The new cross - Rector's Rambling for April 28, 2019

What a wonderful day Easter Day was last Sunday at St. John’s!  The worship, music, congregation, and fellowship was fantastic, and the weather cooperated for a fun egg hunt after the 10:00 AM Service.  And, in fact, all our Holy Week Services were better-attended than last year, for which I am grateful to God.

One highlight last Sunday was the unveiling of our commissioned art piece in the new Ministry Center.  Erik and Israel Nordin of the Detroit Design Center, with the input of the St. John’s Art Committee, designed this stunning, one-of-a-kind, Celtic-style cross in steel and glass.

As you can see from the photos on this page, lots of folks joined us for the Liturgy, and then crammed into the Ministry Center to watch the unveiling.  Not only did we have parishioners with us, but also many friends from far and near.  Some were experiencing St. John’s for the first time, and others had returned after having been on hiatus for one reason or another.  Still yet, we had former parishioners who live as far away as Connecticut join us for the festivities surrounding our Lord’s Resurrection.

The Cross was given in memory of Aileen and Phelps Trix, Carolyn and Lloyd Campbell, Mary Bedford, Barbara Frisby, and Mary Agnes Clickner.

Alleluia!  Christ is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed!  Alleluia!

He is Risen Indeed! - Rector's Rambling for April 21 (Easter Day), 2019

Alleluia!

Christ is Risen!

The Lord is Risen indeed!

Alleluia!

This is our Easter Proclamation as we celebrate Jesus’ victory over sin and death.  What a wonderful statement of faith, which is absolutely essential and central to who we are as members of the Body of Christ, the Church.  His Resurrection is an absolute basic requirement for belief, along with our statement that Jesus Christ is Lord!

Welcome to St. John’s Church.  We give thanks for the many people who make St. John’s their High Holy Day destination, and for those worshipping with us for the first time.

If it has been a few months since you have been here (Christmas) or perhaps since last Easter, you surely have noticed the wonderful changes to our facilities already completed, and also now underway!  The new Ministry Center is basically completed (except for a few details) at the east side of our facilities, and the undercroft (basement) is now also undergoing a restoration, due to be completed late summer or early fall (experience has now taught us that we should stop trying to nail down dates for these things).  The undercroft will include new flexible assembly space, classrooms, nursery, bathrooms, and a new kitchen!

All this updated space will be utilized for church programming, classes, social events, and community use as well.  But most importantly, we as a people, redeemed by the Blood of Jesus, worship Him here in the beauty of holiness, and through worship and the various uses here seek to be remade into His image.  I hope everyone here today will take advantage of the many opportunities for greater holiness!

Most important week - Rector's Rambling for April 14, 2019

This is the most important week of the year!  Holy Week begins today, and between now and next Sunday you will have 13 opportunities to be at St. John’s for the public worship of the Church.

Two of those worship opportunities actually happen most weeks of the year here at St. John’s: Holy Communion on Tuesday and Wednesday at 12:15 PM (preceded during Lent by private Confession from 11:30 AM – 12:05 PM).

For Holy Week we add several important opportunities for worship and devotion.  On Wednesday evening we have a service of psalms and lessons at 7:00 PM called Tenebræ.  On Maundy Thursday the one celebration of the Holy Communion will be at 7:00 PM (no 10:30 AM Mass this day), which is followed by the stripping of the altar and an opportunity to spend time at the Garden Watch in the chapel.

Good Friday starts with the opportunity to spend time at the Garden Watch (beginning at 9:00 AM) before the Good Friday Liturgy, which takes place from Noon to 3:00 PM.

On Holy Saturday [Easter Even] the great Vigil Service of Easter begins at 6:00 PM, which includes the first Communion service of the Easter Feast, and on Sunday we will have the grand celebration of the Resurrection at 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM (Brass Prelude at 9:30 AM).

Information about these various services can be found in the insert in today’s Order of Service called Holy Week Explained.

More importantly, I cannot stress more strongly that we need you to attend these services!  This is the most important week of the year, and yet only a small percentage of parishioners avail themselves of one or more of these services that lead up to Easter Day.

I understand that we are a busy people, and that many of us live very far away from the church facility.  But it is important for your spiritual life to participate in this holiest of weeks, and your presence will also be an encouragement to those others who have taken time and distance to be here, especially our visitors.

See you in Church!

"Personal Prayer" - or is it? St. John's Teaching Note for April 7, 2019

So far this Lent we have read about praying the Holy Communion Service, the Daily Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer and techniques of personal prayer.  Today we will talk about “private” prayer and meditation.

Although it is called “private” prayer, because we do it alone, in fact no prayer is “private”.  All prayer is joined together with other’s prayers for the same intentions.  God hears each prayer individually, yet we know that even if we are kneeling down at the side of our bed or sitting quietly in a chair in our living room, those prayers are being joined to the great assembly of saints on earth and in heaven.

Fr. Martin Thornton, the late great writer about English Spirituality, said that our prayer lives have to be Trinitarian in nature.  In other words, it has to be balanced and equal, just as the Persons of the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) are equal.  He even assigns a Person of the Trinity to each type of prayer.

The Daily Office is like God the Father, with its great orderliness.  The Holy Communion is Jesus Christ Himself.  And Private Prayer is the Holy Ghost – giving some freedom and empowering that freedom in prayer to be directed to the Father, through the Son.

If we are “All Daily Office” at the expense of the other two, we risk becoming rigid or stale in our prayer life.  If we are “All Holy Communion” we risk missing out on the bigger picture of what Jesus’ saving act was for.  If we are “All Personal Prayer” we risk becoming too self-centered and self-indulgent in our prayer life, just as a charismatic who is only concentrated on the Holy Ghost is apt to be lead off on tangents that lead to personal regard for some, and rejection of other Church doctrines.

So, in the next two weeks, we will start looking at various methods of personal prayer, that many Western Christians have felt helpful.  But before all, just start praying by speaking to our Heavenly Father as you would someone who loves you.  After all – He does!

Happy Laetare Sunday - Rector's Rambling for March 31, 2019

Happy Lætáre Sunday!  This Sunday is also known as Rose Sunday (take a look at the vestments and hangings today to figure out this title), and in our mother Church of England it is known as Mothering Sunday (like our Mother’s day in May).

Still a Sunday in Lent, this Sunday is a mid-point when we “lighten up” a bit.  The deep penitential purple vestments are replaced with the lighter rose.  The Latin title gives us a hint as to this lightening up of the day.  Lætáre is the opening word of the liturgy in Latin, on which our liturgy is based.  The first word of the Introit, sung by the choir at the 10:00 AM service, is “REJOICE”.

Although a penitential season, on this Sunday we rejoice that we have passed the half-way point of Lent.  We rejoice because Passiontide (the last two weeks before Easter) and Holy Week are in sight.  We rejoice because Easter is just around the corner.  We rejoice because to date we have kept a good Lent OR because we still have a chance to have a good Lent starting today.  But above all we rejoice because we have a Saviour, Jesus Christ, who paid the price of our sins.  We rejoice that in Jesus Christ we have forgiveness of those sins and are reconciled unto the Father through His blood.

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Speaking of rejoicing – we have taken possession of our newly renovated ministry center and offices!  While work is being done on the undercroft over the next few months, we will have Coffee Hour in our new entrance atrium.  If you don’t know how to get there after the service, ask someone who seems like they know where they are going.  It is at the rear of the building complex.  We think you will be amazed at the new facility!