FROM FATHER SMITH: THE LOVE OF LEARNING

In March 2020, it was not apparent to many of us how disruptive COVID-19 would be to everyday life in New York and in the lives of people around the world. But disruptive it has surely been. One of the great disruptions has been to education.

FROM THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: SEARCHING FOR THE NEXT RECTOR

The Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees, which consists of the President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer of the Board, is delighted to announce that Mary Robison and Mark Risinger have graciously agreed to serve as co-chairs of the Rector Search Committee, which begins its work this fall. Their first task is to select the membership of the committee itself.

FROM GLADYS RAMOS-REYES: MY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY

Raised by a staunch Roman Catholic mother, I spent many of my childhood days reading and debating the Bible with my brother. One of life’s adversities led me to disconnect from the Roman Catholic faith during my teenage years. I then spent what felt like a lifetime searching for a new faith. Throughout this time, my own spirituality began to unfold, and I began using language such as “I’m one of God’s helpers,” a very active role in my personal life.

FROM FATHER JACOBSON: PRAY FOR US O HOLY MOTHER OF GOD

“O God, you have taken to yourself the blessed Virgin Mary, mother of your incarnate Son: Grant that we, who have been redeemed by his blood, may share with her the glory of your eternal kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.” (BCP, 243)

The first thing one may notice in this collect for the Assumption from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer is that it doesn’t say anything about the Blessed Virgin Mary being assumed bodily into heaven. Given that the day is simply entitled “Saint Mary the Virgin” in the BCP, it is consistent with the Episcopal Church seeming to sidestep somewhat this aspect of Marian tradition, while leaving enough room for each to interpret “O God, you have taken to yourself the blessed Virgin Mary” as they see fit.

FROM FATHER JACOBSON:
ON THE TRANSFIGURATION

Matthew, Mark, and Luke all include accounts of the Transfiguration, with only some slight variations in the details (Matthew 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8; Luke 9:28-36). In all three, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up a mountain. Elijah and Moses are seen with him as he is transfigured, and the Father then declares Jesus to be his Son.

One of the Eastern Orthodox hymns for the Transfiguration says that by witnessing this revelatory event, Peter, James, and John would then be able to understand Christ’s passion.

FROM FATHER WOOD: ON UNITY

This week I’ve been thinking about unity.

On Tuesday, more than 600 bishops from across the worldwide Anglican Communion gathered in Canterbury, England, for the Lambeth Conference to listen and learn from each other. Lambeth doesn’t legislate; it’s considered an “instrument of communion (unity)” for Anglicans everywhere. Still, as too often happens, the week started off with displays of disunity and bickering. So, I started the week praying for our bishops to find unity. When Psalm 133’s Oh, how good and pleasant it is, when brethren live together in unity! showed up in both the mass and Morning Prayer readings for the week, I prayed for unity again.

FROM FATHER WOOD: BE OF GOOD COURAGE

There’s a collect in the Morning Prayer rite, a prayer for mission, that reads:

“Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of thy faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before thee for all members of thy holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and godly serve thee; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, p. 57)

FROM FATHER SMITH: A BOOK GROUP AT SAINT MARY’S

For some time now, Father Sammy and I have been talking about how we might foster learning and community, sharing and listening in different ways here at Saint Mary’s. We hope to try a couple of new things in the coming year. One of those things is a book group. The advantage of such groups is that, if all goes well, they promote a certain kind of egalitarianism.

FROM JENNIFER STEVENS: HEARING & DOING THE WORD

Despite the many logistical challenges of the pandemic—or perhaps because of them—I found and followed a path which has led me to prison ministry. There is truth in theologian Frederick Buechner word’s, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

FROM THE ANTI-RACISM GROUP: BUILDING THE BELOVED COMMUNITY

When our group began to meet in 2020, due to the wonderful efforts of Brothers Thomas and Damien, we were all horrified by recent the murder of George Floyd. Our readings about the history of race relations in the United States, institutional racism, and red lining have upset us very much. However, as we have prayed for some reconciliation and understanding of our problems and the Christian effort for a needed Beloved Community, we have become more optimistic that with hard work and diligence the long arc of justice is possible. This group has also made us more appreciative of Saint Mary’s and its importance as an example of a loving and diverse parish where all are welcome. So much to do!

FROM MARK RISINGER: THE MINISTRY OF LISTENING

In my classroom at school, there is an entire shelf filled with copies of a music appreciation textbook by a well-known critic and historian with a simple, one-word title: “LISTEN.” I’ve often told my students that my class might be more appropriately called “listening class” rather than “music class,” since one of the most important skills I want them to develop is the ability to listen carefully, closely, and with understanding, not only to the music we study but also to each other. I want them to perceive the difference between merely hearing that someone is talking and actively listening to that person. Listening—really listening—is an active choice rather than a passive occurrence. It is an activity that is growing in its importance for all of us, given the increased complexity of the world in which we live.

FROM GRACE MUDD: TEACHING AS LOVE

Mid-to-late June is a time when teachers are often asked to reflect on their work over the preceding several months, but rarely how work in the very secular public schools reflects God’s call to do His work in the world. The simple answer is love.

FROM ZACHARY ROESEMANN: BY THE HAND OF ZACHARIAS

Zachary Roesemann is Saint Mary’s resident iconographer. He works in a studio on the third floor of the Mission House, just east of the church building. He is also a faithful member of Saint Mary’s. This is how he describes his work, “I paint icons using traditional techniques and materials—natural pigments, egg tempera and twenty-three-karat gold leaf—the same elements used in Byzantine and Medieval art. Animal, mineral, and vegetable are united in the icon to glorify God. Also, as is traditional, I model my icons on the ancient originals, those images that the church has over the centuries accepted and revered as ‘windows on heaven.’

FROM DR. CHARLES MORGAN:
SAWUBONA. COMMUNITY HELPING COMMUNITY.

I grew up in a small village in Jamaica where the family ethos was to help those who were less fortunate. This was reinforced in my high school whose motto was Sic Luceat Lux (“Let your light so shine”). Each new term began with the reading from Matthew’s gospel (5:16) to remind us who was the source of our light.

FROM THE PARISH TREASURER: SOME WAYS TO HELP SAINT MARY’S

Those of you who were at the annual congregational meeting or who read the written report know that Saint Mary’s is operating under a significant budget deficit this year as we emerge from a difficult couple of years and try to invest in the parish’s future. All this means that your financial support is more important than ever, and here are a few things to consider when planning how you might help this year.

FROM FATHER SAMMY WOOD, INTERIM RECTOR

On a family trip to England a few years ago, I dragged Renee and the kids on a train ride to a small out of the way place called the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, partly because I wanted to see the Ascension Chapel.

That image—our ascending Lord’s nail-pierced feet dangling from the chapel ceiling—seems to smack of an unscientific, pre-Enlightenment view of the cosmos, a naive belief that heaven is “up there” somewhere. Douglas Farrow, in his Ascension Theology, says:

“It must be admitted that the doctrine of the Ascension, if construed along Lukan lines at all, is something of an embarrassment in the age of the telescope and the space probe . . .”

FROM THE AIDS WALK TEAM

The Walk is finally here! This Sunday, Saint Mary’s AIDS Walk Team will gather after Solemn Mass and walk the Central Park route (a few hours after the other teams). You will probably notice some parishioners on Sunday at Mass dressed and ready for the Walk.

Given the challenges of the current fundraising environment, we initially set a modest goal of $40,000. This was indeed a modest number when considering that in 2019, the last year before the pandemic, we raised $62,757. Nevertheless, that’s where we set our hopes and we ended up beating and raising the goal twice this year! First at $45,000 and then at $50,000. We are currently at $52,431 and rank second overall among teams in the event.

FROM FATHER SMITH: WHY DOES MARY WEAR A CROWN?

I had lunch this week with a priest friend, who knows his theology, is a fine preacher, and has a particular devotion to the Blessed Virgin, especially as she is known as Our Lady of Guadalupe. I asked him, as one does, “Why do we call Mary queen of heaven?” He said without delay, “Because Jesus is a king.”

On the Sundays in Advent, we hear these words, “Because you sent your beloved Son to redeem us from sin and death, and to make us heirs in him of everlasting life; that when he shall come again in power and great triumph to judge the world, we may without shame or fear rejoice to behold his appearing.” (BCP 378)

FROM FATHER JACOBSON: ON THE MYSTERY OF BAPTISM

One of the well-known figures in antiquity associated with sacrament of baptism is Saint Ambrose of Milan. In part, it is because he famously baptized Saint Augustine at the Easter Vigil in the year 387, after having played an important role in his conversion, but also because some of his writings help give us a sense of fourth-century baptismal theology and liturgy.

EASTERTIDE: THE PRACTICE OF JOY

Practice resurrection.
(Wendell Berry, from “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front”)

My mother, of blessed memory, was fond of quoting Bible verses to (or, rather, at) me. I’ll admit it could be infuriating for a 13-year-old to hear “Honor thy father and mother” (Exodus 20.12) whenever I disobeyed, or “All things work together for good to them that love God” (Romans 8.28) every time I inevitably missed the cut for an all-star team. But I’m grateful Mom ingrained a vocabulary of Sacred Scripture in me such that I readily call to mind passages like this one: “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.” (Psalm 126.6) I need to remember that this time of year.