A Thanksgiving Update from Fr. van Dooren 11.27.25
Dear members and friends of our Little Church family,
Blessings to you this Thanksgiving Day! What a beautiful day set aside to practice the art and discipline of gratitude and thanksgiving!
We will offer a said mass at 11:00am today in the Family chapel, and will pray this beautiful collect. I commend it to you if you’re unable to attend a service today.
Almighty and gracious Father, we give thee thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them. Make us, we beseech thee, faithful stewards of thy great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
We begin a new church year with this coming first Sunday of Advent! Advent includes the four Sundays leading to the feast of Christmas. Along with its sister season of Lent preceding the feast of Easter, Advent serves as a preparatory season for Christmas.
Advent was formally kept as Lent but with less strictness. Its color is purple (some churches use blue), and only greenery adorns the altar in contrast to Lent which allows for no altar decorations except for Rose Sunday. The Gloria is omitted, and the liturgy is somewhat simplified in light of the season’s penitential nature. Though penitential, the four week period of Advent is colored with a spirit of expectation for the Christmas feast. Some of the most beautiful music and prayers ever composed come from this most holy and inspired season.
While somewhat counter to our culture, which is already decorated and celebrating the holidays, our Christmas celebration begins with the famous twelve days of Christmas. However, this doesn’t mean that we picket the windows of Macy’s or call out our friends who are already singing Christmas carols….(smile!) It simply means that we remain aware of Mother Church’s dear tradition of effort, preparation, contemplation, and discipline as she prepares our hearts to welcome the first Christmas mass. Living in a slightly different culture isn’t a problem to be solved, but a creative mystery to be lived!
We welcome Dr. Joshua Heath as our preacher. Joshua teaches Theology and Russian Culture at the University of Cambridge, where he is a Fellow of Trinity College. Joshua is also a Postulant for Holy Orders in the Church of England
This first Sunday of the Advent is one of our choirmaster’s favorites of the year! If you love to sing hymns, don’t miss this Sunday! This week we will sing four of the great hymns of the season: O Come, O Come Emmanuel, Wake, Awake for Night is Flying , Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending, and the great Welsh hymn Llangloffan- Rejoice, Rejoice Believers and Let Your Lights Appear. The first hymn mentioned, Veni, Veni Emmanuel, is an ancient text, usually used the seven days before Christmas. Each verse begins with an "O" phrase, and they’re referred to as the “O antiphons.” O come thou Lord of might, O come thou Day spring from on high, O come thou branch of Jesse’s tree, etc. Together each of these texts somehow finds an acrostic when written in Latin which translates to, “I will be there tomorrow”, which, if you sing this hymn on the seven days before Christmas, would make the last verse happen the night before Christmas Eve.
And join us this Sunday, November 30, at 3 pm for a special concert and reception featuring Minnie Li, violin and Claudia Dumschat, organ and harpsichord. Pieces to be performed include Bach’s Violin Sonata No. 1, BWV 1001, Bach’s Nun Komm, Der Heiden Heiland, BWV 659-661 and Handel’s Sonata No. 5 HWV 371. At our reception, we will enjoy delicious German Advent treats! General admission tickets are $25, tickets for students and seniors are $15. Purchase tickets in advance
here.
The Latino Commission on AIDS, in collaboration with our parish, invites you to join us for the annual observance of World AIDS Day. An interfaith service in Spanish will take place here at the Church of Transfiguration on Monday December 1st at 6:00 pm. We invite you to submit names of loved ones who have died because of HIV/AIDS, to be included during out name reading ceremony by emailing lrlp@latinoaids.org. For more information please contact Daniel Leyva at Dleyva@latinoaids.org.
Our annual Meeting is scheduled for Sunday, December 7th directly following our 11:00am mass. Our yearly “family meeting” as a parish is when we hear the State of the Union of our congregation and elect fellow parishioners to serve on vestry, the governing board of the parish. Our nominating committee has proposed the following slate of nominees who have lovingly agreed to serve on the vestry:
For Warden (two year term): Paul Cardozo
For the Vestry: Steve Leavitt and
new proposed members: Melissa Gibbs, David Micklos, and David Natoli.
We are partnering with the Episcopal Actors Guild for a holiday food drive! Please help us fill empty plates this season! Donations are being collected for the Actors Pantry at EAG and will be distributed to NYC actors, dancers, and singers in need. Most-needed items include canned meat, soups, pasta, rice, granola bars, nuts, beans, peanut butter, jelly, shampoo/conditioner, deodorant, & soap. We also welcome holiday items like stuffing, cocoa, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and gravy. Click here for more information on how to donate funds or food.
The Holy Rosary will be prayed in the Family chapel at 9:30am this Sunday. We will pray the joyful mysteries.
We continue to live-stream each Sunday’s mass at 11:00am, and a link is sent out each Sunday morning at 8:00am. We live-stream on Facebook and YouTube. Please email the parish office (parishoffice@littlechurch.org) if you would like to pray the morning and evening offices with us by Zoom.
Thank you for your continued faith, support, and love for the parish.
Fides Opera
With loving wishes,
Fr. van Dooren