A tribute to Chris Sayers - Rector's Rambling for 10/24/2021

   
Very shortly before the publication of last week’s Chronicle we received the shocking news of the death of longtime St. John’s Parishioner Christopher L. Sayers.

The son and nephew of Episcopal priests, Chris was a thorough Churchman.  He knew the Prayer Book, liturgy, and musical heritage of our Anglican Tradition, and was an invaluable aid in helping us at St. John’s to propagate the Faith once delivered unto the saints through the worship of the Church. 

Recognizable to most as one of the choir members, often leading the chant of the minor propers during Mass, Chris did many more things behind the scenes to aid in worship.   He helped with many of the administrative tasks concerning the choir; helping to schedule singers and making sure the payroll was completed in a timely manner.  Chris compiled each week our Order of Service, making sure that the music included was correct and adding the Selected Notes on Today’s Music.  He also edited the weekly Chronicle and then uploaded it to the printing company website.  He scheduled and trained the readers at the 8 and 10 AM Services.

Chris took care of the audio equipment in the church, providing new microphones when needed,  The updated amplifiers and recording equipment, was mostly his doing.  Each Sunday he would take home with him the digital recording of the service and upload the sermon to our Apple iTunes Podcast account.  And as we are working on having our upgraded video equipment installed for livestreaming, Chris was involved in helping to integrate our audio equipment into the new system for maximum quality broadcasting. 

In 2004 Chris took over the volunteer position of webmaster after C. A. Hocker, parishioner and developer of our first website in 1997, died suddenly in his sleep at the age of 39.  Chris redesigned the website and was involved in the current complete re-design of the website which is to go live soon.

Personally, I looked forward to Chris’ texts, emails and calls, and his constant encouragement as we moved forward to the next thing, whether it be the mundane daily task of livestream links for website and weekly banter about edits for the Chronicle articles, to plans for bigger projects.  Chris is going to be missed not just for all his tasks performed but also for his kind heart and desire to glorify God in and through the worship here at St. John’s!

—————————-

 On a personal note, I will be away this week from Wednesday morning until Saturday night.  During the beginning stages of the pandemic in 2020 I picked up an old hobby - rowing.  This weekend I am entered in two events in the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta in Philadelphia; the Masters (50-59) Lightweight Single, and I am also stroking an Eight with a group of Penn Lightweight Alumni, some of whom I rowed with in college.

These will be my first rowing races in 34 years and I am looking forward to it!

 

Alpha underway - Rector's Rambling for October 17, 2021

     Our Alpha Course is now underway.  Please keep us in your prayers, especially on Tuesday nights from 6:30 to 8:30 PM.

We have a good starting group which meets each week for dinner, then a short video teaching by Fr. Nicky Gumbel, a priest in the Church of England (our mother Church).  Although he is an Anglican Priest, the Alpha Course is a Basic Christianity Course that crosses all denominational lines, from Roman Catholic to Baptist.

Those taking the course this session are ‘already churched’ (a churchy phrase meaning they are members of a church).  One aspect of the Alpha Course is to help those already in the Church to renew and re-evaluate their own faith in Jesus Christ.  No matter how advanced we are in the spiritual life it is good sometimes to take a step back to make sure we still embrace the basics. 

Additionally, those of us “on the inside” of the Alpha Course (and in the parish as a whole) can use it to help us to learn to share the faith with others.  We all are called to ‘know Christ AND to make him known”.  Those who take Alpha will have some basic foundational wherewithal to be able to share the faith with others by helping to host Alpha at St. John’s and to share Jesus individually with their friends and family.

We should be praying too that we are also will be able to use Alpha as a way to draw those who are ‘unchurched’ to Jesus Christ.   The course is ultimately intended for those who do not know Him yet.  We all should in the next year take Alpha so we are all on the same foundation, and be praying for and inviting others to try Alpha.

Next session begins in January, ending in March.  A question for us to ponder now is “what day of the week is best for the next session?”  Sunday afternoon (lunch/video/discussion), Sunday evening after Evening Prayer (dinner/video/discussion), or a different weekday evening?  It is something for us to figure out soon so people can make plans for this winter for Alpha at St. John’s.

Lots of things to pray about...but then again it IS one of the things the members of the Body of Christ are called to do!  Pray for the increase in our holiness and new members of the Body of Christ.

 

Homecoming/Fall Festival - Rector's Rambling for October 10, 2021

     Once again we come to our Fall Festival gathering, which we have called Homecoming.  Being a downtown church with a long history, a place were people like to come for “big events and holidays”, I wanted to try to add a third Sunday on the calendar, along with Christmas and Easter, when our friends can “come home” to worship with us and enjoy a meal.

However, as the neighborhood is growing around St. John’s with more and more housing, I would like to expand the focus of this special fall weekend into a Fall Festival.  In 2019, Cam had the “out of the box” idea of having a bounce house.  Perhaps next year, assuming things are more “back to normal” with the virus, we can bring back the bounce house and a few other things (petting zoo?) to attract neighbors to come and join us in addition to the glorious worship and delicious luncheon.

A few weeks ago in a conversation with a graduate student, he pointed out that most undergrads he interacts with now have no experience of church.  We have come to the point as a society were so many people don’t even have the veneer of church attachment, even tangentially.  The thought of stepping inside a church building for a luncheon, rummage sale, or worship is intimidating.

But if we have something outside that we enjoy and is attractive to the neighbors, we can then begin to forge relationships which then can open them up to joining us inside.

Of course, the best way to make this happen is for us individually to invite those we already have a neighborly relationship with to join us for these events and more.  And even better, to invite them directly to come to know Jesus

St. Michael's Sunday - Rector's Rambling for October 3, 2021

Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Michael and all Angels, one of my favorite church celebrations.  The feast day is actually September 29, but the church also celebrates it on the Sunday that falls within the octave (eight days) following.

St. Michael is the patron saint of our Conference for Youth, held every summer.  He is a strong example of valor and virtue in glorifying and serving God.  During the course of the week at the Conference we sing our opening hymn, Christ the fair glory of the holy angels, at least four times.  It is a wonderful hymn because it extols the work of the Archangels (along with a nod to Our Lady as well), and it also creates quite the “earworm”.  I will be singing this hymn all afternoon and into the week.

The world loves the idea of angels, usually depicted as cute little cherubs or saccharin-sweet figures content to grant wishes like some sort of magic fairy or genie.

There are various tasks that these other creatures (created by God) do, ranging from worship, to messenger, to personal guardian.  But in St. Michael we focus on angels as warriors.  As we hear in today’s lesson from The Book of Revelation, St. Michael leads the army of God’s angels in battle against those selfish creatures who reject the service of God, and instead join in Satan’s rejection of God’s love and mercy.  For this reason, Michael is also the patron saint of police officers and soldiers in their fight against evil.

For me personally, this feast isn’t only special because of the Conference, but because two years ago, on this feast day, I was flown off a cruise ship and life-flighted to Turku, Finland, were I had emergency intestinal surgery the next morning.  I remember being lifted in the gurney from the ship into the air, praying the St. Michael prayer for protection.  And once again, evil was held at bay.