FROM FATHER SMITH: "BACK HOME" AND "OVER THERE"

When I was growing up Roman Catholic in my small town in Western New York in the middle of the last century, "the missions" were something that took place "over there," a long way from "back home." Only specially qualified people went to serve in the missions. They were mostly white, but we didn't notice that, because we were mostly white, too. Every once in a while a "missionary" would come to the parish on a Sunday to preach. He would talk about his work "over there" and would ask for donations to assist with his faraway labors.

FROM THE RECTOR: PENTECOST BRETHREN

At the end of Luke, Jesus said to his apostles, "Stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24:49b). In the Acts of the Apostles, on the day called "Pentecost" (from the Greek for "fiftieth"), the people of Jerusalem are celebrating a harvest festival, "the feast of weeks" described in Exodus 23:16, Leviticus 23:15-21, and Deuteronomy 16:9-12. But some are not. "They" (Acts 2:1) are together waiting for Jesus' promised gift, and on the day of the festival the gift arrives (Acts 2:2-13).

FROM THE RECTOR: MITTIES MCDONALD DECHAMPLAIN, priest, 1948-2018

On Friday afternoon, May 8, the Reverend Dr. Mitties DeChamplain attended the noonday services here at Saint Mary's. Father Matt Jacobson, who is a physician and her former student at the General Theological Seminary, was celebrant. Sometime after the Eucharist was over, in her conversation with Matt, it was clear to him that something was wrong, that she was not herself. He called me. I brought Sr. Monica Clare and our bookkeeper, Kristie Raynor, an emergency medical technician, to the sacristy.

FROM THE RECTOR: SACRED, SECULAR, AND RELIGIOUS

Let me begin with the very happy news that on Tuesday, May 1, 2018, Sister Monica Clare, C.S.J.B., was elected by her community to make her vow of final profession as a sister of the Community of St. John Baptist. Her commitment to the religious life is a witness of God's continuing work through the church. Bishop Allen Shin, who serves as episcopal visitor of her order, will receive her vows at a service at their convent in Mendham, New Jersey, on Friday, June 8, 2018, at 10:30 AM. All are invited.

FROM FATHER PACE: THEN & NOW

The High Altar, Sunday, April 22, 2018
Photo by Ricardo Gomez

The Saint Mary's AIDS Walk has been a major outreach effort of this parish for many years. The Team has begun its fundraising efforts in preparation for this year's Walk, which will take place on the Day of Pentecost, May 20, 2018. You may read more about the Walk, the Team, and its efforts below, in the paragraph entitled "AIDS Walk 2018." We invite you to view a video on YouTube, in which Team members speak about their commitment to this effort. We also encourage you to visit the Team's AIDS Walk webpage, where you can join the Team

FROM THE DEACON: WALK IN THE LIGHT

Tuesday morning in Holy Week, I walked in the front doors of Saint Mary's and headed straight toward the back, a shortcut. Busy preparations for the Thursday and Friday altar of repose were already going on. In the pews, many homeless men and women had settled in for a day of undisturbed rest, guaranteed since the church had already opened. Most were sleeping, coats or blankets wrapped around them in that still-cold early hour. Coming in from the street with its

FROM THE RECTOR: MORE THAN FRIENDS

In this lectionary year (BCP [1979], 904-06), the gospel appointed for the Eucharist on Easter Day was from Mark; on the third Sunday of Easter it will be from Luke. On the other Sundays in Eastertide the gospel is from John. This "fourth gospel"-so named, I think, because of its order in the New Testament canon, and because it is thought to be the latest of the four gospels-has a distinctive theological point of view on two issues of continuing relevance. Both invite us to think in a different way about our relationship to Jesus Christ and to each other. (One of those issues is the Eucharist-a subject for another day!)

FROM THE RECTOR: RESURRECTION

In the gospels, the words about the Risen Lord were met at first with fear, confusion, and disbelief by all, except in the gospel of Matthew. In Mark, the empty tomb and the word of the resurrection bring fear and silence to the women who have gone to the tomb (Mark 16:1-8). They go inside the tomb. A young man tells them, " 'Do not be amazed . . . He has risen . . . go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.' And they went out and fled from the tomb . . . and they said nothing to any one, for they were afraid."

FROM THE RECTOR: HOLY WEEK 2018

The Right Reverend Allen K. Shin, bishop suffragan, will be with us as celebrant and preacher for the liturgies of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday at 12:30 PM, and the Great Vigil of Easter. But first, some words about the beginning of Holy Week.
In the Prayer Book Calendar, Holy Week begins with "The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday" and concludes on Holy Saturday; the Easter Season begins on Easter Eve (BCP [1979], 31-32). As I write on Friday morning, March 23, it seems likely that we will be able to have a procession through Times Square as part of our Liturgy of the Palms at the Solemn Mass on Sunday. This will be my twentieth Palm Sunday at Saint Mary's-and we've only been rained out once.

FROM THE RECTOR: FEED ON JESUS

My thinking about the worship of Holy Week and Easter has continued to be shaped by a remark Jeffrey Lee made to me shortly after I became rector of Trinity Church, Michigan City, Indiana, in 1988. Jeffrey was then canon to the ordinary in the diocese of Northern Indiana. Since 2008 he has been the bishop of Chicago.

FROM FATHER SMITH: A WITNESSING PRESENCE

For hundreds of years, many Christians believed that it was possible for the biblical text to mean more than one thing and that multiple meanings need not be in conflict. They firmly believed that a passage might have both a literal and a spiritual sense, or, indeed, more than one spiritual sense. As a result, biblical commentary became a complex and creative task. The Song of Songs seemed particularly to invite such readings. Medieval monks were aware

FROM THE RECTOR: CERTAINTY

Until the present Prayer Book was adopted, the last anthem prayed at the beginning of the Burial of the Dead was, "We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord" (BCP [1928], 324). The first of these combined sentences is from Job 1:21, the second 1 Timothy 6:7. This anthem was replaced in the traditional language rite of the Prayer Book with these words,

FROM DEACON REBECCA WEINER TOMPKINS: ABIDE IN LOVE

In the passage from John's gospel, read at the Eucharist last Wednesday, February 21, the day commemorating John Henry Newman, the nineteenth-century priest and theologian, we hear that "God is love, and those who abide in God abide in love, and God abides in them" (1 John 4:16). It is easy for us believers to hold that in our hearts.

FROM THE RECTOR: LENT 2018

Many members and friends of the parish may remember that on Sunday, December 31, 2017, and on New Year's Day, we worshiped in Saint Joseph's Hall. The valve that controls the heat to the church, but not the rest of the complex, was broken. Relatively mild weather on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day meant the church could be used. Bitter cold arrived later in the week. We moved to the hall. The problem was not fixed until Friday, January 5. That said, there were many graces in our worship there.

FROM THE RECTOR: THANK YOU

I write on the morning of February 1. Yesterday I completed nineteen years of service as rector of this congregation. This morning I find myself thinking about all those who have gone before me in this work, especially my predecessor, the Reverend Canon Edgar F. Wells, our rector emeritus.

FROM THE RECTOR: PRESENTING OURSELVES

This week we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple. The celebration begins on the eve of the feast, Thursday, February 1, with Solemn Evensong at 6:00 PM. On Friday, February 2, the daily 12:10 service will be Blessing of Candles & Sung Mass. The organ recital at 5:30 PM will be played by Dr. Claudia Dumschat, director of music, Church of the Transfiguration, New York City. Our principal service will be Blessing of Candles, Procession & Solemn Mass at 6:00 PM. Of course, a reception will follow in Saint Joseph's Hall.

FROM THE RECTOR: TO GROW UNDERSTANDING

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity has its origins in the diocese of New York. Paul James Francis Wattson, S.A., born Lewis Wattson, was still an Episcopal monk and priest in 1908 when he suggested that the week between the January feasts of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (now known by Anglicans as the Confession of Saint Peter on January 18 and the Conversion of Saint Paul on January 25) be observed as a "Week of Prayer for Christian Unity." But by this time Wattson was on his way to Rome. In 1909 his Episcopal religious community, the Society of the Atonement, was received into the Roman Catholic Church. He continued his ecumenical work throughout his life. He died in 1940.

 FROM THE RECTOR: BACK TO GENESIS

Every year on Monday after the First Sunday after the Epiphany (this year, Monday January 8), the church begins reading Genesis at either Daily Morning Prayer or Daily Evening Prayer (this year in the morning). For some years now, Genesis has ranked in my heart and mind as my very favorite book in the Old Testament. (For the New Testament, John's gospel still has a slight lead over Mark-but it's close.) We're reading more of Genesis than required by the lectionary-it's always permitted to read more, but not less, than the appointed lessons. We don't read everything, but I've been surprised by how much good stuff we've been able to add.