Featured Story

Union Chapel Choir Sunday returns: Guest preacher and soloist to sing

The Union Chapel Summer Choir has performed on the first Sunday in August for more than 20 years. Because of the pandemic last year, there was no choir. Choir Sunday returns on August 1 and everyone is invited to join, singing “Let There Be Music” by Gordon Young, under the direction of Chapel Organist and Music Director Linda Betjeman.

Reverend Sam Clover, an associate minister at the Reformed Church of Bronxville, will preach about “Enough for One Day.” He will be joined by his wife, Jen, guest soloist and an accomplished singer.

When asked what he considered a “gift” of the pandemic, Reverend Clover mentioned having time to “reflect on what’s important in our lives and if we’re really where we want to be and if we’re the people we want to be.” Some people ponder this often, while others “have to be wrenched out of the busyness of the day-to-day to reflect and imagine possibilities.”

Reverend Clover was ordained in the Reformed Church in America in 2014 after graduating from Union Theological Seminary.

Before his call to ministry, he worked for more than 10 years as an arts and culture journalist in New York City. A graduate of Lafayette College (B.A., English and History), he also received an MFA in creative nonfiction writing from The New School, and a diploma in Spiritual Direction from San Francisco Theological Seminary. He is a past board member of Room for All, a network of clergy, church members and congregations in the Reformed Church in America that supports LGBTQ people.

Jen Clover has been singing in church since age three. She was a member of The Concert Chorale and Concentus Vocum at West Virginia Wesleyan College, and graduated from Syracuse University with a performing arts degree. She earned an MFA in creative writing from The New School while working at the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and is a published writer.

Linda Betjeman celebrates her 29th year as organist and choir director for Union Chapel. She has been Shelter Island Presbyterian Church’s Minister of Music since 2007 and is director of the Community Chorus. She is a graduate of Union Theological Seminary School of Sacred Music in New York.

Ms. Betjeman performed as a soloist in England and Italy (including St. Peter’s in Rome). She has taught on the music faculty of Sarah Lawrence College, the Walden-Lincoln and Trevor Day School in New York City and the Riverdale Country School.

Please join us on Sunday, August 1 at 10:30 a.m. for Choir Sunday. And if you like to sing, join the Summer Choir. Rehearsal is on Saturday, July 31 at 9:30 a.m. at the Chapel.

Coming up: Garden Club Memorial Sunday on August 8 with guest preacher Fr. Peter DeSanctis of Our Lady of the Isle Catholic Church.