FROM THE RECTOR: LOOKING AHEAD

As announced, the Solemn Mass for All Saints’ Day will be celebrated on Sunday, November 7, 2021. We will return to singing three hymns at Solemn Masses, though we are not quite ready yet to resume the Offertory Procession. Sunday, November 21, 2021, is the Last Sunday after Pentecost: The Feast of Christ the King. The First Sunday of Advent is November 28, 2021. On Advent Sunday, a new church year begins. We move to Lectionary Year C for Sunday Eucharists and Year Two for the Daily Office Lectionary. We use the Book of Common Prayer Eucharistic Lectionary rather than the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL). (Note well: more recent editions of the 1979 Prayer Book include only the RCL.)

On Thanksgiving Day, the church will be open from 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM. The Angelus is prayed at noon. The Daily Eucharist begins at 12:10 PM.

The Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our patronal feast, will be celebrated on Wednesday, December 8, 2021. There will be a Said Eucharist at 12:10 PM. At 5:30 PM, Dr. David Hurd will play a recital. The Most Reverend Frank T. Griswold, XXV Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church, will be celebrant and preacher for the Solemn Mass at 6:00 PM. The doors of our first church opened on December 8, 1870. The doors of our present church home opened on December 8, 1895. So, we begin our one hundred fifty-second year on the day of the patronal feast.

I plan to be celebrant and preacher for the last two Sundays of Advent, December 12, the anniversary of the dedication of the church on December 12, 1895, and December 19, the date in 1898 when the founding rector, the Reverend Thomas McKee Brown, died. I understand that a reception after the Solemn Mass, the last Eucharist I will celebrate as rector, is planned for that Sunday. I am not privy to any details.

There will be Christmas music at 4:30 PM and Procession & Solemn Mass at 5:00 PM on Christmas Eve. Father Jay Smith will be celebrant and preacher. On Christmas Day at 11:00 AM, Father Matt Jacobson will be celebrant and preacher for the Solemn Mass & Procession to the Crèche. On Sunday, December 26, Father Pete Powell will be celebrant and preacher for the Sunday Solemn Mass.

Richard Mohammed and I will attend Christmas services at Saint Thomas Church. The date for packing and moving is not yet settled. I now expect our furniture and household goods will be packed and picked up during the week of December 19. We will need to be in Naples, Florida, before the end of the month.

I was in Boston on the day before Pentecost in 1998 to attend the wedding of my stepsister, Caroline Knoeller, and Matthew Foscato, at Trinity Church, Copley Square. The officiant at the wedding was the associate rector. He would go on to be the ninth bishop of Kansas. He is now rector of Saint Bartholomew’s Church, New York City, the Right Reverend Dean Wolfe. The next morning, I attended the Procession & Sung Mass at the Church of the Advent, Boston. I remember thinking, “I’ll never be a rector of a church like this.” On December 5, 1998, the Board of Trustees called me to be the ninth rector of Saint Mary’s. I’ve been blessed in so many ways by the work and life I have had here. —Stephen Gerth

YOUR PRAYERS ARE ASKED FOR Richmond, Ross, Rick, Thomas, Shalim, Linda, José, Brian, Patricia, Penelope, Irma, Margaret, Dave, Arax, John, Karen, Gary, Greta, Larry, Pat, Ralph, Mario, Liduvina, Jonathan, Emerson, Marilouise, Quincy, Florette, Peter, George, Abraham, Dennis, Emil, Ethelyn, Gypsy, Hardy, and Robert; Randall and Louis, priests; all who work for the common good; and all the friends and members of this parish. . . GRANT THEM PEACE . . . November 7: 1921 John Curry Charles; 1931 Ernest Hopkins; 1937 Reuben Ravinet Fernandez Richardson; 1953 Rusche Lynn Carter; 1986 Bruce Taylor.

STEWARDSHIP 2022 . . . This year’s Stewardship Campaign has gotten off to a pretty good start, though we have a ways to go. As of November 2, 2021, $83,198.00 has been pledged by 20 households for the coming year. This is 20.8% of our goal of $400,000.00. The Committee has noticed that in addition to pledges by members and friends who worship with us frequently and volunteer their time here in many ways, we also continue to receive pledges from members and friends who live far from Times Square but remain faithful members of this community. This reminds us that Saint Mary’s ministry is both local and something other than local. Saint Mary’s is sustained by the talent, time, and treasure of those who worship and volunteer here in person, as well as of those who cannot be with us in person, but who support us with gifts, not only of money, but of prayer, encouragement, feedback, concern, and good humor. We are grateful for the diversity and commitment of this community. — The Stewardship Committee

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION . . . Beginning on Sunday, November 7, the Adult Education class will meet in the Arch Room on the second floor of the Mission House. Access is via the sextons’ lodge at the east end of the narthex (vestibule) of the main entrance to the church . . . Father Peter Powell will start his series on the Holiness Code, Leviticus 17–27. He writes, “I have long been attracted to the Holiness Code as the source of much of what has become Christian Ethics. The foundation of the call to be ethical is that we are called to be Holy because the Lord Our God, who brought his people up from the land of Egypt, is Holy. To be Holy is to be a people apart. This fall and then again in Lent, we will look at these chapters and related chapters in the Torah that ground us in what we undertake when we say we are children of God. Our faith has expectations. These are not the easiest chapters to read, so we will do so carefully as we learn about ourselves and our faith. In these chapters, you will find the texts used to argue against same-sex marriage as well as the texts used to mandate the forgiveness of debts. How do we read these texts today in a way that takes each seriously while understanding them in their context? We live in a church that encourages marriage for all who desire it. Are we in conflict with the bible, or might there be, as I think there is, another way of treating these difficult verses? We live in a world where some call for the forgiveness of all student debt (and some for the canceling of all debt for the poor). What does the call for Jubilee have to say about how we are Christians today? These are only two of the many ethical issues raised in these chapters. I look forward to studying with you in the fall.”

ADVENT QUIET DAY . . . On Saturday, December 11, Sister Monica Clare, C.S.J.B, will lead a Quiet Day in person here at the church. Her theme will be the virtue of hope. Based on the scriptural foundations of Christian hope, her reflections will suggest some ways of keeping hope alive even in times of despair. The day will begin at 9:30 AM. There will be two reflections in the morning and one in the afternoon. Mass is at 12:10 PM, followed by lunch. Opportunities for prayer, reflection, and journaling will be provided. Reservations for the Quiet Day may be made by sending an e-mail to Father Jay Smith.

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S . . . November 7, All Saints’ Sunday. Adult Education 9:30–10:30 AM in the Arch Room on the second floor of the Mission House. Solemn Mass, 11:00 AM. The appointed readings at the Mass are as follows (the wrong readings were listed in last week’s newsletter; our apologies): Ecclesiasticus 44:1–10, 3–14; Psalm 149; Revelation 7:2–4, 9–17; Matthew 5:1–12. The celebrant and preacher at the Mass will be Father Jay Smith. Evening Prayer will be said in the church at 5:00 PM . . . Monday, November 8, Requiem Mass V (Names W–Z), Mass 12:10 PM and Evening Prayer 5:00 PM . . . Tuesday, November 9–13, Mass 12:10 PM and Evening Prayer 5:00 PM. The church is open on weekdays from 10:00 AM until 5:30 PM . . . Tuesday, November 9, Racism Discussion Group Meeting, 7:00 PM via Zoom. For more information about this ongoing weekly meeting, please call the parish office . . . Friday, November 12, 6:30 PM, Saint Mary’s Online Centering Prayer Group . . . Next Sunday, November 14, The Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 28). Adult Education 9:30–10:30 AM in the Mission House, Second Floor. Solemn Mass, 11:00 AM. The appointed readings at the Mass are Daniel 12:1–4; Psalm 16:5–11; Hebrews 10:31–39; Mark 13:14–23. The celebrant and preacher at the Mass will be Father Stephen Gerth. Evening Prayer will be said in the church at 5:00 PM.

AROUND THE PARISH . . . Our former sexton, Shalim Peña, was baptized here at Saint Mary’s on All Saints’ Day, November 1, 2019. His life has not been easy since that time. We invite all his friends here at the parish to keep him in their prayers. If you would like to write to him, please speak to Father Jay Smith or Jennifer Stevens . . . We urge all members and friends of the parish to return their 2022 pledge cards by Commitment Sunday, November 21. For information about how to make a pledge online, please contact the parish office . . . Father Jay Smith will be away from the parish taking some long-delayed vacation between Monday, November 8, and Sunday, November 21. For pastoral emergencies, please contact the parish office and ask to speak to Father Gerth or to one of our assisting priests. Father Gerth can also be reached by his mobile telephone (917) 902-2028.

NEIGHBORS IN NEED . . . We hope to receive donations of socks and underwear for both men and women in all sizes. Since the weather is beginning to grow colder, we also welcome donations of sweatshirts, thermal underwear, and coats . . . At our monthly Drop-by Days, we distribute clothing, toiletry, and hygiene items—and Metro Cards when they are available—to those in need in the Times Square neighborhood. Our next Drop-by Day is scheduled for Friday, November 19. Volunteers work from 1:30 PM until 3:30 PM. Our guests are invited into the church at 2:00 PM, and we close our doors at 3:00 PM. We need six (6) volunteers for each Drop-by. If you would like to volunteer, please contact Marie Rosseels, MaryJane Boland, or Father Jay Smith. You may reach them by calling the Parish Office at 212-869-5830.

ABOUT THE MUSIC . . . The organ prelude before the Solemn Mass on Sunday morning is from Dieterich Buxtehude’s Te Deum laudamus. Buxtehude (1637–1707) was the most important Germanic composer for the organ in the generation before Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). His Choralefantasia Te Deum laudamus is a set of movements based upon particular verses of Te Deum, the ancient Latin hymn traditionally (but doubtfully) attributed to Saints Ambrose and Augustine. Conceivably these versets belonged to a larger set of which only five are now extant. They may have been intended to be played in place of or in alternation with verses sung to Solemn Tone plainsong. The movement played as the prelude is based on the verse Pleni sunt caeli et terra maiestatis gloriae tuae (“Heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory”). It is itself a fully developed, multi-sectional chorale fantasia in which Buxtehude successively embellishes short segments of the chant employing a full range of stylistic devices typical of Baroque chorale fantasias.

The postlude on Sunday is another organ setting based on Te Deum, this one at least two centuries more recent. Max Reger’s Opus 59 was composed in late June 1901 and, like several other of his collections of organ pieces, it is a group of twelve movements organized into two suites of six titles each. The second group takes the shape of an Organ Mass including Kyrie eleison, Gloria in excelsis, Benedictus, and Te Deum, the concluding hymn of thanksgiving. Te Deum begins boldly with a unison statement of the first phrase of the Gregorian melody. Rich harmony then begins to surround this melody fragment as it recurs three times in the development of the opening fantasia section. The brief section of imitative writing which follows is in turn followed by a build-up of entries of the Gregorian theme, beginning in the pedal, which drive inexorably and with increasing intensity to the conclusion of the piece.

Introit for All Saints’ Day is a choral setting in English of the proper introit for All Saints’ Day, Gaudeamus omnes in Domino. It was composed in 2005 by David Hurd, now organist and music director at the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, who was director of music at Holy Apostles Church from 1997 until 2013. The eight-voice double-choir choral texture is meant to be suggestive of the great cloud of witnesses, both in heaven and on earth, who rejoice together on All Saints’ Day.

The musical setting of Sunday’s Mass is All Saints Service, also by David Hurd. It was composed in 1986 for All Saints Church, East Sixtieth Street, Manhattan, where Dr. Hurd was director of music from 1985 until 1997. It is the sixth of the fifteen Mass settings he has composed to date, and the earliest and only choral setting of his three which utilize the traditional English (Rite I) Prayer Book Eucharistic texts. The predominant texture of All Saints Service is homophonic, expressed in four to six unaccompanied voices. The setting is relatively concise with much of the text being declaimed simply, all voices singing in rhythmic unison. The overall harmonic envelope of the Mass favors the bright key of F Major, and, while there are few specific musical cross-references between the movements of the Mass, there is a high degree of harmonic and stylistic unity among the movements.

The Communion motet is William H. Harris’s Faire is the heaven. Harris (1883–1973) set this poem of Edmund Spenser (1553–1599) in 1923 and dedicated the setting to the noted musician and teacher Sir Hugh Allen (1869–1946). Harris taught at the Royal College of Music in London, where Allen was Director, from 1923 to 1953. He also served as organist and choirmaster at Saint George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, from 1933 until 1961. He is remembered as a beloved choir trainer, whose choristers affectionately called him “Doc,” and for his varied anthems and liturgical settings. Two great pillars of twentieth-century English church music are Harris’s eight-voice anthem Faire is the heaven and his other eight-voice masterpiece Bring us, O Lord God on a text of John Donne (1572–1631), composed in 1959 shortly before his retirement from Saint George’s Chapel. Both settings elevate their texts masterfully in sumptuous chromatic harmony and choral richness.

SAINT MARY’S ONLINE CENTERING PRAYER GROUP . . . The Saint Mary’s Centering Prayer Group continues to meet! The group meets online, via Zoom, every Friday at 6:30 PM. If you are interested in participating, please send an e-mail to this address. The convenors of the group will then send the link to the Zoom meeting.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR . . . Thursday, November 25, Thanksgiving Day . . . November 28, The First Sunday of Advent (Year C/Year Two) . . . Wednesday, December 8, The Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Celebration of the Founding of the Parish and the First Mass in the First Church on December 8, 1870 . . . Tuesday, December 21, Saint Thomas the Apostle . . . Friday, December 24, Christmas Eve. Music for Congregation and Choir 4:30 PM and Procession & Solemn Mass 5:00 PM . . . Saturday, December 25, Christmas Day, Solemn Mass & Procession to the Crèche 11:00 AM . . . Sunday, December 26, First Sunday after Christmas Day, Solemn Mass 11:00 AM.

CONCERTS AT SAINT MARY’S . . . Saturday, December 4, 2021, 8:00 PM, New York Repertory Orchestra, Saint Mary’s Resident Orchestra, David Leibowitz, music director. The program includes the following music: Mauer, Women on a Journey (Kin Janabarhi Vra), NYRO Commission/World Premiere. In memoriam of Marguerite Iskenderian; Dello Joio, Meditations on Ecclesiastes; Still, Symphony 2 (Song of a New Race), Stephan Fillare, conductor.

This edition of the Angelus was written and edited by Father Stephen Gerth and Father Jay Smith. Father Gerth is responsible for posting the newsletter on the parish website and distributing it via mail and e-mail, with the assistance of Christopher Howatt and parish volunteer Clint Best.