God cares about money? - Rector's Rambling for October 23, 2022

         October is the time of year when once again the Church addresses the issue of pledging and stewardship.

I wish that I didn’t ever have to talk about money or giving, but it is actually a vital part of the teaching of the Church.  To NOT talk about money, possessions, and giving would be to leave out a portion of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  In fact, it is an error to think that God wants nothing to do with your budget and what you do with your money.

Does God need your money?  Of course not, but you need to learn to give your money, and God desires that the money you have doesn’t become an idol (your end-all and be-all) or that your zeal for possessions doesn’t start to possess you.

You can be rich and love God, and poor and love Him, too.  You can also be rich and disregard God or poor and do so.  Wealth or poverty both have their attributes that can draw you toward or away from serving Him, and what we need to do is learn GRATITUDE, HUMILITY, AND GENEROSITY to keep from having money be an issue.  Gratitude says that we understand that all that we have is a gift from God, humility reminds us that we are His servants, and in relationship with others, and generosity helps us not only help others, but it helps us to not be too attached to “things”.  Generosity is intermingled with the word charity; both come from the Latin word caritas which means love.  To love is to be generous of self and possessions for the greater glory of God and for the good other people.

Enclosed in the Order of Service is a pledge card.  Please take some time to pray about it and discuss it with those in your household, and then make a pledge in support of St. John’s for 2023.

God continues to bless St. John’s in many ways: wonderful people, financial support from parishioners, and with amazing opportunities to minister in our neighborhood and beyond.  Let us pledge toward the support of the parish for the parish’s good and for our own good as well.

 

Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley - Rector's Rambling for October 16, 2022

     

Today on the Episcopal Church Calendar, if it weren’t Sunday, would be the Feast of the Oxford Martyrs: Bishops Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley, and Hugh Latimer.

Thomas Cranmer was the first Archbishop of Canterbury appointed by Henry VIII at the beginning of the Reformation. What Archbishop Cranmer will be most remembered for was being the main complier of what became the first Book of Common Prayer, adopted in 1549.  After Henry, and then Edward’s death, Queen Mary restored the Roman Church in England and despite his two written recantations of reformed beliefs, he ended up ‘recanting his recantations’ and was burned at the stake.

Nicholas Ridley was a friend of Cranmer and was his chaplain along with other important appointments including Chaplain to King Henry VIII.  Under Edward he was made a bishop, and was burned at the stake along with Hugh Latimer under the reign of Queen Mary.

Hugh Latimer was a  prominent preacher of the Reformation in England, who was appointed a bishop but then gave it up because he felt Henry VIII was preventing full protestant doctrine to take root in England. 

At his execution he is said to have said, “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace in England as I trust shall never be put out.”

These three were among the nearly 300 churchmen put to death in the five years of the reign of “Bloody” Mary.  When her half sister Elizabeth I assumed the throne, she restored an English reformed, yet also catholic, church.  Her modeling of the church as a middle way of reasonable reform of the church is known as The Elizabethan Compromise, one which the extreme protestants (like the three martyrs above) and Roman adherents would reject but was mostly embraced by the English faithful.

 

Hooray for Harriett - Rector's Rambling for October 9, 2022

     
Hooray for Harriett!

Today we celebrate the retirement of our Office Manager Harriett Mottley. 

During the turmoil of the 2007/2008 financial crisis our previous Office Manager retired.  With the upheaval in the economy, the vestry was hesitant about what direction to take in hiring a replacement.  Then God provided the answer in Harriett! 

At first volunteering to hold down the fort, it became abundantly clear that she was the right person to take on the position.  A lifetime of employment in a variety of occupations including church secretary, combined with a multi-generational family membership at St. John’s proved to be the right formula as Harriett picked up the mantle of responsibility for the position as a full-time employee of the parish.

Not only did Harriett coordinate things in the office, but before the pandemic, she also did things like coordinating the university students staying for the week in the undercroft from Wayne State and  schools further away who came Detroit for their alternative spring break outreach work. 

One big project that Harriett worked through was the packing up of the ugly 1971 Office Building, moving the offices into the undercroft temporarily, and then moving everything into the new Burton Ministry Center offices.  In the middle of all that, we had a flood in the undercroft from a broken pipe into the temporary office space. 

With the pandemic things were put on hold, and post pandemic we all had to ‘pivot’ to the ‘new normal’, including how we worked in the office and did church.  During the reboot, Harriett decided that retirement was a good idea and helped us as the Vestry and I developed the job description, posted the job and interviewed candidates, and then helped us to transition our new Office Manager Elizabeth Savage into the position.

The good news is that although she is retired from the staff, she continues her lifelong membership at St. John’s and will be here for Sunday worship and more.

We give thanks to Almighty God for her ministry, and for her continued presence at St. John’s!

 

St. Michael and All Angels - Rector's Rambling for October 2, 2022

     Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Michael and all Angels, transferred from September 29.  It is an important Feast Day to help us to understand God’s created order, as well as the great help that St. Michael and the Holy Angels are to us.

Although most images of angels are of the warm, cuddly cherub type, in fact the image above captures the idea of who St. Michael the Archangel is from the story from the Book of The Revelation of St. John the Divine.

The word “angel” actually means “messenger”.  We generally associate this with St. Gabriel, who announced to Mary that she would be the Mother of our Lord (Luke 1:26–38).  In many other places in scripture the angels are messengers from God to man to warn them and guide them.

These heavenly beings are also known for their work in heaven by worshipping God day and night (Revelation 7:11) and joining us in worship (from the Holy Communion Service “therefore with angels, and archangels, and all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious name…”).

And of course, we love the idea of having a guardian angel as well. (Matthew 18:10)

But let us not forget that angels, like St. Michael, are warriors who fight for us against the assault of Satan and his legions who would seek to distract us and draw us away from the love of God!  Jesus Christ has won for us the victory over sin and death, but the devil is still causing trouble and our angels are keeping them in check.  Let us give thanks, and ask their intercession and help in the spiritual battle!