A TRIO OF CHRISTMAS POEMS

Each poem seems to ask, “What happens when you walk into a stable and find the Word made Flesh?”

A Shepherd’s Song at Christmas from “Three Christmas Poems”
by Langston Hughes (1901–1967)

Look there at the star!
I, among the least,
Will arise and take
A journey to the East.
But what shall I bring
As a present for the King?
What shall I bring to the Manger?

FROM OUR SEMINARIAN, ALDEN FOSSETT: WHEN THE ART IS UP, IT LOOKS ALIVE

This is an edited version of a 30-minute conversation I had with José Vidal on December 1, 2024, about the SMV Gallery and Saint Joseph’s Hall.

Alden Fossett. Can you tell me about the history of Saint Joseph’s Hall being used for exhibitions, and what its purpose is within the larger community of Saint Mary’s?

José Vidal: The gallery started seventeen years ago. Around that time, I had helped found the Visual Arts Project here along with several other people, and the gallery was part of that project.

FROM DR. DAVID HURD: AN ANTHEM IS BORN

In February of 2023, I received an inquiry from Maxine Thévenot, canon precentor, director of music and organist at the Cathedral of Saint John in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Dr. Thévenot is also artistic director of the Friends of Cathedral Music at Saint John’s. Her e-mail to me began a dialogue and process which reached its fulfillment a few weeks ago on 17 November 2024. The music program at Saint John’s Cathedral has a long history of providing distinguished choral and liturgical leadership. My first visits to the Cathedral were in the late 1970s when the Reverend Dr. Geoffrey Butcher was organist and choirmaster.

FROM FATHER WOOD: THE GOTHIC DANCE

On Sunday last, we celebrated the Feast of Christ the King. It was a wonderful day of worship at Saint Mary’s, one of the most resplendent I can remember during my time here. I often get lost in our prayer in this place, especially on days like that, swept up and a bit overwhelmed by the music, the smoke, the pageantry, and especially the realization that we are all, as a parish family, pouring out our hearts to the “Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in [his] well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords.” When God is the king we are worshiping, he is worthy of all the pomp and circumstance we’re capable of.

FROM FATHER JACOBSON: THE MOTHER OF THE BODY OF CHRIST

Several months ago, after celebrating a weekday Mass in the Lady Chapel, a woman with an interesting story introduced herself to me. She was visiting from Florida, if I remember correctly, and she explained to me why she had very much wanted to come to Saint Mary’s while in town. She had recently discovered, I believe through 23andMe or Ancestry.com, that she had an uncle whom she had previously not known about. Her uncle had been adopted in the 1940s by one of our sextons and was raised in the parish complex where the sexton lived.

FROM THE PARISH ARCHIVIST: ON THE CHURCH OF ST. MARY THE VIRGIN, A HISTORY

Ever since he published his article about Father Brown and the founding of Saint Mary’s in Anglican and Episcopal History, Father Warren Platt and I have been talking about his writing a new history of our parish. I’m delighted to announce that The Church of St. Mary the Virgin, a History has been published at last. Please join us on Sunday, November 17, after Mass, when I’ll interview Father Platt, author, librarian, and church historian, about his research and discoveries.

FROM THE PARISH TREASURER: STEWARDSHIP SEASON HAS BEGUN!

Oh, Stewardship! The very word is code for most churchgoers to run and hide, possibly clutching their wallets. But I have a different story. I have been blessed with being a part of Saint Mary’s stewardship effort for almost twenty years now. I know that you think I’m being either nutty or facetious for my use of the word “blessed” there, but I’m actually being truthful. I have been truly blessed to serve in this way, and I’ll tell you three reasons why. (I only wish I could make the three of them alliterative like the sermons of our priest-in-charge!)

FROM FATHER PETER POWELL: OUR FAITH’S CENTRAL STORY

Jesus dies alone on the cross. He has been abandoned by every man who followed him. Only a few of the women who were with him were at the crucifixion. After Easter those who abandoned the crucified Lord were converted to worship the Risen Lord, and they spread the Gospel. What happened? Why were Saint Peter and the others terrified when Jesus was being tried and crucified and why after Easter were they faithful and bold to the point of being, for many, martyred themselves? We will explore the centrality of Easter in our study of the Passion and Resurrection narratives.

FROM DR. DAVID HURD: ORGAN RECITALS 2024–2025

The organ at Saint Mary’s, Aeolian-Skinner Opus 891, dates from 1932 with additions in 1942 and 2002. It is a world-famous instrument largely due to its high rear-galley installation and the resultingly rich musical voice it has given to the dynamic worship life of Saint Mary’s. Its tonal refinement (in contrast with its strikingly unfinished appearance), and its thrilling engagement of the church’s gracious acoustics, have been brought to life by the remarkable musicians, too many to name, who have performed a remarkably wide range of music on it through the years in the liturgy, in recital, and on recordings. This has largely been made possible by the dedicated work of Lawrence Trupiano, who has curated this landmark instrument generously and expertly for decades.

FROM FATHER JAY SMITH: COAXING MAGIC OUT OF PAPER

We have been blessed in recent years with a team of four very fine sextons, Harka Gurung, who recently retired; Jorge Trujillo; Shalim Peña; and Marcos Orengo Roman. Working in a church in the middle of Times Square makes unusual demands on these men, and their duties and responsibilities are many and varied. Some of their work is traditional. They clean three of the four buildings in the church complex, and help out in the fourth. They clean the sidewalks, shovel the snow, and dispose of trash and recycled items. But they also work as welcomers, doorkeepers, security guards, handymen, plumbers, dishwashers, brass polishers, sacristans, concert technicians, caterers, and interpreters.

FROM MARY ROBISON: RAFFAELE MENCONI AND HIS ARTISTRY

From Nicholas Krasno’s Guide to the Church of St. Mary the Virgin (1999), adapted: “The Renaissance design reredos [in Saint Joseph’s Chapel], the ornamental screen covering the wall at the back of the altar, is modeled by Raffaele Menconi. It is cast of a composition of Caen stone in low relief, painted with gilded highlights added later. Caen stone is Jurassic limestone quarried in northwestern France near the city of Caen, and it is well-suited to carving. Below the plaque, two angels hold a wreath around a chalice and Host. The angels on the base of the wings of the reredos hold cartouches of the same shape as the della Robbia style plaque above.”

FROM FATHER SAMMY WOOD: ON THE LITURGY

Father Richard Major clearly loved the Mass. In his little commentary, The Freeze-Frame Mass, the former associate at the Anglo-Catholic Church of the Ascension & Saint Agnes in Washington, DC, explained:

The Mass is prayer: the best prayer of all. The Mass is also the world’s greatest work of art: the biggest (because millions of Christians, dead and living, have contributed to its development by their preferences, dislikes, inspirations, reactions); the oldest (it has a continuous history of twenty centuries); the richest (in the sense of its uncountable echoes and layers); and the most important.

FROM DR. DAVID HURD: COME BEFORE HIS PRESENCE WITH A SONG —THE 2024–2025 CHORAL SEASON

Familiar as we may be with the annual succession of the seasons in the liturgical year, there is one season, faithfully observed by many parishes, which is neither mentioned nor specifically provided for in The Book of Common Prayer. In academic, business, and astronomical life, this season is known as summer. Although the life of the church and its ministry continue through all seasons, we also acknowledge this other indisputable cycle of the natural order and, in so doing, relax some of our activities for a time in accord with it. At Saint Mary’s, it has been customary for the choir to take a break following the observance of Corpus Christi on the Sunday after Trinity Sunday through the last Sunday of September.

FROM FATHER WOOD: FORMATION AT SAINT MARY’S IN 2024-2025

The program year at Saint Mary’s kicks off in earnest on Sunday, October 6, when Catechesis of the Good Shepherd returns to the Atrium for our youngest kids, and adult formation returns to Saint Joseph’s Hall for the adults in our community, on Sundays at 9:45 AM. In CGS, the foundational scripture is the Good Shepherd (John 10), and each class begins with singing and a presentation on Sacred Scripture, Biblical geography, or the liturgy. Then each child chooses to work with materials that make the mystery of God more concrete.

This is the eighth and final article in a series exploring our statement of vision for our common life here at Saint Mary’s:

Saint Mary's is a vibrant Anglo-Catholic witness in the heart of New York City. With our identity in Christ and a preference for the poor, we are an inclusive, diverse community called to love God and each other for the life of the world.

When the Board of Trustees first began discerning this vision statement in the fall of 2023, I confess the last six words were the first ones that leapt to my mind.

FROM FATHER WOOD: SAINT MARY’S LEGACY SOCIETY

A favorite poem of mine is Wendell Berry’s “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front.” I love the absurdly counterintuitive recommendations Berry makes for how we ought to live.

Every day do something that won’t compute.

Not your average advice overheard from New York career consultants and financial planners.

Love someone who does not deserve it.

But my favorite line is:

Plant sequoias.

In 1892, Miss Sara L. Cooke, a dedicated member of this parish and friend of our founding Rector, Father Thomas McKee Brown, decided to do just that. She planted a sequoia.

FROM KATHERINE HOYT:
SAINT MARY’S IS OUR CHURCH

Several weeks ago, I attended a program called the College for Congregational Development, along with Father Sammy Wood, fellow board member, Clark Mitchell, and Brother Thomas Steffensen, SSF. I had originally heard about this program from the Reverend Canon Alissa Newton earlier this year, who has been involved in developing it, and it certainly intrigued me. The Reverend Canon Victor Conrado, who is well known to us at Saint Mary’s, has been involved in the College as well and invited us to attend.

FROM INGRID SLETTEN:
GOD IS NEAR. GOD IS WITH US.

Conversations about God, with another person trained in such conversations, is called spiritual direction. Spiritual direction is an ancient Christian tradition that survives and thrives today; it is a form of prayer we offer each other in the Christian community. Prayer is a balm to many of us and so adding a new form of prayer has often appealed to people of faith.

SAINT ANTHONY OF PADUA
ON THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

On Thursday, we celebrated the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Though the celebration of this feast dates to antiquity, the Roman Catholic Church did not define it dogmatically until 1950. In that declaration, Pope Pius XII wrote the following about Saint Anthony of Padua’s (1195-1231) contribution to our understanding of the Assumption . . .

FROM FATHER JACOBSON:
THE DREAM OF THE VIRGIN

On Thursday, August 15, we commemorate one of the principal Marian feasts of the Church year, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Assumption is typically referred to by an older title, the Dormition (falling asleep) of the Theotokos (God-bearer). The God-bearer’s falling asleep reminds me of a somewhat unusual fourteenth-century painting, the Sogno della Vergine (Dream of the Virgin) by Simone dei Crocifissi of Bologna, that I was struck by recently when visiting the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Ferrara.