All Saints by-the-Sea, the summer chapel on the water on the east side of Southport, will begin its thirteen week season on June 17. Built in 1905, but with a history of services going back into the 19th century, the chapel is a place of beauty, calm and fellowship. People of all faiths are invited to come to Sunday services, at 8 and 10 a.m. and to join the Tuesday morning discussion groups held on the church porch from 9 to 10 a.m.

Each summer the church invites a number of visiting clergy to come to Southport to conduct services and spend a week or two on the coast of Maine, unwinding and enjoying the pace of life here. Clergy are selected for the quality of their preaching, and the diversity of their experience and perspectives. In addition a number of exceptional organists will be at All Saints this summer, to play the church’s new digital organ and enhance the services.

This season opens, as is now the custom, with St Columba’s Rev. Maria Hoecker. Maria returned last fall from a sabbatical to the United Kingdom and the island of Iona, refreshed and renewed in her commitment to serve the community in the Boothbay region. Two other local retired priests, Rev. Paul Tunkle and Rev. John Ineson, will also join us at the beginning and ends of the summer. Rev. Martin Smith, who trained as a theologian at Oxford University, will be returning to All Saints for three Sundays in July. Smith’s widely read books explore contemporary spirituality. Also returning to All Saints are Rev. Canon George Maxwell and the Right Rev. Mark Beckwith. Maxwell, formerly a corporate lawyer, is closely involved with the Georgia Justice Project. Bishop Beckwith, who has been here every summer for a number of years, will retire from his New Jersey diocese at the end of the summer.

Among the many returning clergy this summer there is one newcomer, the Rev Loren Lasch. First invited to All Saints when she was at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., Loren wasn’t able to join us until after the arrival of her second son and her move to Minnesota. Now we look forward to welcoming her and her husband, also an Episcopal priest, and her two sons.

Readers can find more information about the clergy and organists who will be joining us this summer, directions to the church and information about accessibility on the church’s website at: http://allsaintssouthport.org/

All Saints has a dock and is accessible by private boat or by the tour boat Novelty.