Baptism and Discipleship - Rector's Rambling for January 30, 2022

     Today we have scheduled our 162nd Annual Parish Meeting immediately following the 10 AM Service.  It will be held in the church.

Due to the current mandate forbidding coffee hour and meals, imposed by the dioceses in the lower peninsula of Michigan, we are not able to have our regular luncheon before the meeting,  Therefore we will get right onto the meeting following the postlude.  The agenda consists primarily of review of the 2021 financial report and an explanation of the budget passed by the Vestry for 2022, as well as the election of new members for the Vestry.  Reports from organizations in the parish are printed in the Annual Parish Meeting for your perusal.  If you have a question about, or want to give kudos to, any organizations be sure to approach their leadership.  I am sure every group would be happy to have additional people aboard.

Our parish register lists the first baptisms held at St. John’s, held on November 11, 1859.  Back on December 26th of 2021 we did baptism number 7,290.  I count it an amazing blessing to have administered 163 of them in the 21 years I have been your rector.

As we will discuss at the Annual Parish Meeting we will discuss the importance of a two-pronged emphasis of this parish: discipleship and evangelism.  Discipleship is learning to live the Christian faith through education, worship and fellowship.  This equips us to live in a world that is increasingly antagonistic to biblical Christianity. 

Evangelism is sharing the truth learned and lived through discipleship with those around us - our neighbors, coworkers, friends, family and strangers as well.

And by God’s grace, and God willing we will add more names to the register as we add souls to the Body of Christ

Window repair - Rector's Rambling for January 23, 2022

     Today you might notice that the windows above the altar area, to the left and right, seem a bit brighter.  That is because they are!

These two windows do receive some natural light, and a few people did notice last week that both were completely dark on Sunday.  That was because they were boarded up on the outside.

These two windows are especially interesting because they actually aren’t mounted on the outside walls of the church. These two windows, and the walls behind them, are on an angle but on the outside of the building that wall is straight from one end to another.  Behind the interior walls is a triangular space that goes from the top all the way down to the undercroft.

A door located on the east wall of the undercroft, as well as a similar door in the new kitchen pantry, are the entry points into this empty space. The doors do not reach ground level because there used to be a stage at that end of the wall. On the wall inside of  triangular space is mounted a ladder to climb all the way up to those windows.  On the outside wall at the top is clear glass, and the inside wall the stained glass. Also mounted there is a light strip for added light during the day, and lighting for night services.

It was recently discovered that the one of the outside plain glass windows was broken and the wooden frames on both badly deterioated by weather and time. 

The vestry approved the building of new aluminum frames for the outside windows, and to update the lighting to a new LED fixture.  Additionally, the center window light had collapsed and is in the process of being replaced as of the writing of this article and should be functional on Sunday. 

The windows on the left (gospel side) are the great Old Testament prophets  Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.  The other window is the four gospel writers Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  The center window is Jesus blessing the little children.

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Today in our teaching notes on page 4 we hear about one of the ministries being supported by our Outreach Committee.  Each month we will share with you something about the groups and people that we are helping through the outreach funds, a tithe of the funds that we receive on the lease for our parking lot property.  Additionally we support a seminarian and the Church in Malawi through budgeted income in the parish.

 

St. John the Baptist relics - Rector's Rambling for January 16, 2022

     One of the fascinating things about ancient Christianity is their devotion to our Lord through the veneration of relics of the saints.  The bones, or items that have been associated with the lives of the saints are venerated throughout the history of the church as tangible connection to those who have gone before us in faith, and a reminder of God’s mercy and grace in making people holy.

St. John the Baptist figures prominently in the readings in Advent and Lent, and makes an appearance today on the second Sunday after Epiphany.  It got me wondering whether there are relics attributred to St. John the Baptist.  In doing some research I came upon some information on relics discovered in 2010 in the ruins of a church, Sveti Ivan (St. John) church on an island in Bulgaria.

At this location was found a bone box, an ossuary, with Greek inscription that it contained the bones of St. John the Baptist.  9 bone fragments were found inside. 

The Biblical Archeology Society reported that carbon dating puts the bones as being from the first century AD, and that the DNA is consistent with that of a man from the middle east.  As they report in their publication, “The confirmed date of a knucklebone is far from final proof that the Bulgarian bones belonged to John the Baptist. A conclusive association between supposed relics and their Saint is impossible to establish; however, the research conducted by Oxford’s Tom Higham and Christopher Ramsey does prove that the “relics” have a better case for authenticity than previously imagined.”

Fascinating research into the person of John the Baptist, and proof of the importance of his mission and ministry to the early church.

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Tomorrow, God willing, I will be celebrating my 33rd anniversary of sobriety.  This is a most precious gift of grace that I have received, having had my last drink while only 22 years old.  My coming to sobriety is a gift that was aided by the fellowship of others living a radical life turned over to the care of God and by the spiritual principles laid out in the 12 steps, one day at a time.

 

Epiphanytide and livestreaming equipment upgrade - Rector's Rambling for January 9, 2022

     Today we are in a new church season called Epiphanytide.  Depending on when Easter is celebrated (which is based on a lunar calendar), Epiphanytide can be as long as six Sundays, and as short as just one before we switch into the purple of the pre-Lenten season, known as the gesima Sundays.  This year we have 5 Epiphany Sundays, which after this week will be celebrated in green.  Ash Wednesday is March 2nd, and Easter is April 17 this year.  The announcement of the Moveable Feast dates for 2022 is in the teaching notes on 4.

Today, the First Sunday after Epiphany (The Feast of the Epiphany was last Thursday, January 6th) has as the Gospel Lesson the finding of Jesus in the Temple at the age of 12.  Between the visit of the Magi (wise men) and the subsequent flight into Egypt by the Holy Family to avoid Herod’s wrath and then their return, we have nothing else recorded about the life of Jesus growing up in Nazareth.  We can assume he grew up a normal boy in every other way but sin, learning to read and write, to practice the religion of the people of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and learning a trade from his step-father Joseph.  It would be another 18 years before his public ministry would begin.

The season of the Epiphany is about God’s manifestation of himself to all mankind by the 2nd Person of the Trinity in human flesh.

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Last week we inaugurated the use of our new livestreaming system with a camera given in memory of Chris Sayers.  The new system allows for us to broadcast from the church combined with the audio system instead of a camera an microphone far off on my cellphone as we have been doing previously.  The system still needs some tweaking with camera presets and the like, but it is already a noticeable difference in the broadcast quality.

We began posting sermons online in 2001, podcasting them in 2002, posting video of the service/music/sermons on YouTube in 2006, and then livesteaming weekday services via facebook and twitter in 2017 when their technology became available.  This upgrade helps us to continue this part of the ministry which has become so important since the pandemic!

 

Within the 12 days of Christmas - Rector's Rambling for January 2, 2022

             On the ninth day of Christmas….we gather together to celebrate the Second Sunday after Christmas. 

       Okay, I know that isn’t how the song goes, but, “no thanks” to the  nine ladies dancing and the litany of the other previous eight days’ gifts. 

Even though that song can be quite annoying, it is a reminder that in fact Christmas is a 12 day season, which started back on December 25th (actually after sundown on on the 24th) and goes until January 5th.  Christmas is such a big deal that it cannot be contained to just one day!

For many people, by the time December 25 comes, they are burned out.  The secular world started celebrating, and trying to sell you stuff, way back in November.  Radio stations that were wall-to-wall  carols and songs for weeks gave up on the second day of the actually holiday!  Already Valentine’s Day decorations rule to stores and they move on to the next thing to sell you. 

But we rejoice  to continue the celebration of the 12 days until the eve of the Feast of the Epiphany, the day the magi come to worship the newborn king.

Last Sunday a Holy Day was commemorated the day after Christmas.  The Martyr St. St. Stephen’s martyrdom reminds us of the potential cost of discipleship.  The following day on Monday the 27th we thanked God for the 163 anniversary of the incorporation of our parish on the Feast of St. John, , and then on the 28th remembered the Holy Innocents.  St. Thomas Beckett’s martyrdom also made an appearance that week as well.

Then on January 1st the Church remembered yet another major Holy Day.  On the eighth day of Jesus’ earthly life, as a boy born into the original covenant between God and the people of the Jews, shed his first blood through his circumcision.  It is on this day that he formally receives the name Jesus—God Saves.  This is His name and the purpose for His Incarnation—our Salvation.  And we also know that it is ONLY through the name of Jesus that we are saved! (Acts 4:12).

We have today and three more days following to continue our celebration of Christmas.  Join us for a weekday Mass at 12:15, or Evening Prayer at 5 PM (live or livestreamed).  Continue singing Christmas Carols and wishing people a Merry Christmas.  Leave up the decorations and lights, even into Epiphanytide (which begins January 6th). 

The next season, Epiphany, brings us 5 Sundays before we are into the purple of the Gesima Sundays, pre-Lent.