From the Curate:  Why do we do what we do?

Liturgy is important in the Episcopal Church.  Instead of the 300-page catechism or Biblical fundamentalism we have the Book of Common Prayer and the liturgy contained in it to keep us bound together and well behaved.  Not much can be tinkered with in the 18-page catechism or with the Bible.  So for Episcopalians, especially the clergy, liturgy becomes the venue for their creative expression.   

About the Mass: The Liturgy of the Word (Part I)

Early Christians gathered to listen to the story of salvation, to pray and to break the Bread.  This is still what we do.  Today we call it the Mass.  Things haven't changed essentially from the days when the Apostles gathered with each other in amazement at the presence of the Lord.

About the Annual Meeting

In the Episcopal Church an annual meeting of the congregation is held every year.  It is the occasion for the members of the congregation to receive reports from the rector and vestry on the temporal affairs of the community and to hold parish elections.  It is also a time when the parish leadership reports to the community about its work in the past year and plans for the new year.

About the Liturgy: Entrance Rite

I get questions from time to time about the shape of the Entrance Rite in the Mass.  This is the first part of the Eucharistic celebration, from the opening chant through the collect of the day.  In the Prayer Book tradition this part of the service is not really separated from what is usually called "the Liturgy of the Word" - the first Lesson through the Peace.  Yet the Entrance Rite evolves as a separate and later element to what we might call the original shape of the Eucharist.

Wanted: Evangelists

Members of the parish community have heard me since my arrival as your rector speaking, preaching, writing and teaching about the need for us to be a community where people who have no community of faith can become Christians.  One expression I use is to say that I hope we will be worthy enough so that God will send us the unbaptized.  Perhaps instead of waiting for God to act, we ought to be asking ourselves if we have the capacity to learn how to bring people to faith.

Friends

As rector of Saint Mary's I am very aware of the unusual importance of our local parish community for members of the wider Episcopal Church.  I regularly receive letters that comment on our common life from people who either read parish publications or who occasionally attend worship here.  Sometimes these are letters of thanks; sometimes these are letters of judgment. 

Merry Christmas

One of my good friends always says of the Christmas Eve service, "It goes so fast."  She's right.  More than any other liturgy of the church year, it seems to me that the Midnight Mass goes so very quickly.  Perhaps it isn't entirely our fondness for and familiarity with this liturgy that makes it seem short to me.  We have been living for months in a world surrounded by shoppers and entertainments, a world in which we all participate to some degree.  When we

Of the Father's Love

The earliest of our Christmas hymns in The Hymnal 1982 is "Of the Father's love begotten."  It is ascribed to Marcus Aurelius Clemens Prudentius (348-410?).  In early Christian hymns there is a theological directness and simplicity that is helpful and spiritually powerful.  Think of, for example, the Good Friday hymns "Sing, my tongue,

Grace Lacurto, 1899 - 2000

Grace LaCurto, the oldest member of Saint Mary's, died on Tuesday, December 5, in Greenwich, Connecticut.  She was born on January 16, 1899.  She was confirmed at Saint Mary's on December 18, 1947 and had been an active member of the parish until she could no longer manage the commute from Connecticut every Sunday.  Older members and friends of the parish will remember that for years she presided over the pouring of coffee after the Solemn Mass on Sundays. 

Unique

Our community life at Saint Mary's is full of wonderful events and celebrations that sustain us and keep us in our journey in faith.  As a Christian community most of these events tend to be centered in worship and the fellowship that surrounds worship.  We are people gathered at the Table and we feel at home at the Table as at no other place.

Unique

Because of the production schedule for this weekly newsletter I can't write today to tell you all about the parish's patronal feast.  I am expecting it to be a special evening in so many ways.  Every day of our lives has its uniqueness.  The greater festivals of the church year amplify that uniqueness, especially in a church like Saint Mary's.

Christ the King

The Solemnity of Christ the King is not an ancient Christian feast.  The celebration was introduced by Pope Pius XI in 1925 and was appointed for the Sunday before All Saints' Day.  On the surface it seems like a good idea.  Certainly Jesus Christ is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  It is not a bad thing to be reminded of this.  Pope Pius XI called for hearts to be consecrated anew to the Christ on this day.  Again, not a bad idea at any time.

Honest and Correct

Last week our middler seminarian Jennifer Reddall was working on a paper for one of her classes, the title: "Leadership, Power Dynamics, and Systemic Realities."  She asked about Saint Mary's.  I responded to some specific questions about the structure of our parish community and the role of the rector within the structure.  In addition, my response included the following paragraph:

Weavings

On Michaelmas, September 29, I had a small role at the installation of the new rector of the Church of the Transfiguration, the Reverend Charles Miller.  Next to me in choir was the Reverend Frederick Robinson, rector of the Church of the Redeemer, Sarasota, Florida.  Charles, Fred and I were at Nashotah House at the same time.  Charles was in the class one year ahead of me and we ended up living in the same house in the cloister for a year.  Fred served as a curate for the Reverend Charles Jenkins in Arlington, Texas.

Saint Mary's Matters

There was a good congregation for All Saints' last night.  It was a lovely evening in so many ways.  Robert Church played a wonderful recital before Mass (and finished with Alain's Litanies as a postlude!).  The Mass, well, it was Saint Mary's on All Saints'.  Has All Saints' Day ever not been observed with Solemn Mass in this building?  The fact of our worship and the character of our worship matters for us and for others.

Our Response

At the last meeting of the Board of Trustees I observed that the parish was really well organized for running a $200,000.00 a year deficit in the operating budget.  There is a deep emotional commitment to the common life at Saint Mary's among us who are here now.  But those of us who are here, however, are not paying our way and we are spending the capital that sustains this historic plant at an alarming rate.

Saint Mary's Stewardship 2001

In the pulpit last Sunday I suggested to the 11:00 AM congregation that the question for us is not the question the rich young man asked of Jesus, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"  The question for us is how healthy we want this part of the Body of Christ to be.  I reminded the congregation that the Body of Christ never exists primarily for itself, but to worship the Father and to serve others.  Saint Mary's certainly was not founded for itself.  And I believe that many, many people in our city will come to find Saint Mary's to be a place for Good News and new life in Christ.  I also believe that this will only happen if we are worthy of being this kind of place, a place where our hearts, our lives and our best love is given to Christ.

Music Search Committee

"Nothing is simple in New York," I have been told more times than I can count.  Certainly that has proved true for me as I have worked on music leadership for the parish.  At every step of the way there have been things to learn.  Progress is being made and I want to report to you about the process that has evolved to assist me in hiring the next music director for Saint Mary's.

On Dedication

Many of you know that I am a student of Family Systems Theory.  The basic idea is that one's family of origin has a lot to do with who we are and the way we deal with people.  Congregations are a lot like families.  The person who applied this theory to family systems theory was the late Edwin Friedman, a rabbi and a therapist who trained with Murray Bowen

Dedication

The first service in the unfinished first church of this parish was held on December 8, 1870.  This church was never consecrated during the twenty-five years it served as the home for our parish community.  The first service in the present building of the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin was held on December 8, 1895.  It was consecrated four days later, December 12, 1895 by the Bishop of New York, the Right Reverend Henry C. Potter.