Almost Autumn - Rector's Rambling for August 29, 2021

      Fall is coming!  This is our last Sunday in August, next Sunday is Labor Day weekend, and then the following week we begin our programming year (which basically follows a school year calendar).

So what is coming up for fall?  First of all, all written here must be taken with a “God willing” attached.  We pray that it won’t be true, but there is the possibility that there could be some measure of scaling back if there is a change due to COVID-19 variables.

On September 12, we will resume Sunday School the first time since March of 2020.  Sunday School will take place at the beginning of the 10:00 AM service.  The children will begin in the undercroft and will join us upstairs in the church later in the service.  Lena Nealley is once again leading the charge, with a cadre of teachers and helpers.  Be sure to bring the kids/grandkids for a time of learning and worship!

For Adult Programming we will be concentrating on The Alpha Course for the fall.  For the first session, Alpha will be held on Tuesday nights, beginning October 12, either in the ministry center or undercroft, depending on enrollment. This is a 10-week course which will conclude on December 7, with a Saturday daylong session on November 20.  We will kick of Alpha with a special gathering at Coffee Hour for all parishioners and friends on Sunday, October 10.

Once we complete our first Alpha Course we will have another session scheduled to begin in January, and yet another in April – the idea being not only that all parishioners will take this course by the end of the first year, but that we will also have of those who have recently taken the course begin helping at the next one.  We want to encourage our friends, family, and community to take the course too.  Additional Adult Education Courses will be added in January for those who have graduated from Alpha.  More information to come!

 

Time of transitions at St. John's - Rector's Rambling for August 22, 2021

       The end of August and the beginning of September is a time for transitions.  We transition from summer holiday to a new school year, and to the upcoming programming year at the church, including Sunday School and The Alpha Course.

We are now in a time of staff transitions here at St. John’s as well.  Programs Associate Cam Walker is already beginning his studies at Nashotah House Theological Seminary.  We bid Cam a found farewell back in July as he moved to Wisconsin.

We recently were informed that 50-year parishioner, current Treasurer, and oftentimes Senior Warden/Junior Warden/Vestryman/Acolyte/Usher, etc., David Schafer has announced that he will be moving up north to Beaverton, MI to be closer to family there.  A farewell luncheon is in the planning, details to be announced soon.

And we are having a transition with our Edwards Organ Scholar.  Jackson Merrill, whose time with us has mostly been under the cloud of COVID-19 restrictions, has been called to be the interim Assistant Organist at Christ Church Grosse Pointe.  He will be starting there in September.  It is a goal of the Edwards Organ Scholarship to train good organists for parish musicianship, and it is always sad to see the organ scholars go elsewhere, particularly when we are just getting to know Jackson as pandemic restrictions are easing.

Thankfully, we already have an organ scholar lined up for this coming year.  We will be joined soon by Abraham Wallace.  According to his short bio, “Abraham Wallace is a church musician from Goldsby, Oklahoma.  He recently was awarded a master’s degree in Pipe Organ Performance from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and is now pursuing a doctoral degree in Sacred Music at the University of Michigan.  Abe recently has served as interim Director of Music for Trinity Lutheran Parish in Milford, CT, and as organ scholar for St. Paul’s on the Green (Episcopal) in Norwalk, CT.  He enjoys baking bread and hiking in his spare time.”  We look forward to having him with us and incorporating him into our music program.

As with all changes there will be adjustments, but by God’s grace all will be according to his gracious providence

St. Mary the Virgin - Rector's Rambling for August 15, 2021

     In addition to being the 11th Sunday after Trinity, we are also celebrating in the Episcopal Church the Feast of St. Mary the Virgin.

August 15 has long been kept as a feast day of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Christianity, and many Anglican Parishes kept it as a Holy Day before the reform of the calendar in the 1970s formally added it.

The Roman Catholic Church keeps today as the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, and the Eastern Orthodox Churches commemorate it as the Feast of the Dormition.  Both titles have to do with end of The Blessed Virgin Mary’s earthly life.  Tradition has it that when Mary died her body was taken into heaven just as the Jewish tradition says Moses’ was and the scripture attests that Elijah’s was (without his dying first).  The Episcopal Church has not been formal about declaring this as a doctrine of the Church because it occurs after the recording of Scripture.

As Episcopalians we remember that we can require nothing as necessary for belief concerning salvation that is not contained in Scripture.  But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t things which are true and happened, but not recorded for us in Scripture.  They just cannot be required for belief.

The teaching of the Church concerning the death and assumption into heaven is one of those doctrines that cannot be required for salvation, but can be taken for truth on solid tradition of the contemporary writers of that time who attest to this reality.

I know that for me the biggest proof is the reality that the early church venerated and held dear the bodies of the early saints.  The Apostles and others we hear about in scripture have their physical remains venerated (held in high esteem)  as what are called relics.  Yet the one body from which Jesus Christ took his earthly flesh, has no physical remains held as relics.  Wouldn’t the early church in its zeal to do such things with the saints do so with Jesus’ own mother if her body remained here on earth?

The Anglican compromise is to make it a general feast day in thanksgiving for the life of Mary, and on that we can certainly agree!

 

The Return of Alpha - Rector's Rambling for August 8, 2021

      In many ways  the Church has felt like it has been on hold since March 2020.  Worship suspended and then reinstated with varying levels of restrictions.  Our most recent phase of reopening has expanded our ability to gather together for more than just worship, and now is the time for us to look forward to resuming some programming for the upcoming autumn.

First, Sunday School will resume on September 12, God willing.  This takes place at the beginning of the 10:00 AM service, with the children joining us for Communion.  Stay tuned for more information on that.

Secondly, we are planning on using the Alpha Course once again.  What is Alpha?  It is a 10-week introduction to Christianity.  I would like it if EVERYONE in the parish experienced Alpha in the next year.

Why do I want everyone to experience Alpha?  Even if you are a longtime worshipper at St. John’s, the Alpha Course is a great way to reboot and re-evaluate your faith.  It is also a great way to make sure ALL OF US are up to speed on the basics of the faith.  It is the primary mission of the Church to know Christ and to make him known.  Alpha is a great way to make sure we understand what it means to know Christ, and it is a great vehicle for us to introduce Jesus to others…making Him known!

We will in the next few weeks be announcing the course day and dates, the first one beginning in October.  We will also schedule one to start mid-January and one in late March.  Plan now to be involved by volunteering (if you have already taken the course here or elsewhere) or by signing up to take the course.  It includes dinner, a video teaching, and discussion afterwards.

It is vital as we come out of this Coronatide that we shake off the COVID19 malaise and get to work both learning the faith, and also becoming a church focused on the mission of leading people to Jesus Christ.  It is primarily why we are here, and God the Holy Spirit will do his part to help us to be the Church that Jesus desires us to be!