A capacity crowd at St John’s for East Lyme churches’ Thanksgiving concert
Singers and choirs from seven East Lyme churches united at St John’s Episcopal Church on Friday 14th November for a concert celebrating our shared community and the season of thanksgiving. They performed to a full house - every seat was filled with some people standing at the back of the church – and the concert was enthusiastically received and warmly applauded.
Full to capacity: the concert brought people together from all over East Lyme
The concert was organised by St John’s Organist and Choir Director Kathy Cooper, with Judy Mack and Laurie Johnston from Niantic Baptist Church. It brought together choirs and singers from Christ Lutheran Church, Flanders Baptist and Community Church, Niantic Baptist Church, Niantic Community Church, St Agnes and St Mathias Roman Catholic Community Church and St Paul Roman Catholic Church as well as St John’s.
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As well as being an expression of remembrance and thanksgiving, the concert was held to raise money and gather donations of non-perishable food for the outreach organizations Care and Share and Shoreline Soup Kitchens and Pantries, each of which is supported by St John’s.
Mother Jackie welcomed the choirs and congregation to St John’s and read the Collect for Stewardship of Creation
Five choirs, and additional singers from area churches made up almost fifty singers - filling St John’s with reflective music
There were many popular pieces in the program, including Martin Shaw’s With a Voice of Singing, John Rutter’s For the Beauty of the Earth, and the setting of the prayer May the Lord Bless You and Keep You by George Frederick Handel.
Chris Stanley conducting With a Voice of Singing by Martin Shaw (with Kathy Cooper at the organ).
Niantic Baptist Church, with guest singers from St Paul Roman Catholic Church, sing Creation Will Be at Peace by J. Paul Williams and Anna Laura Page. Directed by Sandy Kenniston (and accompanied on the piano by Ruth Beals).
St John’s own choir, with Kathy Cooper at the piano, sings New Songs of Celebration Render by Eric Routley in a setting by John Ferguson. Patricia Harper is on the flute, Larry Basso on the drum.
Christ Lutheran Church choir sings Down to the River to Pray, arranged by Mary McDonald, with Chris Stanley at the piano.
The combined choirs render John Rutter’s For the Beauty of the Earth, with Nan Rigdon conducting and Ruth Beals at the piano.
In lieu of admission fees, those attending the concert donated money and food for outreach to those in need in the area. Care and Share of East Lyme gives food, financial and emergency support to people in East Lyme, Niantic and Salem; Shoreline Soup Kitchen and Pantries is an interfaith service that provides food and fellowship to people in need, including at St John’s on Thursday afternoons from 2.30 – 4.30pm.
The audience heard that an average of 73 families were fed each week by SSKP during 2024, amounting to around 9,400 people in total. The collection at the concert raised about $750, and 300lb of food was also donated and will be shared between the two organizations.
Kathy Cooper, one of the organizers of the concert, playing the postlude “Nun Danket alle Gott” (Now Thank we all our God) by Siegfried Karg-Elert.
The ecumenical thanksgiving concert has been bringing East Lyme churches together since the mid-1990s. Kathy Cooper said bringing choirs, singers and musicians from seven churches together was quite a challenge.
But, she said, “Everybody wanted to make it happen, and it’s been good to work with like-minded people who love choral music and their community and want to be connected with each other.”