FROM FATHER SAMMY: THE PARADISE TREE

Trees have long stood for fertility and rebirth in the popular imagination, symbolizing eternal life in cultures from Egypt and Israel to China. Sometime in the Middle Ages, the first Christmas trees appeared in Western Europe—traditionally the modern Christmas tree originated in Germany, perhaps in line with the legend that Martin Luther was walking home on a dark December night when he was moved by the beauty of the starlight through the branches of a fir tree (or perhaps not).

But before there were Christmas trees, there were trees like the one we will decorate on Sunday, December 24, in Saint Joseph’s Hall. Called “Paradise Trees,” such trees emerged as props in medieval “mystery plays” performed around Christmastime. For a largely illiterate populace, mystery plays taught biblical stories and Christian doctrine, while also providing entertainment. One such play recounted the story of Adam and Eve and humankind’s fall from innocence. The play was often enacted on Christmas Eve, which also happened to be the medieval Feast of Saints Adam and Eve (no longer celebrated as a feast day in the Western church).

This folk drama told the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden, and it ended with the promise of a savior who would come to redeem sinful humanity and reconcile creation with its Creator. The central props for the Paradise Play were two Paradise Trees representing the most important trees in Eden: The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life. Apples hung on the former to symbolize the Fall, and by the fifteenth century the latter held white communion wafers, hung to symbolize the promise of reconciliation with God made possible through Jesus. Over time a single tree came to bear both apples and eucharistic hosts, and it stood in a circle of lit candles outside the local church during the performance. Church authorities banned mystery plays later in the fifteenth century, but not before the Paradise Tree migrated to Germany where it was renamed a Christbaum, or “Christ tree,” and the apples and the hosts were replaced with pastry dough ornaments shaped like angels, stars, bells, and animals. In Bavaria today, trees decorated with apples and Christmas lights are still called Paradeis.

This year, Saint Mary’s is recreating a medieval Paradise Tree in our parish hall. Apples to symbolize the Fall are added to (unconsecrated!) hosts to symbolize our great salvation, and we’re throwing in Christmas cookies and lights as well. You’re invited to join us to decorate our inaugural Paradise Tree as a parish family after the 11:00 AM Mass on the Fourth Sunday of Advent, December 24! — SW

If you would like to help decorate the Paradise Tree on Sunday, please speak to Father Sammy.
If you would like to help with the greening and decorating of the church on Sunday, please speak to Grace Mudd.

PRAYING FOR THE WORLD AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD

We pray for peace in Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Mali, and Myanmar, and Lebanon. We pray for an end to violence and division in our city and nation.

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 Tom, Lexi, Nicholas, Violet, Jessie, Russell, Jonah, Cara, Barbara, Carl, Robert, Hemmi, Camrin, Shane, Nolyn, Natalie, Dorothy, Chelsea, Jennifer, Barry, Frank, Richard, Charles, Robin, Tatiana, Emily, Mary, Eleanor, Eugene, Steven, Quincy, Claudia, June, Joyce, Bruce, Robert, Sandy, Sharon, Carlos, Christopher, José, Brian, Susan, Carmen, Antony, Manuel, Abe, Bob, Gypsy, Hardy, Margaret, and John Derek; Jamie and Curtis, religious; Lind, deacon; Robby, Allan, and Stephen, priests; and Michael, bishop.

We pray for the repose of the souls of and of those whose year’s mind is on Sunday, December 24— Charleverous Lowery (1887); Frederick Endora Anderson (1926); Charles Moran (1962); Melissa McFall (1983). May they rest in peace and rise in glory.

AND WE THANK YOU

We are grateful to all those who have been fulfilling their pledges and making additional donations to support our various ministries as the end of the year approaches. We want to thank the members of the Flower Guild, and those who have come to help them, who have been working hard this week to prepare for Christmas. We appreciate all you do for Saint Mary’s and for all you do to help us worship. We are grateful to the following parishioners, who have agreed to serve on the Board of Trustees, Ms. Patricia Ahearn, Mr. Steven Eldredge, Ms. Katherine Hoyt, and Ms. Renee Pecquex-Burroughs. Thank you to our faithful team of volunteers who were here last Friday to host our monthly Drop-by Day. We want to say a special word of thanks to Allen Reddick and Niang Hawa, who joined the team for the first time that day. Thank you, Father Matt Jacobson, for doing so much to keep us organized in the sacristy, at Mass, and online. We are grateful to you for making our website and this newsletter a dependable source of news and information for the Saint Mary’s community. Enjoy your vacation! We are grateful to Tom Harris and Derrik LaBoy and to Detective Michael Dugan, of the Midtown North precinct, who are doing all they can to help facilitate our worship on Sunday, December 31, New Year’s Eve, during this particularly complicated week and year. Thank you, Carl Grindley, for agreeing to be a friendly face and guide for our intern from the Community at the Crossing. We are grateful to the members of the Saint Raphael’s Guild of Ushers, who will have two busy, challenging—and hopefully joyful!—days, and three Solemn Masses on December 24 and 25. We are so grateful to our good friends at Abbondanza/Café Broadway 46 who are working with us to help those who are in need here in the neighborhood. Thank you for your patience and flexibility.

COMING UP AT SAINT MARY’S

 There was an error in the recent Christmas appeal letter:
Note that the Solemn Mass on Christmas Day begins at 11:00 AM not 10:00 AM.

The Fourth Sunday of Advent
Sunday, December 24
Mass 9:00 AM, Solemn Mass 11:00 AM

Christmas Eve
Sunday, December 24
Music 9:30 PM, Solemn Mass 10:00 PM

Christmas Day
Monday, December 25
Solemn Mass 11:00 AM

The Eve of the Epiphany
Friday, January 5
Organ Recital 5:30 PM, Solemn Mass 6:00 PM
A reception in Saint Joseph’s Hall follows the Solemn Mass.

 COMING UP AT THE CATHEDRAL

 The Installation of the Right Reverend Matthew Heyd
as the XVII Bishop of New York
Saturday, February 10, 2024
The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine

STEWARDSHIP UPDATE

As of December 20, we’ve received pledges from 77 households for a total of $360,020.
This is 80% of our $450,000 goal.
We remain hopeful as 31% of 2023 pledgers have not yet pledged for 2024.

If you haven’t already, please take a moment and fill out your pledge card and mail it to the parish office 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.

Pledge commitments in 2023 are critical to plan accurately for 2024.

LIFE 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 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. During Christmas Week and on the Epiphany—on Saturdays, December 30 and January 6—confessions are heard only by appointment.

Saturday, December 23, Of Our Lady (O Antiphon: O Virgo virginum), Confessions 11:00 AM, Mass 12:10 PM, Evening Prayer 5:00 PM

Sunday, December 24, The Fourth Sunday of Advent (Lectionary Year B, Daily Office Year 2), Mass 9:00 AM, Solemn Mass 11:00 AM, Greening of the Church and the Decoration of the Paradise Tree follows Solemn Mass. Volunteers are most welcome. Please speak to Father Sammy and Grace Mudd.

Sunday, December 24, Eve of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Christmas Music 9:30 PM, Procession & Solemn Mass of the Nativity 10:00 PM

Monday, December 25, The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Solemn Mass & Procession to the Crèche 11:00 AM. The church will be open today from 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM.

Tuesday, December 26, Saint Stephen, Deacon & Martyr, Mass 12:10 PM. The church is open today from 7:00 AM until 7:00 PM. Morning and Evening Prayer are not prayed publicly today.

Wednesday, December 27, Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist, Morning Prayer 8:00 AM, Holy Hour 11:00 AM, Mass 12:10 PM, Evening Prayer 5:30 PM, Mass 6:00 PM

Thursday, December 28, The Holy Innocents, Morning Prayer 8:00 AM, Mass & Healing Service 12:10 PM, Evening Prayer 5:30 PM

Friday, December 29, Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1170, Morning Prayer 8:00 AM; Mass 12:10 PM; Evening Prayer 5:30 PM. Special Devotion on Fridays is not observed during Christmas.

Saturday, December 30, Weekday of Christmas, Mass 12:10 PM; Evening Prayer 5:00 PM. Confessions are heard by appointment only during Christmas.

Sunday, December 31, The First Sunday after Christmas Day (John Wyclif, Priest, 1384)

NEWS & NOTICES

It was a pleasure to be able to welcome a number of old friends and members of the parish in recent days. Larry Hamil, who now lives in Butler, Pennsylvania, was with us on December 8 and then spent several days in the city. He was able to be with us again last Sunday. Larry remains a faithful and enthusiastic member of the parish and donated the altar flowers on the Third Sunday of Advent.

Please welcome Noah Starr . . . Sister Hannah Spiers, CCN, is an Anglican religious and a member of the Chemin Neuf community. She’s a friend of the parish and preached at Saint Mary’s last March. She moved to New York to help found the Community at the Crossing, an ecumenical program housed at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine where Christians  21 to 33 years old and from any church background spend a year in prayer, discernment, formation, intentional community, service, and mission. Recently, Sister Hannah approached Father Matt Jacobson, who is on the Board of the Community at the Crossing, with an idea for an experiment—to have one of the Community members “in residence” at Saint Mary’s for a week in January.

And so, meet Noah Starr! Noah is an Oklahoman, who grew up in the Wesleyan tradition, the son of a pastor, and attended Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville (where, coincidentally, he worked for Humphries Street Coffee, the company that provided coffee for Father Sammy’s old parish, Saint Bartholomew’s!). After joining the Community at the Crossing this year, Noah has worked at MJHS Hospice in lower Manhattan, and he will be living in the rectory with the Woods from January 6-12 while he works on various projects. When you see him around the parish experiencing our rhythms of prayer and service, please introduce yourselves and welcome him!

2024 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 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.

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 . . . 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. 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. Our next Drop-by will take place on Friday, January 19, 1:30 to 3:00 PM. Please speak to Father Jay Smith or MaryJane Boland, if you are interested in volunteering.

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.

Adult Formation Classes

The Sunday morning class will not meet on December 24, 31, or January 7.

On Sunday, January 14, Father Jay Smith will resume the series, “Conversion, Transformation & Life in Christ.” On three Sundays—January 14, 21, and 28, 9:45 AM to 10:40 AM—the class will be discussing the Rule of Saint Benedict and Benedictine spirituality as a resource for developing a “rule of life,” and for living that rule, with the help of the grace of God, who is ever merciful and compassionate. On Sunday, February 4, Father Jay will welcome Brother Ephrem Arcement, OHC, to Saint Mary’s. Brother Ephrem will lead the class at 9:45 AM that morning, and he will preach at the Solemn Mass at 11:00 AM. Brother Ephrem entered monastic life in 2010. He was for a time a monk of Saint Joseph’s Abbey in Louisiana. He earned his Ph.D. in spirituality from The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, and has taught courses in Scripture and spirituality at Saint Joseph Seminary College in Saint Benedict, Louisiana. He came to the Order of the Holy Cross, and to the Episcopal Church, several years ago and is now the Guest Brother at the monastery in West Park. He was recently received as a priest of the Episcopal Church by the Bishop of New York. His first book, Intimacy in Prayer: Wisdom from Bernard of Clairvaux, appeared in 2013. A second book, In the School of Prophets: The Formation of Thomas Merton's Prophetic Spirituality, was published in 2015. Then, on Sunday, February 11, Father Jay will lead the class in a summary discussion of this ancient way of life that has done so much to shape Western Christian spirituality, Anglican prayer and worship, and Western European culture.

Father Powell’s series on Isaiah 1–12 will resume on the First Sunday in Lent, February 18, and will continue on all the Sundays in Lent, including Palm Sunday.

Catechumenate: Anglicanism 101—The class will not meet on Wednesday, December 27, nor on Wednesday, January 3, though the 6:00 PM Mass will be celebrated both days. The class resumes on Wednesday, January 10, at 6:30 PM, following Evening Prayer at 5:30 PM and the evening Mass at 6:00 PM. If you are an adult and are interested in being confirmed this spring, you are most welcome to join the class as we begin the second semester. No prior preparation is required.

Confirmation Preparation for Young People 13-18: Beginning on Sunday, January 14, at 9:45 AM, Father Sammy will be leading a confirmation class for young people. The class will meet on Sunday mornings, January 14 to May 5, except on the Last Sunday after Epiphany (February 11), Palm Sunday (March 24), or Easter Day (March 31). If you are interested in the class, please speak to Father Sammy.

Brown Bag Bible Study will not meet on Wednesday, December 27 or on Wednesday, January 3. The class will resume on Wednesday, January 10, at 12:45 PM following the noonday Mass.

Parish Retreat: January 13, 2024, 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM. In early January, we will be hosting acclaimed scholar and author, Dr. Derek Olsen, for a free Saturday event called “Life, the Universe, and Everything: Finding Holiness through Anglican Prayer.” With Derek’s help, those of us looking for answers to life’s biggest questions will be asking ourselves what resources can the church offer that the secular marketplace does not? And what does this mean for faith communities in the modern world? The post-Covid American context offers a host of ways to make meaning and form communities. Join biblical and liturgical scholar Derek Olsen in exploring how classical Anglican spirituality speaks to our deepest desires and forms a framework for meaning-making and engaging questions about the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. The day-long event is free, but registration via the parish website is appreciated.

Derek Olsen is a biblical scholar and engaged layman in the Episcopal Church. He earned an M.Div. from Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, an S.T.M. from Trinity Lutheran Seminary, and served as pastoral vicar of a large Lutheran (ELCA) church in the Atlanta suburbs before beginning doctoral work (and being received into the Episcopal Church). He completed a Ph.D. in New Testament in 2011 from Emory University under the direction of Luke Timothy Johnson. His chief areas of interest are the intersection between Scripture and liturgy, the history of biblical interpretation—particularly in the Church Fathers and the Early Medieval West—and liturgical spirituality. He has served on the Episcopal Church’s Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music. He is the author of Inwardly Digest: The Prayer Book as Guide to a Spiritual Life (Forward Movement, 2016). Derek will show us how the resources that are very close to home—as close as the Book of Common Prayer in the pew or on the bookshelf—can be used in the ongoing work of conversion and transformation.

Click here to register for this event or follow the link on the parish homepage.

Father Matt Jacobson will be away from the parish from January 1 until January 25.

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

The organ prelude on December 24, the Fourth Sunday of Advent, is the more extended of two organ settings for Magnificat, the Song of Mary, on the first psalm-tone by Dieterich Buxtehude (1637–1707). This piece divides clearly into two principal sections, each with four sub-sections and a coda. While bits of the fantasia style are in evidence, most of the sub-sections are clearly in imitative counterpoint. Some researchers have taken pains to identify the first psalm tone as it lay concealed in Buxtehude’s counterpoint. It is conceivable that the sub-sections of this work were intended to be performed in alternatim with verses of Magnificat sung to chant. However, the several sections of the piece work together well when played continuously without the insertion of chant verses. As is often the case, distinguished historic music lends itself to a variety of reasonable interpretations. Performers, therefore, are challenged creatively to seek appropriate performance solutions and let the hearers delight.

The setting of the Mass on Sunday morning is Missa Dixit Maria by Hans Leo Hassler (1564–1612). Born in Nuremberg and baptized on October 26, 1564, Hassler’s musical career bridged the late Renaissance to the early Baroque periods. His initial musical instruction was from his father, Isaak Hassler (c. 1530–1591). Hans Leo left home in 1584 to study in Venice with Andrea Gabrieli (c. 1532–1585) and become a friend and fellow pupil with Gabrieli’s nephew Giovanni (c. 1554–1612). Thus, Hassler was one of the first of a succession of German composers to experience in Italy the musical innovations that were shaping what would later be identified as baroque style. Hassler was recognized in his day not only as a composer, but also as an organist and a consultant on organ design. Although he was a Protestant, Hassler’s early compositions were for the Roman church. His Missa Dixit Maria, published in 1599, is a parody Mass with themes borrowed from his own motet Dixit Maria ad Angelum. The text of the source motet—which will be sung during the administration of Communion at the Solemn Mass on Sunday—recounts Mary’s words to the angel of the Annunciation, “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me, according to your word.”

The postlude at the end of Mass on Sunday is by the celebrated African-American composer, Adolphus Hailstork (b. 1941) Hailstork is professor of composition at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia. In his Toccata on “Veni Emmanuel” one can hear fragments of the fifteenth-century Advent hymn, O come, O come Emmanuel, based upon the Great O Antiphons, although the entire hymn melody is never stated fully. The unusual meter of five beats to the measure gives the Toccata a curious off-balanced rhythmic energy. The harmonic dissonances, particularly near the end of the piece, may well characterize a world in chaos awaiting the birth of the Prince of Peace.

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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.