FROM FATHER SMITH: CONVERSION, AND THEN THE DAY AFTER

Arthur Darby Nock (1902-1963), who taught for many years at Harvard University, published his book, Conversion: The Old and the New in Religion from Alexander the Great to Augustine of Hippo in 1933[1]. It remained on the syllabus of certain religious-studies programs for decades, especially those programs dedicated to the study of the social and cultural aspects of early Christianity. Early in the book, Nock writes,

By conversion we mean the reorientation of the soul of an individual, his deliberate turning from indifference or from an earlier form of piety to another, a turning which implies a consciousness that a great change is involved, that the old was wrong and the new is right. It is seen at its fullest in the positive response of a [person] to the choice set before him by the prophetic religions (p. 7).

This idea of conversion will be the starting point of our Christian Formation Program this year. We will be interested, as Nock was, in history and in sociology: what has conversion meant to Christians in different places and different times? But we will not want to remain too long with questions of solely academic interest. Our primary goal is to talk about conversion as an event in our lives—different for each one of us. So, we will also be asking: How has God been working in our lives? How did we get here? What was the path? Was the path to conversion direct or circuitous? Was there a “great change” and, if so, how has that worked? But our discussion of conversion will always be balanced by an attention to the idea of conversation morum, a hard-to-translate Latin phrase, used by monastics, and sometimes rendered “conversion of life.” For the monks, “conversion” is just the beginning. What happens after that first commitment is what’s really important. How do you stay faithful after the first intense days of conversion have begun to cool? When those questions are addressed, conversation morum begins to mean something like finding a way, with God’s help, to stay faithful, not just to endure, but to persevere. Like long-married couples, the nun or monk seeks to stabilize, strengthen, and deepen that primary experience, that “great change” that is conversion. It is this interplay between conversion, perseverance, and fidelity that interests us and that interest has shaped what we hope will be a rich formation program this year, a program that considers the past but always asks: what does the past have to do with us here and now?

Sunday Mornings: On Sunday, September 17, at 9:30 AM, the Adult-Education Class will meet once again after the long summer break. (Beginning in October, the class will begin at 9:45 AM.) During this program year, the Sunday class comes in two parts, the first is “Conversion, Transformation and Life in Christ.” In 2023, the classes in this first part will meet on September 17 and 24; the Sundays in October; and on December 10 and 17. The focus of the classes will be both historical and experiential. In the fall and winter, we will discuss the Confessions of Saint Augustine and the Rule of Saint Benedict. We will explore those texts, asking how faith is born, how we choose to move—and are moved by God’s grace—from one thing to another. We will ask what is really happening when we are “converted” and then “transformed.” We will also ask how a new way of life is sustained after the first glow of conversion dims and fades. We will wonder what about us, and in us, endures, and what doesn’t, when we make new faith commitments. We will face the sometimes difficult truth that conversion is not just event but also process, a process that moves in fits and starts and never lives up to our fantasies of spiritual “perfection.” We will use Augustine and Benedict as wise teachers and guides as we ask these questions. But we will also pause on certain Sundays—October 1 and 29 among them—to hear from living guides, who have kindly agreed to share their experiences of conversion, struggle, and faith to help us think about our own journeys in faith. On October 1 our speaker will be Renee Wood and on October 29 our presenter will be Father Pete Powell. All these classes will be led and moderated by Father Jay Smith.

The second part of the Sunday morning Adult-Education Class, led by Father Powell, will be a close reading and study of Isaiah 1–12, a portion of the prophet’s work sometimes referred to as First Isaiah. Father Powell writes, “Beginning on November 5, and continuing on November 12, 19, 26, and December 3, we will be studying a portion of the Old Testament that is all around you in worship but in ways you may not have noticed. The portion we use the most is the Sanctus, lifted entirely from Isaiah 6:5. It reminds us that we pray with the Heavenly Host. Canticle 9 in Morning Prayer draws from Isaiah 12:2-6. We encounter Isaiah in the libretto of Handel’s Messiah written by Charles Jennen. From First Isaiah he draws upon Isaiah 7:14, the prediction of a Virgin Birth. He also uses Isaiah 9:2 and 9:6. We will be looking at how these passages, and all of so-called First Isaiah function in their original context and then apply them to the world we live in today. Our work on this text will continue in 2024 on Sundays in Lent.”

Wednesdays at 12:45: Beginning on Wednesday, October 4, we will be trying something new. Following the Noonday Mass, interested friends and members of the parish will gather in Saint Joseph’s Hall for Bible Study. We will be reading the Gospel of Mark. Father Smith will speak about the passage for no more than ten minutes and then the members of the class will discuss the passage for another thirty minutes or so. We’ve chosen Mark in part because it has much to say about discipleship. Those attending are invited to bring a brown-bag lunch, and we will eat while studying. This will be an experiment. We will plan to meet on October 4, 11, 18, and 25. We’ll then pause for All Saints’ Day on November 1, and, if there is a desire to continue, we will meet again on November 8, 15, and 29.

Wednesdays Evenings Beginning on October 11: Alexander Schmemann called the Church the “sacrament of the Kingdom of God.” That means wherever we are, God’s inward and spiritual reign is progressively extending over the whole of our lives in an outward and visible way. We have much to assist us in our quest to live into this calling—the Sacraments themselves, our liturgy, classical ascetical practices, but it is still all too easy to be lured toward consumerism, individualism, nationalism, secularism, almost any -ism imaginable. Saint Paul exhorts us not to “conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12.2). Christian formation exists at Saint Mary’s for that transformation project—to mold us into a community with Jesus at the center, empowered to think with Jesus’ mind, love with Jesus’ heart, and serve with Jesus’ hands.

This Fall, Saint Mary’s offers a new formation program called Catechumenate: Anglicanism 101 as a step in that process of transformation. Since the third century, inquirers have been invited into a process called “the catechumenate,” a time for training in Christian thought about God, relationships, and the meaning of life. Designed to cover Christian basics, the Catechumenate serves as preparation for Baptism and/or Confirmation, so it’s a great way to investigate the Episcopal Church and decide whether Saint Mary’s is the place to make your home. Looking to learn more about the fundamentals of Christianity? Searching for a refresher course on the Christian faith? Got a friend you’d like to invite to consider the claims of Christ? Join the Catechumenate on Wednesday nights from October 11 until the end of May! Class is preceded by Evening Prayer at 5:30 PM and Mass at 6:00 PM. For more information and to register for the class, contact Fr. Sammy (swood@stmvnyc.org).

Sundays at Coffee Hour, though not all Coffee Hours: In a continuing effort to explore the relationship among theology, faith, art, and beauty, we plan to offer from time-to-time presentations that speak to that relationship. We will begin with a series of talks—dates to be determined—by our resident iconographer, Zachary Roesemann. Saint Mary’s has commissioned an icon of the Theotokos—the Blessed Virgin Mary—and we’d like to bring Saint Marians into the process of the icon’s creation. Zach will talk about and illustrate the evolution of the work, but this will be more than just a progress report. This will be an opportunity to learn more about an art form that links prayer and art, image and theology in the most intimate way.

Quiet Days in Advent and Lent . . . Saturday, December 2, Quiet Day for Advent led by Ruth Cunningham and the Reverend Tuesday Rupp & Saturday, February 24, Quiet Day for Lent, led by Sister Monica Clare, CSJB. Details to come.

Parish Retreat, Saturday, January 13: Derek Olsen is a good friend of Saint Mary’s. He is a biblical scholar and engaged layman in the Episcopal Church. He earned an M.Div. from Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, an S.T.M. from Trinity Lutheran Seminary, and served as pastoral vicar of a large Lutheran (ELCA) church in the Atlanta suburbs before beginning doctoral work (and being received into the Episcopal Church). He completed a Ph.D. in New Testament in 2011 from Emory University under the direction of Luke Timothy Johnson. His chief areas of interest are in the intersection between Scripture and liturgy, the history of biblical interpretation—particularly in the Church Fathers and the Early Medieval West—and liturgical spirituality. He has served on the Episcopal Church’s Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music. He is the author of Inwardly Digest: The Prayer Book as Guide to a Spiritual Life (Forward Movement, 2016). Derek will be with us in January 2024 to show us how the resources that are very close to home—as close as the Book of Common Prayer in the pew or on the bookshelf—can be used in the ongoing work of conversion and transformation.

We believe that this year’s Christian formation program is a rich one and we hope that you will find it to be so. We invite you to join us as we study and pray, asking God to lighten our darkness, warm our hearts, deepen our commitments, and show us the beauty of fidelity. — Jay Smith

THE PARISH PRAYER LIST

We pray for the sick, for those in any need or trouble, and for all those who have asked us for our prayers. We pray for those celebrating birthdays and anniversaries this week; for those who are traveling; for the unemployed and for those seeking work; for the incarcerated and for those recently released from prison; for all victims of violence, assault, and crime; for all refugees and migrants; for those struggling with depression, anxiety, or addiction; for those whom we serve in our outreach programs, for our neighbors in the Times Square neighborhood, for the theater community, and for those living with drought, storm, punishing heat, flood, fire, or earthquake.

We pray for those for whom prayers have been asked: For Luis, Terry, Dorothy, Flannery, Trevor, Rachel, Richard, Aston, Joe, Mary Lou, Mary Barbara, Emily, Frank, John, Humberto, Steven, Blaise, John Derek, Carl, Emily, Ingrid, Liduvina, Brendon, Janet, Claudia, Joyce, June, Cooki, Sharon, Bruce, Robert, Matt, Carlos, Christopher, José, Brian, Carmen, Susan, Charlotte, Jennifer, Harka, Suzanne, Quincy, Bruce, Robert, Gigi, Ava Grace, Phyllis, Abe, Bob, Gypsy, Hardy, and Margaret; for Jamie, Lain, Todd, and Jack, religious; for Lind, deacon; Allan and Stephen, priests; and Michael, bishop.

We pray for the repose of the soul of Carole Noel and of the souls of the members of the parish whose year’s mind falls on September 10: Margaret Rice (1881) and Louisa Gardiner (1908).

We pray for the repose of the souls of all those killed on September 11, 2001, especially Andre Bonheur, Richard Bosco, Juan Lafuente, Nicole Lindo, Francisco Liriano, Joseph Zuccala, Sean Rooney, Mychal Judge, priest; and the Firefighters of Engine 45, Ladder 4, Battalion 9, 8th Avenue and 48th Street: Paul Gill, José Guadalupe, Leonard Ragaglia, Christopher Santora, Joseph Angelini, Peter Bielfeld, Michael Brennan, Michael Haub, Michael Lynch, Daniel O’Callaghan, Samuel Oitice, John J. Tipping II, David Wooley, Carl Asaro, Dennis Devlin, Alan Feinberg, Charles Garbarini, and Edward Geraghty.

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S

Our regular daily liturgical schedule, Monday through Friday, is Morning Prayer 8:00 AM, Mass 12:10 PM, and Evening Prayer at 5:00 PM. Holy Hour is offered on Wednesday at 11:00 AM and Thursday’s Mass includes anointing and prayers for healing. On Saturdays, Mass is celebrated at 12:10 PM and Evening Prayer is prayed at 5:00 PM. On the third Saturday of each month, a Requiem Mass is celebrated at 12:10 PM in the Mercy Chapel. On Sundays, Solemn Mass is offered at 11:00 AM and Evening Prayer at 5:00 PM. Evensong and Benediction will be offered next on the first Sunday in October.

Friday, September 8, The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Friday, September 8, 5:30–6:45 PM, The Centering Prayer Group meets in Saint Benedict’s Study.

Saturday, September 9, Constance, Nun, and her Companions, 1878

Sunday, September 10, 9:30–10:30 AM, The Centering Prayer Group meets in the Livestream Control Room, which is located just outside the Sacristy.

Sunday, September 10, The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A, Proper 18 (Alexander Crummell, Priest, 1898)

Monday, September 11, Remembrance of September 11, 2001, Requiem Mass 12:10 PM

Thursday, September 14, Holy Cross Day, Mass 12:10 PM (Novena for Saint Mary’s ends)

Sunday, September 17, Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost. Adult Education 9:30 AM in Saint Joseph’s Hall.

LIFE AT SAINT MARY’S: NEWS & NOTICES

Mark Your Calendars! A Listening Session, Sunday, September 24, 2023, 12:45 PM. Please join us to pray, to share, to listen, and to consider the movement of the Spirit here at Saint Mary’s both now and in the future.

Ladies’ Tea . . . It’s time for the ladies of Saint Mary’s to ParTea on Sunday, September 17 at 1:00 PM after Mass. Come “spill the tea” with us as we build fellowship with all the lovely ladies of Saint Mary’s. An assortment of delectable delights will be served as well as an assortment of teas. RSVP is encouraged, but not required, by informing Grace Mudd or Susanna Randolph. We are excited to see you there!

From Father Sammy: Nine Days of Prayer for Guidance before Holy Cross Day (September 14) . . . In the Western Church, a novena (from the Latin novem, “nine”) is a period of nine days’ private or public devotion, by which it is hoped to obtain some special grace. The general observance of novenas is actually quite modern, dating only from the seventeenth century, but it is modeled on the nine days’ preparation of the Apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary for the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 1.13ff). Some sources cite the Church Fathers for assigning special meaning to the number nine, seeing it as symbolic of imperfect man turning to God in prayer (due to its proximity with the number ten, symbolic of God’s perfection). Novenas may be performed in church, at home, or anywhere solemn prayers are appropriate. This year, Saint Mary’s is using the days before Holy Cross Day as an occasion to pray together as a community for God’s vision for our parish. Beginning September 6, and culminating on September 14, Holy Cross Day, I am asking our whole parish family to join me in adding to your daily devotions a particular prayer for Saint Mary’s.

A Novena for Saint Mary’s

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Jesus, who because of your burning love for us willed to be crucified and to shed your most precious blood for the redemption and salvation of our souls, look down upon us and grant our petition:

Pour out your Spirit upon our parish family.

Give us your vision for our common life and bless the work we do in New York City in your name and for your glory.

We trust completely in your mercy. Cleanse us from sin by your grace, sanctify our work, give us and all those who are dear to us our daily bread, lighten the burden of our sufferings, bless our parish, and grant to the nations your peace, which is the only true peace, so that by obeying your commandments we may come at last to the glory of heaven. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Our Father . . .

Glory to the Father . . .

Diocesan Online Morning Prayer . . . At Saint Mary’s, we offer Morning Prayer in the church Monday through Friday at 8:00 AM. Of course, not everyone can make it to midtown every morning. This week, Bishop Matt Heyd began leading an online Morning Prayer via Zoom that is open to everyone! He uses Rite II of the Book of Common Prayer, though a prayer book isn’t necessary as he posts everything onto the screen. If you can’t make it to Saint Mary’s, consider trying Morning Prayer with our brothers and sisters from around the Diocese. Father Matt gave it a try on Wednesday when he was working from home. The diocesan online Morning Prayer is also Monday through Friday at 8:00 AM. Click here to join.

Episcopalians Combat Climate Change . . . From the Creation Care Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of New York: “This summer is breaking heat records in a terrifying way. We need bold action on a worldwide scale! A March to End Fossil Fuels is scheduled for Sunday, September 17, in New York City. The march is planned around the United Nations’ Climate Ambition Summit on September 20. At the Summit, the UN Secretary General will call on world leaders to take real steps to move us away from the use of fossil fuels. This is an important opportunity to push President Biden to deliver on his climate and environmental justice promises and be the climate president we need, as well as make a witness about loving our neighbors by caring for creation.

The Reverend Deacon Rebecca Weiner Tompkins was a member of Saint Mary’s, and then, after her ordination to the diaconate, she served here as the parish’s deacon. She served the parish in many ways over the years. She helped lead mission trips to Honduras. She taught our children on Sunday mornings, using the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. She visited the sick, showed us how poetry could be a source of great spiritual wisdom, and served as deacon during the liturgy. She was a great friend to many here at Saint Mary’s. Rebecca now lives mostly in Nashville, Tennessee, where she has been serving at a local parish, and where she often preaches on Sunday mornings. We are very happy, therefore, that on Sunday, September 17, Rebecca will be returning to Saint Mary’s and will be preaching at the Solemn Mass. We hope that you can be here to hear her preach and to welcome her back to the parish.

Sermons on our Website . . . We have updated the sermon page of our website and will be posting videos of the sermons after each Solemn Mass. We will aim to get a video uploaded by the end of the day on Sunday for those who were unable to make it to Solemn Mass. Click on a thumbnail of a video along the lefthand side and then enlarge the screen to play it. Of course, a full video of Solemn Mass will continue to be archived on our website as well. Older sermons can be read by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page.

News of an Old Friend . . . Some years ago, a Presbyterian pastor, who worked in our neighborhood, would often join us for Morning Prayer. She quickly became a member of our “daily congregation.” We hadn’t seen her for several years, in part because of the pandemic; and so, we were pleased recently when she joined us for Mass on Labor Day morning. The Reverend Brenda R. Berry grew up in Jamaica, moved to New York City in 1970, studied at Brooklyn College, taught high school, married, had children, answered a call to the ordained ministry, attended New Brunswick Seminary in New Jersey, served as pastor of the University Heights Presbyterian Church in the Bronx, while also working for a large corporation here in Times Square. Now retired, Brenda recently wrote and published a book entitled Wisdom…Where Are You? (Trinity Christian Publishers, 2021). The book is available on Amazon. The subtitle of Brenda’s book is an interesting translation of a biblical verse that is perhaps not as well-known as it should be, “Wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore, get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding” (Proverbs 4:7, NKJV). Wise counsel for the present age.

Remaining Dates to Donate the Altar Flowers in 2023 are Sundays, October 22 and 29; All Saints’ Day, November 1; Sundays, November 5, 12, 19, and 27, which is also the Feast of Christ the King; and Advent III on Sunday, December 17. The suggested donation is $250. To make a donation, please contact Chris Howatt. If you’d like to check about other dates available or have questions about the flowers or the Flower Guild, please speak with Brendon Hunter.

Father Sammy Wood will be away from the parish at the end of the month, September 26–28, attending a clergy conference.

ABOUT THE MUSIC AT THE SOLEMN MASS ON THE FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, SEPTEMBER 10, 2023

Sundays’ organ voluntaries are works of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). Bach’s Toccata in C, BWV 564, often referred to as Toccata, Adagio and Fugue, is a youthful work which effectively combines Italian and German elements. The central portion of this multi-sectional work comprises today’s prelude. It is an Adagio with lyric melody accompanied by a plucked style bass with discrete harmonic enhancement, followed by a chordal section of rich harmony leading from the minor tonality of the Adagio back to the major mode of the outer sections. The postlude on Sunday is Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 533, also a youthful work, dating from around 1703 when Bach was in Arnstadt. This concise piece is full of bold gestures which, in spite of its modest length, may have led to it being nicknamed The Cathedral.

The musical setting of the Mass on Sunday is New Plainsong by David Hurd. This setting was composed in 1978 at the request of the Standing Commission on Church Music of the Episcopal Church as the revision of The Hymnal 1940 was gaining momentum. The Commission desired a setting which would be for the “Contemporary” Eucharistic texts what John Merbecke’s 1550 setting had been for the “traditional” English words. As such, New Plainsong is chant-like and almost entirely syllabic, that is, only one note is sung per syllable. Modest keyboard accompaniment is provided but its movements may also be sung unaccompanied. New Plainsong subsequently has been published in The Hymnal 1982 and in worship resources of several other denominations. A revised edition of New Plainsong issued in 2018 also accommodates newer Roman Catholic usage.

The cantor on Sunday morning is mezzo-soprano Kirsten Ott. During the Communion she will sing O rest in the Lord from the oratorio Elijah by Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847). Mendelssohn was certainly a prodigy in his day, distinguishing himself as a conductor, composer, pianist, organist, and musical visionary. He is credited with reintroducing the music of Johann Sebastian Bach to the early nineteenth-century musical world. His contributions as a composer form a significant bridge from classical to romantic style and generously include the categories of orchestral, choral, stage, chamber, piano, vocal, and organ works. His music is said to have set the canons of mid-Victorian musical taste. His oratorio Elijah, Handelian in inspiration, was completed and first performed in 1846. The expressively lyric aria O rest in the Lord is the thirty-first of the oratorio’s forty-two movements.

More about our cantor: Kirsten Ott, mezzo-soprano, has been a member of the Choir of Saint Mary’s since the fall of 2021. She sings frequently with Libero Canto, an organization which stages both opera and song programs, and she has also produced several of her own recital programs. She has previously sung with local groups such as Vox Vocal Ensemble and the Manhattan Chamber Choir. Before joining the choir at Saint Mary’s, she had sung for many seasons in the choirs of the Church of the Holy Apostles, Chelsea, and the Church of the Epiphany, Yorkville. Kirsten has extensive acting training and has coached both classical and musical theater performers. She studied oboe at Manhattan School of Music and is also a pianist.

COMING UP AT SAINT MARY’S

Thursday, September 21, Saint Matthew the Apostle

Friday, September 29, Saint Michael & All Angels

Sunday, October 1, Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost,
Beginning of Program Year 2023–2024 & Return of the Choir of Saint Mary’s!

Sunday, October 1, 5:00 PM, Evensong & Benediction

Sunday, October 8, 4:00 PM, Blessing of the Animals

This edition of The Angelus was written and edited by Father Jay Smith, except as noted. Father Matt Jacobson also edits the newsletter and is responsible for formatting and posting it on the parish website and distributing it via mail and e-mail, with the assistance of Christopher Howatt, parish administrator, and parish volunteer, Clint Best.

[1] A.D. Nock, Conversion: The Old and the New in Religion from Alexander the Great to Augustine of Hippo. First published 1933. Reprint edition, with new introduction. Brown Classics in Judaica. (University Press of America, 1985).