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The Rector's Message for the Week of October 2, 2022


Rector Turner
The Rev. Canon Carl Turner, Rector of Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue

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Dear Friends,

The picture above shows two of our Grade Eight boys at their graduation last year. The Leavers’ weekend at Saint Thomas is filled with joy. The boys have become part of a community, and they have enriched it enormously. We are so blessed to have this glorious building and its choral heritage. We need your help to ensure that it continues.

This Sunday is the Feast of the Anniversary of the Dedication of the Church. It is tradition for churches to keep this feast in October when they do not know the date of the actual dedication. In our case, we do know the date of the consecration of Saint Thomas Church which happened on April 25, 1916, two and a half years after the first service in the church. It may seem odd that Saint Thomas waited such a long time after the completion of the current building in 1913 to celebrate its consecration. Was the Bishop’s calendar so full? The fact remains that although the Church was finished, it was in debt to the tune of $150,000 – a significant sum in 1914. Canon Law states that a parish must have paid for its building before it can be dedicated or consecrated. The Parish history tells us that Dr. Stires managed to raise $80,000 before the First World War began, but it was not until 1916 that the rest had been pledged. The Church was consecrated on Tuesday in Easter Week (Easter day was April 23), which also happens to be the Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist. A fascinating historical aside is that the Consecration of the Church happened during the ‘Easter Rising’ in Ireland.

The service of consecration began with the hymn ‘Christ is made the sure foundation’ and we shall sing that hymn on Sunday morning in a great procession. Please make every effort to come to church in-person that day. It has been wonderful greeting more and more parishioners who have made their first visit back since the pandemic started. Another thing that you can do is to bring a friend to experience worship and community at Saint Thomas Church. Remember, most people come to faith because someone brings them to church and, by doing so, shares their own faith. It is, if you will, a means of bearing witness – putting our mission statement into practice by worshipping, loving, and serving our Lord Jesus Christ. After all, Bishop Greer, preaching at the consecration of the fourth church took as his text words from the Letter of James: “Be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only.” (James 1:22)

The Christian Church, the bishop told the congregation, faced the challenge of taking “its old historic creed” and making it alive in every aspect of life, not merely the personal but the social, the national, and the worldwide. Only in this way would the church regain “its own distinctive work and mission,” one “that will differentiate it at once and by a leap from every other social organization on the face of the earth.” The church, Bishop Greer maintained, was intended to be “an incarnation in the world, the incarnation of God, and so continue in the world the Incarnate Jesus Christ.”

Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue by J. Robert Wright, page 138 – available from our Bookstore and Gift shop

We will have a special coffee hour after the 9am mass and the 11 am mass. Evensong will end with a Solemn Te Deum. Why not make a day of it in New York, and stay in the city for brunch and return to give thanks at evensong?

I share this piece of parish history because on Sunday, we launch our 2023 Annual Appeal. That bit of history – ensuring that the church community was not in debt – is important to remember. Our forebears worked hard to ensure the church was built and, shortly after, a choral foundation formed. Now it is our turn to take up the baton and, like them, give thanks for all the goodness of God and to give back to him our time, our talent, but also our treasure.

Next week, the choristers will be on a tour in the Midwest and Mother Turner and I will be going to Madison and Chicago with them; I am also going ahead to meet people in Milwaukee, and visit Nashotah House, promoting the school and the choir in particular. The boys will sing two concerts and two services, including a Trebles’ festival in St. James’ Cathedral at which I have been asked to preach. Telling our story is really important, and this Dedication weekend will help all of us think about our sharing in that story, and our responsibility in Christian giving.

Affectionately,

Your Priest and Pastor,

Carl


Learn More About Our Annual Appeal

2023 Annual Appeal Brochure