From The Rector:  Looking Back and Looking Forward

I happened to be in Amsterdam with friends in August 2001.  It was a wonderful week in many ways.  Memories of that week have remained especially sweet in light of what was to happen shortly after I returned.  Since then, too, I have read more about the Netherlands and Amsterdam when I have the chance.

From Father Smith: Working, Praying, and Giving to Spread God’s Kingdom

Many years ago, while wandering through the galleries containing the Met’s permanent collection of European paintings and feeling overwhelmed, and not a little bit bored, by all those grand scenes drawn from classical mythology, I came across a painting that told a different, more contemporary kind of story.  It was a large canvas, by an artist whose name I don’t remember and, in my ignorance, probably didn’t recognize.  The picture depicted a large, luxurious room in some Roman palazzo where two portly, dangerously red-faced, and sumptuously dressed prelates sat in throne-like chairs listening with a certain attitude – perhaps boredom, perhaps disdain –

From the Rector: Seen and Unseen

Last winter I began a serious effort to get the heating pipes underneath the church insulated to reduce heat loss.  Since coming to Saint Mary’s, I have been working with our plumber to repair and replace leaking pipes and valves.  But I had been told repeatedly since arriving at Saint Mary’s that nothing could be done about the heat loss.  The church uses Con Edison steam for heating.  The system was installed years ago.  Any insulation job would be too big and too expensive to do.  I didn’t train to be a building manager, but I’ve learned to be persistent over the years.  As I write, the job is basically complete for a little less than $6,000.00.

From the Rector: Some Primary Things

Just the other day, when I stepped into an elevator, a lady asked, in what turned out to be a Columbus, Georgia, accent, “Are you an Episcopal minister?”  I replied, “Yes, ma’am.”  It reminded me of another elevator conversation I had shortly after coming to Saint Mary’s.  A woman asked, “Are you an Episcopal priest?  Does your collar mean you are ‘high church’?”  Again, I was new to the parish – and in that moment, rather proud.  I replied, “As a matter of fact, I’m the new rector of the highest parish in the land.”  Even then, however, that’s not the way I would want to describe Saint Mary’s.

From Father Mead: Through the glass, darkly

Every autumn I write an Angelus article outlining the upcoming Christian Education Program that is being offered at Saint Mary’s.  In addition to that, this year I’d like to try to explain why I believe these classes are useful for all of us, and why I hope you will attend if you are able to.

From the Rector: Triumph of the Cross

Sunday, September 14, is Holy Cross Day.  It is a “Feast of our Lord” that may take precedence over the ordinary Sunday celebration, and certainly this is the tradition at Saint Mary’s.  Quite unlike the Sunday of the Passion or Good Friday, the Mass is triumphal in its sorrow, its joy and its proclamation.  We use a beautiful responsorial psalm at the Solemn Mass.  The refrain is simple and simply powerful, “Faithful cross above all other, one and only noble tree.”

From the Rector: The Most Important Things

While on vacation, I came across a book that I’d looked at a few years ago when it first came out, Being Dead Is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies’ Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral.  It was written by two members of Saint James’ Church, Jackson, Mississippi.  It’s part cookbook, part commentary.  It’s the kind of book my mother might have taken someone as a hostess gift.  I laughed and laughed as I browsed through it, but I got the point.  No excuse.  Dead or alive, you and I are supposed to do the right thing in life, especially when it comes to dying.

From Father Smith: Some Thoughts on Evangelism

I recently asked a parishioner if he could remember why he had decided to join Saint Mary’s.  I was curious about what had drawn him here in the first place and if there had been something particular, some “tipping point,” that had convinced him to stay.  He smiled and said, “Well, this will seem silly to you, but I had been coming here for a while, mostly to daily Mass.  I’d sit out in the nave.

From The Rector: Churches of the Fathers

Of all the curious events in the Anglican Communion this year, among the most curious to me was the invitation to address the Lambeth Conference given by the archbishop of Canterbury to Walter Kasper, the Roman Catholic cardinal who is president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.  It wasn’t the first time Archbishop Williams had asked Cardinal Kasper to address a gathering.

From The Rector: You Welcomed Me

Many of you know that our parish kitchen has been closed since last fall.  For the moment, there are too many other maintenance projects in the pipeline that must take priority over this one. Fortunately, we can still serve a few things from the kitchen -- coffee, tea, juice and light packaged refreshments – and at receptions on principal feasts, wine, punch and their accompaniments.  But more than that, no.  Curiously, coffee hour on Sundays lasts longer than when the kitchen was working. 

From The Rector: Assumption 2008

There are some members of our parish community who can remember a time when there was no Solemn Mass here on August 15, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  It was Donald Garfield, the seventh rector of the parish, who introduced the solemn celebration of the feast to the regular cycle of the parish’s life.  I imagine there were complaints.  Yet, in spite of these challenges and years of August heat, the church is usually full, the music and the Mass glorious, and the fellowship afterwards wonderful.

From The Rector: Primary Things

For several years, and through several curates, your parish priests have kicked around the idea of having an annual liturgical conference at Saint Mary’s.  This spring Matt Mead came into my office with a proposal for a one-day conference for fall 2008.  I knew we could do it if we had the right speaker to get it started.  Bishop Frank Griswold was excited by the idea and agreed to be the keynote speaker for our first conference.  The brochure for the conference is already on the parish webpage and has been mailed to members of the clergy who are on our parish mailing list.  More publicity is planned.  The conference is called “Primary Things.”  It’s not about “smells and bells” but it’s a time for priests to reflect on their ministry as stewards of the sacraments and servants of the assembly.

From Father Mead: If I Were A Mystery Worshipper

There’s a website called “Ship of Fools” that runs a regular feature called the Mystery Worshipper.  A Mystery Worshipper visits a church and evaluates everything that happens from the moment he or she enters until he or she leaves.  At the end of the review the church gets graded (1-10).  Everything matters, all the details count, and surprisingly, personal preferences about things like-high or low-church styles don’t seem to matter as much as you might think.  Recently Saint Mary’s has had two very positive Mystery Worshipper reviews.  Though the many details matter a great deal, most churches score well, as we did, if those details add up to a smooth flowing service and friendly people (both laity and clergy). 

From Father Smith: The Hope of Our Calling

A friend called me early one morning recently and invited me to a performance of the Public Theater’s production of Hamlet in Central Park.  She told me that she was already in the Park, had a good place in line and was sure that she would be able to get us tickets for that evening’s performance.  I was on vacation and was free that evening, so I eagerly accepted her kind offer.  I also thanked her for doing all the work. 

From the Rector: Richness of Tradition

This week I was finally able to read an article that I’ve wanted to see for some time.  It’s by Father Paul Bradshaw, the Anglican liturgist who is professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame.  Its title is “The Eucharistic Sayings of Jesus” (Studia Liturgica 35, 2005, pages 1-11).  Father Bradshaw is a careful and very readable scholar.  He’s very good at taking a fresh look at sources to see what they say, or don’t say, and to see if the sources are actually addressing a particular issue.

From the Rector: Hail and Farewell

This Sunday, July 6, Robert McCormick will conclude his service as organist and music director of the parish.  As you know, he has accepted a position at Saint Paul’s Parish, Washington, D.C.  His first Sunday with us as the parish musician was on July 1, 2001.  It’s been a wonderful seven years in every way.  I am very proud of the work he has done here and I know you join me in wishing him the best in the years to come.

From the Rector: Peter and Paul

This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Apostles.  Most years there are one or two celebrations of a certain rank that parishes can choose to observe in preference to an ordinary Sunday in the Season after Epiphany or the Season after Pentecost.  This year, in addition to Peter and Paul, Holy Cross Day, September 14, falls on a Sunday and we will keep it on Sunday.  We also observe on Sundays the Nativity of John the Baptist (June 24), Assumption (August 15), and Saint Michael and All Angels (September 29) when these feasts fall on Sunday.

From the Rector: Music News

I am delighted to announce that James Kennerley will be interim organist & music director.  His first Sunday will be August 10.  He will play a recital before the Solemn Mass on Friday, August 15.  He is an outstanding young musician.  I could not be happier for all of us.

From the Rector: Daily Mass

In the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Luke describes the outpouring of the Spirit on the apostles, their first preaching and how those who heard Good News were baptized.  The chapter concludes, “And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people.  And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:46-57).  It’s too easy and far too common for us to read the present into the past – the apostles were not, for example, the Church’s first “priests” or “bishops.”  Our idea of “breaking bread” – that is, the Mass –

Volume 10, Number 28, June 8, 2008

From the Rector: Full Gospel ChristiansGetting Up For UsThe other day I was in the church listening to organ music while standing across from the third station of the cross which commemorates Jesus falling for the first time.  For whatever reason, I found myself thinking not about Jesus falling but about Jesus getting up for us.  It mattered that he got up and kept going.  It matters too that you and I get up and get going for others and for Jesus.