Historic St. John’s Episcopal Church will observe service of Evening Prayer on July 25th at 4:00 p.m. in honor of this region’s rich Welsh heritage. The service will be led by The Reverend Christopher David who was born in Wales. His sermon for this special service will be a brief accounting of Welsh Church history.
Organist for this special worship service will be James Cassarino, Associate Professor of Music; Director of Music Program; Director of Welsh Heritage at Green Mountain College.
The Reverend David was born in Llwynypia in the Rhondda, where previous generations of his ancestors had been coal miners. His educational studies in the historic chapel at Christ College, Brecon, the oldest place for school worship in Britain, built about 1250, enabled him the beginnings of his spiritual growth. After graduation from the General Theological Seminary in New York, he served as Assistant Minister at Grace Church in New York. This was followed by nine years in the Hudson valley as Rector of St. John’s, Kingston, where he met his wife, Kathleen, and their three children were born. In 1987 the David family moved to Church of the Good Shepherd in Midland Park, New Jersey, and a week after 9/11, The Reverend David became Rector of St. Mark’s, Westhampton Beach, New York, from which he retired on St. David’s Day, 2010. He served as Chair of The Migrant Ministry Committee of the Episcopal Church and as Dean of Peconic on Long Island. Since their relocation to Salem, New York, The Reverend David has spent two and a half years as Interim Pastor at Trinity Church, Rutland. More recently, The Reverend David has done some Sunday supply. He and Kathleen keep busy gardening, working on their home which is a converted barn, traveling and enjoying their grandson, Owen Thomas David.
Professor Cassarino is a graduate of the University of Wales, Bangor. He has been introduced at conferences in Wales and the US as the leading authority of Welsh-American music traditions. Professor Cassarino will provide organ music, including Welsh hymns and special music, for this service on the original 1860’s William Nutting hand-pump organ.
St. John’s Church reopened in June as a summer chapel with weekly worship services every Saturday at 4:00 p.m. Service of Evening Prayer is led weekly by local Episcopal clergy. The rich notes of the original 1860’s William Nutting hand-pump organ accompany the hymns at many services. At other times music is by flute, guitar and folk harps. Light refreshments are available after worship in the garden, weather permitting. All are welcome.
These services are a rare opportunity offered to worshippers, historians, musicians and lovers of early Vermont. Untouched and unchanged St. John’s is one of the two churches from the early 1800s surviving in Poultney. It is located across from the village green, which is dominated by the stately United Baptist church.
St. John's is a fine example of classic New England Carpenter Gothic. It retains its gated pews, kerosene lamps, stenciled walls and a rare, hand pump, organ made by Vermonter, William Nutting, which dates from the 1860s. The cornerstone of St. John's was laid May 27, 1831. The first services were held a year later, May 27, 1832. The first Episcopal Bishop of Vermont, the Rt. Rev. John Henry Hopkins, presided at the consecration of the building.
St. John's held regular services until 1931. After that the old church opened only once a year for an annual service of worship. The summer of 2014 brought its first reopening as a summer chapel since 1931. St. John's Church is a historical treasure as a place for continuing worship in the Episcopal tradition. The building is also a resource which may be offered to the community.
Members of the executive committee of the Church stress that the services are open to all. They welcome all to join them in this second summer season of St. John’s evening prayer services in the 21st century in the life of this venerable, old house of worship. Next year, the church will be reroofed (with historically approved metal), and much future work is needed on the structure including the windows, shutters and painting.
Donations will be gratefully received. To send donation, kindly make check payable to “St. John’s Restoration Fund”, and mail it to: Treasurer, Randall Wareing, 527 Granville Street, Poultney, VT 05764.
For further information, please call The Rev. William A. Davidson (518- 499- 1850), Chair, or Ida Mae Johnson (802-287-9744) of St. John's Executive Committee.
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