Community events around us - Rector's Rambling for August 26, 2018

This past week I had the opportunity to participate in several events here in our neighborhood around St. John’s Church.

On Tuesday, I was a part of the grand opening of the new Mike Ilitch School of Business building for Wayne State University.  It is located just to the north of the new arena, about four blocks away from St. John’s.

The new school building is a gift to Wayne State from the Ilitch family, and is a part of the overall development of what is called the District Detroit.  The Little Caesars Arena is the most prominent feature of the neighborhood development.  But office space has been added and companies like Google have moved into ancillary space at the arena.  Other buildings are being renovated or constructed for commerce and residential use.  More construction is slated for the coming years, including buildings in the parking lots in front of Comerica Park, including our parking lot on the side of the church.  It is exciting to be a part of the development of the neighborhood.

Yesterday, we hosted a fundraiser for Jack’s Place for Autism.  St. John’s supports Jack’s Place with some of our outreach funding, and we also host them for a Tigers Opening Day tailgate with the Tigers Fantasy Campers.  This was a new event, with three Detroit Tiger players – Matthew Boyd, Nick Castellanos, and Michael Fulmer –  scheduled to be at St. John’s to sign autographs for this charity.  Several St. John’s folks were present to welcome the Tigers and the guests, to answer questions about St. John’s, and even give tours of the sanctuary.  Kudos to vestryman Rod Gillespie for his relationship with Jack’s Place, Jim Price, and the Detroit Tigers organization.

We are always looking for ways to interact with organizations in the neighborhood, particularly those doing good for others.  As we finish construction of the new ministry center, and then the undercroft, we hope to host even more groups and make more opportunities for these organizations to expand their outreach, as well as invite them into a relationship with the Lord through the ministry we do here at St. John’s.

These are exciting times to be in downtown Detroit, and we look forward to the coming months and years as we expand our membership base and community interaction!

Be opened! - Rector's Rambling for August 19, 2018

This morning we hear of the healing of the man who was deaf, and had an impediment of speech.  Jesus performs the healing with the command Ephphatha, which means “be opened”.

This reading, and that phrase, holds a special place in the heart of St. John’s.  For over 100 years St. John’s was the host of the Ephphatha Episcopal Mission of Detroit.

According an article in the February 1919 edition of the magazine “The Silent Worker: a magazine for the deaf by the deaf”, the mission to the deaf at St. John’s began in 1877.  Originally meeting at Grace Church on Jefferson (now closed), by summer of 1877 the mission moved to St. John’s, and continued her ministry here until the 1970s.

In the 1920s St. John’s had seven Sunday Services, two of which were held in sign language.  At 11:00 AM, while the rest of the congregation worshipped in the main sanctuary, the Ephphatha Mission worshiped in the chapel.  In the afternoon there was also a 3:00 PM Evening Prayer service.  Many of the staff and members were graduates of the Michigan School for the Deaf in Flint, which continues to this day.

By the 1970s the mission congregation’s size had dwindled, and those few remaining members attended the larger congregational service with a sign language interpreter.  In 2001 the last remaining member of the congregation, Elizabeth Prescott Weber Walker, died.  She had been wife and granddaughter of two of St. John’s Senior Wardens.

St. Mary's Feast this week - Rector's Rambling for August 12, 2018

This week we will celebrate the Feast of St. Mary the Virgin.  This Feast is a relative newcomer to the Anglican Calendar, but has ancient roots in both the Western and Eastern Churches, and is worth celebrating!

The icon pictured is from the Eastern Orthodox tradition for this week’s Feast.  For the Orthodox this is known as the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, or the Feast of the Falling Asleep of the God-bearer.  For the Western (Roman Catholic) Churches the Feast is known as the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Both titles deal with the historical fact of the end of the earthly life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of God.

For Anglicans we call this celebration the Feast of St. Mary the Virgin.  We celebrate the important role that she plays in the story of our salvation.  It is by her agreeing to the message of the Archangel Gabriel that she conceives in her womb Jesus by the Holy Ghost.  She gives birth to him, nurses him, and raises him to follow the original covenant between God and the people of the Hebrews.  She is present throughout his earthly ministry, stands at the foot of the cross when he dies for our sins, she is a witness to the Resurrection, and she is present at Pentecost when God the Holy Ghost empowers his follows to be The Church to the world.  There is no other human being that can be counted as more faithful to him throughout his earthly life.  For that we celebrate her and give thanks to God for her.

For the Eastern and Western Churches, this feast deals with extra-biblical events of her death and assumption into heaven.  Although the bible does not mention her death, we can assume that in fact she did die (all humans do).  And both churches, in their own ways, describe Mary being reunited in heaven with her son Jesus as we all will also be with him at the end of time in the general resurrection of the dead.

Although we do not have the emphasis on these latter events because they are not explicitly detailed in Scripture (and therefore not required for belief for salvation), they can be helpful in reminding us about the role Mary played in bringing Jesus into the world, and hopeful in what the reward of faith in him is to us at the end of earthly life.

Malawi Update - Rector's Rambling for August 5, 2018

One of the ongoing ministries of St. John’s is the support of the Church in Malawi, Central Africa.  Bishop Jackson Biggers, the retired diocesan of the diocese of Northern Malawi is a long time friend of St. John’s, and we treasure our memories of his many visits with us.

Recently, Fr. Bedford had a chance to speak on the phone with the good bishop, and relayed this note to be published:

Bishop Jackson Biggers sends thanks for our latest donation to the secondary school in Malawi.  Designated gifts and the open offerings on the first Sunday of each month add up!  Bishop Biggers tells Father Bedford that a new 5-year plan is being developed by the school that will provide needed direction and also encourage supporters, such as St John’s, to greater involvement.  Our U.S. Dollars have “multiplier” buying power when converted into Malawi dollars.  Father Bedford hopes our latest gift of $1600 will allow work to begin again on the science labs, which had been suspended due to lack of funds.  Please remember to support the church in Malawi with a loose cash donation on the first Sunday of the month.

 I too would encourage you to be generous of your continued support of the Church in Malawi.

Worldwide, there are more Anglicans (our international communion) in Africa than in the US, Canada, or England.  In many ways the Church in Africa, through her hardship and even martyrdom, has flourished in the faith!