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From the Rector: Church Beginnings
Volume 9, Number 1, December 3, 2006
From the Rector: Church Beginnings
 
The evening of December 7, 1870 was the last day of a world without the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin in the City of New York. The first church home, at 245 West 45th Street, was unfinished, but it would open for services on the next day. Twenty-five years later, on December 7, 1895, the final services were held in the first building and on the next day the second and present home of this congregation would open its doors. The Episcopal Church has never been the same.
 
For Christians December is a month for celebrating beginnings. The Church year always begins four Sundays before December 25. The celebration of Jesus’ birth is all about beginnings. For us in the northern hemisphere, in the darkest time of the year, the greatest light appears and begins to grow.
 
I truly can’t begin to imagine the enormous energy, that combination of exhaustion and adrenalin, that so many surely felt the night before this church opened its doors. The services of Saint Mary’s (and other churches) made news in those days. The church was so popular when it opened that there were complaints from the neighborhood about the number of horses on the street in front of Saint Mary’s. Our founders began with energy and with faith. I’d like to think that you and I continue to reach for that same level of energy and faith in our own work for Christ.
 
What made this group of church buildings possible was a legacy, a bequest from Sara Louie Cooke. Father Brown and the lay leaders of the parish seized the opportunity and built greatness. Saint Mary’s remains one of the most remarkable spaces for liturgical worship in the world. In an era when churches were built to imitate cathedrals, where services were performed for God while people watched and listened, Saint Mary’s was built for liturgy. Congregational worship was the goal. Intuitively, Father Brown and his colleagues were on the forward edge of what remains some of the very best thinking about Christian worship in our own day. They used a very traditional form to achieve an end that was at once traditional and radical. We remain heirs of their work.
 
Saint Mary’s is growing on many fronts. Our local and national parish community of members and friends continues to increase. The restoration of religious life (that is, a community of nuns) to Saint Mary’s is very much in process. The city has approved our plans and we expect construction on the apartment for the sisters to begin next week. And we expect Sister Deborah Francis and Sister Laura Katherine to be able to move here in March. This morning I overheard Father Beddingfield and Rebecca Weiner Tompkins talking about the leadership role Saint Mary’s Honduras Team is taking in the diocesan mission trip there this January. There’s just a lot going on – and it’s great. In addition, the Board of Trustees and I are beginning a new emphasis on the importance of legacies for our future. The church has been built. Bequests are needed to support its fabric and its future.

On Thursday, December 7, at 6:00 PM, we begin our celebration of our patronal feast, the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, with Solemn Evensong & Benediction. The preacher for this service will be the Right Reverend Mark S. Sisk, the bishop of New York. On the greater festivals the Church retains the custom of reckoning time as Jesus did, from sunset to sunset.
 
All are encouraged to attend, but the special focus of this celebration on Thursday evening will be Saint Mary’s Legacy Society. The Bishop strongly and personally supports the efforts of congregations to encourage appropriate stewardship and use of bequests. Saint Mary’s would not exist as we know it were it not for bequests. A legacy gift is a sign of faith in the future, the kind of faith this parish has always stood for.
 
I hope many will be able to be with us for Evensong on December 7 and for our principal celebration, Solemn Mass on Friday, December 8, at 6:00 PM. I hope many may be able to be with us this Sunday for the beginning of the Church year. Solemn Mass on Advent Sunday begins with my own favorite entrance song of the year. This is the English translation of the Latin the choir will sing: “To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; my God, I put my trust in you” (Psalm 25:1). It’s a prayer we can pray in so many ways. Stephen Gerth
 
PRAYER LIST . . . Your prayers are asked especially for Arturo, Ana, Gert, Chip, Harold, Robert, Gloria, Ray, Tony, Joy, William, Gabriela, Eve, Virginia, Mary, William, Gilbert, Rick, Thomas, priest, Louis, priest, and Charles, priest; for the members of our Armed Forces on active duty, especially Fahad, Barron, Joseph, Patrick, Bruce, Brenden, Jonathan, Christopher, Timothy and Dennis; and for the repose of the soul of MaryEllen . . . GRANT THEM PEACE . . . December 3: 1990 Francis Timothy Dlugos, 1991 Mrs. Olga Edgar; December 5: 1989 Lorelle D. Brownell Britt.; December 5: 1989 Lorelle D. Brownell Britt; December 7: 1966 Eloise Cole Janke, 1993 Lily S. M. Latham.
 
IN THIS TRANSITORY LIFE . . . Eloise Hoffman’s mother, MaryEllen Johnston, died on Thursday, November 23, at Eloise’s home. Eloise, her partner Pat Rheinhold, and Eloise’s daughter Lisa were with her as she wished. Please pray for MaryEllen, for Eloise and all who mourn. S.G.
 
AROUND THE PARISH . . . Give a Christmas gift that honors someone and helps others. Alternative Gifts for Honduras brochures are available in the church and at the mission section of the parish website . . . Join the Spirituality and Reading Group after Solemn Mass on Sunday, December 17. The group will discuss My Antonia by Willa Cather . . . Confessions will be heard on Saturday, December 2, by Father Mead and on Saturday, December 9, by Father Beddingfield . . . Reminder: Saint Mary’s on the Road is going to the Morgan Library on Saturday, December 9. Please reserve your space at saintmarysontheroad@yahoo.com . . . Attendance on Thanksgiving 73,    Last Sunday 296.
 
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN ADVENT . . . On the first three Sundays of Advent (December 3, 10 & 17), the Reverend Peter Powell is offering a class on Luke’s Gospel . . . On Tuesday, December 5 at 7:00 PM, Mr. Thomas Heard, seminarian at Saint Mary’s, will lead a class on John the Baptist . . . Please bring food or snacks to share for each of these classes.
 
NOTES ON MUSIC . . . This Sunday at the Solemn Mass, the prelude is Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 599 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). The postlude is Bach’s Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 645. The setting of the Mass ordinary is Missa ‘Ego flos campi’ by Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla (c. 1590-1664). Padilla, greatly respected in his lifetime, was among a number of Spanish composers who immigrated to Mexico. Padilla composed in a style founded on sixteenth century polyphony, including the music of Morales, Guerrero, Victoria and other composers of the time, though one hears the traits of the “new style” in his compositions. The motet at Communion is Vox clamantis in deserto by Juan Esquivel (c. 1563-after 1613), a highly-regarded Spanish composer of his time . . . The 4:40 PM organ recital is played by David J. Hughes . . . On Thursday, December 7, at Solemn Evensong & Benediction, the full choir sings Evening Service in G by Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924), Fair in face by Healey Willan (1880-1968) and Tantum ergo, Opus 10/4 by Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986) . . . On December 8, the recital at 5:30 PM is by the music director and Ms. Ruth Cunningham, soprano, and includes works of Bach, Dupré and Ed Thompson, as well as improvisations. At the Mass, the setting of the ordinary is Missa Cantate by John Sheppard (c. 1515-1559/60). Sheppard, along with such composers as Thomas Tallis and Christopher Tye, was among the English musicians whose careers spanned the Reformation and the resulting changes in liturgical practice. The postlude is Marche pontificale from Symphonie I, Opus 13/1 by Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937). Robert McCormick 

Christmas Eve at Saint Mary’s 

Christmas Music 4:40 PM
 Sung Mass 5:00 PM
Sermon by the Rector
 
Christmas Music 10:30 PM
Procession & Solemn Mass 11:00 PM
Sermon by the Rector
 
Christmas Day at Saint Mary’s
Solemn Mass & Procession to the Crèche 11:00 AM
Sermon by the Reverend John Beddingfield
 
The Calendar of the Week  
SUNDAY
THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
MONDAY
John of Damascus, Priest, c. 760
TUESDAY
Clement of Alexandria, Priest, c. 210
WEDNESDAY
Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, c. 342
THURSDAY
Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, 397
EVE OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
FRIDAY
THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION           No Abstinence
SATURDAY
Advent Weekday

 

Last Published: November 30, 2006 3:49 PM
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