Commitment Sunday

This Sunday, November 21, 2004 is the Feast of Christ the King, the last Sunday of the Church year.  If you are a part of the local congregation or can be in New York this week, please bring your pledge card to Mass and plan to stay for a little while at Coffee Hour and celebrate the various ministries of the parish.  Completed cards can be placed in the offering plate at Mass or if you live outside the city or will be away, please return your pledge by mail.  If by chance you have not received pledge materials for 2005, it may be that we do not have a correct mailing address for you.  If you let the parish office know, we will send you a packet.

The existence and mission of Saint Mary’s has always been an act of faith.  Since 1868 there has been a group of people dedicated to the worship of God as this community in Christ here in Times Square.  Like faith in God, it has never been rational.  It’s always called for more love, more sacrifice and more money than anyone would rationally plan.  Because worship transforms so many lives, our own and those of countless others, we continue to give almost beyond reason.  I think most of you who give to Saint Mary’s give for pretty much the same reason I do.  I love God.  I love the Church.  I love Saint Mary’s.

Saint Mary’s needs $300,000.00 in new gifts for 2005.  I don’t know where all of it is going to come from.  But I won’t imagine Saint Mary’s without open doors and daily Masses and Offices.  I won’t imagine Saint Mary’s without great music.  I won’t imagine Saint Mary’s as committed only to survival and not to growth in mission.  So many good things are happening these days at Saint Mary’s.  I believe you and I will find a way to fulfill the mission we have been given.  Saint Mary’s is the great liturgical parish of the Episcopal Church.  In the name of the parish community, I ask for your sacrificial love and support.  Stephen Gerth

PRAYER LIST . . . Your prayers are asked for Mary, Rick, Pamela, Charles, Gloria, Penn, Gilbert, Robert, Margaret, Jason, Bart, Hugh, Marion, Christine and Charles, priest; 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; and for the repose of the soul of Joni . . . GRANT THEM PEACE . . . November 20: 1986 Richard Johnson; November 23: 1976 Calvin R. Gray, 1985 Gary R. Grubb; November 24: 1950 Harlan S Perrigo, 1957 Frederick Delius, 1989 Aurora Emralda Van Heyningen; November 26: 1998 Ronald L. Cox.

LITURGICAL NOTES . . . The Sunday Proper: Jeremiah 23:1-6, Psalm 46, Colossians 1:11-20, Luke 23:35-43. . Confessions will be heard on Saturday, November 20 by Father Beddingfield and on Saturday, November 27 by Father Mead . . . On Sunday, November 21, Father Beddingfield will celebrate and preach at the 9:00 AM Mass.  The Rector is celebrant and preacher for the 10:00 AM Sung Mass.  Bishop Epting is celebrant and preacher at the 11:00 AM Solemn Pontifical Mass.  Our preacher at Solemn Evensong & Benediction at 5:00 PM is the Reverend Canon Hannah Anderson, Canon for Congregational Development in the Diocese of New York and Priest-in-Charge of the Church of the Holy Communion in Mahopac, New York.

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION & FORMATION . . . On MONDAY Via Media continues in Saint Joseph’s Hall from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM . . . On TUESDAY Father Mead leads a Bible study on the Book of Ruth in Saint Benedict’s Study from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM . . . Save the date:  Advent Quiet Day at Saint Mary’s with Father Smith on December 4, “Called to a Life of Hope.”

AROUND THE PARISH . . . Many thanks to Rick Miranda who served as our parish delegate to the Diocesan Convention last weekend . . . Congratulations to Mother Rosemari Sullivan, who will be awarded the Doctor of Divinity degree honoris causa from Virginia Theological Seminary in the spring. . . Sandra Schubert will be on vacation from November 18 to 29.  While she is away, Judith Scott will be helping in the parish office . . . The Visual Arts Program at Saint Mary’s hosted Ms. Mel Ahlborn, an artist and the president of the national Episcopal Church Visual Arts Program for a meeting this week to discuss collaboration, program development and future exhibitions . . . Attendance last Sunday 359.

THANKSGIVING AT SAINT MARY’S . . . There’s a reason why our main Thanksgiving service, Sung Mass (lasting one hour), is Wednesday night, Thanksgiving Eve, at 6:00 PM.  The Macy’s Parade closes Broadway on Thanksgiving Day.  So on Thursday the church is open only from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, and the only services on that day are the Noonday Office at 12:00 and Said Mass at 12:15 PM.  . . . The parish office will be closed on Friday, November 26.  The church will be open on Friday from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM with the usual schedule of weekday Masses and Offices.

NOTES ON MUSIC . . . This Sunday at the Sung Mass, played by Robert McDermitt, the voluntaries are by Mendelssohn and Stanley . . . At the Solemn Mass, the prelude is from Les vêpres de la Vierge, Opus 18 by Marcel Dupré (1886-1971).  The postlude is Nun danket alle Gott, Opus 65/69 (Marche triomphale) by Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877-1933).  One of the composer’s most popular pieces (it is based rather loosely on Hymn 397, “Now thank we all our God”), it seems fitting both for Christ the King and for our upcoming observance of the Thanksgiving holiday.  The setting of the Mass ordinary, truly a rarely heard major work, is Missa ‘Philippus Rex Hispaniae’ (“Philip, King of Spain”) by Bartolomé de Escobedo (c. 1500-1563).  This Mass for 6-part choir has never been sung at Saint Mary’s, and though it is impossible to say for certain, I believe that this is the first liturgical performance in this country.  Escobedo, though not well known, is an important Spanish composer of the generation before Francisco Guerrero, whose work we have performed a great deal here in the past few years.  This Mass was probably written, as the title suggests, to commemorate the accession of King Philip II of Spain in 1556.  What is particularly interesting is that until recently only fragments of the music were known to exist.  The editors painstakingly reconstructed Escobedo’s work using careful research so that this music may be heard once again.  The cantus firmus, sung repeatedly through the Mass, uses the text “Philippus Rex Hisapanie,” though we will adapt the words to conform to the customary texts.  The motet at Communion is Pueri Hebraeorum by Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) . . . The organ recital at 4:40 is played by David Enlow of the Church of the Resurrection, New York.  Robert McCormick

The Calendar of the Week

Sunday                      The Feast of Christ the King

Monday                     Cecilia, martyr

Tuesday                     Clement, Bishop of Rome, c. 100

Wednesday               Weekday

Eve of Thanksgiving Day

Sung Mass 6:00 PM

Thursday                 Thanksgiving Day

Friday                        Weekday                                                                      Abstinence

Saturday                   Of Our Lady

The Parish Clergy

The Reverend Stephen Gerth, rector,

The Reverend John Beddingfield, The Reverend Matthew Mead, curates,

The Reverend Ian Bruce Montgomery, The Reverend James Ross Smith,

The Reverend Rosemari Sullivan, assisting priests, The Reverend Canon Edgar F. Wells, rector emeritus.