Baseball Sunday @ St. John's - Rector's Rambling for May 24, 2015

We are going from glory to glory here at St. John’s!  Last weekend we had the great grace to host the 103rd Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord George Carey, and his lovely wife Eileen.  It was a remarkable blessing to have the retired head of our worldwide Anglican Communion to connect us to the larger church, and more importantly to remind us that in all the changes and chances of life (and our own Episcopal Church) it is vital for us to keep First Things First - Jesus Christ!  

Today we have our largest, single attended service of the year.  Christmas and Easter have a variety of services to attend, but it is on Baseball Sunday at St. John’s that we have more most people in the pews for a single service (other than an occasional funeral).

We are so glad to have our many friends and visitors with us this Sunday!  St. John’s is certainly in an unique position to host such an event, with Comerica Park located right across the street.  And perhaps in a few years we can arrange a Red Wings Sunday with the new arena under construction across the street the other direction.

This neighborhood has certainly undergone quite a few changes.  It started out as farmlands and orchards, with a few country houses surrounding, when the parish began worshipping here in 1859.  Later on Victorian Mansions surrounded us, then small and then large business.  The Fox Theatre opened in 1928 and by then the neighborhood was completely commercial.  The 1960s through the 1990s saw a decline in this neighborhood, with a reverse beginning with the renovation and reopening of the Fox Theatre and the eventual construction of Comerica Park and Ford Field.

Neighborhood development plans include more residential units nearby, and we look forward to adding more ‘walking’ parishioners to the many who drive from further away (some as far as South Lyon) every Sunday.  We hope you will join us here regularly for this renewal.