Dear Friends,
The most glorious liturgical week of the year is upon us! If you have never experienced Holy Week at Saint Thomas Church, then you have not yet experienced some of the most poignant ceremony and ritual coupled with, arguably, the most glorious music of the Church’s year. Palm Sunday, this year, will be unlike any other for our own Choir of Men and Boys will be joined by the Boys and Lay Clerks of New College, Oxford. The title New College can be confusing to Americans who assume that the college must be a very recent institution. In fact, it was founded shortly after Oriel College in 1379 by William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor of England, whose personal motto on his coat of arms was “Manners Makyth Man.” The Choir School was integral to the life of the college from its beginnings, and has provided choristers ever since. The two choirs will be singing on Sunday at the 11 a.m. service.
I am delighted to hear that a number of members of the Pilgrims’ Course have decided to attend every choral service in Holy Week. To do so can be life-transforming. It is like being on a religious retreat and a pilgrimage at one and the same time. On Palm Sunday, we begin with the triumphant Palm procession, but quickly move to the Passion. It is also easy to remember when the services are at Saint Thomas – from Monday until Holy Saturday, every day at 5:30 p.m. the choir will sing the liturgy. Monday and Tuesday are quiet, solemn services; Wednesday sees the ancient service of Tenebrae which means ‘shadows’; Maundy Thursday begins what we call The Easter Triduum or the Holy Three Days. Those next three days bring us to the heart of Holy Week and the movement takes us from the joy of the Last Supper with the washing of feet and the first eucharist, to the agony in the garden and then the despair and darkness of Good Friday.
In some respects, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are a continuum for one service merges with the other. The Veneration of the Cross on Good Friday is extremely personal, and some find it overwhelming; others will prefer to just stand or kneel by the cross for a while as is done at Taizé in France; Holy Communion from that consecrated the evening before, brings home the words of St. Paul: “When we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
Saturday is a day of waiting which ends with the Easter Vigil – the most dramatic service of the Church’s Year. Yes, it is long! But it also connects us with the early Church for whom that service was the only time when new Christians were baptized. We start in the dark with the new fire; we ponder on salvation history from the Hebrew Scriptures; we gather at the font; and then we celebrate the first Eucharist of Easter. Easter Day is filled with joy – the church is filled with flowers and smiles and we proclaim that Christ is Risen! After the 11am service, 5th Avenue is closed to vehicular traffic, and the traditional Easter Bonnet Parade takes place, a parade that was started by Saint Thomas when the ladies of the parish took the altar flowers to a local hospital after the morning service. Easter Day ends with a glorious evensong at 3pm, preceded by a short organ recital, and ending with a procession to the Font, to Mary’s Shrine, and to the Easter Garden.
A feature of Saint Thomas over many years has been the presence of a Holy Week Conductor who preaches every day except Wednesday. We are delighted to welcome back to Saint Thomas the Rev. Elaine Farmer from Canberra, Australia, who will give sermons on the theme ‘Touching the Mystery’. On Good Friday, our own Theologian in Residence, Father Gioia, will preach the Seven Last Words from the Cross at 12pm.
Good Friday is also a time to make one’s confession and to bring to God anything that troubles you, and to ask for God’s forgiveness. Priests are available in the morning and the afternoon:
Confessions on Good Friday
10:30 – 11:30am: Fr. Moretz (Chantry) and Fr. Schultz (Resurrection Chapel)
3:30 – 5pm: Mo. Turner (Chantry) and The Rector (Resurrection Chapel)
If you have never made a confession before, please do not worry – the priest will talk you through the liturgy. There are cards for those who want to use formal prayers; some people like to kneel, others to sit and chat informally. The priest will give advice or counsel, and then a simple penance (a token of repentance like a prayer to say or a hymn verse or the lighting of a candle, for example), then comes the most moving part – the words of absolution by the priest. After a prayer of thanks, the priest may well ask the penitent to pray for them ‘a sinner too’. The confessor is bound by the seal of confession and will never think of what has been said again, and certainly will not even mention it. It is as if the Holy Spirit has blown the sins away!
Last week, I wrote about the Service of Apology that the Bishop held in the Cathedral to apologize for our Diocesan involvement many years ago in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. My sermon on Sunday, based on Jesus’ words to Lazarus in the tomb – Unbind him and set him free – cause much discussion at coffee hour. As we enter into Holy Week and approach the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I have asked Pamela Lewis to write an article for us on why exploring racism as a Christian Community is important. I find the article very compelling, but even more so since I discovered that two members of our church, of Asian descent, were attacked in the last two weeks in broad daylight, and one round the corner from our church. We are pastoring those members at the moment for they are really shaken up as well as physically hurt. Click here to read Pamela’s article.
In Spring 1984 the boy choristers of Saint Thomas Choir School founded the Saturday Soup Kitchen by making bag lunches and distributing them to the homeless near their school then in West 55th Street. Parishioners helped with what became Saint Thomas Church’s ministry to the homeless when the choristers left for the summer. From that beginning in 1984 until the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown in March 2020, choristers, parishioners, and volunteers from outside our parish community prepared and delivered bag lunches (and from time-to-time toiletries) on foot to the homeless along routes in mid-Manhattan every Saturday morning no matter the weather or the holiday. Every Saturday morning without fail!
With Covid-19 hopefully fading, the soup kitchen is reorganizing and will again minister to the homeless. Jean Savage has spoken with many about volunteering. The soup kitchen will again meet on Saturday mornings to provide lunch. It is hoped that a sufficient number will volunteer that the soup kitchen can again deliver bag lunches on foot. The plan is to gather at 9:30am, prepare lunch for distribution at 11am, and finish around 12:15pm – in other words, about three hours. Those in high school can earn community service credit.
If you wish to volunteer your time to this ministry, please complete this form.
This form is required by the church of all volunteers. In Section III, the important information is the number of Saturdays you are available per month. Prior to your participation, you will have to watch a twenty-minute video on personal conduct at a small gathering. There is a minimum number of volunteers necessary to provide this ministry and it is hoped that that number will be achieved.
Saint Thomas Church looks forward to resuming its ministry to the homeless.
Finally, The Church of England has produced a beautiful booklet of prayers for those who wish to prepare for the Coronation of King Charles III on May 6. With information, readings, and images, there are prayers for every day starting with Easter Day. Copies are available from the Narthex, the Book Store, or the Front Desk. A suggested donation of $5 would be helpful and can be placed in any of the offertory boxes or candle stands in church.
Affectionately,
Your Priest and Pastor,
Carl
From ‘Stations of the Cross’ by Malcolm Guite
XIV Jesus is laid in the tomb
Here at the centre everything is still
Before the stir and movement of our grief
Which bears it’s pain with rhythm, ritual,
Beautiful useless gestures of relief.
So they anoint the skin that cannot feel
Soothing his ruined flesh with tender care,
Kissing the wounds they know they cannot heal,
With incense scenting only empty air.
He blesses every love that weeps and grieves
And makes our grief the pangs of a new birth.
The love that’s poured in silence at old graves
Renewing flowers, tending the bare earth,
Is never lost. In him all love is found
And sown with him, a seed in the rich ground.
