Chelsea Community Church’s 49th annual Candlelight Carol Service will take place on Sunday, December 17 at 6 PM in historic St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Chelsea. In addition to scripture and choir singing, cabaret Chanteuse KT Sullivan, the Artistic Director of The Mabel Mercer Foundation, will read Clement Clarke Moore’s famous poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas. Not only has that work become iconic, but St. Peter’s Church stands on donated land that was part of Moore’s estate.
This year’s choral program, under the direction of Music Director John Thomas Fischer will include “People Look East,” “Ave Maria,” “A La Nanita Nana,” “Do You Hear What I Hear?,” “Brightest and Best” and ”Sing We Now Of Christmas.” Additionally, every year there is a pause in the service to honor Moore, as a man who was not only important to the history of the church but to the larger Chelsea community.
In 2012 guest reader KT Sullivan was named Artistic Director of The Mabel Mercer Foundation, which produces the annual Cabaret Convention at Lincoln Center. She starred in the Broadway revival of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and headlined for almost two decades in The Oak Room of The Algonquin Hotel. Besides regular appearances in such New York venues as The Laurie Beechman Theatre, Birdland, 54 Below, and Café Sabarsky, she stars annually at The Pheasantry in London, and has been showcased at Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall.
As to Clement Clarke Moore, in 1822 he wrote the poem that gives us our modern version of Santa Claus. He also donated the land for St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, where CCC meets, and he donated his apple orchard to be the home of the General Theological Seminary, where he taught Hebrew and Greek literature. Moore led the development of Chelsea as a garden suburb. The character of the neighborhood today with its small, stately brownstones, with setbacks to allow for gardens, owes much to Moore’s skill and sensitivity in urban planning.
Chelsea Community Church is an independent, non-denominational, lay-led Christian congregation offering a supportive environment for people of all faiths and of uncertain faith. The CCC mission statement is: to enable each individual to define personal religious beliefs, to worship in prayer, music, reading and interpretation of Scripture with speakers from a variety of backgrounds, to nurture each other in spiritual growth, while respecting and accepting a diversity of beliefs, to share with and support each other in the daily and extraordinary events of our lives and to help those in need both inside and outside our congregation.
The Candlelight Carol Service this year will be held both in-person and streaming online via Facebook and YouTube. The event is free but an offering will be received and donations are welcome via Venmo/PayPal to chelseachurchgiving@gmail.com For more information visit our website at www.chelseacommunitychurch.org
Chelsea Community Church is located at 346 West 20th Street , New York, NY
