News from the Congregation October 29, 2021
‘Sub-Dean on ‘Lamentation, Thanksgiving, and Hope Programing’; ‘Together, for the Long Haul’ | Volunteer at CCC’s Sunday Soup Kitchen, ‘Lamentation, Thanksgiving, Hope:’ Oct 31-Nov 2| Sunday Programs: 8:30 am Genesis Bible Study (Zoom), 10:30 am Worship Service - In-Person and Online, Virtual Coffee Hour |Weekday Programs: M-S Morning and Evening Prayer (Zoom), Wednesday: 7:30 pm Paul’s Letter to the Romans Bible Study (Zoom)
Canon Lee
A Special Message from the Sub Dean
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
When we settled on September 12 as the date to resume in-person Sunday worship, we knew that we could not just pick up where we had left off as if nothing had happened. So we worked across Cathedral departments to craft something that took seriously that it had been a year-and-a-half since most of us had seen one another, or been inside of the Cathedral, or celebrated the Eucharist. So we gathered on the steps, and we moved through the bronze doors, and we felt the wash of remarkable music. New altar, new vestments, new spatial arrangements, new choreography: It was not just picking up where we had left off. Life had changed.
What changed us was COVID. Cathedral leadership knew that before much time had passed, we had to name it and do something direct and strong about it.
We settled on the Feasts of All Saints and All Souls and decided to call the two-day observance, “Lamentation, Thanksgiving, and Hope.”
Lamentation for all that the world has lost and continues to lose.
Thanksgiving for the heroism we witnessed and still witness, and the unexpected graces we discovered and are discovering even today.
Hope for the triumph of science and human goodness and, ultimately, the triumph of the God of life over the powers of death.
All Saints Day and All Souls Day are upon us. Details of the days’ events are on the website, and our colleagues in External Relations are posting regularly to Facebook and Instagram. Please pass these links along, and please share our posts to your own pages.
These will be rich days, but I want to draw your attention to a few events and opportunities.
Photos of the dead: Throughout the days, we will project on a large screen in the Nave photos of those who have died. It is a way to honor them and to make concrete how enormous and how personal the pandemic has been. Please send photos with names and dates of birth / death to: info@stjohndivine.org. Anyone in the world can send photos. Please invite your friends to share the faces of the ones they’ve loved and lost.
Mementos of the dead: A guest artist has built two Día de Muertos altars in the Cathedral, one in the Medicine Bay and one in the Law Bay. Día de Muertos is All Souls, so contrary to common belief, it is not Halloween. It is a pre-Christian Mexican custom that celebrates the links between the living and the dead, so it was easily incorporated into the Church. It is about the Communion of Saints. Mementos of those who have died, especially of COVID, can be brought to the Cathedral tomorrow, October 30, and on All Souls and through November. Please invite your friends to participate. (Some of our LatinX colleagues have said that seeing these altars in the Cathedral has moved them and made them feel welcomed and honored in a new way. It’s been wonderful to hear.)
Sacred music: On Sunday evening, October 31, we will begin the observance of All Saints with Evensong. This will be the first celebration of Evensong in the Cathedral since last March. Our new Associate Organist, Daniel Ficarri, a published composer, has written a new setting of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis: the two traditional evening canticles. The Cathedral Choir and an orchestra will lead our sung prayer, and it will be remarkable. I heard the rehearsal, so I know! Tuesday evening, we will host an interfaith closing celebration that will begin with choral and orchestral performance of Fauré’s Requiem and conclude with a remarkable speaker.
Enlivening oratory: Many of you know the work of Thomas Lynch. Mr. Lynch is a poet and essayist. He is also a funeral director. In 2007, PBS produced an hour-long program on his work: The Undertaking. I used the video with aspiring priests when I taught at General Seminary. It is deeply moving. I can think of no one who speaks with such passion and eloquence of the mystery of life meeting death. Mr. Lynch will be with us on the evening of All Souls, 2 November. On All Saints, 1 November, at the noonday Eucharist, we will be honored to welcome the Reverend Doctor Malcolm Byrd, Pastor of Mother AME Zion Church in Harlem. The Reverend Doctor Byrd is a preacher whose theological erudition is matched by his oratorical skill. Mother AME Zion is one of the most significant historically Black congregations in the United States, and the Cathedral is honored that Dr. Byrd will preach here.
Diocesan significance: The Cathedral is the mother church of our Diocese and the place from which the Bishop presides over our common life and mission. On Tuesday, All Souls, Bishop Dietsche will preach at the noonday Eucharist. He will also pronounce the blessing at the concluding event on All Souls. Through the imagining of these days, we have involved representatives of the LatinX congregations and clergy of our Diocese. We have also invited all the Diocese’ priests to invite our Sisters and Brothers across the Diocese to send images of those who have died and to bring mementos to the Día De Muertos altars. Like everything at the Cathedral, our celebration of Lamentation, Thanksgiving, and Hope will be an event for the entire Diocese of New York.
The Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer we pray at funerals asserts that “life is changed, not ended.” This is our faith. Jesus, in his dying and rising, is our proof that it is true. So we hope. Lamentation, Thanksgiving, and Hope.
It is an honor to be at the Cathedral. Thanks to Father Lee for inviting me to usurp his weekly letter.
Fraternally,
Pat
(The Reverend) Canon Patrick Malloy, PhD
Sub-Dean
A Message from the Wardens
I again reflect on the in-person Sunday service, with a different twist or two toward the end.
My frame of reference is being a former attendee at the 9 AM service. The new 10:30 service has aspects that remind me of the former 11 AM service: the choir, the incense, the large number in attendance and the sung prayers. These are mostly new to me, and I am enjoying getting to know them. Change sometimes can be good because we open to new realities.
One constant remains the sermon. We are lucky because we have excellent preachers, and that is the point each week where I lean in for advice and reorientation. Later in the week, I turn to the Cathedral’s website at the bottom of the section Spiritual Life to hear the audio archive of the sermon because I like to hear something twice to pick up a nuance or two.
I am glad that the Sunday service is gaining momentum and seemingly more people are attending. I wonder how many watch the livestream version and if the number of viewers is increasing.
I end with some twists that I am experiencing. What is different, from the Zoom offerings during the Pandemic? Asked differently, what am I on the lookout for, as I reenter the hallowed Cathedral space on a Sunday morning for the in-person service? I watch the way others, some of whom I know, come together and cope with the challenging time. The community is reforming, in bits and spurts, and I appreciate the efforts along the way. On Sunday, we can experience, behind our masks, that we seek to be in this together, for the long haul.
NEWS FROM THE CATHEDRAL - Cathedral of Saint John the Divine (stjohndivine.org)
LAMENTATION THANKSGIVING HOPE
Sunday, October 31, The Eve of All Saints
Monday, November 1, The Feast of All Saints
Tuesday, November 2, All Souls Day
NEWS FROM THE DIOCESE Home - Episcopal Diocese of New York (dioceseny.org)
NEWS FROM THE VESTRY
GIVE/SERVE
Questions about Realm
Christopher Clowdus and Neil Reilly invite your questions about Realm, the Congregation's giving database, at this email address: stewardship@saintsaviour.org.
CCC - Volunteer Opportunity at Sunday Soup Kitchen
Join us at CCC's Sunday Soup Kitchen (8:30 am - 11:00 am) to help prepare and distribute food and to staff Saint Saviour's Table. Please CLICK HERE to sign up! Shifts are open through the first week in October. Thank you so much for volunteering!
THIS SUNDAY, October 31, 2021
In-Person Worship at the Cathedral
10:00 am - Doors to Cathedral open.
10:30 am - Eucharist Service (apprx. 1 hour)
The Cathedral requires those entering its buildings to show proof of vaccination and to wear a mask.
You can also watch a Livestream of the Cathedral Worship Service
On Facebook: http://facebook.com/StJohnDivineNYC
On the Cathedral website: http://www.stjohndivine.org
After the Sunday Service (11:45ish AM) - Digital Coffee Half-Hour Congregation Zoom Link
WEEKLY CATHEDRAL CONGREGATION PROGRAMS
Monday-Saturday | 8:30 AM Morning Prayer | 5:30 PM Evening Prayer
Wednesday 7:30 pm Bible Study | Paul’s Letter to the Romans, Congregation Zoom Link
Sunday 8:30 am Bible Study | Genesis Congregation Zoom Link