Sunday, September 13 | Chapel Choir & Emmanuel Music Collaboration
Join us for our last service of the summer in the Lindsey Chapel at 10am. Our chapel choir, in collaboration with Emmanuel Music will offer Schaffe in mir, Gott, ein reines Herz,TWV 1:1241 by Georg Philipp Telemann.
News and updates
- Our 56th Cantata Season begins on September 20, 2026 with Bach’s Nimm, was dein ist, und gehe hin, BWV 144. Please join us for coffee-hour after the service to celebrate!
- Ryan Turner, Music Director and Artistic Director of Emmanuel Music has curated an exceptional season of programming outside of the cantatas that is a meditation on passion in its many expressions, told through chamber music, opera, and the profound emotional depth of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. Discover more at Emmanuel Music.
- Beginning September 20, services are livestreamed on our YouTube channel. Subscribe to our channel so you don’t miss out.
- Lorraine Fanton Celebration of Life | Sunday October 11, 2026 at 2pm in the Sanctuary | Wheelchair Accessible
- Our electronic newsletter This Week @ Emmanuel Church gives announcements including Zoom gatherings and other information pertinent to our congregation. Please fill out this form to receive it.
- Our annual meeting was held Sunday, Feb. 8. View our 2025 Annual Report here.
Recovery liturgy with healing prayers
Created for all people struggling with any form of addiction, our Service of Prayer and Healing for People in Recovery draws from the wisdom of the 12-step program and liturgies of the Episcopal Church. To join us via Zoom on Fridays at 3:30 pm, please contact The Rev. Susan Ackley: recovery@emmanuelboston.org for more information or an invitation. Although our service is geared toward those struggling with, or in recovery from, addiction, all are welcome.
Our building
Our building is a home and resource for a dynamic group of programs and organizations who partner with us to preserve this historic structure and project our ideals of justice, spirituality, and art into the community of the Boston metropolitan area.
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Emmanuel awarded grant to help serve those who are unhoused
From the Diocese of Massachusetts: “The Diocese of Massachusetts was recently awarded a grant of $46,230 from the United Thank Offering (UTO) to update a restroom at Emmanuel Church in Boston for people who do not have reliable access to water. Although Emmanuel Church has been serving unhoused or displaced people for almost 120 years, it was during the recent pandemic that access to water became an acute need.
Stepping up to serve
‘People living on the street were really in a bind,’ says The Rev. Pamela Werntz, rector at Emmanuel Church. ‘The public health guidance was to wash your hands as frequently as possible, yet those who were unhoused did not have anywhere to do so. Emmanuel and the Cathedral were the only downtown churches that made a commitment to expand our open hours as Boston was shutting down, and we continue to serve people five days a week with access to restrooms, outlets to charge phones, and a place to rest and get something to eat.'” Read more on this exciting story here.
Finding our faith
“Book officiant at least nine months before the wedding!” That’s what all the bridal magazines told me to do.
To be honest, with a year to plan I’d been more preoccupied with short ribs or halibut, buttercream or fondant, than with deciding who would perform our ceremony. But somewhere between selecting mini crab flautas to be served during cocktail hour and corn bisque for a starter, I realized the menu shouldn’t be my top priority. For the first time, Eric and I would have to explicitly address our different religious backgrounds and decide how Judaism and Christianity would factor into our life together.
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Ihr Seid die Gesegneten des Herren
A while back, during a worship service, the chorus of Emmanuel Music sang a motet Der Herr denket an uns, which is #9 in Johann Hermann Schein’s collection Israels Brünnlein. The text is from Psalm 115, verses 12–15. I sat there in my usual spot in the third row, soaking up the beauty in my usual way—not following along in the program but just watching the singers, players, and John Harbison’s conducting dance. And listening: listening with a ferocious desire for bigger ears so I could take in this miracle of sound that we call music.
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