FROM THE RECTOR: COMFORT AND STRENGTH

The title for this article includes two words that appear in the collect for Sunday, May 16, 2021, “The Seventh Sunday of Easter: the Sunday after Ascension Day.” But before I turn to the subject of those words, let me begin with a confession: I am very thankful that it has not been my duty to introduce a new Prayer Book to any congregation. Although the Episcopal Church widely adopted the 1979 Prayer Book, some people didn’t use the book, and some left the church. A not insignificant minority of Episcopalians also left the church after the 1976 General Convention authorized the ordination of women. Some of us have lived through turbulent times.

I had a real glimpse of the burden a new Prayer Book could bring to a rector even before I left the seminary. Father Larry Smith became rector of Trinity Church, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, in the summer of 1981. That fall, I became the Sunday seminarian and worked there for two years. Father Smith’s predecessor had not used the new Prayer Book—and had voted against its adoption as a delegate to the General Convention. Ironically, he left Trinity to take a church in another diocese that used Rite Two in the new book. Father Smith faced challenges at Trinity, but the parish was ready to move forward. It was not easy for the rector I served right after graduation from seminary and ordination, Father Paul Pritchartt, at Incarnation, Dallas.

It might have been easier for him if he had kept Morning Prayer & Sermon as the regular 11:15 AM Sunday service most Sundays of the month. But the new book took the church in a new direction. It stated, “The Holy Eucharist, the principal act of Christian worship on the Lord’s Day and other major Feasts, and Daily Morning and Evening Prayer, as set forth in this Book, are the regular services appointed for public worship in this Church” (BCP 1979, 13).

Father Pritchartt had been ordained at a time when what is known as the declaration of conformity was signed before the service in the presence of the bishop: “I do believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God, and to contain all things necessary to salvation; and I do solemnly engage to conform to the Doctrine, Discipline, and Worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America” (Constitution & Canons 1973, Article VIII, 6–7). The wording changed with the 1979 Prayer Book, and the declaration is now read and signed at the beginning of all ordination services. The substance is the same. I know from conversations with my predecessor, Father Edgar Wells, that it wasn’t easy for him to introduce the new Prayer Book when he came to Saint Mary’s in 1979. But introduced it was.

At Incarnation, I had the opportunity to pray and learn the earlier book. I began to pay attention to words, unchanged since the first Book of Common Prayer was published in 1549, whose Prayer Book meaning had become archaic. For me, the most confusing word was found in the collect for the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity: “Lord, we pray thee that thy grace may always prevent and follow us, and make us continually to be given to all good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen” (BCP 1928, 213).

When Thomas Cranmer translated the Latin verb “praevenire” into English, the word carried the meaning of “to precede,” or “to go before.” The theological term “prevenient grace” still has this earlier meaning. (Prevenient grace is that grace that precedes and therefore enables belief.) By 1928, only people with a certain education would readily know this obsolete meaning of the word, but it had survived in the collect for Easter Day in the 1928 Prayer Book: “We humbly beseech thee that, as by thy special grace preventing us thou does put into our minds good desires” (page 163).

Now this Sunday’s collect: “O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen” (BCP 1979, 226).

In earlier Prayer Books, one read, “leave us not comfortless; but send to us thine Holy Ghost to comfort us, and exalt us unto the same place whither our Saviour Christ is gone before” (BCP 1928, 179). The sixteenth-century Prayer Books used the verb “to comfort” in its then current sense: to assist, to strengthen, a meaning derived from the Late Latin confortare. The 1979 Book replaces the obsolete verb with a word that manages to preserve the verb’s original meaning. It’s a clever and successful adaptation—and it sounds right in traditional language (BCP 1979, 226). Comfort and strength are graces we all need. —Stephen Gerth

YOUR PRAYERS ARE ASKED FOR Leroy, Christopher, Liduvina, Modie, James, Jonathan, Emerson, Rita, Marilouise, Quincy, Florette, John, Shalim, Peter, George, Abraham, Burton, Dennis, Emil, Ethelyn, Hardy, Margaret, Robert; and Randall and Louis, priests; for all who suffer from COVID-19 remembering especially the people of India; for peace in Israel and Gaza; for all those who work for the common good, for all the members and friends of this parish, and for the repose of the soul of Thomas Allen Hoxsie. Grant that we may serve Christ in them and love one another as he loves us . . . GRANT THEM PEACE . . . May 16: 1892 Frank Wilson Sanford; 1901 Mary Leute; 1907 Mary A. McKim; 1916 Mary Elizabeth Straw; 1916 Lillian Ann Dudley Martin; 1934 Alice Mary Simpson; 1960 Minnie Packard Rounds; 1992 John Francis Arnold.

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S . . . This coming Sunday, May 16, The Seventh Sunday of Easter: Adult Education 9:30 AM (via Zoom; the class will not meet in person on May 16; see below in the Christian Education paragraph for more details); Holy Eucharist 11:00 AM. Father Matthew Jacobson will be the celebrant and preacher. Dr. David Hurd will play the service, and Ms. Sharon Harms, soprano, will be the cantor . . . Tuesday, May 18, Racism Discussion Group Meeting, 7:00 PM via Zoom. For more information about this weekly meeting, please speak to Charles Carson, Charles Morgan, Marie Rosseels, or Ingrid Sletten . . . Next Sunday, May 23, The Day of Pentecost: Whitsunday: Adult Education in Saint Joseph’s Hall, 9:30–10:30 AM, led by Matthew Lobe; Mass 11:00 AM, Father Jay Smith, celebrant and preacher. On Pentecost, the service will be played by Dr. David Hurd, who will be joined by four members of the Choir of Saint Mary’s, Joy Tamayo, Sharon Harms, Christopher Howatt, and Mark Risinger . . . The Rector will be on vacation from Saturday, May 15, through Saturday, May 22. Father Jay Smith will be in residence during that time.

AROUND THE PARISH . . . We are grateful to our ushers and acolytes who have been serving faithfully since July 1, 2020. They have helped us to open for public worship and to stay open. If you think you have what it takes and would like to join their ranks, please speak to Father Gerth, Father Smith, or Marie Rosseels . . . Parishioner Leroy Sharer underwent a surgical procedure on Monday, May 10. He is now recuperating at home and hopes to be back at Saint Mary’s shortly . . . Father Jay Smith visited the home of Evan Wong this week. Evan, friend and companion of the late Father Edgar Wells, presented Father Smith with a number of vestments for use here at Saint Mary’s. It was good to see Evan and to have a chance to remember Father Wells, who was rector here between 1979 and 1997. Father Wells died at his home at Manhattan Plaza on Forty-third Street on June 7, 2020. We are grateful to Evan for the gift . . . Sunday Volunteers Needed: Beginning on Sunday, May 9, we will need one volunteer each week to take some photographs during the Mass. These pictures are used to illustrate the Angelus and on social media. We also need a volunteer to set up their iPhone at the crossing, connect to the Saint Mary’s Facebook page, and to begin, monitor, and end the livestream. If you would like to volunteer for one or both of these very important tasks, please speak to the rector, who will be able to provide additional details . . . Would you like to make a donation for altar flowers? . . . We are looking those willing to donate altar flowers for Sunday, June 13, and all the Sundays in July and August, except for August 15. The suggested donation is $250. Donors often give flowers in memory, thanksgiving, or celebration of people or life events they would like to pay tribute to. Please contact Chris Howatt, if you would like to donate or speak to Brendon Hunter for more information.

NEIGHBORS IN NEED . . . At our monthly Drop-by Days, we distribute clothing and toiletry and hygiene items to those in need in the Times Square neighborhood. Our next Drop-by Day is scheduled for Friday, May 21. (Next month the Drop-by Day will take place on Friday, June 18.) 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 also support this ministry by making a cash donation (if using PayPal, please write “Neighbors in Need” in the memo line); or by making a donation of clothing or hygiene items. We welcome donations of gently used or new clothing and footwear; unopened toiletry items; backpacks, or small rolling suitcases. All these items should be clean and in good repair. Everyday wear is desirable, which is to say, no formal wear, party clothes or high-heeled shoes. We are not in need of men’s or women’s suits or evening wear at this time. Popular clothing items are: T-shirts, socks (e.g., white and black ankle socks), polo shirts, shirts, and blouses with collars; underwear for men and women in all sizes, including bras, slips, briefs; thermal underwear, sweaters, sweatshirts; slacks/blouses; caps, and scarves. Small blankets, towels and wash cloths, rain slickers, umbrellas, and zippered jackets are also desirable. Please speak to MaryJane Boland, Marie Rosseels, Sharon Stewart, or Father Jay Smith about scheduling a donation.

MUSIC AT SAINT MARY’S . . . Olivier Messiaen is widely regarded as one of the most original voices among the twentieth-century composers who wrote extensively for the organ. Born in Avignon, son of the poetess Cécile Sauvage, he was a student of Marcel Dupré and Paul Dukas at the Paris Conservatory where he became professor of musical analysis, philosophy, and aesthetics in 1942. His legendary tenure as titular organist of Trinité, Paris, began in 1931. The brilliant light and vivid colors of this magnificent church proved a defining stimulus to Messiaen’s musical imagination for sixty years. His deep Catholic faith is given distinctive voice in several religious-themed individual pieces and cycles of meditations. Messiaen’s L’Ascension was originally composed in 1932–1933 as four meditations for orchestra and soon thereafter issued as an organ work. The second movement, a theme-and-variations descriptively titled “Serene Alleluias,” is Sunday’s organ prelude. When Messiaen transcribed L’Ascension for organ, he replaced its original orchestral third movement with the dramatic and powerful Transports de joie (“Outburst of joy”), which is today’s organ postlude.

Jean Langlais (1907–1991) was another notable twentieth-century organist-composer to have been strongly associated with a prominent Paris church. In Langlais’s case, the church was the Basilica of Sainte-Clotilde where in 1945 he followed in the footsteps of César Franck (1822–1890) and Charles Tournemire (1870–1939) being named organiste titulaire, a title he retained until 1988. Langlais, who lost his sight to glaucoma at age two, began organ study with André Marchal (1894–1980), a prominent Paris organist and teacher who was also blind. He later was a prize-winning student at the Paris Conservatory where his studies included composition with Paul Dukas (1865–1935) and Marcel Dupré (1886–1971). Langlais also had a distinguished teaching career at the Schola Cantorum in Paris, where he taught from 1961 to 1976. In addition, he toured widely in Europe and the United States as a concert organist and composed extensively. His choral and organ compositions frequently have chant references or other neo-medieval characteristics. Of his Missa in simplicitate, Langlais wrote:

One day in July [1952], the rector of La Richardais, where I was spending my holiday, knowing we had invited Jeannine Collard of the Paris Opera to join us, came by to ask me to try to persuade her to sing at Mass on Sunday. Because she had not brought any sacred music along, she asked me to compose something. I made a Kyrie for her, to which she replied, “It’s really not enough to sing just the Kyrie at Mass!” “Alright, I’ll make you an Agnus Dei so you can sing a Kyrie at the beginning and an Agnus Dei at the end.” In due course I composed an entire Mass, even adding a Credo in passing. The idea for its long recitative came from the monologue of the Messenger in Act II of Monteverdi’s Orfeo, which Jeannine Collard had sung magnificently shortly before.

Langlais dedicated his completed Mass setting to Jeannine Collard. The Gloria in excelsis, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei are sung at Mass today.

Marriages of hymn texts and musical settings have varied over time. The texts themselves have been subject to revisions including deletion and addition of stanzas and revision of words and phrases for the sake of theological clarity or general concerns about language usage. While many hymn texts are historic, even ancient, their liturgical use presumes a contemporary suitability for worshipers in their own time and place. The hymn “For the beauty of the earth” has been found in Episcopal hymnals since the 1916 edition. Written by Folliot Sandford Pierpoint (1835–1917) and first published in Lyra Eucharistica in London in 1864, this originally eight-stanza hymn has migrated from its original Eucharistic intention to embrace more generally the praise of God in creation. It is widely taught to children and is especially suitable for Rogationtide, traditionally observed near Ascension Day. The Episcopal Hymnal has paired a shortened version of Pierpoint’s text with Charles Gounod’s tune Lux Prima, Geoffrey Shaw’s adaptation of the traditional melody named England’s Lane, and David Evans’s Lucerna Laudoniae in its three twentieth-century editions (1916, 1940, and 1982). These are all very worthy settings and deserve to be known and sung. However, the consistent favorite setting for Pierpoint’s text among Protestant denominations has been the tune Dix, a variant of a tune by Conrad Kocher first published in Stuttgart in 1838. William H. Monk’s version of Kocher’s music, published in the original edition of the British Hymns Ancient & Modern as Dix, remains the music most often associated with Pierpoint’s hymn in our time. This hymn will be presented by the cantor, Sharon Harms, in a freely improvised form during the Communion on Sunday.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR . . . Sunday, May 30, Trinity Sunday, Mass & Te Deum 11:00 AM . . . Monday, May 31, The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary . . . Monday, May 31, Memorial Day . . . Sunday, June 6, Corpus Christi, Mass & Benediction 11:00 AM . . . Friday, June 11, Saint Barnabas the Apostle . . . Saturday, June 19, Juneteenth, Celebration of the Emancipation of the Enslaved People of the United States . . . Thursday, June 24, The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist . . . Friday, August 6, The Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Mass 12:10 PM . . . Sunday, August 15, The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary . . . Tuesday, August 24, Saint Bartholomew the Apostle, Mass 12:10 PM.

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION . . . We have begun a new adult-education series on Sunday mornings at 9:30 AM, How We Interpret Scripture and Why It Matters. The series will continue through and including Sunday, May 30. The classes will be led by a new teacher each Sunday. We will not be focusing just on modern historical-critical methods of interpreting the Bible, but rather on the variety of ways in which Christians have used and interpreted the Bible over the centuries: to create art and music, shape liturgy, found religious orders, do theology, speculate about cosmology, discuss morality, prepare baptismal candidates, and care for the newly baptized.

On Sunday, May 16, the Seventh Sunday of Easter, Sister Monica Clare, CSJB, will lead the class virtually via Zoom. There will be no in-person class on May 16. If you would like to attend the class, please send an e-mail to Grace Mudd, and she will send you a Zoom invitation with a link so that you can connect to the class on Sunday morning. Sister Monica Clare will discuss the ways in which biblical reflection shaped the beginnings of the Community of Saint John Baptist and the decision to choose John the Baptist as the community’s patron. Sister Monica is well known to the members of the Saint Mary’s community. She lived, worked, and ministered here at the parish for several years, before she was recalled to the convent in Mendham, New Jersey. She is now the superior of the Community of Saint John Baptist and volunteers her time at a parish near Mendham, while continuing her ministry as a spiritual director. Before entering her community, Sister Monica lived in Los Angeles and worked in advertising, designing ads for the film industry. She has excellent computer and design skills and has generously shared those skills with us over the years. We are happy that she will be joining us again, if only virtually!

On Sunday, May 23, the Day of Pentecost, Matthew Lobe will lead the class in person in Saint Joseph’s Hall. An opportunity to join the class via Zoom will also be available that day. Matthew grew up in the Pacific Northwest. He did his master’s degree in organ and sacred music at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. While there, he also served as organist and choir director at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Export, Pennsylvania, and sang in the Pittsburgh Compline Choir. In the summer of 2017, he moved to Rochester, New York, and began to pursue his interests in design. Matthew was baptized here at Saint Mary’s at the Easter Vigil on April 3, 2021. He lives on West Forty-sixth Street, with his partner, Jeremy Jelinek, who led the class on May 2. On May 23, Matthew will discuss how scripture influences text and music in hymnody by taking a closer look at two well-known hymns. We are very grateful that both Matthew and Jeremy have agreed to lead the class this spring, so soon after joining the Saint Mary’s community.

STEWARDSHIP CAMPAIGN 2021 . . . Our stewardship campaign has come to an end. We were not able to achieve our $400,000.00 goal, but we recognize that we are living in a difficult time, and we are all doing the best we can. We live in hope and trust in God. Still, we continue to ask you for your help. We would welcome your financial pledge if you have not yet pledged for 2021. and we are grateful to all those who continue to support Saint Mary’s so generously.

AT THE MUSEUMS . . . At the Metropolitan Museum, 1000 Fifth Avenue at Eighty-second Street. We celebrate the Day of Pentecost on Sunday, May 23. The Met has a number of images of the scene described in Acts 2:1–4, “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” One of these images—a particularly striking one—is a woodcut by Albrecht Dürer, called “The Pentecost,” that originally appeared in a small devotional book, created by Dürer around 1510 and entitled The Small Passion. The page size is 5 x 4 ¾ inches. The image is not currently on view at the Museum but can be examined here on the Met’s website. The Pentecost image was a favorite of medieval and early-modern European artists, who often depicted Acts 2:1ff as a bit of a crowd scene. Dürer deals with this problem by using perspective to give depth to the scene, creating a very pleasing composition. Dürer, like others before him, reads Acts 2:1ff in light of Acts 1:14, where the eleven apostles gather with “the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.” The artist then feels justified in placing the Blessed Virgin in the middle of the Pentecost scene. Indeed, she is the central focus of the image. She holds, and gazes down upon, an open book in her lap: Mary who bore the Word made flesh now cradles the written Word of God. Flames of fire appear on her head and upon the heads of the disciples. A dove, image of the Holy Spirit, with wings spread, is at the center top of the frame, surrounded by dazzling rays of light. The image thus becomes a meditation on the enlightening presence and work of the Holy Spirit in and for the Church.

WORSHIPPING SAFELY AT SAINT MARY’S: If you are at all unwell, please do not come to church. If you are experiencing symptoms, contact your primary-care physician and get tested. If you have a fever of 103.5, which is not being handled by an analgesic, and/or you are having difficulty breathing (by difficulty we mean you must stop talking to focus on your breathing), go to an emergency room immediately. That said, we are very happy to be able to welcome you to worship with us here at Saint Mary’s (11:00 AM on Sunday, 12:10 PM Monday–Saturday).

When you arrive, please fill out the contact sheet at the ushers’ table. Please take a seat in one of the open pews, and feel free to ask an usher, one of the brothers, or a member of the clergy if you have questions about seating, Communion, or safe-distancing. Face masks are required while in the church building. We know all too well that many of these precautions are tedious, but we accept them to keep ourselves and each other safe and healthy. We continue to pray for those who are sick and for a swift end to the epidemic.

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 for distributing it via mail and e-mail, with the assistance of Christopher Howatt and parish volunteer, Clint Best.