Truth

More and more people I know have now seen Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of the Christ.  A friend and his wife who took their fifteen year-old daughter to see the movie regretted it.  He said, “It isn’t an ‘R’ movie; it’s an ‘NC-17’.”  I asked someone whether the movie shows the crucified Jesus naked or wearing a loincloth.  I was told that in the movie he is shown with a loincloth, as he almost always is in art. 

Language of Lent

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent but it doesn’t feel that way to me.  There is an energy here in the city bound up with the desire of people to receive the imposition of ashes.  It makes the day unique in its spirituality.  For me, the language of Lent really kicks in on the First Sunday in Lent.  Again, it’s not that Lent is unobserved here on Ash Wednesday!  But one is too preoccupied to notice. 

Beginnings

I haven’t seen Mel Gibson’s new movie.  It’s hard to avoid knowing something about it.  I don’t plan to see it anytime soon.  I don’t like to watch gore, especially after seeing the photograph in the New York Times of Jesus on the cross, I think this movie will have to much. 

Ending and Beginning

The Last Sunday after the Epiphany has been observed with special music at the Solemn Mass at Saint Mary’s for a number of years.  Our former music director McNeil Robinson introduced the custom of singing Missa Luba, arranged by Guido Haazen, on this date.  It’s a setting based on themes from African music. 

From Father Beddingfield: Thinking about Membership

When anyone is newly come ... let him not be granted an easy entrance; but, as the Apostle says, “Test the spirits to see whether they are from God.”  If the newcomer, therefore, perseveres in his knocking, and if it is seen after four or five days that he bears patiently the harsh treatment offered him and the difficulty of admission, and that he persists in his petition, then let entrance be granted him....

From the Rule of Saint Benedict, Chapter 58

Growing

There’s a lot of research out about church life.  It is an industry.  Congregations have ‘life cycles.’  There are congregations who are organized to survive, to grow and, yes, even, to die.  Saint Mary’s was organized to be a place of liturgical worship.  It was organized as part of a movement that was sweeping through Christian communities in the nineteenth century.  In the wake of the academic and artist revolutions of the time, the Church was rediscovering liturgy and itself.

After Five Years: Looking Ahead

On Sunday, February 1, 2004 I will begin my sixth year of service as rector of Saint Mary’s.  I preached and celebrated the first time here at the Solemn Mass on Tuesday, February 2, 1999, the third rector in a row whose service at the altar began on the Feast of the Presentation.  I cannot begin to explain or really understand the mystery of God’s providence that brought me to serve him in this place.

New Sights

Last night I came up from the B train at Rockefeller Center at 49th, on the west side of the street.  There were some folks coming down the steps so I walked up the staircase looking up, instead of down - the way most of us walk around New York most of the time. 

Prayer Book Studies

In 1950 the Standing Liturgical Commission published the first issue of “Prayer Book Studies.”  This booklet, in a series that would continue through the development of the present Prayer Book, contained two studies: I. Baptism and Confirmation and II. The Liturgical Lectionary.  Revision of the 1892 Prayer Book had begun in 1913. 

Epiphany

An e-mail inquiry about Epiphany (“manifestation”) sent me to the books the other day.  I am always forgetting that Christmas is not just about the birth of Jesus, liturgically speaking, and Epiphany is not just about the coming of the Wise Men.  I’m pretty good at remembering that what we call “Palm Sunday” is the original “Good Friday” – hence, the Liturgy of the Palms is attached to the Mass of the Passion.  It’s just as complicated during this time of year, too.

Spontaneous

Something unusual happened on Christmas Eve: the assembly starting applauding as the final hymn, Hark! the herald angels sing, ended.  There was still a dismissal to do, still a postlude to be played.  I had the strong sense that the spontaneous applause that broke out throughout the filled church was not just for the hymn and the descant on the final verse, which was glorious, but for the whole Mass – and, I confess, especially for our parish musicians.  The music and the Mass were extraordinary.

Christ the King

I was making a short retreat at Saint Gregory’s Abbey when I met a priest who had been a member of the Standing Liturgical Commission in 1976.  The adoption of a new Prayer Book requires the action of two successive General Conventions.  The 1979 Prayer Book, the one we have today, had to be complete by a date and time certain during the 1976 General Convention.  The priest told me they stayed up through

An Annual Report of Sorts

The Board of Trustees of Saint Mary’s will be meeting on Monday night, November 17.  For those new to the community, Saint Mary’s is one of a small number of Episcopal parishes in the United States not organized in the ordinary way.  It is a structure that has its strengths and weaknesses,

From Father Beddingfield: Wisdom and the Body

I’ve been thinking a lot about wisdom lately.  Any search for wisdom risks arriving at a point of frustration where we might agree with the writer of Ecclesiastes, “In much wisdom is much vexation, and those who increase knowledge increase sorrow.”  Nevertheless, those of us involved in the current Wednesday night Christian formation series are plodding forward. 

November at Saint Mary’s

The first day of November is All Saints’ Day.   This year it occurs on a Saturday.  And as is our custom, the principal service for the feast will be Friday evening at 6:00 PM.  On the most sacred days, the Church still reckons time as Jesus did.  In the Hebrew calendar, the day begins at sunset.  All Saints’ is the day the Church remembers with thanksgiving those who have died in Christ, especially those whose names are no longer known to us, and asks for their intercession for us.

From Father Beddingfield:  A note about Confession

Increasingly, we have people from many different religious backgrounds who find Saint Mary’s.  For many, our building and what we do inside raise questions.  Very often, I find that the confessionals at Saint Mary’s (those wooden booths at the back of the church and down the side aisle) provoke some of the more interesting conversations.  People ask, “You don’t still use those, do you?” 

Saint Mary’s Matters

When I think about the future of our parish and its mission I cannot help but be aware of what a unique place of worship Saint Mary’s is.  I am aware, and many who read this newsletter may not be aware, that liturgical formation has virtually disappeared from the seminaries of the Episcopal Church.  I don’t expect this to change anytime soon.

More is Better

This past Sunday’s celebration of the Feast of Dedication was great.  A lot of things go into making such a day so powerful at Saint Mary’s.  It’s a day when it is so easy to see the hard and committed work of those who are here and of those who were here before us.

The Dedication of the Church

As far as I can tell, the anniversary of the dedication of Saint Mary’s church building has never been celebrated on the actual anniversary.  The church was consecrated by the Right Reverend Henry Codman Potter, bishop of New York, on December 12, 1895.  Yet the first service had already been held, on December 8, 1895.  Beginning in 1896, December 8 was celebrated as the Anniversary of the Dedication of the Church.

A Lovely Gift

The Reverend Gene Paradise is a longtime friend of Saint Mary’s.  He is presently associate for senior pastoral care at Saint Luke’s Church, Atlanta, after having retired as rector of Saint Michael’s Church in Waynesboro, Georgia and after serving the Church in many positions since ordination in 1983.  Father was a member of Saint Mary’s from 1963 through 1967.  He’s been here several times since I’ve been rector.