Tuesday, May 6, 2025
The Chapel St. Chronicle
Welcome to the Chapel Street Chronicle, your weekly St. John’s digest.
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Sermon Series
"Waging Peace"
The Rev. Robert E. Stevens, Jr.
How do we wage peace? By practicing forgiveness, engaging together in reconciliation, and by adding a heavy dose of prayer.
BEYOND THE MUSIC
"Meet Me Here," from the oratorio Considering Matthew Shepard by Craig Hella Johnson. Read the complete text on page 20 of the document linked here.
This performance by the St. John's Parish Choir and featuring Morgan King, soprano, was captured on May 29, 2022, just days after the horrific news broke of the school shootings on May 24 at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX.
About the oratorio:
"Considering Matthew Shepard is a Grammy-nominated three-part oratorio composed by Craig Hella Johnson. The work is an evocative and compassionate musical response to the murder of Matthew Shepard. On October 6, 1998, University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard was kidnapped, beaten, and left to die, in what became an infamous act of brutality, and one of America’s most notorious anti-gay hate crimes. Shepard’s murder ultimately led to the creation of the Matthew Shepard Foundation and provided a catalyst for legislation that expanded the definition of a hate crime to include sexual orientation. In 2009, Congress passed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Composer Craig Hella Johnson had a profoundly personal reaction to both the murder and its resonance. The Shepard family and Foundation engaged with Johnson in the creation of the work, and allowed the use of fragments from Shepard’s personal diary."*
This piece continues to serve as a reminder that we walk this road together, all of us, and that when we remember to live into our shared humanity and love one another, we are coming home, that we are never alone, and that our collective song holds us together through any darkness.
*Program note accessed on May 5, 2025 from austinpbs.org/consideringmatthewshepard
GO AND DO!
BLACK HERITAGE TRAIL OF NH AND ST. THOMAS’ DOVER PRESENT
St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church in Dover is pleased to invite you to an evening presentation of A Walk Through the History of Black and Indigenous People in Dover, NH.
Event date/time: Wednesday, May 7th at 7pm.
Location: Ervin Hall, St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, 5 Hale Street, Dover NH 03820
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