First week accomplished - Rector's Rambling for 7/12/2020

It was so wonderful last Sunday to see, IN REAL LIFE, the people of St. John’s at St. John’s.  After all those weeks of phone calls and Zoom coffee hours, it was great to have people in the building to worship together.

Being on a holiday weekend was perhaps a good way to slowly get back into Public Worship, and begin to work out our COVID-19 precautions.  We had a total of 42 people at our four Services last weekend.

The Noon Service was added because initially the dioceses said that we could only have 50 people at any one service.  But now that that was corrected to 25% of occupancy, it has become redundant and today will be the last Noon service.  When/if Tigers Baseball and Lions Football begins happening with fans in attendance, that Service would not have parking available for it anyway.  Perhaps we can reinstate it in the future if there is a demand for space, and can be for those who walk/bike to Church.

The addition that is here to stay for a while is the new 5:00 PM Service of Evening Prayer.  The “new” is the addition to the schedule.  Sunday Evening Prayer, or Evensong, is actually a great tradition in Episcopal/Anglican Parishes.  Here at St. John’s, until the 1930s, we offered four Morning Holy Communion Services on Sunday (one in American Sign Language), and three Evening Prayer/Evensong (one in A.S.L.).

Evening Prayer on Sunday is both an opportunity for those who could not attend worship on Sunday Morning to fulfill their obligation to worship Him in Church later in the day, as well as a chance for those who were present at morning worship to return in the afternoon to further sanctify their “keep Holy the Sabbath Day” by ending the day as they started it.

For now it is Evening Prayer with a homily (tonight’s Minister and Preacher is our own Cam Walker).  In the coming months we will begin to work in some simple congregational settings of the canticles and two hymns, and can invite guest preachers as well.