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

Monday, May 06, 2013

A month of Feasts! - Rector's Rambling, April 28, 2013


This week we close out April and begin the month of May on Wednesday.  Because of the early date for Easter this year, May is chock full of important Feasts to be celebrated.
Next Sunday we will begin the four-day celebration of the Rogation, praying God’s blessing on the planting of crops (and by modern extension on commerce and industry).  This begins with the outdoor procession while singing the Litany Hymn at the beginning of the 10:00 AM service.
On Thursday, May 9th, we celebrate the 40th day of Easter with the celebration of The Feast of The Ascension (see Acts 1:6–11).
Just as the Apostles and other disciples spent the nine days after Jesus’ Ascension in prayer, so too we will keep a nine-day prayer vigil (a Novena) to the Holy Ghost in preparation for Whitsunday, also known as Pentecost Sunday.  Then on Sunday, May 19th, we will celebrate the gift of the Holy Ghost descending upon the Church and empowering her to continue the ministry of Jesus Christ.
A week later we celebrate that great sublime mystery of the faith of One God in three persons with Trinity Sunday.  Yes, this is the day that we do that LONG Creed of St. Athanasius!  It also is the day, this year, of our Tiger Baseball Outing!
Four short days later, on Thursday, May 30th, we celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi.  This is one of the grander liturgies we have at St. John’s, as we pull out all the stops and celebrate the great gift of Jesus giving Himself to us under the species of bread and wine in the Blessed Sacrament.  You will want to invite your friends and family to come on this evening to hear the choir and to worship with us.
In addition to these major feasts we will celebrate such weekday feasts as the ember days, Ss. Augustine of Hippo and Monnica, Bl. Jackson Kemper (who preached here at St. John’s), St. Boniface, St. Augustine of Canterbury, and the Venerable Bede.
Overarching these greater and lesser feast days is that May is dedicated to the honor of St. Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Plenty to celebrate… be sure to be present and active at St. John’s in the month of May!

posted by StJohnsPriest | 4:21 PM