THE ANGELUS
Volume 7, Number 5, December 26, 2004
The Weekly Newsletter from the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Whatever else Christmas may be, it is the Christian feast where we commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ.  As in all things, Christians celebrate primarily by gathering at the Lord's Table.  This is Christmas.  I invite you in the name of the Church to be here to celebrate it.  Christmas at Saint Mary's is celebrated in a rich yet very straightforward way.  The service, liturgically and musically, is wonderful.  My sense is that most people experience the liturgy on Christmas Eve the way I do - it always seems so short even though it is not.  The parish choir is singing a particularly beautiful and challenging Mass this year.  I can hardly wait for all of the great hymns.  I myself haven't been celebrant and preacher at this Mass since 1999.  I'm excited.

Christmas Mass is really Christmas for me.  I like all of the other things, but I'm generally past the point in my life where I'm dreaming of a Christmas that never really was or could be.  I believe in celebrating a Christmas where Christmas celebrations began: in the Church.  The text of my personal favorite Christmas hymn dates from the fourth century.  It's hymn 82 in The Hymnal 1982.  The last verse is, "Christ, to thee with God the Father, and O Holy Ghost, to thee, hymn and chant and high thanksgiving, and unwearied praises be; honor, glory and dominion, and eternal victory, evermore and evermore!"  At Saint Mary's we will offer "high thanksgiving" and I believe we will glimpse Christ's eternal victory.  Merry Christmas.  Stephen Gerth

PRAYER LIST . . .Your prayers are asked for Tony, Joan, Brenda, Cecil, Ibo, Deborah, Mary, Rick, Pamela, Charles, Gloria, Penn, Gilbert, Robert, Margaret, Jason, Bart, Hugh, Marion, Mamie, Christine, Judith, Thomas and Charles, PRIEST, and for the members of our Armed Forces on active duty, especially Bruce, Paul, Brenden, Jonathan, Jeffrey, Ned, Timothy, Patrick, Kevin, Christopher, Andrew, Joseph, Marc, Timothy, David, Colin, Christina, David, Nestor, Freddie, Matthew and Bennett . . . GRANT THEM PEACE . . . December 19: 1898 The Reverend Thomas McKee Brown: December 25: 1986 Norman Albert Rollings; December 28: 1953 Martha May Cockrill Lewis; December 29: 1957 Mary Isobel Sonnenberg; December 30: 1977 Josephine Thompson; December 31: 1961 Everett Phillips Irwin; 1985: Frances Bulkley Hirsch; 1985: Anna Marie Schuman.

SERVICE NOTES . . . Father Beddingfield will be celebrant for the 9:00 AM Mass and Dr. Ryan Lesh, seminarian, will be the preacher . . . Father Mead will be celebrant and preacher for the 10:00 AM Sung Mass and for the 11:00 AM Solemn Mass . . . Father Beddingfield will be the preacher at Solemn Evensong & Benediction at 5:00 PM . . . Confessions are heard during the Twelve Days of Christmas.  Confessions will be heard on Christmas Eve at 5:00 PM and 10:00 PM by Father Gerth.

AROUND THE PARISH . . . Father Charles Whipple continues to recover from a broken hip.  He is now at the Village Nursing Home.  Please keep him in your prayers . . . There are only 5 days left to complete pledge payments; all payments must be received by December 31, 2004 to qualify for tax deduction this year.  If you have any questions about the status of your pledge payments, please call our treasurer, Barbara Klett . . . The 2005 Ordo Calendars are here and will be available for $5.00 in Saint Joseph's Hall after the Solemn Mass on Sunday . . . Attendance last Sunday 276 

UPDATE ON HONDURAS MISSION . . . Thanks to all who have participated in our Christmas alternative gift-giving program that benefits the church of San Juan Evangelista in Villanueva, Honduras.  It's important to remember that all of the money we are raising goes directly to the projects going on in the village.  No part of this money goes toward the cost of the trip itself.  To date, we have raised $2.050.00 by selling paint, cinder blocks and church pews.  We have raised another $185.00 by selling the special greeting card designed by Canon Hannah Anderson.  You may continue to purchase items that benefit Honduras through January 6, 2005.  Saint Mary's parishioner Rebecca Weiner, Saint Mary's friend Noel Hennelly and I will be joining others from the Diocese of New York for the mission trip January 10 through 16, 2005.  John Beddingfield

NOTES ON MUSIC . . . Christmas Eve features congregational carols at 10:30 PM, in addition to choral music of Vaughan Williams, Warlock and Rutter, and organ music of Daquin and Buxtehude.  At the Mass, the choir sings Messe en sol majeur ("Mass in G") by Francis Poulenc (1899-1963).  It has been some time since this great work, composed in 1937, was sung at Saint Mary's.  After World War II Poulenc came to be regarded as one of the greatest French composers of the century, and he wrote a great deal of fine liturgical music.  Like much of his music, this piece is incredibly difficult, but features beautiful and unusual melodies along with mostly tonal harmonies and animated rhythm.  Poulenc highlights the text and paints images using these techniques, especially in the gently lilting Sanctus.  He also wrote four motets for Christmas, two of which will be sung at Communion: Hodie Christus natus est, a piece full of the excitement of those who witnessed our Lord's birth, and O magnum mysterium, which beautifully communicates a quieter and more wondrous sense of the mystery of the Nativity.  The postlude is Alleluyas (1965) by Simon Preston (b. 1938) . . . The music on Christmas Day includes Missa `Dies sanctificatus' by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594).  I selected this work because it is intended for the Mass of Christmas Day (historically called "the third Mass of Christmas"); it is based upon the composer's motet that sets the Alleluia of the day (Dies sanctificatus or "A holy day has dawned upon us") . . . The day after, Sunday, presents a true favorite: the Mass and motet O magnum mysterium by Tomas Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) . . . The organ recital at 4:40 on Sunday is by Mark Winchester of Clearwater, Florida.  Robert McCormick

CHRISTMASTIDE AT SAINT MARY'S . . . The Episcopal Church celebrates a Christmas Season of Twelve Days.  These twelve days begin December 25.  Because of our Jewish roots, Christians continue to mark the beginning of a new feast day at sunset of the evening before.  Thus on Friday, December 24, the day begins as the last day of Advent.  Morning Prayer is said at 8:30 AM and the last Advent weekday Mass is celebrated at 9:00 AM.  No other services are scheduled during the day as Howard Christian and his colleagues will be in the church to decorate.  At 6:00 PM the clergy, servers and others who are here will gather to sing Evensong.  This is a very simple thirty-minute service.  As we go to press, the weather forecast for Christmas Eve is good.  We hope this will mean a very full church.  If you are here by 10:15 you will be able to get a good seat.   Christmas Music for Congregation and Choir begins at 10:30 AM.  The Solemn Mass of the Nativity begins at 11:00 PM.  On Christmas Day, the church is open from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM and there is only one service, Solemn Mass at 11:00 AM. 

Sunday, December 26, is the First Sunday after Christmas Day.  At Saint Mary's we always observe our regular Sunday schedule except in those years when December 25 falls on a Sunday, as it will in 2005.  It is great if you can be here and the services will be very special, but don't drive your family or household crazy.  Because Christmas Day is a Saturday and in 2004 December 26 is a Sunday, the feasts of Saint Stephen and Saint John and the Holy Innocents are transferred successively to Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  The parish office will be closed on Monday, December 26, but the church will be open on the regular schedule and the regular services will be offered.

On New Year's Eve, December 31, the church closes at 2:00 PM because of the celebrations in Times Square.  The Episcopal Church observes January 1 as the Feast of the Holy Name.  On Saturday, January 1, the church will be open from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM.  Solemn Mass will be offered at 11:00 AM.  Sunday, January 2, the regular schedule is observed.  Thursday, January 6, Christmastide ends and The Epiphany is celebrated.  There will be a simple Sung Mass at 12:00 PM.  Solemn Mass will be celebrated at 6:00 PM.  Full details about each day are available on the parish web page, www.stmvirgin.org. S.G.