FROM FATHER SAMMY WOOD ON NOUWEN: “MOVING FROM SOLITUDE TO COMMUNITY TO MISSION”

Henri J. M. Nouwen is one of a handful of people I really wish I could sit and have coffee with (along with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Rich Mullins, Dallas Willard, and Tom Brady, known in our house as the “Greatest Living American”—hope still springs for the last one). Born in the Netherlands, Nouwen became a priest and studied psychology, wrote 42 books, lectured at Notre Dame, Yale, and Harvard, and died in 1996. From what I’ve read of his life, he was a lot like many of us—he had a deep desire for intimacy with others, experienced loneliness, even suffered depression. But he is also remembered for his kindness and his own brand of sanctity. From biographer Michael Ford:

With the most generous of spirits, [Henri] had the outer conviction and inner authority to announce a message of love and healing to a broken world—and he did it despite his highly strung, tense and nervous temperament, which he knew was all part of his own paradox. Many people suggested to me that Henri was a saint—all my research and intuition confirm that he was—but he side-stepped any form of spiritual adulation and was much more aware of his failings.

Nowen’s The Return of the Prodigal Son and Life of the Beloved are two much loved texts I revisit again and again, and I hope to teach on them at Saint Mary’s someday in the future.

In the meantime, a famous article Nouwen wrote in the journal Leadership in 1995 will serve as the basis for our upcoming Town Hall Meeting after the 11:00 Mass on Sunday, January, 11. The article, called “Moving from Solitude to Community to Mission” (available in .pdf form several places online), attempts to answer the question “What disciplines will help me follow Jesus?” The Board of Trustees read this article together earlier this year, and it was recommended that it might be good fodder for conversation among the larger parish community.

Nouwen’s thought flows from this familiar passage of scripture from Luke 6:

Now it happened in those days that Jesus went onto the mountain to pray, and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. When day came, he summoned his disciples and picked out twelve of them and called them apostles: Simon, whom he called Peter; and his brother, Andrew; James; John; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew; Thomas; James, son of Alphaeus; Simon, called the Zealot; Judas, son of James; and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. He then came down with them and stopped at a piece of level ground where there was a large gathering of his disciples. There was a great crowd of people from all parts of Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and be cured of their diseases. And people tormented by unclean spirits were also cured. Everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him because power came out of him that cured them all.

According to the logic Nouwen traces, this passage demonstrates Jesus (1) spent the night in Solitude, (2) called together his Community, and (3) only then did they go out in Ministry together.

At Saint Mary’s, I hope that together we are becoming a family that follows this template, moving from solitude to community to mission. Over the next two weeks, take a few minutes to read through the article a few times, and give some thought to these questions:

• Why is solitude important? And what are your own and our parish’s practices that create space for us all to hear God’s voice? How do you practice solitude in our busy, noisy, New York lives?

• Do you feel like part of a real community at Saint Mary’s? What are the hardest and best aspects of community here? How can we make more opportunities to be a real community?

• In this our Year of Service, how do you think we’re doing as a community that ministers together? What does “ministry” mean to you? And does Nouwen define it differently?

Parish Town Hall meetings were born from the joy experienced by gathering as a parish for conversation at our annual meeting, a joy we wanted to experience more than once a year. Our inaugural Town Hall was held on September 23, 2024, and I hope you will join us for our next one on January 11.

For God and Saint Mary’s!
~ SW

PARISH PRAYERS

We pray for the people and clergy of our sister parish, the Church of All Saints, Margaret Street, London, and for the Church of the Province of Central Africa, in the Anglican cycle of prayer.

We pray for those who have asked us for our prayers, for Lorelei, Lisa, Sue, Alice, Loredana, Joshua, Irma, Ruth Ann, Rosemary, Holy, Becky, Bill, Elliot, Grady, Chris, Violet, Tod, Pat, Allen, Melvin, Vicki, Brendon, Nadia, Carol, Giovanna, Priya, Kavi, Ronald, Jose, Ben, Russell, Robert, Sandy, Lexi, Georgia, Desarae, David, Tony, Jan, Carlos, Liduvina, Quincy, Leroy, Margaret, and Robert; Victoria, Suzanne Elizabeth, and Laura Katherine, religious; Lind, deacon; and, Jay and Stephen, priests.

We pray for the repose of the souls of those who have died, especially Michael and Stu, priest, and for those whose year’s mind is on January 4: Lewis Leonard (1906), Thomas Jefferson Titus (1916), Gertrude Piehl (1931), Mary Bond Carl (1943), Warrington Lewis (1951), Ada Valentine Waters (1956), and Marian Wickes Haines (1965).

AROUND THE PARISH

Evensong & Benediction — Evensong & Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament will be offered this Sunday, January 4, at 4:00 PM in lieu of Evening Prayer.

The Epiphany — The Epiphany of Our Lord Jesus Christ is on Tuesday, January 6. Morning Prayer is at 8:00 AM. There will be a Sung Mass at 12:10 PM in the Lady Chapel. In the evening, Buck McDaniel & Derrick Meador will offer an Organ Recital at 5:30 PM. Solemn Mass follows at 6:00 PM.

Town Hall Meeting — As discussed in Father Wood’s article above, we will gather as a community after Solemn Mass on Sunday, January 11, for our next Town Hall Meeting. All friends and members of the parish are encouraged to attend.

The Peter Powell Lecture on Anglo-Catholicism and Mission — The inaugural The Peter Powell Lecture on Anglo-Catholicism and Mission will take place on Thursday, February 12, 2026, when we host the Rev. Dr. Andrew McGowan, Dean and President and McFaddin Professor of Anglican Studies and Pastoral Theology at the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale. There will be a Choral Evensong at 5:30 PM followed by a reception and Father McGowan’s lecture, “The Tabernacle and the Streets: Reserving the Eucharist and Feeding the Poor.”

Adult Formation — Adult Formation is on Christmas break until January 18 when we will resume with a Foundations Course on the spiritual life taught by Fr. Sammy Wood. Click here to see what we have planned for this semester.

Fr. Jacobson on vacation — Following Solemn Mass on the Epiphany, Fr. Matt will be on vacation through Sunday, January 18.

Rosary Guild — The Rosary Guild next meets on Sunday, January 25, after the 11:00 AM Mass, to pray the rosary. All are welcome. 

Interested in being Confirmed? — Please speak with Fr. Sammy Wood if you are interested in receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation or being received into the Episcopal Church (for those already confirmed in another Christian denomination). Confirmation class begins this month and will prepare candidates to be confirmed at Bp. Allen Shin’s visit on Pentecost.

Thursday Bible Study — Thursday evening Bible study in 2025-2026 is based on the Sunday lectionary for the upcoming Sunday and generally will be led by the preacher for that day. We meet over Zoom at 6:00 PM. If interested, please email Fr. Wood for the link.

Neighbors in Need — As it grows colder, the needs of our visitors change. Our first priority now is warm jackets and coats. We are also in serious need of men’s large winter tops and sweaters. Our additional priority needs are practical shoes (no dress shoes or high heels), jeans and cords, and sweaters and tops. Thanks to a generous gift at our October drop-by, we were able to provide new jeans for every visitor. Thanks to your donations we are also able to purchase toiletries and underwear, especially thermals. Please speak to MaryJane Boland or Marie Rosseels for more information or send an email to neighbors@stmvnyc.org.

THE DIOCESE AND WIDER CHURCH

Absalom Jones Celebration — The Diocese’s 2026 Absalom Jones Celebration takes place on Saturday, February 14, at 10:30 AM at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. This meaningful service will honor the legacy of the Reverend Absalom Jones, the first Black priest ordained in the Episcopal Church, whose groundbreaking ministry paved the way for a more diverse and inclusive priesthood. The celebrant will be The Rt. Rev. Matthew F. Heyd, 17th Bishop of New York, and The Rt. Rev. Carlye J. Hughes 11th Bishop of Newark, will preach. Click here to register or to donate to the Absalom Jones Fund for Episcopal HBCUs.

Immigration Legal Support Fund — Recently, the Diocese of New York announced a new Immigration Legal Support Fund to support immigrant families in our congregations and neighborhoods throughout the Diocese of New York. The Legal Fund will help those navigating immigration under urgent and vulnerable circumstances to access legal resources. We’re starting with a $50,000 contribution from the Bishop’s discretionary funds.  Help us to match this amount to keep families together. With your support, we can do more so that no one faces the system alone. Your contribution makes possible same-day response, family preparedness, limited-scope appearances, and urgent filings. You can click below to contribute. Learn more about the Immigration Legal Support Fund here.

ABOUT THE MUSIC AT SOLEMN MASS ON THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS DAY

The organ Prelude on Sunday is a chorale fantasia on Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern (How brightly shines the Morning Star) by Dieterich Buxtehude (1637–1707). This chorale, most often associated with the season of Epiphany, is found in two melodic versions in The Hymnal 1982 at 496 and 497. Buxtehude’s fantasia begins by quoting the melody literally although cloaked in varying accompaniments suggestive of a narrative relative to the journey of those following the star. The second variation is more stylistically uniform and in the manner of a gigue.

The musical setting of the Mass is the four-voice Missa Octavi Toni by the Italian Baroque composer Antonio Lotti (1667–1740). Lotti was born in Venice, his father Matteo having been Kappellmeister at Hanover at the time. Lotti’s career took shape at St. Mark’s, Venice, where he was an alto singer, organist, and eventually maestro di cappella from 1736 until his death four years later. In addition to his well-known church music–Masses and cantatas–Lotti composed madrigals and about thirty operas, some of which were produced in Dresden where he was employed from 1717 to 1719. Lotti’s liturgical compositions retain renaissance characteristics but also bear evidence of the emerging baroque styles in approach to harmony and functional bass. His Missa Octavi Toni is a setting for four voices and, while polyphonic in construction, may well be more tonal than modal in harmonic conception. It imparts the liturgical text clearly and efficiently. 

The motet at Communion is Who is this boy? by California composer, Fahad Siadat. Dr. Siadat holds music degrees from Vanderbilt University and from The California Institute of the Arts. Working as a performer, composer, conductor, and curator, Fahad is the director of the Resonance Collective and the award-winning vocal ensemble HEX. His music has been performed in Europe, China, and across the United States. He has written the following of his four-voice choral piece:

I created this piece in three sections to convey the witnesses’ progressive understanding of what this child might represent. It begins with a hushed questioning at a miraculous event they do not yet fully understand. The second section is like a prophetic flash of what is to come, the sudden realization of what being the messiah means for the life and death of this innocent child. Finally, the piece ends with a soothing lullaby. Even if the future holds tragedy, we can focus on the present, the beauty of new life, and the more distant hope of the future.

The organ Sortie will be improvised.

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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 Matt Jacobson, except as noted. Father Matt is also responsible for formatting 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. If you have an idea for an article that you would like to publish in an upcoming issue of The Angelus, Father Matt would be happy to discuss it with you.