The Union Chapel Summer Choir has performed on the first Sunday in August for more than 20 years. Last year, the choir couldn’t sing because of the pandemic. But the group is back for Choir Sunday on August 1 and everyone is invited to join.
Choir members will sing “Let There Be Music” by Gordon Young, under the direction of Chapel Organist and Music Director Linda Betjeman. Rehearsal is Saturday, July 31 at 9:30 am.
The Rev. Sam Clover, an associate minister at the Reformed Church of Bronxville, will preach about “Enough for One Day.” Joining him is his wife, Jen, an accomplished singer who will perform as guest soloist.
One “gift” of the pandemic, Clover said, was 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.”
About the Clovers
Clover graduated from Union Theological Seminary and was ordained in the Reformed Church in America in 2014.
Before his call to ministry, he worked for more than 10 years as an arts and culture journalist at small magazines and newspapers in New York City. A graduate of Lafayette College (BA, English and History), he earned an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School, and a diploma in Spiritual Direction from San Francisco Theological Seminary, where he is studying for a doctorate in ministry.
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.
An avid singer, Clover has sung with several choirs of various genres, and is a bass/baritone with the New Choral Society in Scarsdale. He and Jen live in Bronxville with their three cats, Dizzy, Cookie and Smudge.
Jen Clover has been singing in church since age 3. She was a member of The Concert Chorale and Concentus Vocum at West Virginia Wesleyan College. She graduated from Syracuse University with a performing arts degree.
A published writer and lifelong creator of poetry and prose, she earned an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School while working at the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music.
About Choir Sunday
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’s a graduate of Union Theological Seminary School of Sacred Music in New York, where she received a Master’s degree in organ performance and choral conducting. During her 50-year career in church music, she served in congregations in Manhattan, Westchester County and Long Island.
Betjeman was a recitalist at concert series in Manhattan, Westchester and Rockland counties, and performed as a soloist in England and Italy (including St. Peter’s in Rome). She was a keyboard soloist on organ, harpsichord and piano with the Broadway Bach Ensemble of Manhattan and performed with the Chappaqua Chamber Orchestra and Mimosa Chamber Ensemble of Manhattan.
She maintains a roster of local students and 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 at Union Chapel for Choir Sunday. If you like to sing, join the Summer Choir! Rehearsal is on Saturday, July 31 at 9:30 am at the Chapel.
Coming up: Garden Club Memorial Sunday is on August 8 with guest preacher Fr. Peter DeSanctis of Our Lady of the Isle Roman Catholic Church.
JoAnn Kirkland is an assistant to the trustees of Union Chapel in the Grove. Learn more about the historic, nonprofit chapel by visiting its website, unionchapelinthegrove.org.
