A guitarist, a potter who blogs, a former lawyer, and a bishop – what can these people possibly have in common? It just happens that they’re all Episcopal priests and are among a distinguished group of visiting clergy who will be at All Saints by-the-Sea, the Episcopal summer chapel on Southport island, starting in June.

In past summers when I looked forward to visiting All Saints during our precious two weeks vacation, I never gave a thought to what it takes to make a summer chapel work each year. With no permanent clergy or staff, All Saints depends entirely on the work of a host of volunteers, to assist with services, to make sure the building is maintained and that the dock is ship shape (yes you can come to the chapel by boat), and to ensure that there are clergy to conduct Sunday services and the Tuesday morning discussion group.

Of all the tasks, the most important is the selection and scheduling of the clergy. Work continues throughout the year to sift through recommendations from the community, to listen online to sermons, to invite, and then navigate the complex calendars of busy parish priests with many responsibilities back home.

Each year All Saints brings not only excellent preachers to Southport, but also clergy who are distinguished thinkers and writers representing the breadth of perspectives within the Episcopal Church today. Many are year-to-year favorites, but each summer there are also new faces.

The season opens on June 12 with St Columba’s own Rev. Maria Hoecker, reinforcing the important relationship between the two Episcopal churches which administer a year-round Community Outreach program of financial support to neighbors in Southport and the Boothbay region. Hoecker is followed by another popular local preacher, our guitarist, John Ineson, retired from St. Andrews, Newcastle, but seemingly busier than ever.

The Rev. Scott Lee returns to All Saints for the first half of July. A transplanted southerner, Lee’s ministry has been informed by his upbringing in Mississippi during the struggle for equal rights and desegregation. New to All Saints, the Rev. Canon Charles LaFond, comes to Southport from Saint John’s Cathedral in Denver, Colorado. Potter, beekeeper, and blogger (The Daily Sip), LaFond writes about spiritual life, food, hospitality and generosity. For several years a New Hampshire resident, LaFond was in past years Chaplain of the New Hampshire Senate.

The Rev George Maxwell, Vicar at the Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta, entered the ministry after a 20-year career as a corporate lawyer. He is a member of the advisory board of directors of the Georgia Justice Project. Like LaFond, Maxwell is deeply involved with training initiatives within the Episcopal Church, and in Atlanta he works with the homeless.

The Right Rev. Bishop Beckwith of the Diocese of New Jersey will again take a respite from his busy life for an August week on Southport. In addition to conducting the usual 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Sunday services on August 14, he will also lead the annual All Saints/Saint Columba’s Choral Evensong service. The season ends with the return of the theologian and author, Rev. Martin Smith. Author of many books, Smith was trained in Oxford, and was for many years a member of the oldest religious order for men in the Anglican Communion. More recently he was on the staff of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.

Visiting clergy are listed on the church website (http://allsaintssouthport.org/) and announced each week here in the Register. All Saints welcomes visitors of all faiths to the 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Sunday services and to the Tuesday morning discussion group that meets on the church porch from 9-10 a.m.