Tuesday, June 3, 2025
The Chapel St. Chronicle
Welcome to the Chapel Street Chronicle, your weekly St. John’s digest.
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Sermon Series
"Standing At The Threshold"
The Rev. Aaron B. Jenkyn
In this week’s sermon, we celebrate our graduates and reflect on those threshold moments — the ones where something has ended, something new is beginning, and we’re not quite sure what comes next. With the story of the Ascension as our guide, we explore how faith takes root not in certainty, but in the sacred space of waiting, wondering, and stepping forward anyway. It’s a message for anyone in the midst of change, and anyone longing to trust that God meets us there.
MISSION - VISION - VALUES
Aaron also shared about the Mission, Vision, and Values process just beginning at St. John’s — a time for listening, naming, and dreaming together about who we are and who we’re becoming. If you missed it, you can still be part of the conversation by watching the sermon and filling out the survey linked below. Your voice matters in this work — we'd love to hear from you!
Click here to take our survey and make your voice heard!
MUSIC
"The Lord's Prayer," Albert Hay Malotte
This weekend our community was blessed, perhaps for the final time in a regular Sunday Service, by the vocal talents of Andrew Sokol who, after 14 years as our Tenor Choral Scholar, will be hanging up his choir robe in order to focus his time and efforts more on his homestead, including the care and maintenance of his growing farm, complete with large animals!
Our choir has benefited so much by his steady presence throughout these years, dating all the way back to 2010 after finishing his degree at UNH and being brought on by Abbey Hallberg Siegfried. Andrew has served the Parish Choir under Abbey, then interim directors Peter Urquhart and Olin Johannessen, then Margaret Harper, and now Jennifer McPherson Mulhern.
Thank you, Andrew, for everything you've given to this community, and we wish you the best of luck!
GO AND DO!
BLACK HERITAGE TRAIL OF NH PRESENTS
A Reckoning: Reclaiming the Past, Remembering Black Voices, Reshaping the Future
June 8, 10-15, & 19
The celebration includes a movie screening and discussion, history tours, a gospel choir concert, a panel discussion, and celebrations, including a freedom dinner and an African drumming ceremony.
In challenging times, it can be difficult to have productive conversations about the past and its significance for the future. This is especially true when historical facts about America’s past, such as those about our early presidents, do not reconcile with the sanitized versions we are taught.
American history often portrays the “Founding Fathers” as paragons of virtue while omitting the realities of slavery, exploitation, racial inequality, and profiteering woven into the nation's foundation. When historical figures held in high regard are revealed to have enslaved and fathered Black children, it forces a deeper reckoning with how racism shaped American institutions. It makes slavery and its legacy personal rather than abstract.
This Juneteenth, we weave together three powerful narratives — stories that disrupt the illusion of separate racial histories and identities in America. Through the voices of descendants, cutting-edge technology, and Ona Marie Judge Staines's courageous journey, we underscore that Black and white histories have always been intertwined, making it harder to uphold a rigid "us vs. them" mindset.
Knowing these truths forces us to confront the gap between America’s ideals and history. This Juneteenth, we reclaim, we remember, and we resist erasure.
Learn all about this year's Juneteenth Celebration including the history of this holiday and this year's schedule of events by clicking here!
Article source, accessed 6-2-25: https://blackheritagetrailnh.org/juneteenth-celebration-2025/
What are you reading? Listening to? Thinking about? Do you have any great recommendations that you're eager to share? Let Aaron know!