Summer at St. John's - Rector's Rambling for June 30, 2019

Last week I mentioned that the celebration of Corpus Christi on Sunday marked the last “hurrah” before we entered the long “green” period of the Ordinary Season, better known as Trinitytide.

Although the title “ordinary” time makes it appear that there is nothing special about these coming weeks, it actually is about being well-ordered with teaching about Jesus and the life of faith.  I promise you that it won’t be ordinary as in not special.

We will have special Sunday events in the coming weeks.  On July 21 we will have a parish outing to the Detroit Institute of Arts after the 10:00 AM Service.  Sunday, July 28 will be our annual Founders’ Day, when we worship using the original American Book of Common Prayer, which was in use at St. John’s when we opened in 1859.  August will have another outing planned as well.  Later in the fall, we will celebrate St. Michael and all Angels and the Feast of All Saints on Sundays because of their importance.  And we have at least one baptism planned, God willing, during this time as well.

Whether a special Sunday, or seemingly ordinary, it is still our bounden duty to worship God every Sunday in His Church (Office of Instruction, p. 291, 1928 Book of Common Prayer).  I know that folks are away for portions of the summer, but if you are home, I hope that you will be here with us for worship.  Your absence is not only detrimental to your spiritual life, but diminishes us all as well, since we do not have you with us to worship and to encourage us by your presence.

And if you are away, I look forward to seeing the Service Bulletin from the parish you visit!

This is my body - Rector's Rambling for June 23, 2019

This is our last great HURRAH before we head into the long season of Trinitytide, also known as the long, green-vestment Sundays in Ordinary Time.  Next week we begin our long, systematic look at the teachings of Jesus on how we are to live this life we have in Him, after the various seasons of Advent, Christmastide, Epiphany, Lent, and Easter – each with its unique emphasis on the story of salvation for us.

But today’s celebration grounds us in a central reality of our ongoing sanctification, the gift of the assurance of Grace in the frequent reception of Jesus’ own Body and Blood in the Blessed Sacrament.

The catechism reminds us that a sacrament is “an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us; ordained by Christ himself, as a means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge to assure us thereof.” (Book of Common Prayer, p. 581).  It is a promise by Jesus himself to feed us with His own Body and Blood, to nourish us spiritually and strengthen us for the service of the Kingdom of God.

Here, at St. John’s, we have at least five celebrations of the Holy Communion a week.  Twice on Sunday we have Holy Communion, also called the Holy Eucharist and Mass.  And during the week we also have Holy Communion most weeks on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and on other days when Holy Days occur on them.

Although Sunday is our primary day to worship, it is a great blessing also to worship and receive the Blessed Sacrament on a weekday as well.  This is not as a substitute for Sunday worship, but in addition to it.

The weekday Communion Service, also known as Low Mass, is generally 25 to 30 minutes long.  There is a brief sermon or reading of the biography of the saint of the day, and we don’t usually have any singing at the weekday Masses.  They are a more intimate, quiet time to worship and receive the blessing of the Sacrament to aid in our battle against the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil and to be strengthened to live lives of greater holiness.  Take advantage of this opportunity.

Three Persons: One God - Rector's Rambling for June 16, 2019

Today we celebrate an absolutely vital doctrine of the Faith of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church – The Holy Trinity.

The good news is that we embrace and hold fast to the truth as it has been revealed to us: “that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance.”  This is the third sentence of the very long and exhaustive exposition of the faith known as the Quicunque Vult, also known as The Creed of St. Athanasius.  We recite this Creed on Trinity Sunday because although the Apostles Creed (recited at Morning Prayer) and the Nicene Creed (recited at Holy Communion) both explain the persons of the Holy Trinity, the Creed of St. Athanasius describes in detail the relationship of the persons of the Trinity, as well as ruling out misinterpretations as well.

Although the American Prayer Book did not include this Creed until recently, the rest of the Church of England, and the rest of the Anglican Communion, not only included it, but also required it to be recited at Morning Prayer on 14 major Feast Days.

If you think this column, or my sermon today, will explain to you all the details and intricacies of the theology related to the Holy Trinity, I am sorry to disappoint you.  Realistically this doctrine is not completely comprehendible on this side of heaven.  Do I understand it all?  Nope.  Do I believe it?  Absolutely!  So many references in Scripture witness to the Father and Son being one, and how the Holy Ghost is related.  The Church has spoken about its veracity, and we thank God for these definitive statements to point us toward the God who loves us.

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St. Tertullian (145 to 220 A.D.) on The Holy Trinity

Bear always in mind that this is the rule of faith which I profess; by it I testify that the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit are inseparable from each other, and so will you know in what sense this is said.  Now, observe, my assertion is that the Father is one, and the Son one, and the Spirit one, and that They are distinct from Each Other.  This statement is taken in a wrong sense by every uneducated as well as every perversely disposed person, as if it predicated a diversity, in such a sense as to imply a separation among the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit.

I am, moreover, obliged to say this, when (extolling the Monarchy at the expense of the Economy) they contend for the identity of the Father and Son and Spirit, that it is not by way of diversity that the Son differs from the Father, but by distribution: it is not by division that He is different, but by distinction; because the Father is not the same as the Son, since they differ one from the other in the mode of their being.  For the Father is the entire substance, but the Son is a derivation and portion of the whole, as He Himself acknowledges: “My Father is greater than I.”  In the Psalm His inferiority is described as being “a little lower than the angels.”  Thus the Father is distinct from the Son, being greater than the Son, inasmuch as He who begets is one, and He who is begotten is another; He, too, who sends is one, and He who is sent is another; and He, again, who makes is one, and He through whom the thing is made is another.

Happily the Lord Himself employs this expression of the person of the Paraclete (Holy Spirit), so as to signify not a division or severance, but a disposition (of mutual relations in the Godhead); for He says, “I will pray the Father, and He shall send you another Comforter…even the Spirit of truth,” thus making the Paraclete distinct from Himself, even as we say that the Son is also distinct from the Father; so that He showed a third degree in the Paraclete, as we believe the second degree is in the Son, by reason of the order observed in the Economy.  Besides, does not the very fact that they have the distinct names of Father and Son amount to a declaration that they are distinct in personality?  For, of course, all things will be what their names represent them to be; and what they are and ever will be, that will they be called; and the distinction indicated by the names does not at all admit of any confusion, because there is none in the things which they designate.  “Yes is yes, and no is no; for what is more than these, cometh of evil.”

Against Praxeas Chapter IX

Come Holy Ghost... - Rector's Rambling for June 9, 2019

This past week I received word that some old video tapes of services from years ago had been electronically digitized, and that I could now access them for download.  It was a trip down memory lane as I watched a service at my old parish in Charleroi in 1997, All Souls Requiem Mass here at St. John’s in 2001, and Homecoming from 2002.  I hadn’t viewed any of these videos in at least 15 years, and it was fun to be reminded of those times and to see faces of those who have passed on to greater life.

The fourth recording was one I had watched many times over the years, generally twice a year, that I had to have digitized because our last VCR at St. John’s gave out last year.  It was the videotape of my ordination to the priesthood in 1994.  Each year around Maundy Thursday (when the priesthood was instituted by Jesus), and my anniversary, I would watch the sermon from Bishop Keith L. Ackerman.  It is a wonderful reminder of the charge he gave to me that day to care for the faithful by being faithful.

What made my heart particularly glad was hearing the congregation singing Veni Creator Spiritus right before the Bishop laid hands on my head to ordain me.  “Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire, and lighten with celestial fire.”  I have sung this hymn hundreds of times.  It is the great ancient prayer of the Church calling upon God the Holy Ghost to come to us and fill us, comforting us and filling us with His Power.

The hymn continues, “Thou the anointing Spirit art, who dost thy sevenfold gifts impart.  Thy blessed unction from above Is comfort, life and fire of love.  Enable with perpetual light The dullness of our blinded sight.  Anoint and cheer our soiled face With the abundance of thy grace.  Keep far our foes, give peace at home: Where thou art guide, no ill can come.  Teach us to know the Father, Son, And thee, of both, to be but One, That through the ages all along, This may be our endless song: Praise to thy eternal merit, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”

This isn’t just an ordination prayer, but a powerful prayer to be said in all circumstances.  Ask God the Holy Ghost to be stirred up into your life!  You received the gift of the Holy Ghost at your baptism, and he will help by guiding and governing you to greater holiness!

The great novena - Rector's Rambling for June 2nd, 2019

We are in the midst of our Great Novena, nine days, between the Feast of the Ascension and Whitsunday/Pentecost.  During the time after Jesus ascended into heaven, and when the Holy Ghost poured out onto the disciples, Jesus’ followers spent these days in prayer in preparation for the gift  of the Paraclete, and the mission that they were about to embark upon.  We are doing the same.

Every day, between last Thursday and next Saturday, we are meeting at the Prayer Wall and praying Evening Prayer.  We sing an opening and closing hymn, and also lift up our common intentions and those in the Prayer Wall, as well as pray for the Sevenfold Gifts of the Holy Spirit.  It is an important thing that we are doing!

One of the challenges we have with our location is that we aren’t the biggest thing on the block (at one time we were the only big thing…100+ years ago), but we are dwarfed by the arenas, stadiums, and theatres that surround us.  Additionally, because we tend to be here, worshipping when other events are not taking place, it is easy to overlook this empty unopened building.  Our challenge is not only to keep the building looking attractive physically, but also to have it open during the weekdays, AND to bring our prayers and presence outside the building as well.

Our Prayer Wall is prayed at every Sunday after the 10:00 AM service, and this is a great public witness to those going to the sporting and theatre events around us.  This is why we have our Thy Kingdom Come prayer services outside at the Prayer Wall as well.  It can be intimidating to try to bring people into this massive stone structure to join us for prayer!  Being outside allows people to observe, say a quick prayer on their own as they pass, and occasionally folks join us for a portion of the service as well.  But everyone who does pass by sees that we are a people at prayer!  This witness is important for increasing our “notice-ability” in the neighborhood.  And most importantly, we are PRAYING – always a good thing!

Be sure to join us this week at 6:00 PM!