UniteBoston

Nurturing Relational Connections Across Boston's Christian Community

Archdiocese of Boston Justice Convocation

Do Justice. Love Mercy. Walk Humbly with God.

Saturday, October 5th, 8am – 3:00pm, Boston College High School, 150 Morrissey Blvd, Boston 02125.  Registration Fee $25 including lunch.  Plenty of free parking.

Come join us to deepen your understanding of injustice and inequality in our community and to learn about local Catholic efforts to bring about change. Learn from our speakers, exhibitors and other parishioners about ways they are promoting Catholic Social Teaching in their parishes/collaboratives, local communities, workplaces and families.

FEATURING: Remarks by Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston, Holy Mass celebrated by Rev. J. Bryan, Hehir, Cabinet Secretary Health and Human Services, Keynote Address by Janine Carreiro, Co-Director Massachusetts Communities Action Network, extended networking with wide range of Exhibitors, Small Group Faith-Sharing, Workshops on core principles of Catholic Social Justice, and NEW: Inaugural Social Justice Awards.

FOR MORE INFORMATION and TO REGISTER, go to: https://www.bostoncatholic.org/justice/ or contact Suzanne Graul at socialjustice@rcab.org or (617)746-5738

Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, Duke Ellington’s Sacred Music

The Aardvark Jazz Orchestra (Mark Harvey, director) will open its historic 47th season with a Duke Ellington Celebration, including tuneful classics and joyful sacred music featuring the First Parish of Concord choir, directed by Elizabeth Norton, with Nikki Turpin, narrator.  The concert will be held Sunday, September 22 at 7:00 pm at First Parish Church of Concord MA.  The program is sponsored by the Music Ministry of First Parish in collaboration with The Robbins House.  Aardvark has been called “stunningly beautiful” (New York City Jazz Record), “spellbinding” (The Boston Globe) and “one of the best jazz ensembles in the world” (Jazz Podium, Germany).  The band has been praised for “lush sonorities and a saxophonic blend worthy of Ellington’s finest reed sections” (JazzTimes).

The concert will honor Duke Ellington (1899-1974) in his 120th birthday year with a program celebrating joy, justice, and love – themes that were important for Ellington throughout his life.  Although not a religious event, the program embraces the tenets of Christianity in celebrating social justice, equality and inclusiveness.  The Reverend Dr Mark Harvey, Aardvark’s founder and music director is a retired Methodist minister, who has written compositions on themes of spirituality, peace and justice and led his orchestra in concerts for these causes for 50 years.  The September 22 concert will feature music from Ellington’s Sacred Concerts, including Heaven and New World A-Comin’ which Duke described as “a place where there would be no war, no greed, no categorization, and where love would be unconditional.”  The First Parish choir will join Aardvark in two sacred works:  the ebullient David Danced before the Lord, and It’s Freedom, a powerful expression of Civil-Rights-era fervor with resonance for today.

The Aardvark Jazz Orchestra performs widely, has premiered more than 175 works for jazz orchestra, and has released 15 CDs, including 9 discs on Leo Records and a recording of Duke Ellington’s Sacred Music on the Aardmuse label.  Aardvark guests have included Sheila Jordan, Ricky Ford, Geri Allen, Jaki Byard, Jimmy Giuffre and other luminaries.  The band has performed Ellington concerts for more than three decades, including an Ellington Centennial Concert in 1999 at MIT’s mainstage Kresge Auditorium.  Mark Harvey has transcribed many Ducal works, and has written and lectured about Ellington for more than 25 years.

Aardvark is: Arni Cheatham, Peter H. Bloom, Phil Scarff, Chris Rakowski, Dan Zupan/saxes and woodwinds; K.C. Dunbar, Jeanne Snodgrass/trumpets; David Harris, Jay Keyser/trombones; Jeff Marsanskis, Bill Lowe/bass trombones, tuba; John Funkhouser/piano; Rick McLaughlin/string bass; Harry Wellott/drums; Jerry Edwards and Grace Hughes, vocalists; and Mark Harvey, arranger/music director.   The orchestra is managed by Americas Musicworks, Rebecca DeLamotte, director, telephone 617 776 8778

Two Dozen Pastors Are Already Collaborating About the UB Summer Worship Night

The UniteBoston Summer worship night will take place in August, but the planning has already begun! On Tuesday March 19th, two dozen pastors and leaders gathered into a room at Park Street Church to collaborate together about the UniteBoston worship night. Special thanks to Pastor Michael Balboni from Park Street Church for hosting us, as well as The Well Coffeehouse for donating the coffee and pastries!

The gathering was led by Kelly Fassett, UniteBoston’s team leader, and Chloe Gaydos, UniteBoston’s worship night coordinator and band manager. The afternoon began with sharing why Christian unity matters and the history of the UniteBoston worship night. Tom Baskett also shared a powerful testimony from his experience directing last year’s worship team. Click here to check out the photo gallery and a video from last year’s summer worship night.

The ministry leaders also broke up into collaborative groups to dream about what each person wanted to see at a public worship night, and how participating in the worship night might impact local congregations. Here are a few key ideas that people shared:

  • Testimonies and spoken word
  • Highlighting the diversity to understand what we’re seeing/experiencing through different forms of worship
  • Incorporate building relationships across churches/traditions
  • Evangelism – Prayer tent, potentially part of a serve weekend
  • Supporting young adults and their role in the leadership of the church
  • Organizing the evening around God’s big story, including creation, the fall, lamenting our disunity publicly, and redemption in Jesus Christ
  • Do you have any other ideas? Please email kelly@uniteboston.com with anything you’d like to see at the UB worship night! 
Photo Credit: Elizabeth Lohones, Park Street Church

 

Key themes from the collaboration time that emerged with the group

Finally, Chloe Gaydos went through the practicals of the worship night, including different options for the budget. Click here to view the Powerpoint presentation from the afternoon.

The beautiful thing about a vision like this is that it will take all of us participating in different ways, through prayer, resources, and finances, so we’d love to have you involved! If you are a pastor or ministry leader, please click here to take our 2-minute survey about how you’d like you and your church to be involved. If you are interested in volunteering on one of the teams, including the musician, logistics, or prayer teams, email Chloe Gaydos, ccgaydos@gmail.com.  We are pleased to share that $3,300 has been pledged thusfar for the worship night – yahoo!

We really appreciate your prayers and support for this opportunity to worship Jesus in the heart of Boston.  We know that a public worship night is just one of many ways by which Christians can attest to the reconciling power of the gospel, for the glory of God and the good of the city – Thank you for joining in!

With hope,

Kelly Fassett and Chloe Gaydos

Lift Every Voice Hymn Festival

Lift Every Voice – Finding Community Through Song. Don’t miss this ecumenical hymn festival featuring musicians of the Merrimack Valley and beyond, along with the Bozeman organ and Steinway concert grand pianos.  A reception will follow.

Free admission; an offering will be taken to benefit those affected by the gas explosions through the Essex County Community Fund. Accessible entrances (with elevator leading to the sanctuary) can be found on the sides of the building, off the parking lots.

Boston’s South End and UniteBoston

For the past five months, the UniteBoston Reps have been engaging in various activities to listen and learn from their communities. These next four weeks, each rep will be writing a brief blog to share their findings with the Greater Boston Christian community.

We dream of having every community in Boston connected with a UB Rep! UB Rep Cohorts begin in October and extend to May. If you’re interested in being a UB Rep in your community, email Kelly Steinhaus, kelly@uniteboston.com
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Photo Credit: Flickr.com

By Ralph Kee, UniteBoston Rep: South End

I’ve been encouraged to see how God is working throughout the South End. Recently, pastors or designated representatives of churches that meet in or within a couple of blocks of the South End have been holding 2-hour meetings together every six weeks for the last year, for the purpose of South End focussed Great Commission collaboration. Fifteen churches have attended at least one meeting, with an average of six or so churches and twelve or so people at each meeting. The South End itself is about one square mile with some 35,000 residents, and there are 35 churches of all kinds are listed in the South End, so as you can see, the need is great.

At each of the meetings, individuals representative of various Boston endeavors have presented their work, their needs, as well as their offers to help South End churches, collectively or individually. At recent meetings, there has been discussions on helping South End public schools, helping reduce South End street violence, helping families affected by violence, connecting with Tenants Development Corporation, and helping refugees adjust to Boston. In addition to this, a collaborative outdoor Easter Sunrise Service was held in a South End park, with components of the service led by five of the churches and about forty people in attendance.

There are many realities facing the South End of Boston at this time, such as the ongoing loss of church buildings to high-end condos, the increasing number of millionaires, and the reality that whole new mini-neighborhoods are being constructed in or near the South End. Christians need to address these current realities, and collectively come up with an answer to the question: how do the churches put their expertise to work collaboratively for further South End Kingdom-building? And can we collaboratively be out in the coffee shops and in the parks this summer doing some friendship building and evangelism? These are things for the South End churches themselves to decide. And then, as led, do.

The group is now at a critical point. After a year of meetings, concrete results need to be seen if interest is to continue. Unless this kind of endeavor produces two things at the same time: added strength and growth to individual participating churches and at the same time added additional strength and growth and evangelistic success to the whole Body of Christ in the South End, interest and participation in this endeavor will lapse. We hope this effort to collaborate will be successful.

We praise God for UniteBoston, for its commitment to neighborhood focussed collaborative vision-building and practice. My UniteBoston prayer walk around the INK Block construction was a memorable prayer walk. Getting the UniteBoston Reps that focus on various Boston neighborhoods regularly around the same table is critical. Constantly learning from each other and encouraging each other is basic to success That’s what they did in the Book of Acts and what we need to do in Boston, and UniteBoston is helping enable this to happen.


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