First World War, please join us for a discussion of women's experience in the First World War, the long-term effects of their service, and a tribute to the remarkable life of Helen Homans.

This event will be led by Bridget Keown, PhD candidate at Northeastern University, and Fellow at the Northeastern Humanities Center, whose dissertation focuses on women's experiences of trauma during the First World War.

 

This event is FREE and open to the public. Please RSVP on Eventbrite, by clicking HERE.

Contact History Program Director, Faye Charpentier, at faye@kings-chapel.org with questions. 

"Hope of a Triumph of Peace:" King's Chapel in the First World War| Sunday November 11 at 12:30 PM | Presented by Faye Charpentier, King's Chapel History Program Director

100 years ago on November 11, 1918, the First World War came to a close. During the war, the church not only displayed an Honor Roll to its members in the Armed Forces, but King's Chapel played an important role in supporting servicemen in Boston and abroad during the war. The church's wartime work would be picked up again during World War II. Within a month of Armistice Day in 1918, the church formed a committee to permanently memorialize the legacies of those who lost their lives in World War I. The memorial, located above the entrance, honors three of these individuals who died during the First World War: Hamilton Coolidge, Helen Homans, and Edward Blake Robins, Jr. 

Please join us following Morning Prayer on Sunday November 11 in exploring the incredible stories of the men and women of King's Chapel who gave their lives for their country during the Great War, and how the King's Chapel community participated from the home front. This program is presented by Faye Charpentier, King's Chapel History Program Director. 

 

Using many pictures from her ten-day sojourn to Israel this summer, Rev. Fallon will describe the life-changing experience she had with other Boston clergy: young and old; black, white and brown; all guests of Boston's Jewish Community Relations Council. Her group toured the Christian religious sites of Galilee and Jerusalem, and many interfaith efforts to bring peace and reconciliation to ongoing conflicts today. "Wading in the Jordan, looking over the Sea of Galilee, listening to stories of many Muslims and Jews, forced new insights about my faith, myself, and my fellow travelers in this world, of other races, nations, and faiths. Conflict and hope there provided lessons for conflict and hope here."

Poetry Reading by Kent Wittenburg | Thursday November 15 | 6- 8 PM

 

 

The Rev. Joy Fallon is offering a weekly small group time for reflecting on a Bible passage. Would you like to join us? Once a week, we meet for an hour, read a short Bible passage together and then sit together in silence reflecting - each person quietly choosing a word or a phrase that struck her or him. At the end of the quiet time, those who wish may share a thought. This is called lectio divina or divine reading. Joy will teach us different ways to do this. Participants are encouraged to attend as many sessions as possible, although we understand that this may not be possible. Try it out some Wednesday. We will begin and end promptly.

Thurs. November 22

10:00 AM- Special Thanksgiving Day Service 

Sun. November 25 

9:00 AM- Sandwich making for common cathedral 

5:00 PM- Concert Series: Toccata 

Halloween at the Parish House! 

Dona Nobis Pacem Concert 

 

Last Sunday evening, our Musical Director, Heinrich Christensen, and our Choir gave us an experience

which those who were present are not likely to forget. Titling it Dona Nobis Pacem, Heinrich programmed the first concert of The Series' 61st Season to commemorate the centennial anniversary of the Armistice which was signed at the close of World War One, on November 11,1918. That was the intention, and recent events in our country, and particularly in Pittsburgh, gave more current meaning and poignance to the evening.

 

The entire concert was a cry from the heart for peace, an end to the suffering, the death, and the grief of war. The music was from composers of the late 19th and 20th centuries, such as Ralph Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten, and Dominick DiOrio. A wonderful surprise was Pete Seeger's Where Have All the Flowers Gone, in a gorgeous arrangement by Keith Hampton. Other familiar works were Samuel Barber's choral arrangement, Agnus Dei, from the Adagio movement of his 1936 String Quartet, and Edward Elgar's Nimrod from his Enigma Variations was gorgeous, arranged by John Cameron with the Latin Mass text, Lux aeterna. Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem is always glorious.

 

Interspersed among the musical offerings were poems written around the time of The War (think Wilfred Owen, A.E. Housman, Thomas Hardy, etc.) and spoken by various singers. Who knew what wonderful readers we have in our Choir?

 

The Choir moved about our Sanctuary, first singing from the gallery, sometimes from the Chancel, or then ranged in the central aisle. It was dramatically very effective, particularly when they sang from the aisle, enabling us to hear individual voices up close.

 

The concert was a performance so moving, so heartfelt and deep that it is impossible to do it justice in a review. The choir and Heinrich gave completely of themselves, and the music was so beautiful that one felt entirely drawn in and immersed in the entreaty, "Grant us Peace". Many were the tears.

130 people attended the Concert. Many retreated to a reception at the Parish House afterward, where affectionate admiring feeling surrounded Heinrich and the Choir.

We rejoice this week with Bernardo Aumond, who just completed hiking to the top of all the "4000-footer" mountains in New England - 67 peaks! It took him many years and many climbs, and we are proud of him! According to the Appalachian Mountain club, a 4,000 footer is a mountain that has an elevation of at least 4,000 feet and a minimum of 200 feet one must descend before climbing to reach another peak.  To learn more, click here  and here . Meanwhile, enjoy the views! Surely God is in this place.

God's New England Creation Spread Before Our Awestruck Eyes