Searsmont, Maine resident, The Rev. Canon Victoria Sirota will be returning to lead worship at All Saints by-the-Sea chapel for her fourth summer this season. Rev. Sirota will celebrate the service of Holy Communion at 8 and 10 a.m. on both June 22 and June 29. Our organist, an accomplished church organist and world renown recitalist, Mr. Henry Lowe, will continue to provide music at all services. People of all faiths are invited to attend the services.

Rev. Sirota is an Episcopal priest, musician and author and holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Boston University and Harvard Divinity School. She has taught at Yale Divinity School and The Ecumenical Institute of Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary and University, and Boston University. Former National Chaplain for the American Guild of Organists, she is the author of articles, reviews and texts for hymns, cantatas, and song cycles. She has published a book titled Preaching to the Choir: Claiming the Role of Sacred Musicians. Prior to her nine years as Canon Pastor and Vicar at The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in New York, she was Vicar of the Church of the Holy Nativity in Baltimore. Rev. Sirota retired as Rector of Saint John’s Episcopal Church in Getty Square, Yonkers, NY to Searsmont, Maine where she lives with her husband, composer Robert Sirota.

As part of the June 29 services, All Saints will debut a new Eucharistic Prayer written specifically for the Diocese of Maine by another clergy friend of All Saints, The Rev. Martin Smith. Rev. Sirota serves on the Diocesan Liturgical Commission for the Episcopal Diocese of Maine and she has agreed to discuss the origins and content of the new Prayer the prior week, on June 22, from 9:20 to 9:40 between the 8 and 10 services.

An informal discussion relating to the week’s scripture passages will be led by Rev. Sirota on the outside porch of the chapel on Tuesdays June 24 and July 1 from 9 to 10 a.m. Attendees of All Saints as well as members of other area churches are encouraged to attend.

All Saints by-the-Sea is on Southport Island on All Saints Road about 2 miles on the left driving south on Route 238. An Episcopal Church sign marks the side of the road. Parking is available along Route 238, or if necessary, in the limited number of handicapped parking spaces off All Saints Road. A golf cart will ferry persons from the handicapped lot to the church steps. The chapel dock is available for use by private boats. The very beautiful and simple wood chapel is open for quiet prayer and meditation during the week.