Rector's Rambling - November 1, 2009

Today we deviate once again from the “Sundays after Trinity” in order to celebrate a grand holy day. Today is the Feast of All Saints. On this day we celebrate with great liturgical and musical solemnity all those holy women and men who have gone before us and are now in the presence of God.

The Roman Catholic Church has a very formal process for proclaiming someone a ‘saint’. It involves collecting materials and testimonies, miracles attributed to the deceased’s intercession, and a process from venerable, to blessed, to saint. This process was codified over time to assure the faithful of the holiness of the person being remembered, and to avoid the over-excitement about that holy person developed in local cultus around him or her.

The Anglican Church, particularly our American Episcopal Church, recognizes those early saints of the early church, as well as those recognized by the East and West in more recent times. We also have a ‘process’ to add someone to our calendar to be remembered, usually on the anniversary of their death (their heavenly birthday). This roll of people is commemorated in the Book Lesser Feasts and Fasts. The deceased are proposed to a committee established by the General Convention for investigation, possibly added to the calendar for trial use, and the approved by the Convention itself. Some additions in recent years have, unfortunately been added for political motivation rather than the person’s holiness of life. God is sorting that out.

It may be of interest to note that in our register of services we have the signatures of several American Episcopal “saints”. Bishop Jackson Kemper of Wisconsin consecrated our first Rector here at St. John’s to be his successor. Fr. James Lloyd Breck, founder of 3 seminaries (only Nashotah House remains) and countless parishes, preached and celebrated here, and Fr. James DeKoven, twice elected and then overturned to be a bishop, (for being too traditional) preached our first rector’s funeral here as well. And I would also guess, known to God alone, that many saints have sat in our pews this past 150 years, and some are sitting here now.

Rector's Rambling - October 25, 2009

Yesterday was the 175th Annual Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan. The Diocese officially came into being 25 years before St. John’s was founded, with a small number of parishes that were being cared for by Canadian bishops who traveled across the Detroit River from Windsor. St. Paul’s, then located on Woodward near the river (now located at Woodward and Warren in their 3rd structure) is considered the mother church of our diocese. It was the long-time Junior Warden of that parish, recently elevated to Senior Warden, who called for a meeting of neighbors living ‘out in the country’ near his new house to found a new parish, St. John’s.

18 months after the parish was founded, and 7 months after the Chapel was opened, the Convention itself met for an special afternoon session to help with the laying of the cornerstone of our Church. In there was placed a document from the Rector, Wardens and Vestrymen of the parish while included this…

“We are conscious and confident that we are building that which will outlast ourselves; and we rejoice in the hope that, within the walls we are permitted to raise, thousands, in successive generations, will worship GOD, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and confess our LORD and Saviour JESUS CHRIST, in the sacraments and ordinances of His Gospel; and partake of all the blessings of membership in His Church, which are precious to our souls today. As Christians and Churchman, we thank GOD for our strong assurance and conviction, drawn from past history, that the Protestant Episcopal Church, for whose communion this building will be reared, is so grounded on the one foundation, Jesus Christ, so true to Him, in the ministry, the doctrine, the Liturgy, the sacred year, the entire system which she inherited; so careful of His complete Gospel, holding each and every part thereof, in its own due proportion and harmony; that however we and those who shall follow us may prove unworthy of her and of her LORD, among all the changes and chances of this world, she will remain, in all essential things unchanged.”

Although St. John’s remains “in all essential things unchanged” concerning the faith and worship of The Church, I wish I could report that yesterday’s Diocesan Convention does the same. (ie...legislation supporting funding of ministries at odds with biblical lifestyle choices, calling for action on climate change based on bogus research for 'global warming', and worship not at all in accord with Anglican Prayer Book worship) I would venture that The Episcopal Church 2009 is little that Henry Porter Baldwin and the other founders of our parish would recognize.

Rector's Rambling - October 18

Welcome to all who are joining us today for our Homecoming celebration.

Begun in 2001, Homecoming Sunday is a chance to invite our friends, family, and regular visitors to join us for an extra festive Sunday of worship and fellowship. It is a “fall” opportunity to gather, just as many visit for “winter” (Christmas) and “spring” (Easter). This year we have added a “summer” opportunity with Founders Sunday in July.

As you have experienced, the worship at St. John’s is a great grace filled act of love and gratitude to the good God who loves us beyond comprehension. The richly symbolic liturgy, combined with sublime music, lifts our hearts and minds to greater and bigger things. Our participation is our offering to God, however imperfect we (and it) may be, because it our bounden duty and joy.
And the fellowship at St. John’s is certainly warm and inviting. Add to that a potluck luncheon and all the excitement of the Detroit Marathon and Detroit Lions game happening nearby and we have a glorious day all around.

In 1926 St. John’s was the largest parish west of the Allegheny mountains. Easter that year saw over 2500 communicants at seven Sunday Services! By the 1930’s attendance began to slide. A long-time member told me that a predecessor as Rector from 1932 to 1962, Rev. I.C. Johnson, told him that he was encouraged to come to St. John’s to stop the downward slide. Only in 2001 did we start increasing, building from 45 average Sunday attendance to over 200 in 2006. Things have backslid a bit since then, dropping to 196 last year.

In the coming months we will be having a Faith Alive weekend. I hope that it will be a chance for us to recharge and move forward once again. And from this recharged congregation more and more people will be brought into our fellowship through that renewal and evangelism.
Everyone here today is most welcome, and encouraged, to become a part of this renewal. “Get in on the ground floor” as we grow once again toward a full church many times over.

Rector's Rambling - October 4

Thank you to all who made yesterday’s Community Flea Market a success! If not for the good planning work of many people involved in the process, as well as all who pitched in on the big day, we wouldn’t have been able to accomplish this. We not only made some money for the operating expenses of the parish, but we also made a good impression on the many vendors and neighbors who participated and enjoyed the day.

Today we are celebrating the Solemnity of St. Michael and All Angels. The feast day actually occurs on September 29th, but it is an important enough feast that it has an “octave” assigned to it - which means that it can be celebrated for 8 days! We are celebrating it on the Sunday within the octave.

It is an important feast day because there is a lot of misunderstanding about the ministry of angels and who they are in their created order. Keeping this feast day allows us to give thanks to God for their creation and their ministry, as well as be informed about who they are and what they do (and who they aren’t and what they don’t do) so we can dispel the myths and mis-information surrounding them.

Today, being October 4th, is also the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. St. Francis lived in the 13th century in Italy. The son of a middle class cloth merchant, “Frenchy” chased after military glory in hopes of elevating his and his families status by earning knighthood. Instead God used him to renew the Church.

After a conversion experience in which Jesus told him to ‘rebuild my Church’ Francis embraced absolute poverty in order to preach the gospel without being attached to property concerns. Many others were attracted to his way of life and joined him. Three modern religious orders are the fruit of his call - The First Order Franciscan (brown robed friars), Second Order semi-enclosed nuns (the Poor Clares) and Third Order men and women following a rule of life but living in the world and their families.

Although the rule of life has changed over the years, the charism (‘spirit”) lives on in the Franciscan vocation. More info? www.fodc.net

An opinion on the recent Anglican/Roman news

There is much buzz about the recent pronouncement from Rome setting up a pathway for en masse Anglican defections to the Roman Catholic Church. In many ways this mirrors a similar program already in effect in the USA only, allowing for re-ordination of married Anglican clergy and for parishes to continue to use Anglican Prayer Book worship while Roman Catholic (there are several in Texas, Massachusetts, and I believe Virginia already). This would now be available world-wide with the additional caveat that they would be able to set up parishes and have their own hierarchy without depending upon local RC bishops to give permission (a stumbling block in some places). What has not changed is that Anglicans still have to convert to Roman Catholicism and clergy have to be re-ordained (not have their orders recognized as valid).

Impact in the USA? Minimal to ECUSA I would think. Many who have been leaning Rome-ward have already jumped. It might be an attractive option to some of the alphabet soup of continuing churches who have already separated from The Episcopal Church, particularly those who separated in the 1970's and are of a more Catholic Anglican understanding. I would also speculate that only a minority of those who are recently separated into the Anglican Church in North America will be interested since most involved are of the Evangelical Party, and have adopted non-catholic understanding of Holy Orders (not to underestimate the long-standing animousity by evangelicals toward Rome). Those from the more Anglo-catholic dioceses of Ft. Worth, San Joaquin, and Quincy, as well as those under the new ACNA Bishop Ilgenfritz from Forward in Faith would have a better fit with Rome than the ACNA in the long run.

Impact on the Anglican Communion? This could be devastating to the Catholic Anglican movement in the Church of England, which has been pushed to the edge over recent legislation to introduce women into the Episcopate.

This could also gain steam in Australia and Catholic Anglican pockets in Africa.

And the formal document itself has not been released in full, so details are scarce at this time.

My biggest disappointment is that it will further weaken the witness of the Catholic position in the Anglican Communion.

So, what about St. John's on all this?
1) We are still a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan in good standing.
2) There are no plans for St. John’s to investigate this option.
3) I have a hard time believing Anglican Orders are "utterly null and completely void" as Leo XIII promulgated about us (or something to that effect). As the USA option currently stands, I am not eligible for re-ordination because I was confirmed as a child in the Roman Catholic Church. There is no hint by Rome that this would be changed.

We have had a small number of parishioners leave St. John's in recent years and convert to Rome, and we have also had former and lapsed Roman Catholics join us. Ultimately God is in charge and we remain faithful to the 'faith once delivered to the saints' as a parish, and as a priest, in The Episcopal Church. This puts us at odds with Rome (being in the Episcopal Church), and most of ECUSA (the faith once delivered to the saints).

May God help us all.

The Flea Market is coming!

This week the Flea Market Committee will meet one last time, after the 10am Service, to make sure we are on track for our big fundraiser on October 3rd.
Originally conceived last spring to be a ride carnival, unfortunately the ride company was not able to squeeze us on their schedule for this fall. But by mid-summer we realized that rather than wait an entire year we need to have a fundraiser this fall as well. The Community Flea Market is the fruit of that desire.
There are several reasons I think this event is important. First, it is a community event. Various Churches, ministries, and other vendors will be participating. We are the hosts and in addition to selling our wares, we will also be selling food concessions and 50/50 tickets. It is a chance to gather various groups in our community together for a day.
Secondly, it is a chance for us to be ‘visible’ in the neighborhood. Our big building is hard to miss, but many pass by without ever seeing anyone come and go. This event in the parking lot is a chance for us to be seen by our neighbors who will (hopefully) be coming in to browse the items, meet parishioners, and hopefully develop a favorable opinion of us, opening up an opportunity to develop a relationship with each other and hopefully with them and the Lord.
And of course, it is a fundraiser. In our hard-pressed economic times, we cannot use any reserve funds because their value has been greatly depleted by the stock-market downturn, and the lack of growth and income in the account. Parishioners have been very generous in supporting St. John’s - this is a chance for others to have the opportunity to come to the Flea Market and to help us to cover our expenses.
Be sure you will be here Saturday during the Flea Market hours to volunteer AND welcome our many guests!
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Sunday School got off to a good start last week, as did Adult Education, but there are still children and adults in the parish (and in metro Detroit for that matter) who need to be involved for their sake and for the good of the parish!

Rector's Rambling on Sunday School

Today we get back into the swing of the education program at St. John’s.

A few years ago there was a public service announcements that ended with the tag-line “never stop learning”. This is certainly true when it comes to our life of faith!

Most of us know that Sunday School is an important element of a parish church. ALL CHILDREN IN THE PARISH should be participating in Sunday School! We certainly would be shocked if a parent decided not to have their child educated by not sending them to school or arranging to homeschool them. And yet some in the body of Christ who faithfully do the secular requirements of education do not have the same vigilance to have their children educated in the things that have ETERNAL consequences. In Sunday School the children not only learn the facts of the scriptures, but also learn to love them because they point us to Jesus. As they grow they need this foundation of faith to fight against the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. What are we saying to our children when me make a great effort to get them to school Monday through Friday, but Sunday School (or God forbid Sunday Worship) can be put aside for other matters? Children absorb their parents’/grandparents’/guardians’ priorities.

What is true for the children in Sunday School is also true for adults. We also need to continue to learn more and more about our Lord and His Church. Reading and studying the Scriptures at home is a great start! Being involved in Adult Education at St. John’s is another great place to be! The Alpha Course is yet another great opportunity, as are other programs put on in this parish. And in the coming months we hope to branch out into small group ministry where people can gather together during the week to study the Word of God together.

Children and adults alike are called to keep learning! Let us do so to His greater honor and glory!

More on Sunday School

This morning, as we resume our Sunday School and Adult Education programs, I thought it might be of interest to look at some of the things recorded in the history of St. John’s about the Sunday School program. Our 50th Anniversary book has this to say -

In the afternoon of the same day, November 20, 1859 , a Sunday School was organized. Its first enrollment, preserved for us by Mr. Charles H. Vernor (son of the inventor of Vernors Ginger Ale), who was one of those participating in the organizing, was of 28 officers and teachers, and 136 scholars. Mr. Henry Porter Baldwin was made Superintendent….

Later the book goes on to note

The Sunday School, which as we have seen began with 28 teachers and officers and 136 scholars, grew rapidly; in June 1861 it reported 451 enrolled, in 1866, 727.

The Annual Report for 1926 shows that St. John’s, once a country parish, had undergone some radical changes to the neighborhood. Surrounded by commercial rather than primarily residential properties, the make-up of the congregation had changed. Although the parish had 2430 baptized members, the author of the report laments

It is often asked whether it is difficult to keep a Church School going in a downtown parish. It is difficult...Our aim is to have as large a school as possible; but regardless of its size we try to make it the best.

In 1926 this enrollment was 180 children in Sunday School and 80 adults participating in the bible classes. That is less than 8% of the baptized membership in Sunday School and less than 4% of the baptized membership involved in the Sunday bible classes in 1926. Currently we have about 6% of our baptized membership participating in Sunday School/Children’s Chapel, and about 4% participating in Sunday Adult Education.

We can, and must do better by having members participate, and including new members as well.

Rector's Rambling - September 6th

This week I got a phone call from the parishioner who so graciously edits for grammar and clarity our monthly newsletter The Eagle. He had a question about a phrase I used. We came up with a better one because the one I picked had a variety of meanings not related to what I intended.

That discussion morphed into one about about “Churchy Talk”. We use all sorts of great, ancient, specific words - often with Latin or Old English roots. They perfectly describe what they describe!

The problem is, unless you are an “insider” those words mean little to nothing to you. There are two ways to correct this problem. One, the preferred method by most is to just stop using the proper names. But for some of us, it is important to use the right words for the right things! The better solution is to use them AND explain them. For example, when I describe where coffee hour is I say, “In the Undercroft, which is directly beneath where you are sitting”. This way you learn the proper word AND what it means. Now for terms like Nave, Narthex, Sanctuary, Thurifer, Acolyte and even Rector we will have to work it into a conversation or perhaps a future Teaching Note.

I also want to wish you all a blessed Labor Day. Started primarily to celebrate the organized Labor movement in this country, for which many positive reforms in workplace resulted, we now broaden it to celebrate all human labor big and small. We pray for those who work the auto-line, push a broom, patrol our streets AND for those who take the risks to develop and grow businesses that provide employment opportunities.

The Roman Catholic Church has a history of encyclicals (teaching pronouncements) that encourage neither communism/socialism nor unrestrained capitalism. Instead, they promote a responsible business atmosphere that allows for private ownership and the opportunities for workers to make a dignified wage. Anglicanism, without a central teaching authority, would do well to start the conversation there, and pray God’s blessing on our common good.

Sad news for Anglicanism

We need good, faithful religious to hold us up in prayer. The loss of the All Saints Sisters of the Poor is a deep one. Sister Mary Charles is one of the first Anglican nuns I ever met, and I have made several retreats there when I was living out east.

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10 Episcopal nuns in Archdiocese of Baltimore to join Catholic Church

By George P. Matysek Jr.

gmatysek@catholicreview.org

After seven years of prayer and discernment, a community of Episcopal nuns and their chaplain will be received into the Roman Catholic Church during a Sept. 3 Mass celebrated by Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien. The archbishop will welcome 10 sisters from the Society of All Saints’ Sisters of the Poor when he administers the sacrament of confirmation and the sisters renew their vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in the chapel of their Catonsville convent. Episcopal Father Warren Tanghe will also be received into the church and is discerning the possibility of becoming a Catholic priest. Mother Christina Christie, superior of the religious community, said the sisters are “very excited” about joining the Catholic Church and have been closely studying the church’s teachings for years. Two Episcopal nuns who have decided not to become Catholic will continue to live and minister alongside their soon-to-be Catholic sisters. Members of the community range in age from 59 to 94. “For us, this is a journey of confirmation,” Mother Christina said. “We felt God was leading us in this direction for a long time.”

Wearing full habits with black veils and white wimples that cover their heads, the sisters have been a visible beacon of hope in Catonsville for decades. The American branch of a society founded in England, the All Saints’ Sisters of the Poor came to Baltimore in 1872 and have been at their current location since 1917.

In addition to devoting their lives to a rigorous daily prayer regimen, the sisters offer religious retreats, visit people in hospice care and maintain a Scriptorium where they design religious cards to inspire others in the faith. Throughout their history, the sisters worked with the poor of Baltimore as part of their charism of hospitality. Some of that work has included reaching out to children with special needs and ministering to AIDS patients. Together with Mount Calvary Church, an Episcopal parish in Baltimore, the sisters co-founded a hospice called the Joseph Richey House in 1987.

Orthodoxy and unity were key reasons the sisters were attracted to the Catholic faith. Many of them were troubled by the Episcopal Church’s approval of women’s ordination, the ordination of a gay bishop and what they regarded as lax stances on moral issues. “We kept thinking we could help by being a witness for orthodoxy,” said Sister Mary Joan Walker, the community’s archivist. Mother Christina said that effort “was not as helpful as we had hoped it would be.” “People who did not know us looked at us as if we were in agreement with what had been going on (in the Episcopal Church),” she said. “By staying put and not doing anything, we were sending a message which was not correct.” Before deciding to enter the Catholic Church, the sisters had explored Episcopal splinter groups and other Christian denominations.

Mother Christina noted that the sisters had independently contemplated joining the Catholic Church without the others knowing. When they found out that most of them were considering the same move, they took it as a sign from God and reached out to Archbishop O’Brien. “This is very much the work of the Holy Spirit,” Mother Christina said. The sisters acknowledged it hasn’t been easy leaving the Episcopal Church, for which they expressed great affection. Some of their friends have been hurt by their pending departure, they said. “Some feel we are abandoning the fight to maintain orthodoxy,” said Sister Emily Ann Lindsey. “We’re not. We’re doing it in another realm right now.”

The sisters have spent much of the past year studying the documents of the Second Vatican Council. They said there were few theological stumbling blocks to entering the church, although some had initial difficulty with the concept of papal infallibility. In addition to worshipping in the Latin rite, the sisters are expected to receive permission to attend Mass celebrated in the Anglican-use rite – a liturgy that adapts many of the prayers from the Episcopal tradition. Mother Christina said 10 archdiocesan priests, including Auxiliary Bishop Denis J. Madden, have stepped forward to learn how to celebrate the Anglican-use Mass. The sisters expressed deep affection for Pope Benedict XVI. The pope exercises an authority that Episcopal leaders do not, they said. The unity that Christ called for can be found in the Catholic Church under the leadership of the pope, they said. “Unity is right in the midst of all this,” said Sister Catherine Grace Bowen. “That is the main thrust.” The sisters noted with a laugh that their love for the pope is evident in the name they chose for their recently adopted cat, “Benedict XVII” – a feline friend they lovingly call “His Furyness.”

http://www.catholicreview.org/subpages/storyarchnew.aspx?action=6750

Rambling on Weddings at St. John's

Yesterday we had a wedding at St. John’s Church. Joseph Emond and Jessica Minott were united in Holy Matrimony; exchanging vows and rings, and receiving the blessing of God and His Church through my office and ministry as priest of this parish. We pray every blessing upon them and their new life together!

Weddings are not an uncommon occurrence at St. John’s. In 2009 we have had 4 already and have three more scheduled in October and November. Some years we only have 3 or 4 weddings. We probably receive at least 25 inquiries a year, phone calls or emails, from people who want to ‘rent the church’ for a wedding. All who call are informed that if they are not members of St. John’s, or active members of another Episcopal/Anglican congregation they need to begin attending St. John’s (and do so for at least 6 months) in preparation for their upcoming nuptials. As you see from the number of weddings done a year vs. number of inquiries, for many it is the aesthetics of the building that is the attraction, not the faith for which it stands.

Marriage is a sacrament, an assurance of God’s grace-filled blessing and a great aid toward holiness. But it doesn’t happen in a vacuum. The blessing is re-enforced in light of the other sacraments like baptism and Holy Communion, for which continuing active membership in the Church is our Lord’s desire.

Since becoming Rector of St. John’s Church in March of 2001 I have done 43 weddings. 12 couples now live out of state or over an hour away from St. John’s. 5 couples are divorced (that I know of). None of the divorced couples continued attending St. John’s after their wedding. 5 couples come regularly to St. John’s and 2 come occasionally.

Doing the math and you see that 19 couples either come to St. John’s or live too far away to do so. That means that 24 local couples promised me that they were intending to continue to attend after their weddings and don’t.

Starting in 2010 ALL COUPLES intending to be married at St. John’s will be expected to attend the Alpha Course. PRAY God that The Faith will be as important to all being married at St. John’s as the ceremony and celebration is to them. And PRAY for all those who have been married here, that their hearts may be moved to greater and greater holiness through their participation in The Body of Christ—the Church.

Coming soon - The Alpha Marriage Course for those already married!