From the Rector: Perspectives for the New Year
The civil New Year begins on January 1, the day on which the Church observes the naming of Jesus. Traditionally, Anglicans have called the day “The Circumcision of Christ.” Our modern sensibility is more comfortable with “The Holy Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ.” Until 1752, England observed March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation, as the beginning of the civil year. The Mass we Episcopalians celebrate on January 1 is entirely about Jesus. It’s the eighth day after his birth, the eighth day of Christmas. It’s a day that we can use for New Year’s resolutions and to renew our perspective of God’s love and joy for all people.
Sunday, December 31, is “The First Sunday after Christmas Day.” We will be having our regular Sunday morning services. The church must close at 2:00 PM on Sunday because of the celebrations planned for Times Square. There will be no Evensong! On Monday, January 1, the church will open at 10:00 AM. Solemn Mass for Holy Name Day will be offered at 11:00 AM. The church closes at 2:00 PM so all of our staff may enjoy the holiday for the rest of the day. I invite you to enjoy New Year’s Eve – after all, we’re the parish for Times Square! I also invite you to Mass on January 1 to celebrate the naming of Jesus.
Just before Christmas I made a short trip to England to visit London and Canterbury. As it turned out, I worshipped only in cathedrals, Saint Paul’s, Southwark and Canterbury. It was a good trip for me for lots of reasons. I confess that I’ve not been very happy with the leadership of our Anglican Communion for some time. The visit, especially to Canterbury, helped me put the present struggles of Anglican Christians into perspective.
Canterbury Cathedral, among many things, is a tremendous and tangible witness to the struggles of men and women to be faithful to Christ through the ages. Its gothic arches lift my soul in ways that pass my understanding. It isn’t the oldest church in Canterbury. When Augustine arrived in 597 A.D., Saint Martin’s Church had been there since Roman times. But since Augustine arrived Canterbury has been the center of Anglican Christianity.
Sadly, some people want to leave our beloved Episcopal Church because in the vast, vast majority of our Church our doors are open to all who confess Jesus is Lord. I expect in the New Year those who are unhappy will continue for a while to get their unhappiness made into news. I also expect that sooner than later it will be clear that the Episcopal Church is going to continue to try to do God’s work as it is able. For us at Saint Mary’s that means our doors will continue to be open daily. We will be at prayer, on mission trips, and busy helping all who enter to continue in the life to which Christ has called them.
There is something called “The Anglican Cycle of Prayer” which I had used faithfully for more than two decades. About a year ago, I stopped. I had read one news story too many about bishops (curiously, almost always bishops and members of the clergy) who judge and condemn those with an inclusive vision of the Shepherds’ flock. I confess I threw away our parish’s copy of the prayer cycle after I left church one morning. Of course, perversely, not using it has not made me think less about the worldwide Anglican Communion. Daily I think about the division in the Anglican Communion more than our unity in Christ. I repent. In the New Year we will again pray for the different parts of the Communion day by day at Morning Prayer.
The sixth rector of Saint Mary’s, Father Grieg Taber, was famous for beginning the new year by urging people to make sure they had a will and, if possible, to remember Saint Mary’s in it. I’d like to suggest that making a will be number two on your list, unless you have minor children to provide for. In that case, writing a will should come first as a primary Christian parental duty. I’d like to suggest that you begin the year by going to Mass on January 1 and by reading one of the gospels, any of them, straight through sometime in January. Mark, the shortest, takes about forty-minutes, John, the longest, about an hour, Matthew and Luke about fifty minutes. The gospels have a way not only of renewing, centering and strengthening a Christian’s faith, but also of putting the controversies of the day in perspective. I am not afraid of being a member of part of the wider Christian community that errs on the side of welcome. Then, on January 2 make an appointment with an attorney to write a will.
There are many signs in our life that witness to the unity Christ has given us that we have no power to break. We can only break some outward and visible signs. We cannot undo our baptisms. We cannot stop God’s love for us. God’s will for our lives and our world has been revealed in Christ. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. Stephen Gerth
PRAYER LIST . . . Your prayers are asked especially for Arturo, Kevin, Brian, Ana, José, Gert, Peter, 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 . . . GRANT THEM PEACE . . . December 31: 1961 Everett Phillips Irwin, 1985 Frances Bulkley Hirsch, 1985 Anna Marie Schuman; January 1: 1983 Gertrude Schrage.
AROUND THE PARISH . . . Many thanks to everyone (too many to name!) who made the Christmas celebrations so wonderful! . . . Congratulations to the Reverend Thomas Heard who was ordained deacon at Christ Church Cathedral, St. Louis, on Tuesday, December 20. Tom is a senior at the General Theological Seminary and will begin serving as an assisting deacon on Sunday, December 31 . . . Flowers are needed for the last three Sundays in January (and many other days during 2007). If you would like to give flowers, please contact Sandra Schubert for full details . . . The Wednesday Night Bible Study (formerly Tuesday Night) will resume Wednesday, January 24 . . . 2007 Ordo Calendar is available in the gift shop . . . The regular schedule of Saturday confessions resumes on January 9 . . . . The parish office will be closed on New Year’s Day, January 1 . . . Attendance last Sunday morning 180, Christmas 913.
NOTES ON MUSIC . . . This Sunday at the 11:00 AM Solemn Mass, the prelude is In dulci jubilo, Opus 28/41 by Marcel Dupré (1886-1971). The setting of the Mass ordinary is Missa ‘O magnum mysterium’ by Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611). The postlude following Mass is In dulci jubilo, BWV 729 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) . . . At 11:00 AM Solemn Mass on Monday, January 1, the prelude is Das alte Jahr vergangen ist (“The old year has passed”), BWV 614 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). Ms. Elizabeth Baber, soprano, and Ms. Ruth Cunningham, soprano, members of Saint Mary’s choir are cantors for the Mass and will sing the aria Hemmet den Eifer from Kantate am vierten Sonntage nach dem Feste der heiligen drei Könige byGeorg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767). The postlude following Mass is In dir ist Freude, BWV 615 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) . . . On Friday, January 5, the Eve of The Epiphany at 5:30 PM there will be a Recital by the Choir of Dean Close School, Cheltenham, England. They will sing And every stone shall cry byBob Chilcott (b. 1955), The Three Kings, Opus 8/3 by Peter Cornelius (1824-1874), arranged by Ivor Atkins (1869-1953), Quem pastores laudavere by James Bassi (b. 1961), O magnum mysterium by Morten Lauridsen (b. 1943), The Truth from abovearranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), The angel Gabrielarranged by Edgar Pettman (1865-1943), and God is with us (A Christmas proclamation)byJohn Tavener (b. 1944). Solemn Mass begins at 6:00 PM. The setting of the Mass ordinary, a setting for Christmastide, is Missa ‘Quaeramus cum pastoribus’ (“Let us seek with the shepherds the Incarnate Word”) by Cristóbal de Morales (c. 1500-1553). The motet is Surge, illuminare, Ierusalem by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594). The postlude is an Improvisation on ‘Three Kings of Orient’. Robert McCormick
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Monday, January 1, The Holy Name Solemn Mass 11:00 AM
Sermon by the Reverend John Beddingfield
Friday, January 5, Eve of The Epiphany
Choral Recital 5:30 PM
Choir of Dean Close School, Cheltenham, England
Solemn Mass 6:00 PM
The Proclamation of the Date of Easter is given at Mass.
Music: Morales, Palestrina
Sermon by the Rector
A reception follows in Saint Joseph’s Hall
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