Piety Hill Musings

The ramblings of the Rector of St. John's Episcopal Church of Detroit. Piety Hill refers to the old name for our neighborhood. The neighborhood has changed a great deal in the over 160 years we have been on this corner (but not our traditional biblical theology) and it is now known for the neighboring theatres, the professional baseball and football stadiums and new hockey/basketball arena.

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Location: Detroit, Michigan, United States

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Rector's Rambling - July 18, 2010

If past experience is any indicator, when you are reading this on Sunday morning you will have a parish priest who is over-tired, with a hoarse throat, and yet walking two feet above the ground.
I am writing this before The St. Michael’s Conference for Youth. My experience is that the clergy don’t get enough sleep because we are up earlier than the Michaelites and then after they go to bed it takes a little while for us to debrief from the day.
We also sing A LOT during the week at both Morning Communion and Evensong and the hymns are all the old favorites which the clergy tends to over-sing (you can almost see Dr. Lewis’ head nodding as I write this about clergy in general).
But I am sure I am also excited about having spent such a great week at the Conference, teaching the children and being a part of their growing in faith!
The other great thing about the St. Michael’s Conference this week is that I was not near a computer except for the rare occasion. This is a welcome break from the madness of trying to keep up with email and various social networking websites. As much fun, and as informative, as they can be, it is always nice to step away from them for a welcome break.
Next week we have our second annual Founders Day celebration. We will sing appropriate hymns from the period of the founding of St. John’s, and will use the original liturgy used in the first 30 years of this parish. Afterwards we will have an ice cream social in the garden, weather permitting.
It is hard to believe, but 150 years ago this past June 6th the cornerstone of the Church was laid. The story of the cornerstone laying was on the front page of the Detroit Free Press. Back then positive church news was front page news. Within a week after the opening of the Chapel in November of 1859 the vestry began making plans to build the Church because the chapel was already too small for our growing congregation. Wouldn’t it be great to have problems like that today!

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