Another St. Michael's Conference complete - Rector's Rambling for 7/18/2021

      

I am writing this nine days ahead of time because, by the time you read this on Sunday, I will have been away this past week at the St. Michael’s Conference for Youth, Midwest.

Last year we held the Conference in the midst of severe COVID-19 restrictions.  Of the four regional St. Mike’s, ours was the only one to gather, and we were able to do so safely.  This year we had some revised precautions: limiting numbers, masking and distancing inside, and the continued discipline of concomitance (receiving Communion in one kind only, the Host).  We look forward next year to being more wide open.

As always, the St. Michael’s Conference is a wonderful opportunity for young people to learn more about their Lord and His Church, to worship Him in the beauty of holiness, and to develop an intentional Christian Community.

And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that as exhausting as it can be for the clergy and staff to try to keep up with the Michaelites, it is also a time of wonderful renewal for me and the other clergy on staff.  The clergy have a chance to spend some time together in prayer and in a social context, and the energy of the young people revitalizes us as we see the church of tomorrow in their hopeful eyes.

This week I will try to play “catch-up”, not only with sleep, but also with the various regular things that are scheduled at St. John’s.  By the end of this year’s conference I was already looking forward to next year’s gathering, and hope to bring some of that energy from the Conference into life of the parish the rest of the year.

 

Homage to Cam - Rector's Rambling for July 11, 2021

     Today we bid farewell to Cam Walker as a member of the staff of St. John’s, and we do with mixed feelings.

On one hand we are saddened to lose his presence among us here in Detroit, and yet we rejoice at his “next step” of studying for the priesthood at my alma mater, Nashotah House Theological Seminary, in Wisconsin.

Cam became acquainted with St. John’s via the Internet while a college student in Illinois, watching our videos on YouTube and interacting with us via social media.  After an internship at the Washington National Cathedral, he moved to Detroit for law school, but God had other plans for him.  After one semester he gave in to the beginning of that calling, and left law school.  By March we developed a position on staff for him at St. John’s to help with programming and various things that needed attention.

COVID-19 put a crimp in many larger plans that were in the preparation stage to be offered, and like all of us, Cam pivoted with the various changes in requirements and prohibitions to do the best that could be done in these odd circumstances.

The Vestry has made a commitment to support Cam to help him as he pays for seminary, and already one parishioner has stepped forward to help that cause.  If you are able to help, please see me, or the parish treasurer, on how you can support this cause.

God willing Cam will be back on school holidays to preach for us, and update us on the progress of his “ordination track”.

Seminary takes three years.  In that time, Cam will be made a postulant by a bishop, then a candidate by that diocese’s Standing Committee.  We then hope that his bishop will lay hands on him to make him a deacon, and then a priest.  The process (the education, spiritual formation, adoption by a bishop and diocese, and, God willing, ordination) is long and at times tedious.  Cam will be in need of your daily prayers as he progresses, grows, and learns the Lord’s will for him throughout.

 

Independence Day - twice over..... Rector's Rambling for July 4, 2021

     In the Anglican Tradition in the United States Independence Day is a Prayer Book Holy Day, which means that it takes precedence over the Fifth Sunday after Trinity.

It makes perfect sense that this would be so, since our country’s founding document, the Declaration of Independence, was signed by a majority who were members of what would become The Episcopal Church.  According to Gregory Elder of Redlands Daily Facts, “32 of the signers, well over half, were Episcopalians, or Anglicans, the old state Church of England.  There were 13 Congregationalists, 12 were Presbyterians.  There were two Quakers, two Unitarians, and one Roman Catholic.”

Being that Episcopalians were accustomed to praying for the King and his government in the Daily Office, it would be understandable that that would be converted into a daily prayer for the President and all others in authority, as well as a celebration of our God-given liberties, along with the responsibilities that come with that freedom.  We are blessed to have this freedom, and it is our bounden duty to glorify God and to make sure that those liberties are preserved and equality applicable to all.

Today we also celebrate a full year of public worship with no spread of the COVID-19 virus, and the dioceses in Michigan moving into the next phase of reopening which includes making the wearing of masks and social distancing optional.  You are most welcome to continue to wear your mask, and distance as you feel comfortable or of your necessity because of your own health requirements.  And, of course, we will respect each other’s decisions with the love of Jesus Christ.