Our New Organ Scholar - Rector's Rambling for August 3, 2025

 Today we welcome our new Edwards Organ Scholar, Chanmi Kim.  She provided the following introduction.

Chanmi Kim, originally from South Korea, studied piano, psychology, and child development during her undergraduate years. She was first introduced to the pipe organ in college and was deeply captivated by its wide range of tone, colors and expressive potential. This led her to begin private lessons and later pursue formal studies in the United States.

 She recently completed her Master of Music in Church Music with an organ concentration at Baylor University, studying under Dr. Jens Korndörfer. During her time at Baylor, she served as organist at both St. Peter’s Catholic Student Center and Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, Texas. In 2024, she won the Semper Pro Musica Organ Competition at Baylor and had the honor of performing at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.

 Beginning this fall, Chanmi will pursue a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Sacred Music at the University of Michigan. She is also looking forward to joining the worship and music ministry of the community at St. John’s Church in Detroit, where she will serve as Organ Scholar.

We welcome Chanmi, and look forward to getting to know her in the coming weeks as she settles into the position.

A reminder that Fr. Bob Hennagin of Midland, Texas will be with us next Sunday, God willing.  Fr. Hennagin grew up and St. John’s and next week will be his first opportunity to say Mass at St. John’s.  I look forward to welcoming him and serving as his acolyte.

I know that lots of folks are traveling in the month of August, and we look forward to hearing about people’s adventures, and the parishes they worshipped at while away (hint, hint).  The church’s expenses do not take a holiday, unfortunately.  We would appreciate it if people could stay current with their pledges by either mailing it to the office (your offering envelope can be mailed, just add a stamp) or contribute electronically via the QR code. 

 

Founders Day - Rector's Rambling for July 27, 2025

Over 166 years ago St. John’s Church came into existence through the dream and desire of Henry Porter Baldwin to start a parish in the countryside outside Detroit.  He did so on the assumption that the city would grow to the north and not just along the river.  It may have seemed madness to those living downtown, but it was obviously prophetic as the apple orchard he purchased to raise this edifice soon found itself surrounded by housing, then commercial buildings, and now theatres and sports venues.  I am sure that Governor Baldwin, and the women and men who participated in starting this parish and in her ministry all these years, could not have envisioned the changes to come, just as in our own time we probably didn’t imagine the scope of the revitalization that has occurred in the past 10 years, and what may occur, God willing, in the years to come!

Today we celebrate the “goodly heritage” that is the prologue to what God is now doing here in this place.  The ministry of the church has evolved and changed, but the biblical faith in Jesus Christ as expressed in our Anglican formulary of Common Prayer has not changed, by God’s grace.  And by that same grace, and God willing, will continue to shape and form followers of Jesus Christ for generations to come.  May God continue to bless us as we seek to share the good news that Jesus is Lord.

 

 

Fr. Cam Walker celebrating at St. John's - Rector's Rambling for July 20, 2025

     Today we have the great blessing of Fr. Cam Walker as our guest celebrant and preacher at St. John’s!  Although Fr. Cam has preached here many times -  while he was a layman on staff at St. John’s, while a seminarian at Nashotah House, and while a deacon -  today will be the first time he will celebrate the Holy Communion here since being ordained a priest last fall.

A native of Fenton, Michigan, Fr. Cam discovered The Episcopal Church and the glories of Anglicanism while in college.  Moving to Detroit to attend law school, it became clear pretty quickly that his vocation was not to practice law but to be a priest in the Church.  We are grateful to have had the opportunity be a part of his discernment process, and to support him while he was studying at Nashotah House Theological Seminary in Wisconsin.  He currently serves as the curate (a position generally for a newly ordained priest to learn and do parish ministry) at the Cathedral Church of the Incarnation in Garden City, Long Island.   Welcome back Fr. Cam!

Next week we have our Founders Day Sunday.  We will be celebrating the Holy Communion on that Sunday from the original prayer book used in the Episcopal Church, which was in use when St. John’s opened her doors for worship on November 17, 1859.   Remarkably, the liturgy will be very recognizable since the basic form and theology of prayer book worship changed little from the then until now, even though the 1928 Book of Common Prayer is the 3rd edition in the Episcopal Church in the USA.  An Ice Cream Social will follow in the parish garden.

 In August we will have another guest preacher and celebrant, God willing, Fr. Bob Hennagin, Rector of Holy Trinity Church in Midland, Texas, will be with us.  Fr. Hennagin grew up at St. John’s, and credits our late rector Fr. Tom Frisby with the inspiration to discern a vocation to the priesthood.  A graduate of Highland Park High School, he is in town for his 50th reunion.  He has never had the opportunity to celebrate the Holy Communion at our altar so we look forward to welcoming him on August 10th. 

 

St. Mike's, Organ Scholar, and upcoming Cam - Rector's Rambling for July 13, 2025

     I am most grateful to have had a wonderful week at the St. Michael’s Conference for Youth.  Once again the Lord has been glorified in worship, the confreres instructed and encouraged, and a good time had by all.  And you have this morning a rector who is both renewed and pretty tired from the long days that the staff spends making sure the Conference runs to His greater honor and glory. Year 27 on staff at this Midwest version of the Conference is in the books, and already I am looking forward to next year’s gathering.

Today we say farewell to Grace Jackson as our Edwards Organ Scholar.  She has completed her two years with us, and her course work for her PhD at the University of Michigan, and she is now moving on to St. John the Divine in Houston, Texas, having been awarded the Anglican Association of Musicians Gerre Hancock Internship.  Not only will we miss her fine skills at the organ and with the choir, but also her glowing joyful presence among us.  Be sure to join us downstairs at coffee hour for a reception in Grace’s honor.

Next Sunday we have a special celebrant and preacher at the 10 AM Service at St. John’s - Fr. Cam Walker.  Although he has preached here many times, this will be the first time since his being ordained a priest that he will celebrate the Holy Communion.  We look forward to having him with us. 

Our weekday Service Schedule Monday through Wednesday resumes after my week at. St. Michael’s Conference. 

On Thursday, however, I will be in Ypsilanti to compete in the USRowing Masters National Championship Regatta.  After 33 years off from rowing I resumed the sport in 2020, and have raced once or twice a year in the fall in what are called Head Races - 4 or 5 kilometer races with a staggered start where you try to catch the boats in front of you, and hold off the ones starting behind you. 

Until this week, I have avoided the spring/summer sprint racing season where we line up side by side and race in a furious sprint 1 kilometer to the finish line. But with the National Championship regatta happening 40 minutes away from here, I gave in and registered. I am just hoping not to embarrass myself too badly.  My son Andrew is racing as well.  Wish us luck!

 

Summer in full swing - Rector's Rambling for July 6. 2025

     Our warm summer continues, and I am grateful for everyone’s understanding that we are doing our best, opening windows overnight, etc., to keep the church temperature tolerable.  If history is any predictor then at the worst we will have 3 or 4 more very warm Sundays.  We have become people accustomed to being air conditioned this time of the year, but here we have to adjust with comfortable, looser fitting clothing, and to being in the breeze path of a fan’s oscillation to help to keep us cooler during the worship. 

Today we begin in earnest the long Trinitytide Season.  This ‘ordinary’ season lasts until November 30th when we reset the church liturgical year with the beginning of Advent.  The color appointed for the season is green, which is an appropriate choice for this long season of growth in the faith of Jesus Christ. 

We also give thanks this weekend for the 249th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, when we formally began our separation from England to become an independent nation.  I say ‘began’ because between July 4, 1776, and the formal adoption of our US Constitution on September 17, 1787, there was still a lot of blood shed on the battle field to gain that independence, and a failed attempt at self-governance in the Articles of Confederation.  We are grateful for God’s continued Providence for our nation, as well as His Mercy, as we have strived to live as one nation under God with varying degrees of successes and failings. 

This afternoon the St. Michael’s Conference for  Youth begins, my 27th year on staff at the Midwest Conference after 2 years on staff at the East Coast Conference.  Lovingly referred to at Anglo-catholic bootcamp, the students and staff live a week of intentional and intensive prayer and worship, study, and recreation.  It is a great blessing to the students AND the staff!  Please keep us in your prayers this week as we seek to glorify God and deepen our relationship with Him.  The Conference ends on Saturday.  I look forward, God willing, to being with you here next Sunday exhausted but elated from a good week! 

 

Feast of St. Peter - Rector's Rambling for June 29, 2025

     
Today we take one more week before donning the green hangings and vestments of Trinitytide,  keeping the June 29th Prayer Book Holy Day of St. Peter.

The newer calendar of the Episcopal Church, as well as the Roman Catholic Church, combines both St. Peter and St. Paul on this day.  And both of them are also commemorated separately, a week apart, in January.  Those two Feast Days mark Peter’s Confession of Jesus Christ as Messiah, and St. Paul’s Conversion story.

The June 29th Feast Day remembers St. Peter as a martyr for the faith, although the gospel reading for today is  the same one as his confession of Jesus as the Christ for the January Feast Day. 

St. Peter made his way to Rome, the center of the Empire, where as the primary apostle, he established his leadership of the Church there.  St. Paul also ended up in Rome at the same time.  To build a strong outpost of the Church there meant that it could be a missionary center to Europe.  Just as it is said that all roads led to Rome, so too all roads led from Rome as well.  Merchants, soldiers, and travelers coming to Rome could be evangelized and take the Gospel with them as they departed the capital city.

It is believed that Peter was executed during the persecution of Christians by the Emperor Nero June 29 in the year 64, a few months after the great fire that destroyed the city.  Tradition says that he asked to be crucified head down because he was not worthy to be crucified as his Lord was.  The crucifixion and his burial took place on the Vatican Hill, where later the Emperor Constantine built a basilica church over his tomb.  The current church was built there in the 16th Century

Corpus Christi Sunday - Rector's Rambling for June 22, 2025

     

We are now in a new Church Season, known as Trinitytide, or the Ordinary Season.  It is called Trinitytide because the Sundays between now and November 30 are numbered as Sundays after Trinity.  It is the long season of teaching about the nature of God himself through parables, sermons, and miracles performed by Jesus.  It is called ‘Ordinary’ not because it is not special, but because it is an Ordered series of teachings between now and the restart of the Church Liturgical Year with the Advent Season.

Having said all that, we actually don’t dive into the ‘regular’ routine of this season quite yet.  This week and next we have two special occasions which delay the onset of the green vestments and pulpit/lectern hangings. 

Today are celebrating the External Solemnity of Corpus Christi.  This Feast Day actually falls on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, but is so special we celebrate it again today.  Back in Holy Week on April 17th we had Maundy Thursday where we remembered our Lord’s Last Supper.  It was then that he instituted the Sacrament of the Holy Communion.  In all the busy from Palm Sunday to Good Friday to Easter Day it often gets overlooked, as evidenced by the low attendance at Mass that Thursday Evening.

Yet it is in Jesus’ giving of self in the Sacrament that we continue to receive that assurance of Grace!  “This is my Body” and “This is my Blood” becomes possible in every celebration of the Holy Communion, in fulfillment of Jesus’ words that we  are to eat His Flesh and drink His Blood by which we have Eternal Life. (John 6:54)  Because of how important this is, the Church celebrates it again outside of Holy Week, at the beginning of Trinitytide.

And although we would normally be in the green vestments and hangings of Trinitytide the following week, the 2nd Sunday after Trinity, this year a Prayer Book Holy Day takes precedence.  June 29th is the Feast of St. Peter the Apostle, so we will once again don the red vestments and hang red on the pulpit and lectern. 

Several special feast days fall on a Sunday this year so we will have some deviation from a long ‘green’ season, with St. Bartholomew on August 24th, Holy Cross Day September 14, St. Matthew the Apostle September 21, The Solemnity of St. Michael and All Angels October 5th, and All Saints Sunday on November 2nd this year.

We give thanks to Almighty God for the gift of Himself in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar.