FROM FATHER PETER POWELL: OUR FAITH’S CENTRAL STORY

Jesus dies alone on the cross. He has been abandoned by every man who followed him. Only a few of the women who were with him were at the crucifixion. After Easter those who abandoned the crucified Lord were converted to worship the Risen Lord, and they spread the Gospel. What happened? Why were Saint Peter and the others terrified when Jesus was being tried and crucified and why after Easter were they faithful and bold to the point of being, for many, martyred themselves? We will explore the centrality of Easter in our study of the Passion and Resurrection narratives.

Father Wood has designated this year as the Year of Invitation. Studying the Bible is an invitation to better understand our faith. Amazingly, the church has preserved the Bible for millennia. Our Bible is a unique religious resource. Most religious writing in other religions shows everything in the best possible light. The Bible does not paint our faith as simple. It shows the warts and all of seeking to lead a faithful life as a Christian. In the Bible, the people of faith constantly fail, and their failures are recorded for our benefit. Yet God’s love remains true and central. This study of the Passion and Resurrection narratives is an invitation for us to dive more deeply into the central story of the foundation of our faith.

Have you ever thought about what Easter means? Have you ever reflected on the story of Jesus’ suffering and what that means for his followers? The evangelists gave this a lot of thought, and we’ll be examining the way each of them preaches to us about the centrality of the Passion and Resurrection Narratives.

Jesus is a Messiah unlike any Jewish expectation of a Messiah. He did not free the Jewish people from Roman rule. He did not lead an armed force in opposition to the subjugation of Judah and Galilee by the Romans. Instead, he shows us that the kingdom is for the poor and vulnerable. He dies on the cross to show us that the power of this world is quenchable. Death is conquered.

How can that be? We all still die. However, death is not the separation of us from the Love of God. In conquering death, Christ reminds us that our lives are meaningful. Together with the Trinity we create a culture of love in contrast to the culture of loss and insecurity felt by those who fear. We know we are loved and that we are important to God. The conquering of death is not simply metaphorical but it has aspects of the metaphorical. We believe and recognize by our faith in the Resurrection that nothing can separate us from the Love of God and that means that death is conquered. This is reality and a statement of faith.

Our study this year is in recognition of Easter as the climax of the church year. The Resurrection is the event that defines the church. This is not to diminish the importance of other Holy Days, or of any Sunday, but simply to say that our faith rests in the reality of the Resurrection.

But what does that mean? During this academic year—for seven weeks in the Fall beginning November 3 and for six weeks in the Spring beginning on the First Sunday in Lent—we will look at the Passion and Resurrection Narratives in the four gospels. While the stories overlap, each evangelist brings a unique perspective. Scholars believe each gospel differs from the others because each Evangelist lived a different reality and was responding to the issues of their lives in the nascent church.

The answer to what the reality of the Resurrection is, is interesting, but not simple.

We will begin with Palm Sunday, not really part of the Passion Story but it is the Sunday we begin thinking about the Passion. Probably every priest you’ve ever listened to has urged you not to jump from Palm Sunday to Easter. The journey through Holy Week is important. The question is, WHY? I hope that in this study we will answer this question so that in 2025 you will enter Holy Week with a new and informed understanding of what we are doing.

Many of my sophisticated friends are astounded that I accept without question the events of Holy Week and Easter. They see some value in Christianity as the custodian of moral behavior, and they believe that Jesus was a good teacher, even if they don’t believe he was divine.

Jesus may have been an effective teacher, but much if not all he said was already in the Hebrew Scriptures. He just took them seriously. Many who emphasize the importance of moral behavior see it as the prerequisite for eternal life. It is not. It is important but we cannot earn our way to God by behaving well. God has already chosen us and loves us unconditionally and we experience that love by understanding the Easter event. We are free to reject that love, but it is nevertheless there.

Many of my sophisticated friends are offended that God would demand the crucifixion of his Son to free us from sin. They cannot understand the good news in this and refuse to worship a God who could be that cruel. This assumes that somehow God needed Jesus to be crucified to satisfy God’s anger at us. But if God already loves us unconditionally then there is no anger to be propitiated. So why the horrible death on the cross? Simply because it is the triumph over death. The world crucifies Jesus and assumes that this shows he was simply mortal. The resurrection, among many other things, shows that the world did not defeat God.

I have always found it powerful in the reading of the Passion on Palm Sunday for us to respond by saying Crucify Him, Crucify Him. We put him on the cross and yet he gifts us with the Resurrection.

We will spend thirteen weeks trying to understand what this means. I hope you will join us. — Peter Powell

PRAYING FOR THE CHURCH & FOR THE WORLD

Prayer for an Election (Book of Common Prayer, p. 822)

Almighty God, to whom we must account for all our powers and privileges: Guide the people of the United States in the election of officials and representatives; that, by faithful administration and wise laws, the rights of all may be protected and our nation be enabled to fulfill your purposes; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

We pray for an end to war, division, violence, and injustice, especially in the Middle East, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti, Ukraine, Russia, Myanmar, Sudan, and Darfur. We pray for justice and for an end to violence and discord in our city and nation.

We pray for the people and clergy of our sister parish, the Church of All Saints, Margaret Street, London, UK.

We pray for those who have asked us for our prayers, especially Richard Alton, priest, who is gravely ill; and Grace, Fletcher, Virginia, Jacques, Keith, Claudia, Suzanne, Susanna, Rolf, Adair, Dorian, Margaret, Leroy, Steve, Susanna, Rolf, Richard, Josh, Maddie, Tony, Hattie, Paul, Nettie, Chrissy, Maureen, Robert, Duncan, Justin, Sheila, Audy, Jan, Pat, Marjorie, Sharon, Quincy, June, Barbara, Rick, Carlos, José, Manuel, J.C., Gene, Hardy, Gypsy, and Liduvina; Laura Katharine and James, religious; Amy, Jay, Julie, Jean, Robby, and Stephen, priests.

We also pray for the repose of the souls of Tracey Young, Michael Yoder, William Benefield, Sr., Dabney T. Smith, bishop, and those whose year’s mind falls on November 3, Susan Taber Congdon (1897); George Francis (1918); Anthony Maler (1937); Francis Mills Smith (1957).

IN THIS TRANSITORY LIFE

We learned this week that Clint Best’s brother-in-law, Michael Yoder, has died. Please keep Michael and his wife in your prayers. Please pray also for Clint, Michael’s and his family and friends, and for all who mourn.

DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME ENDS AT 2:00 AM ON SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 3.
CLOCKS ARE TURNED BACK ONE HOUR.

Friday, November 1
All Saints’ Day
Organ Recital by Rhonda Edgington 5:30 PM
Solemn Mass 6:00 PM
The Rev’d Kathleen Liles, guest preacher
Reception in Saint Joseph’s Hall after the Solemn Mass

Saturday, November 2
All Souls’ Day
The Committal of the Ashes of William Benefield, Sr., in the Mercy Chapel at 10:00 AM
Confessions 11:00 AM
Sung Mass with a Quartet from the Choir 12:10 PM
Sermon by Father Matt Jacobson

Sunday, November 3, 2:00 AM
Daylight Saving Time ends. Clocks go back one hour.

Sunday, November 3
The Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost
Mass 9:00 AM
Adult Formation: Father Powell begins his series, The Passion & Resurrection Narratives in the Gospels,
in Saint Joseph’s Hall at 9:45 AM
Solemn Mass 11:00
Evensong and Benediction 4:00 PM

Monday–Friday, November 4–8, Annual Requiem Masses
Mon-Tues, Thurs-Fri 12:10 PM
Wed 12:10 & 6:00 PM

Wednesday, November 6, after Evening Prayer (5:30 PM) and Mass (6:00 PM)
“Group Seeks God”
In this small-group experiment, Father Sammy and Renee Wood will demonstrate how simple practices like hospitality and storytelling create opportunities for engagement and invitation in our everyday worlds.

Monday, November 11
Veterans Day
Mass 10:00 AM in the Lady Chapel
Federal Holiday Schedule: the church opens at 9:00 AM and closes at 12:00 PM. Parish offices are closed.

Wednesday, November 27
Eve of Thanksgiving Day
Sung Mass with a Quartet from the Choir 6:00 PM
Evening Prayer is not said publicly in the church on the Eve of Thanksgiving Day.

Thanksgiving Day
Mass 10:00 AM in the Lady Chapel
Federal Holiday Schedule: the church opens at 9:00 AM and closes at 12:00 PM. Parish offices are closed.

Sunday, December 1
The First Sunday of Advent
Mass 9:00 AM
Adult Formation 9:45 AM
Litany and Solemn Mass 12:00 PM
Evensong & Benediction 4:00 PM

Monday, December 9
The Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (tr.)
Morning Prayer 8:00 AM
Sung Mass 12:10 PM
Organ Recital 5:30 PM
Solemn Mass 6:00 PM

NEWS AND NOTES

On Saturday, November 2, All Souls’ Day, Bishop Sean Rowe will be installed as the 28th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. The service will be held at 11:00 AM at the Chapel of the Good Shepherd at the Episcopal Church Center here in New York. You can watch the investiture service here. Please pray for the new Presiding Bishop and his family. Pray for the Episcopal Church.

Post-Election: A Vigil for the Healing of the World

Wednesday, November 6, 7:00 PM
The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine

From the diocesan website: This will be a post-election vigil for the healing of the world. It will include prayer and music. Across the diocese, our people will vote in different ways—but together we hold values of dignity, justice, and peace. We can gather across difference to affirm the values we share. The service will be in-person and live-streamed. Local communities can join in lighting candles at their own observances. Diocesan partners include the director of the Interfaith Center of New York, the Reverend Dr. Chloe Breyer; the head of the New York City Board of Rabbis, Rabbi Joe Potasnik, and the Reverend Al Sharpton and the National Action Network.

Would you like to donate the altar flowers? . . . The following Sundays are available: November 10 and 17. The customary donation requested is $250. Please call the Parish Office for more information (212-869-5830).

ANNUAL REQUIEM MASSES

Each year we pray for the departed, those whom we love but who we see no longer, at five Requiem Masses celebrated on the weekdays after All Souls’ Day. This is the schedule: Monday, November 4, 12:10 PM, Last Names A-E; Tuesday, November 5, 12:10 PM, Last Names F-K; Wednesday, November 6, 12:10 & 6:00 PM, Last names L-N; Thursday, November 7, 12:10 PM, Last names O-Q; and Friday, November 8, 12:10 PM, Last names R-Z. At these Masses, prayers will be offered for the departed by the last name of the person making the request. Lists of names may be mailed to the parish office, sent by e-mail to the office, or placed in the collection basket at Mass.

OUTREACH AT SAINT MARY’S

Neighbors in Need . . . If you would like to volunteer or make a cash donation, please speak to MaryJane Boland. We are also eager to receive donations of new or lightly used sneakers and shoes, in all sizes, for both men and women. The October Drop-by was held on Friday, October 18, when we served 50 people. Next month’s Drop-by will take place on Friday, November 15. In December, the Drop-by will take place on the second Friday of the month, not the third: December 13, not December 20.

We are looking for a few more good volunteers, who feel called and inspired to give this work a try. Please speak to MaryJane Boland or Father Jay about our work and how you might help.

ABOUT THE MUSIC AT THE SOLEMN MASS ON SUNDAY NOVEMBER 3, 2024, THE TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

The organ prelude on Sunday morning is the first two of the five movements on the Latin hymn Te Deum laudamus (“We praise thee, O God”) by Dieterich Buxtehude (1637–1707). Buxtehude is one of the most highly regarded composers of the generation before Johann Sebastian Bach. His compositions include a wealth of organ music, pieces both free and based upon pre-existent melodies for sacred texts. His Choralfantasia Te Deum laudamus consists of five movements based upon the Solemn Tone plainchant for Te Deum, the ancient Latin hymn traditionally (but doubtfully) attributed to Saints Ambrose and Augustine. The first of the five movements, the Praeludium is introductory to the four succeeding versets in which proper plainsong melodies are quoted. Following the Praeludium, the second movement, Primus versus, quotes the opening verse of the plainsong for “We praise thee, O God, we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.” It is heard as a cantus firmus in long notes alternately below and above more accompanying figuration, and later in other varied textures. Sunday’s postlude is the fifth and final extant verset of Buxtehude’s Te Deum. This movement is based on the verse Tu devicto mortis aculeo (“Thou overcame the sting of death”). It comprises two sections of strictly imitative counterpoint and a closing section in freer fantasia style.

The setting of the Mass at the Solemn Mass on Sunday, November 3, 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.

Sunday’s Communion motet was composed by Emma Daniels, a member of the Choir of Saint Mary’s since fall 2022. Emma is originally from Chicago. She is the Music Director of Philomusica Concert Choir and a founding member of Triad: Boston’s Choral Collective, an organization made up of singers, composers, and conductors who share artistic responsibility and perform new music. At present, she sings, conducts, and composes with C4: the Choral Composer/Conductor Collective in NYC, the choir after which Triad was modeled. Emma’s compositions have been performed by Triad: Boston’s Choral Collective, Westminster Chapel Choir, Tufts Chamber Singers, and other college, synagogue, and church choirs from Boston to Los Angeles. Emma holds an M.M. in Choral Conducting from Westminster Choir College and a BA in Music from Tufts University. Her setting, which combines the well-known words of Psalm 23 with the opening Latin text of the Requiem Mass Introit, is particularly suitable on this Sunday in the octave of All Saints’ and All Souls’. A pitch of B-flat, alternately in soprano and tenor registers, is the constant anchoring thread through this setting as up to five additional voices provide melodic and harmonic color. Emma writes the following: “This piece unites the English-language Psalm 23 with Latin words of the Requiem Mass (“Requiem aeternam”). Through its combination of disparate texts, including a psalm with liturgical prevalence across different faiths, the piece aims to highlight the universality of the experience of loss and celebration of the journey of life.” — David Hurd

CONCERTS AT SAINT MARY’S

The Miller Theatre’s Early Music Series at Saint Mary’s

The Marian Consort
Music from Renaissance Scotland
Saturday, November 16, 2024, 7:30PM

From the theater website: In their Miller Theatre debut, the award-winning voices of The Marian Consort present a program of sumptuous Renaissance polyphony from some of Scotland’s few surviving sixteenth-century manuscripts. Works from the Dunkeld Partbooks provide a glimpse of the musical riches performed in this period, including the beautiful anonymous Missa Felix namque (“For you are happy”). In addition, selections from the Wode Partbooks showcase pieces by local musicians responding to the changing musical styles and requirements of post-Reformation Scotland.

Visit the Theatre’s website to purchase tickets. Tickets cannot be purchased ahead of time here at Saint Mary’s or by calling the parish office.

AN INVITATION FROM THE ROYAL FAMILY THEATER

We’d like to invite the people of Saint Mary’s to our two shows that are currently running. We’re doing a revised version of our Anne of Green Gables production from 2019, and a stand-alone sequel called Marilla of Green Gables which is brand new. These two shows are for all-ages and are family friendly. We’re really proud of these plays, and we would love the church to get a better sense of what we do.

This is our schedule through November 4:
Friday at 6:00 PM – Anne of Green Gables: Finding Home
Saturday at 3:00 PM – Anne of Green Gables: Finding Home
Saturday at 5:00 PM – Marilla of Green Gables: Becoming a Family
Sunday at 11:00 AM – Anne of Green Gables: Finding Home
Sunday at 1:00 PM – Marilla of Green Gables: Becoming a Family
Monday at 6:00 PM – Anne of Green Gables: Finding Home
Monday at 7:30 PM – Marilla of Green Gables: Becoming a Family

Please feel free to have anyone who wants to come email us and I will confirm them for any show they’d like to attend.

The Royal Family Theater is located on the third floor of the Parish House.

AT THE WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
99 Gansevoort Street
New York, NY

Edges of Ailey
Through February 9, 2025

From the museum website: Edges of Ailey is the first large-scale museum exhibition to celebrate the life, dances, influences, and enduring legacy of visionary artist and choreographer Alvin Ailey (1931–1989). This dynamic showcase—described as an “extravaganza” by curator Adrienne Edwards—brings together visual art, live performance, music, a range of archival materials, and a multi-screen video installation drawn from recordings of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) repertory to explore the full range of Ailey’s personal and creative life. 

Presented at the Museum in two parts, Edges of Ailey consists of an immersive exhibition in the Museum’s 18,000 square-foot fifth-floor galleries—featuring works by more than eighty artists and revelatory archival material—and an ambitious suite of performances in the Museum’s third-floor theater, including AILEY in residence for one week each month during the exhibition.

Ailey’s presence, felt through the video surround and his encased personal effects, envelops a scenic installation of artworks by over eighty artists. These works are arranged by themes that shaped Ailey’s life and dances. Sections span an expanded Black southern imaginary that enfolds histories of the American South with those of the Caribbean, Brazil, and West Africa; the enduring practices of Black spirituality; the profound conditions and effects of Black migration; the resilience for and necessity of an intersectional Black liberation; the prominence of Black women in Ailey’s life; and the robust histories and experiments of Black music; along with the myriad representations of Blackness in dance and meditations on dance after Ailey.

Edges of Ailey also offers a rare opportunity for visitors to watch intimate live performances by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in the Museum’s third-floor theater. As part of the exhibition’s robust live performance program, AILEY is in residence at the Whitney for one week each month, for a total of five weeks and over ninety performances. This gives visitors the opportunity to experience the full scope of Ailey's world and legacy, including performances of classic and contemporary works by the two repertory companies—Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Ailey II—as well as showcases by students from The Ailey School, workshops and education programs from Ailey Arts In Education, and classes from Ailey Extension. During the weeks AILEY is not in residence at the Museum, a series of dance commissions by leading choreographers and their collaborators, including Ronald K. Brown, Trajal Harrell, Bill T. Jones, Ralph Lemon, with interdisciplinary artist Kevin Beasley, Sarah Michelson, Okwui Okpokwasili and Peter Born, Will Rawls, Matthew Rushing, Yusha-Marie Sorzano, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar will be showcased. 

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.