FROM JENNIFER STEVENS: WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?

Prison has challenges. Ministry has challenges. So, it will hardly come as a surprise to anyone that Prison Ministry has unique challenges.

The main program for which I volunteer as a distance-learning mentor is called Crossroads Prison Ministry. It has done an admirable job of navigating procedural fences for the participants. With God’s help, Crossroads has managed to create a space for fellowship between people in the prison system and people all across the United States who care deeply about them. There are no strangers, only neighbors.

Those of us who have been entrusted with serving as Crossroads mentors are reminded that our job is not to convert, for only God can accomplish this in a seeking heart. Rather, our role is simply to be present as companions. The wisdom encapsulated in the Lord’s Prayer guides us, as we do our best to judge not, and seek to offer compassion. Nothing more and nothing less.

I am also keenly aware with each Bible study lesson that I review, someone in prison is also being present for me. I need their prayers and fellowship at least as much as they need mine. The ministry is mutual.

One particular challenge for me, is not from the people in prison. Rather, it relates to the dream, still unrealized, of Christian unity: one holy catholic and apostolic church. Not all prison ministry organizations are run by Christians who share my outlook. In fact, none of the groups with which I have volunteered are Episcopal.

So, if I want to be able to reach men and women in prison, people who have expressed an interest in prison ministry, I have to put on my figurative ministry hat when it comes to organizational politics. I did not sign up thinking I would need to suspend judgment and to be compassionate with different-thinking Christians. But then again, following Jesus is not a piece of cake by any stretch of the imagination.

This is the fourth year that I am participating in a Christmas greeting outreach program run by a conservative Evangelical Christian group in Colorado. Christmas outreach volunteers in this program receive the names and addresses of men and women in prison who have requested a Christmas Greeting. The organization also provides a return address label so that the volunteers need not use their own address.

When I think of the right-wing leaning philosophy of the organization that coordinates the Christmas greetings, I have to grit my teeth and swallow my ego. The men and women in prison need to receive evidence of God’s love and I cannot let my differences of opinion interfere. I pray to ask God to grant me the humility to work with the organization so that his lonely beloved children in prison can receive a reminder that they are loved.

It's amusing to me how short-sighted I was at the outset. I felt called into prison ministry with the simple desire to give. But I have found myself ministered to by the very people I sought to serve, those experiencing incarceration. And even more surprisingly, I have also been reminded to see the neighbor in my conservative brothers and sisters who also want to serve Christ in prison.

I have fifty names this year of people in prison seeking a Christmas Greeting. If anyone would like to share in this joyful endeavor, please let me know. I am happy to share with you.

In addition to her prison ministry, Ms. Jennifer Stevens helps to share God’s love beyond the church walls in several other ways. She serves as a licensed Eucharistic Visitor, bringing Holy Communion to the sick and homebound, and is an important part of our livestream outreach ministry. Jennifer is leading an expansion of this program and will begin regularly broadcasting our monthly Evensong & Benediction services. She also frequently serves as a reader at our liturgies.

A VISION FOR SAINT MARY’S 

Saint Mary’s is a vibrant Anglo-Catholic witness in the heart of NYC.
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.

PRAYING FOR THE WORLD AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD

We pray for peace in Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon.

We pray for the people and clergy of two London parishes, both friends of Saint Mary’s, Saint Bartholomew the Great and All Saints, Margaret Street.

We pray for the people and clergy of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Thirty-first Street, in gratitude for their kindness and generosity.

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, especially those sheltering in our neighborhood; 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 Jonah, Cara, Barbara, Colin, Carl, Robert, Hemmi, Camrin, Shane, Nolyn, Natalie, Dorothy, Marie, Chelsea, Jennifer, Barry, Frank, Simon, Richard, Charles, Tatiana, Emily, Mary, Eleanor, Eugene, Steven, Quincy, Claudia, June, Joyce, Lexi, Sharon, Bruce, Robert, Carlos, Christopher, José, Brian, Susan, Carmen, Antony, Manuel, Abe, Bob, Gypsy, Hardy, Margaret, and John Derek; Pamela, Linda, Laura Katharine, Keith and Jim, religious; Peter, Robby, Allan, and Stephen, priests; and Michael, bishop.

We pray for the repose of the souls of Trevor Mills, Rosalynn Carter, and of those whose year’s mind is on Sunday, December 3—Mary Lingard (1880); Kate Sterling (1905); Mary Addison Marble (1911); Ellen Smith Gleisner (1927); Henrietta Wildner (1942); Lina Vaughn (1942); Catherine Taylor (1943); Nina Gertrude Ward (1959); Charles William Thompson (1975); Annie E. McIntosh (1982); Francis Timothy Dlugos (1990); Olga Edgar (1991); and Yolanda Luppi (2011). May they rest in peace and rise in glory. 

ADVENT QUIET DAY
Saturday, December 2, 10:00 AM–3:00 PM

In our hemisphere, Advent takes place in the darkest season of the year,
anticipating the light of God-with-us. What are the gifts the darkness brings, and how do these gifts help us welcome the light of Christ?

As Advent begins, we invite you to join master musician Ruth Cunningham and the Reverend Tuesday Rupp for a day of quiet, of healing sounds, and of meditation as together we explore the gifts of this holy season in the beauty of the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin.

The Quiet Day will include Mass at 12:10 PM, which will be followed by lunch. Please RSVP to Father Jay Smith so we can plan for the day,and especially for lunch. We hope that you will be able to join us!

STEWARDSHIP UPDATE

As of Thursday, November 30, we’ve received pledge cards from 61 households for a pledge total of $331,385 in pledges. This is 73.6% of our $450,000 goal, which is encouraging news.

However, only 50% of those who pledged last year have made a pledge so far this year, which means that we still have a ways to go. Though pledge cards were received and blessed at Mass last Sunday, you can still make a pledge and we hope that you will do so.

Please take a moment and fill out your pledge card and mail it to the parish office today or put it in the collection basket on Sunday—you can also make your pledge online. 

We invite you to help us make our goal—and even more.
We are grateful to all those who continue to support the ministry of Saint Mary’s.

SAINT MARY’S CALENDARS ARE NOW AVAILABLE

Saint Mary’s Flower and Altar Guilds have produced the 2024 Saint Mary’s Calendar, and all proceeds will help fund critical guild supplies and restore antique furnishings. The suggested donation for each calendar is $20 in-person and $25 online (which includes shipping). Calendars are available in-person after Solemn Masses and Evensong & Benediction in Saint Joseph’s Hall during the month of December 2023. Click here to order your calendar online. Please contact Brendon Hunter with any questions about the 2024 Parish Calendar.

COMING UP: MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Sunday, December 17, Third Sunday of Advent
Lessons and Carols & Holy Eucharist 11:00 AM

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S

Our regular daily liturgical schedule: Monday through Friday, Morning Prayer 8:00 AM, Mass 12:10 PM, and Evening Prayer at 5:30 PM. On Wednesdays, Holy Hour is also offered at 11:00 AM and an additional Mass is said at 6:00 PM. Thursday’s Mass includes anointing and prayers for healing. On Saturdays, Confessions are heard at 11:00 AM, 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 normally celebrated at 12:10 PM in the Mercy Chapel. On Sundays, a Low Mass (Rite One) is celebrated in the Lady Chapel at 9:00 AM. Solemn Mass is offered at 11:00 AM and Evening Prayer at 5:00 PM. Evensong and Benediction (E&B) is normally offered on the first Sunday of every month and will next be offered on December 3 and January 7.

Saturday Confessions at 11:00 AM . . . The priest-on-duty can be found in one of the confessionals at the back of the church, near the 46th Street entrance, at 11:00 AM on Saturdays to hear confessions. Once nobody is left waiting, if it is after 11:15 AM, the priest will return to his office. If you arrive later, the sexton will be able to call him if it is not too close to the midday Mass.

Saturday, December 2, 2023, 8:00 PM, New York Repertory Orchestra Concert. Program: Charles Ives: The Unanswered Question; Mieczysław Weinberg: Cello Concerto, Matt Goeke, cello; Ruth Gipps: Symphony No. 3. Admission is free. A donation of $15.00 is welcome.

Sunday, December 3, The First Sunday of Advent (Lectionary Year B, Daily Office Year 2), Mass 9:00 AM, Adult Formation Class 9:45 AM, Great Litany and Solemn Mass 11:00 AM, Evensong & Benediction 5:00 PM. Both Solemn Mass and Evensong & Benediction will be livestreamed.

Monday, December 4, John of Damascus, Priest, c. 760

Tuesday, December 5, Clement of Alexandria, Priest, c. 210

Wednesday, December 6, Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, c. 342, Morning Prayer 8:00 AM, Holy Hour in the Lady Chapel 11:00 AM, Mass in the Lady Chapel 12:10 PM, Bible Study in Saint Benedict’s Study 12:45 PM, Evening Prayer 5:30 PM, Mass 6:00 PM, Anglicanism 101 in Saint Benedict’s Study 6:30 PM

Thursday, December 7, Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, 397, Mass & Healing Service 12:10 PM, The Eve of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Evening Prayer 5:30 PM

Friday, December 8, The Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Today is the one hundred fifty-third anniversary of the opening of the first parish church. Morning Prayer 8:00 AM, Sung Mass 12:10 PM, Organ Recital 5:30 PM (David Hurd, organ), Procession and Solemn Mass 6:00 PM

Saturday, December 9, Of Our Lady, Confessions 11:00 AM, Mass 12:10 PM, Early Afternoon Field Trip to the Morgan Library

Sunday, December 10, The Second Sunday of Advent(Lectionary Year B, Daily Office Year 2)

LIFE AT SAINT MARY’S: NEWS & NOTICES

Funeral arrangements for our good friend, Trevor Mills have been announced: A Viewing and Vigil will be held on Monday, December 4, 2023, from 4:00 to 7:00 PM, at the Martin Hughes Funeral Home, 530 Narrows Road South, Staten Island, NY, 10301. The Vigil itself will begin at 4:30 PM. A Requiem Mass will be celebrated on Tuesday, December 5, 2023, at 10:00 AM at Christ Church, New Brighton, 76 Franklin Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10301. Father Matt Jacobson will represent the parish clergy and assist at the altar.

We invite you to help us decorate the church for Christmas . . . Volunteers are needed for Christmas flowers. Preparations will begin on Saturday, December 16 with work continuing daily through December 24. There is a particular need for people of any skill level (no flower arranging happening) to help unpack deliveries on Saturday, December 16 from morning through afternoon and Tuesday, December 19 in the morning. Additional preparations will take place after Coffee Hour on Sunday, December 17. Anyone interested in arranging the crèche and creating flower arrangements is most welcome during the week of December 17-23! Please contact Grace Mudd if you are able to help or have any questions.

To make a flower donation, please contact Chris Howatt or donate online. Once on the donation page of our website, click the “Donate” button to open the form. Inside the form, there is a “Fund” dropdown, where you may direct your donation to the Flower Fund. If you’d like to find out about dates in January that are available for making a donation of flowers on a Sunday or feast day or have other questions about the Flower Guild, please call the Parish Office.

Neighbors in Need . . . Our next Drop-by Day is Friday, December 15, 1:00–3:00 PM. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact MaryJane Boland or Father Jay Smith.

Urgent Needs: We need warm-weather jackets and coats in all sizes—though we especially need sizes Large, XL, and XXL—for both men and women. We also like having some jackets and coats for children, toddler to adolescent in ages. We would also gratefully receive new or lightly-used shoes and sneakers in all sizes for men and women.

If you’d like to make a donation of a stuffed animal for a small child, we’d be happy to receive it.

We also depend on cash donations to support this work. Please speak to MaryJane about how to make a donation. You may also call the parish office and speak to Chris Howatt if you would like to set up a recurring donation. We are so grateful to all those who support this ministry with such generosity.

National Public Radio (NPR) has posted a comprehensive list of organizations that are providing aid in Israel and Gaza. You can read the list and NPR’s analysis by following this link.

Please join us for a field trip! . . . The Morgan Library and Museum is currently hosting an exhibition entitled, Morgan’s Bibles: Splendor in Scripture. A group from Saint Mary’s will be going to see the exhibition on the afternoon of Saturday, December 9, around 1:00 PM. One of the museum’s docents will guide the group through the exhibition. There are still four (4) spots left. Please contact Father Sammy if you’d like to join us for this event. He is managing the RSVP system and making arrangements with the Morgan. To read more about Morgan’s Bibles, please visit the Museum website.

Sunday, December 3, the Adult Formation class in Saint Joseph’s Hall, 9:45 AM to 10:40 AM, will be taught by Father Pete Powell, who will continue his series on Isaiah 1-12 (December 3 & 10; Sundays in Lent). This Sunday Father Powell will focus on Isaiah 3:1–4:6.

Wednesday, December 6: Brown Bag Bible Study and the Catechumenate: Anglicanism 101—These classes continue on Wednesday, December 6, Bible Study at 12:45 PM and Anglicanism 101 at 6:30 PM, after the evening Mass. In the noonday class, we’ll be reading Mark 1:40–2:12.

ABOUT THE MUSIC AT THE SOLEMN MASS ON THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Sunday’s organ voluntaries are two of the three settings of Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland from the Great Eighteen Leipzig Chorales of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). The chorale (54 in The Hymnal 1982) is Martin Luther’s sixteenth-century adaptation of the fourth-century Latin hymn Veni Redemptor gentium attributed to Ambrose of Milan (55 in The Hymnal 1982). BWV 659, played for the prelude, presents a poignant ornamented version of the chorale melody above a walking bass and two accompanying voices. BWV 660, played for the postlude, is an animated trio featuring an ornamented version of the chorale melody above two quasi-canonic accompanying voices played by the left hand and on the pedals. 

The setting of the Mass on the First Sunday of Advent is the Mass for four voices of William Byrd (c. 1540–1623). Byrd composed settings of the Latin Mass for three, four and five voices. The Mass for four voices dates from about 1592 and was probably the first of the three to be composed. The whole business of Latin Masses in post-Reformation England needed to be a somewhat clandestine matter to protect those involved from the possibility of arrest. This being the case, Byrd’s part books were undated and without title page or preface, nor was the printer (Thomas East) identified. Fortunately, Byrd’s settings survived the period in which their performance—if not their very existence—was illegal and are now rightly regarded as great treasures of Western music. Although composed with the Continental Tridentine liturgy in mind, Byrd’s Mass for four voices was also influenced by the pre-Reformation Mean Mass of John Taverner (c. 1490–1545), particularly in the opening of the Sanctus. The older Taverner setting had already served as a model for settings by English masters Christopher Tye (c. 1505–c. 1573), John Sheppard (c. 1515–1558) and Thomas Tallis (c. 1505–1585). Byrd’s four-voice Agnus Dei ends with a particularly expressive Dona nobis pacem.

During the administration of Communion on Sunday, the choir will sing Laetentur coeli, also by William Byrd. Byrd, like the slightly older Thomas Tallis, enjoyed the favor of Queen Elizabeth I and composed extensively for both the Anglican and Latin Rites of his time. This Latin motet from Byrd’s Liber primus sacrarum cantionum of 1589 is in five voices. The text is derived from Isaiah 49:13 and Psalm 72:7. It is, both textually and musically, an exuberant expression of seasonal hopeful expectation. — David Hurd

ABOUT THE LITURGY: THE GREAT LITANY IN PROCESSION

At the beginning of Solemn Mass on Sunday, we will keep one of the oldest traditions from our English church heritage—we pray the Great Litany in Procession. A “litany” is simply a prayer of intercession (litania, from the Greek litē, is Latin for “prayer” or “supplication”) whereby we make our requests known to God. A corporate act of intercession, with various petitions said or sung, when possible, by a deacon, with fixed responses from the assembly, dates back to the church in fifth-century Rome.

Archbishop Thomas Cranmer (1489–1556) famously “Englished” the Church’s liturgy, rendering it into the common tongue, but the Great Litany was actually the first rite composed in English and was published in 1544. Until then, Latin had been the only language used in England for the services of the Church, and although processions were common in the sixteenth century, especially to pray for God’s favor during times of war, intemperate weather, and sickness, Henry VIII noticed people were not actively engaging in these services as he thought they should and attributed it to the fact that they “understode no parte of suche prayers.” He decreed that prayers be set forth in the English tongue, and the Great Litany stands as the only officially sanctioned liturgy published under the Henry’s reign.

This prayer addresses nearly every general area for intercession — prayers for the church, the world, government, the poor, and individuals in all manner of circumstances. The petitions follow a series of requests for God to deliver us from evil, sin, heresy, schism, violence, natural calamity, danger, and death. There are also a series of “obsecrations,” or prayers for delivery that recall events in the life of our Lord.

King Henry ordered the Litany’s use in processions across England during his war with France and Scotland. Today we use this rite in procession—marching in form around the worship space—as the original documents prescribed. Because it is impractical for us to march around our entire neighborhood making these petitions on behalf of ourselves and our neighbors, we process around the nave instead.

The 1552 Book of Common Prayer called for the Litany at Morning Prayer, as did the 1928 American Prayer Book. The 1979 Book of Common Prayer calls this prayer “the Great Litany” to distinguish it from other litanies. Owing to its stateliness—the liturgist F. E. Brightman called it “one of the magnificences of Christendom”—and its penitential tone, this all-encompassing prayer is especially appropriate in Advent and Lent, and today we join Anglican churches across the world in praying these words to honor an important part of our heritage.

CONCERTS AT SAINT MARY’S

Saturday, December 9, 2023, 8:00 PM, The Tallis Scholars 50th Anniversary, While Shepherds Watched. Celebrating their 50th year this season, the renowned Tallis Scholars make their annual New York City appearance with a unique holiday program that offers a fresh perspective on the Christmas story, examining it through the eyes of the shepherds who came to worship at the manger. Anchored by the Flemish composer Clemens non Papa’s popular Mass Pastores quidnam vidistis? (“Shepherds, what did you see?”), the evening features a selection of works by other notable composers of Renaissance polyphony including Tomàs Luis de Victoria, Pedro de Christo, and Peter Phillips. Tickets may be purchased here.

AT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, 1000 FIFTH AVENUE AT E. 82ND STREET

Africa & Byzantium. Through March 3, 2024. From the museum website, “Art history has long emphasized the glories of the Byzantine Empire (circa 330–1453), but less known are the profound artistic contributions of North Africa, Egypt, Nubia, Ethiopia, and other powerful African kingdoms whose pivotal interactions with Byzantium had a lasting impact on the Mediterranean world. Bringing together a range of masterworks—from mosaic, sculpture, pottery, and metalwork to luxury objects, paintings, and religious manuscripts—this exhibition recounts Africa’s central role in international networks of trade and cultural exchange. With artworks rarely or never before seen in public, Africa & Byzantium sheds new light on the staggering artistic achievements of medieval Africa. This long-overdue exhibition highlights how the continent contributed to the development of the premodern world and offers a more complete history of the vibrant multiethnic societies of north and east Africa that shaped the artistic, economic, and cultural life of Byzantium and beyond.”

We need your help to keep holding our services.
Click below, where you can make one-time or recurring donations to support Saint Mary’s.
We are very grateful to all those who make such donations and continue to support Saint Mary’s so generously.

Saint Mary’s is a vibrant Anglo-Catholic witness in the heart of NYC. 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.

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.