The Church of the Heavenly Rest stands at 1085 Fifth Avenue on Manhattan's Museum Mile, between the Cooper Hewitt and the Guggenheim. The congregation's name is a memorial to soldiers felled in the Civil War, and its story begins at the close of that conflict in 1865. The Rev. Dr. Robert Shaw Howland, rector of the Church of Holy Apostles, founded the congregation and led its first services at the Rutgers Female Institute at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue. Three years later, in 1868, the parish was formally established and moved three blocks north to 551 Fifth Avenue, where it earned a reputation for providing meals, shelter, and support to those in need.
Sunday Worship on Fifth Avenue
Sunday is the heart of parish life at Heavenly Rest, and three services gather around the Anglican liturgy in two distinct spaces. The day begins at 8:30 am with Rite I Holy Eucharist in the Chapel of the Beloved Disciple, the more intimate of the two worship spaces. The principal service, Rite II Holy Eucharist, is celebrated at 11 am in the Nave and is the heart of the week. It is livestreamed for those who cannot attend in person, and Children's Chapel and Sunday School for children from infancy through sixth grade meet during it. At 5 pm the day closes with a Vespers Service of Sung Evening Prayer.
The 11 am liturgy is supported by a wide circle of Sunday volunteers. Acolytes in third grade and older carry torches and lead the procession; ushers offer a warm welcome; Altar Guild members prepare the altar for the sacrament; Lay Readers and Intercessors lend their voices; and Chalice Bearers help distribute the sacrament. Newcomers interested in any of these ministries can sign up for one Sunday a month and receive training.
Visitors enter the church at street level with no steps up or down from Fifth Avenue, and the building is fully accessible to wheelchairs. An elevator in the foyer reaches the lower-level reception desk, art exhibits, and meeting spaces. A Children's Corner at the front left of the nave offers a rug and soft toys for the youngest friends who would rather remain in the pew with caregivers.
Heavenly Wednesdays Around the Table
Wednesdays are described as "the place to be" at Heavenly Rest. The evening begins at 5 pm with a family-friendly service in the Chapel, followed at 6 pm by Chorister-led Sung Evening Prayer with a brief homily. At 6:30 pm the parish gathers for dinner and small groups, with teaching artists offering childcare, study hall, and activities in the Art Room so that parents may participate in adult formation. The Rev. Michael Sahdev oversees the Wednesday program.
Wednesday afternoons belong to the children. Junior Choristers in grades 1 through 5 rehearse from 4 to 6:30 pm, learning the fundamentals of choral singing, music theory, and team-building, while the youngest singers, ages 4 through kindergarten, gather in the Saints Music Class led by Lydia Saylor and teaching artists.
A Daily Office, Sung from a Distance
Every Monday through Friday and on Sunday evenings at 8 pm, the parish gathers online for Compline. The service is led by lay volunteers on Zoom and offers a brief, contemplative close to the day. Registration is required for first-time attendees.
Music That Centers on Worship
Music is woven through nearly everything at Heavenly Rest. Director of Music and Organist Janet Yieh leads a program that ranges from a volunteer Adult Choir of 35 singers and section leaders to three graded chorister classes for children from age 4 through twelfth grade. The Adult Choir rehearses Sunday mornings and afternoons from September through May and leads music for the 11 am Eucharist and seasonal liturgies, including Lessons and Carols, the neighborhood Christmas Pageant, Holy Week, and Easter. Highlights have included a Fauré Requiem, the 2023 world premiere of a new Psalm Cycle, and a jazz service hosting Bishop Michael Curry with the Theodicy Jazz Collective.
Yieh, a Taiwanese-American organist trained at the Yale School of Music, the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and the Juilliard School, is an executive board member of the New York City American Guild of Organists and a member of the Association of Anglican Musicians. She co-founded the platform Amplify Female Composers with Carolyn Craig and has performed at Alice Tully Hall, the National Cathedral in Washington, Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, Yale's Woolsey Hall, and in Taipei, Hong Kong, Japan, and Malaysia.
Theresa Johnson serves as Chorister Assistant. A lifelong chorister herself, Johnson previously served as Assistant Director of the Children's Choir and soprano section leader at St. Mark's Cathedral in Shreveport, Louisiana. She holds a Master's in performing arts administration from NYU Steinhardt and undergraduate degrees in theatre, French, and accounting from Centenary College of Louisiana.
The musical foundation is two pipe organs. The Nave Organ is one of the largest in the city: a 137-rank Austin Organ with more than 8,000 pipes and a five-manual console built by Guilbault-Thérien of Quebec. A smaller two-manual Austin pipe organ stands in the Chapel of the Beloved Disciple and supports weekly services, weddings, and funerals. The instrument collection also includes Steinway pianos and handbells. Seasonal Concerts with a Cause, featuring classical, choral, jazz, and Broadway musicians, benefit the parish's outreach partners.
The Chorister Program: From the Nave to Taizé
Heavenly Rest offers free choral and music education for young people ages 4 through 18, open to the neighborhood and community. The Saints Music Class (age 4 through kindergarten) meets on Wednesday afternoons and prepares children to join the Junior Choristers. Training and Junior Choristers (grades 1 through 5) rehearse on Wednesdays from September through May and sing for the 11 am Eucharist on the first Sunday of each month. Middle and High School Senior Choristers (grades 6 through 12), the newest class, rehearse on Thursday evenings and sing alongside the Adult Choir for special occasions including Christmas and Easter. Thursday evening rehearsal is followed by dinner and Youth Group. Spring 2026 highlights include the Diocesan Cathedral Chorister Day, a Youth Jazz Festival, and learning chants from Taizé.
Registration opens in the fall and spring for a singing-placement meeting. Enrollment closes on January 1 for the spring term and September 1 for the fall. August Choir Camp, a free music and arts program for rising third through ninth graders, runs the first week of August with singing classes, arts activities, musical guests, local field trips, and outdoor games.
Children, Youth, and Family on Sunday Morning
Children's Chapel gathers at 11 am for ages newborn through sixth grade, with a brief, accessible Liturgy of the Word led by a member of the clergy and supported by teaching artists. Children may gather at the back of the nave and process to the Chapel, and parents and caregivers are always welcome to join. Immediately after Chapel, teaching artists lead age-specific Sunday School through prayer, movement, song, story, art, and ritual. Children in third grade and up can serve as acolytes and lectors, carrying torches, reading, and helping lead worship.
The Youth Collective invites middle and high schoolers to join with youth from across the Diocese of New York for quarterly Friday-night gatherings hosted by neighboring churches, beginning with food and fellowship and ending with a short, youth-led worship service. Parents Night Out, hosted by teaching artists, provides periodic evenings of games, pizza, and movies for children from birth through fifth grade. Lent, Holy Week, and Easter programming includes a parish-wide Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper, an interactive Lenten children's retreat called "Walking the Way with Jesus," and Easter morning services designed for all ages. Caroline Angell oversees the program.
A Landmark of Gothic Deco Architecture
What makes Heavenly Rest visually distinctive is its style, often called Gothic Deco. After the parish merged with the Chapel of the Beloved Disciple and purchased land at Fifth Avenue and 90th Street from the widow of Andrew Carnegie - whose mansion still stands next door as Cooper Hewitt - the rector was required to obtain her approval of the architecture. The side door into the Narthex is said to have been her request. Architect Hardie Phillip's design, which benefited from engineering innovations that allow an open plan, was begun on All Saints' Day 1926 and completed in time for an Easter Day dedication on March 31, 1929.
Sunlight streams through stained-glass windows created in an Arts and Crafts style by the famous English glassworks Whitefriars Ltd. The north and south windows of the nave depict principal events of the Christian year. A rose window glows above the reredos, and a tall arched West Window pours jewel-toned light over the church entrance. The Chapel of the Beloved Disciple next door features Spanish-inspired decoration with stenciled ceiling beams and walls displaying fleurs-de-lis and a stone reredos faced with enameled mosaics bearing the image of Christ flanked by the Virgin Mary and John, the Beloved Disciple.
A disastrous electrical fire in 1993 led to a major renovation of the chancel, including a new organ console, English-made choir stalls, re-voiced organ pipes, and a vaulted ceiling painted with stars to represent Heaven. A reminder of the fire, melted stone arches over the console represent the wings of a dove as a symbol of peace and rejuvenation. Under the Rt. Rev. Matthew F. Heyd, elected to lead the Diocese in 2022, the parish has cleaned and refurbished its stained-glass windows and limestone exterior, repaired multiple roofs, and created an entirely new Undercroft designed for in-person, online, and hybrid activities. Outreach - what the parish calls "A Bigger Table" - has expanded with livestreamed Sunday services, new ministries, and partnership with the Bluestone Lane Café.
An Open Community in the Anglican Tradition
Heavenly Rest is an open community in the Episcopal tradition, a constituent member of the Anglican Communion in the United States and part of the Diocese of New York. The parish describes its faith with three words: "God's story is love." Drawing on the Episcopal Church's stated beliefs, the parish holds to a loving, liberating, and life-giving God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and to the teachings of Jesus Christ, whose life, death, and resurrection saved the world. The parish is committed to being an inclusive home for all people, regardless of sexual identity or orientation, with women and men serving as bishops, priests, and deacons, and laypeople and clergy cooperating as leaders at every level.
Small Groups for Every Stage of Life
Small groups are central to parish life. On Tuesday mornings at 9 am, the Men's Bible Study gathers at the church for fellowship, connection, and learning. The Brotherhood of St. Andrew meets once a month for fellowship, formation, and prayer. The 20s/30s Fellowship Group meets several times a month, including twice monthly on Sunday evenings after Vespers, for connection, prayer, and fun - and on the first Sunday of the month, gathers for Bagels and Beliefs in Central Park after the 11 am service. On Thursday mornings at 9 am, the Women's Podcast Group meets on Zoom. On Tuesday afternoons at 4 pm on Zoom, Seniors in New York, led by Gail Zimmerman, shares opportunities of interest to seniors across the city and supports one another in friendship. The Rev. Michael Sahdev and Hannah Nolen coordinate the fellowship and small-group ministry.
Outreach: A Bigger Table
The parish describes its outreach ministries as "A Bigger Table," a community that addresses real social problems and welcomes those who are most vulnerable. Four long-term emphases guide the work: prison re-entry, food insecurity, education, and housing insecurity. The parish has also taken up the call to support asylum seekers and migrants coming to New York.
In Prison and Re-entry ministry, the parish partners with organizations including Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison, the Interfaith Prison Partnership, Circles of Support, and Rising Hope, supporting enrichment and job-skills programs, film screenings and packing events, and graduation and holiday photo shoots for those who are incarcerated. The Hunger and Nourishment ministry works with Grassroots Grocery, supporting a community fridge through donations of non-perishable goods. The Education ministry hosts tutoring programs for middle-schoolers from low-income households in Harlem and East Harlem, focusing on high-school placement exams and college preparation, and runs an annual back-to-school drive. The New Neighbors ministry works with interfaith and nonprofit partners to support asylum seekers and migrants arriving in the city, including support for a covenant on behalf of the newest New Yorkers. LSA Family Health Service rounds out the partner list. The Rev. Peyton Williams oversees outreach.
Life Events: Baptism, Confirmation, Weddings, and Funerals
Heavenly Rest celebrates the Sacrament of Holy Baptism four times a year at a Sunday Eucharist: All Saints' Day in November, the Baptism of our Lord in January, the Easter Vigil, and Pentecost. Two classes and a run-through with godparents usually precede the baptism. Confirmation, framed around the words "let us join" from the baptismal invitation, is offered January through May, with parallel classes for parents and caregivers. The Confirmation service takes place in June at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine.
Weddings are held in the Sanctuary, which seats up to 450, or the Chapel, which seats 80, using liturgies approved by the Episcopal Church. Couples may choose their own readings, music, and prayers. Weddings can be arranged for both members and non-members of the parish.
For funerals and memorials, the clergy offer support and solace and help families commend loved ones to God's care.
Visiting and Getting Involved
First-time visitors are warmly welcomed at all services. The 11 am Sunday Eucharist is the best place to start; it is fully accessible and offers Children's Formation during the service. Public visiting hours for the building are Monday through Friday 9 am to 6 pm, Saturday 9 am to 5 pm, and Sunday 8 am to 7 pm. Office hours are Monday through Friday 9 am to 5 pm. The parish welcomes newcomers to worship, wonder, serve, and rest in God's presence and invites questions to Hannah Nolen, Director of Parish Events and Community Engagement. Giving and pledge commitments are accepted online, and the parish maintains a Heritage Society for those who include Heavenly Rest in their estate plans. Pastoral concerns, prayer list additions, and inquiries about rentals, the gallery, and life events can be directed to the parish office at (212) 289-3400.