Gaudete! - Rector's Rambling for December 15, 2024

     We are over the mid-point of our Advent observance, which means we have come to Gaudéte Sunday, sometimes known as Rose Sunday.  It is a chance for us to “lighten up” in the heaviness of a penitential season, which is signified liturgically by the use of the rose colored vestments and altar hangings in the place of the “heavier” purple.

In recent years there has been a push to make Advent less penitential in nature.  Lent is the grand penitential season of course, with its precursor “-gesima” Sundays.  There was a third penitential season, observed by the devout, centuries ago.  It was from early August to September 14 (Feast of the Holy Cross), but it was not universally observed.

One way that portions of the Church has differentiated the penitential aspect of Advent from Lent is to replace the purple with blue.  I see this frequently in Episcopal and Roman parishes.  Blue for Advent is said to be an adaptation of the color scheme for the season from the Sarum Rite.  But mixing Rites is generally discouraged, and I certainly wouldn’t want to wear the burnt brick orange of Trinitytide from the Sarum use from June to November.

We need to be penitential.  Not only do we have to frequently (even daily) acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness, but we also need to spend extended periods (a season) in a penitential mode in order to be prepared for the glories of the great gift of Holy Days like Easter, and of course Christmas.  But of course being in a state of repentance for our sins is also important as we look forward to the return of Jesus Christ at the end of time to judge the quick and the dead.  We may be lightening up today with rose vestments and hangings, but in the bigger picture, we are still preparing through repentance and amendment of life for that which is to come.

 

Advent 2 and Conception too - Rector's Rambling for December 8, 2024

     Today we have two overlapping “Feasts” to celebrate on Sunday.  First, and primarily, today is The Second Sunday in Advent.  

    In the Book of Common Prayer there is something called the Tables of Precedence (p. li) which spells out for us which Holy Days always take precedence and can’t be bumped by another Feast Day occurring on the same day. If the Feast of St. James (July 25) occurs on a Sunday then that it the primary celebration that Sunday (Collects and Lessons) rather than The Sunday after Trinity. However, the Sundays in Advent always take precedence

Today is one of those days that overlap.  December 8 is the Feast of the Conception of St. Mary, but because it occurs this year on Sunday we observe the Second Sunday in Advent instead.  Today’s other Feast Day will be observed tomorrow at the 12:15 Service.  This holy day celebrate the conception of Mary by her parents St. Anne and St. Joachim.   Her birthday is celebrated on September 8th (9 months later).   St. John the Baptist’s conception is mentioned in scripture too, and of course Our Lord’s miraculous conception is celebrated on March 25th as the Feast of the Annunciation.

Each of these conceptions have different but interrelated theological implications.  John the Baptist’s conception is in preparation of him being the forerunner of Christ and occurs to a woman beyond childbearing years.  Mary’s conception is celebrated because it will be from her flesh, through her own womb, that the second person of the Trinity will take human flesh to dwell among us.  And of course Jesus’ conception by Holy Ghost is the incarnation of God.

These feast days are also an important reminder that from the moment of conception we are the Lord’s and therefore every life is sacred.

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Next Sunday we have our official visitation by our Diocesan, required by Canon Law every 3 years.  The Rt. Rev’d Bonnie Perry was last with us in 2021 when she preached at Choral Morning Prayer. This time she wants to do the Holy Communion Service.  She will be leading and preaching at the 10 AM Service and will be present at coffee hour as well. 

 

The Advent Eagle - Rector's Rambling for December 1st, 2024

     Happy New Church Year!  Although the secular calendar New Year begins January 1, we begin our church year with the First Sunday of Advent, which this year falls on December 1st.  We begin once again the rotation of Church seasons; Advent, Chrsitmastide, Epiphany, Pre-Lent (gesima Sundays), Lent, Easter, Ascensiontide, Pentecost and then back to the long Trinity Season once again.  This year Easter is on April 20th so we will have a longer Epiphany season than last year, and a shorter Trinitytide.

December is busy at St. John’s. Right now the Holiday Bazaar is underway with homemade gifts for sale in support of the ministries of the St. Catherine’s Guild.  In the ministry center the Gift Giving Tree awaits your unwrapped gifts for the children of the Georgia Street Community Collective.  Tags are hanging on the tree as suggested gifts. 

On Saturday, December 7th Women’s Advent Tea will be offered by the Daughters of the King.  All women of the parish are encouraged to invite friends to join us this day. On Sunday, December 8 we have our Garden Tree Lighting where we pray Evening Prayer, sing Carols, and enjoy hot chocolate and treats together.

On Sunday, December 15 we have our triennial Official Diocesan Visit with the Rt. Rev’d Bonnie Perry at the 10 AM Service.  On that day will also be having our annual Cookie Walk, as well as the final day of the Gift Giving Tree.  That Tree then morphs into the Warm Fuzzy Tree collecting hats, mittens, scarves and sweaters.

The 4th Sunday of Advent on December 22 will see our Advent Soup Sunday and the completion of the Church Greening for Christmas that was begun the day before on Saturday the 21st. 

Almost all of those things listed above are on Sunday when you are already here in church for worship (hint hint) so you can participate in all of them!

Christmas Eve, Tuesday, December 24 we will have our Family Pageant Service at 4 PM, Carol Prelude Service at 8:30 and Festive Candlelit Holy Communion at 9 PM.  Christmas Day Low Mass with Carols is at 11 AM.

Now is the time to start inviting friends, neighbors, and family to join us on Sunday and for Christmas worship as well!  See you in Church.

 

Thanksgiving Week at St. John's - Rector's Rambling for November 24, 2024

     We have a busy week ahead here at St. John’s, leading us into a busy December as well.

This week we have our Thanksgiving Festivities at St. John’s.  Wednesday, November 27th we will have our Thanksgiving Eve Holy Communion Service at 7 PM.  I suggest arriving a bit early since there is also a 7:30 Red Wings game that night across the freeway from us.  After the Service those  parishioners and their friends who would like to stay overnight are welcome to - BYO bedding/cots/air mattress.

Thursday Morning, Thanksgiving Day, we start early with a pancake breakfast in the Undercroft as well as donuts, coffee and hot chocolate  sale at our Front Door Canteen.  Scaffolding will be set up in the garden for watching America’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as it passes in front of our Church.  When Old St. Nick arrives at the tail end of the parade the children of the parish will greet him by ringing the big bell in the tower!

On Friday at 11 AM we will have the Burial Office for the repose of the soul of Virginia Burton, who passed away in early September.

Next Sunday for the beginning of Advent, we  have scheduled the baptism of Virginia Medlow, the daughter of Joan and Connor.  She is also the great-granddaughter of Virgina Burton!

December is busy with our Holiday Bazaar, Gift Giving Tree, Women’s Advent Tea, Garden Tree Lighting, Diocesan Visit, Cookie Walk, Warm Fuzzy Tree, Advent Soup Sunday and Church Greening, and of course the celebration of Christmas.

Almost all of those things are on Sunday when you are already here in church for worship (hint hint) so you can participate in all of them. 

And now is the time to start inviting friends, neighbors, and family to join us on Sunday and for Christmas worship as well!.

 

165th Anniversary - Rector's Rambling for November 17, 2024

     

Today is the 165th Anniversary of the dediction of our Chapel, the first building completed for St. John’s. 

November 17, 1859 was a Thursday that year.  Our 50th Anniversary book records that day for us. 

(A)nd on Thursday morning, November 17, 1859, the congregation assembled for the first time for their common worship, on the occasion of the Consecration of St. John’s Chapel.  With the Bishop and the Rector were twelve other clergy; the Senior Warden presented the “Instruments of Donation and Request to Consecrate,” the Rector read the “Sentence of Consecration;” the Bishop preached from Ephesians 5:32, “I speak concerning the Church;” in the Holy Communion, the first of so many celebrations at that beloved altar, the Bishop was assisted by the Reverend Rufus Murray of Mariners’ Church.  At Evening Prayer the same day, the Rector ministered the first Baptism in the parish, to Louis Alden Grelling.  Thirteen boys had been trained and organized into a choir, which sang at both these services.

St. John’s was off to a rousing start, having been built in what was a rural area outside of the City of Detroit (hard to imagine this corner being described that way back then).  Sunday worship was very well attended, and then on Monday night a parish meeting was held to re-elect the wardens and vestry and to assess pew rents.  Yes, in those days the pews were rented for the year rather than the collection plate passed around.  They ran into an immediate problem...too many people wanted to rent pews in the chapel which they thought would suffice for 5 to 10 years before having to build the larger church!

Our parish historian continues,

With the same characteristic promptness that had marked the enterprise thus far, at a Vestry meeting the following Monday night, November 28, these resolutions were adopted: “Resolved that in view of the fact that every seat in the Chapel is already rented, and that there is a large demand for additional seats, it is desirable that efforts should be made for the immediate erection of a Church seating about one thousand persons “resolved that a subscription paper for this purpose be prepared and circulated and that as soon as $10,000 in addition to the $17,000 offered by Mr. Baldwin, be obtained, the Vestry will feel authorized to take steps for the erection of the Church”  As the estimates came in for the building and furnishing of the Church, Henry Porter Baldwin and the Vestry doubled their pledges, and the total cost to build the Church was just under $49,000 which is worth $1,860,000 today.

 

Weekday Masses - Rector's Rambling for November 10, 2024

     

    One of the greatest privileges of the catholic Christian (a title aptly applied to Episcopalians who believe in the ‘one, holy, catholic and apostolic church’) is to receive the Blessed Sacrament regularly.  Every Sunday it is offered at St. John’s, and as the Prayer Book Office of Instructions reminds us our ‘bounden duty is to follow Christ, to worship every Sunday in Church” (p. 291).  In the Sacrament of Jesus’ Body and Blood we are nourished in our bodies and souls by His Sacramental Presence - an assurance of His Grace.

In addition to being offered on Sunday at the 8 AM and 10 AM Service, The Holy Communion Service is also prayed during the weekdays as well.  Regularly scheduled Monday through Thursday, unless supplanted by a funeral service at the same hour or my being out of town.  Occasionally we add a fifth or sixth weekday Holy Communion Service if there is a Prayer Book Holy Day, Wedding or Funeral scheduled on Friday or Saturday.

The weekday Masses (another word for the Holy Communion Service) differ in a few ways from our Sunday Celebration.  Generally it is shorter because there is no sermon in a traditional sense.  In its place is usually the reading of a hagiography (a biography of a saint) about the person being commemorated on the Church calendar for that day.  The lives of the saints inspire us to strive for holiness, and are proof that God can take anyone, in any spiritual condition, and make them into holy people by His Grace.  It can also be a reminder that we still have a long way to go, personally.  But then again that is why we are there! The Sacrament is the most powerful aid to holiness!

The weekday Holy Communion Service is also quieter and more intimate.  I have heard the comparison that the Sunday Service is like a Royal Official State Banquet with all the trappings, but the weekday Service is like an intimate meal with the immediate family.  In both cases we are being fed, but there is a different feel to it.  Many of our weekday Masses have only two or three people present, but if even only one person is present, they represent the prayers of the entire parish incarnate!

A weekday Mass is not a substitute for Sunday attendance but is intended to be in addition to it.  But if you are hindered by travel or illness from making it to Church on Sunday, making the effort to make a Mass during the week is efficacious for growth in the spiritual life.

Once a month?  Once a week?  How many weekday Masses can you add to your every Sunday attendance?

 

Saints then, and now - Rector's Rambling for November 3, 2024

     Since September I have been away three times, to New York, Boston, and Philadelphia.  In all three places I had to opportunity to worship in remarkable parishes.

My trip to New York was for the ordination of our own Cam Walker.  While in the City I had the opportunity to attend Thursday evensong at St. Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue.  Sunday through Thursday they have Choral Evensong with their Choir of Men and Boys who attend their  parish boarding school a few blocks away near Central Park.  On Saturday the ordination was at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City, Long Island, which has a long history of being a flagship Anglo-catholic parish.

While in Boston I attended Evening Prayer at the Church of the Advent at the base of Beacon Hill.  My wife was a member there after college, we are friends with the organist, and I have been friends with several of the clergy over the years.  Also a renown Anglo-catholic parish they two have a full schedule of weekday Masses and the Daily Office in addition to their Sunday worship, with professional choir, as we do at St. John’s. 

In Philadelphia I joined a lunchtime Mass at St. Clement’s Church, a parish that supported me financially and spiritually, and was very important in my formation as a priest in the Anglo-catholic tradition. 

Sunday morning I attended 7:30 Morning Prayer and 8:00 Holy Communion at All Saints, Wynnewood, a near suburb of Philadelphia. Being a 1928 Book of Common Prayer parish the worship for those morning services is a clone of our own (the Prayer Book is good that way).

I am reminded this morning of all the “Saints”, the holy people of God, who have worshipped in our pews and the pews of these other churches.  All those who built and supported these churches, and have left them both as a legacy and as a tool for our own greater sanctification - to help us to become holy as well.  This All Saints Day let us look backward to the Holy who have been, and look forward to the Holy that God desires us to be. To be saints is our ultimate goal as members of the Body of Christ.