Music & Liturgy

The congregation of St. James the Fisherman is committed to liturgical reform, engaged preaching, and beautiful music. We worship on Sunday mornings at 9:30 am from late June through early September. The service is an Episcopal eucharist with sermon, hymns, and prelude/postlude selections for piano and occasional other instruments. In keeping with its liturgical history, the language of worship is inclusive and expansive, and all are welcome at God’s table.

We are happy to announce that we have called Peter Kosewski, a year-round resident in South Wellfleet and a creative and well-respected church musician, to lead the chapel’s music program for the 2025 Summer.  

This summer at St. James, we’re expanding our musical range. While we will continue
to rely largely on hymns from the 1982 Hymnal, we’ll also make use of three
supplemental collections that the Episcopal Church has issued: Lift Every Voice and
Sing (an African American hymnal published in 1993); Wonder, Love, and Praise (a
supplement to the 1982 Hymnal, published in 1997); and Voices Found (a hymnal “by,
for, and about women,” published in 2003). We will also draw on The New Century
Hymnal (United Church of Christ, 1995).

By tradition, we have always sung the Schubert Sanctus at St. James. While we
continue to sing our beloved Schubert, we’ll also introduce two additional Sanctus
settings by American composers: Betty Carr Pulkingham (born 1938) and Richard
Proulx (1937-2010). The Pulkingham Sanctus is drawn from the composer’s Freedom
Mass and is found in Wonder, Love, and Praise. The Proulx Sanctus is drawn from the
composer’s Community Mass and is found in the 1982 Hymnal.

Preludes and postludes will embrace a range of musical idioms, both sacred and
secular. They will include piano pieces, as well as organ literature that is suitable to the
piano. Among the composers that we may expect to hear are Americans, such as
Howard Hanson, Florence Price, and Randall Thompson; Europeans, including César
Cui, Frederic Delius, Edward Elgar, and César Franck; and Baroque masters, including
Johann Sebastian Bach and at least one of his sons.

Sing for an hour—Wednesdays at 4 – Starting June 25
If you love to sing and are free on Wednesday afternoons from 4 to 5, stop by the
Chapel. Peter Kosewski, our interim principal musician, will lead us in an informal and
(he hopes!) entertaining exploration of the some of the new music that we’ll be singing
over the course of the summer. It’s not a choir rehearsal and it’s emphatically not an
obligation: just an opportunity to sing for an hour with friends.

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St. James the Fisherman, Our Patron Saint

The Chapel is dedicated to St. James the Greater, one of the twelve apostles. More affectionately known as St. James the Fisherman, this disciple was the brother of John the evangelist – one of the two sons of thunder. He is considered the first martyr of the Christian faith, beheaded in Rome. Because of his missionary efforts in Spain, James is the much loved patron saint of that country, as well as Chile and Nicaragua. James the Fisherman, whose symbol is a scallop shell, is also the patron saint of Wellfleet and is considered the protector and guardian of the fishing industry, anglers, laborers, pilgrims, and those who sufferer with arthritis.

The Feast of St. James

Sunday, July 27, 9:30 service followed by a lively oyster reception on the patio

Join us as the Chapel celebrates our patron saint, James the Fisherman. Like all Sundays, our feast contains elements of remembrance, thanksgiving, celebration, and forward movement.