Sunday Next Before Advent - Rector's Rambling for November 26th, 2023

     This year we have what seems like an odd occurrence.  Advent DOES NOT begin on the Sunday after Thanksgiving!  Most years it does, but not this year! Advent begins next week. 

Advent is always the 4 Sundays before Christmas.  This year with 5 Thursdays in November, the Thanksgiving Holiday is early.  It is always 4th Thursday, which this year is the 23rd, the earliest it can be is the 22nd of November. 

This also means that this year not only do we start Advent on December 3rd, but the 4th Sunday of Advent is ALSO the same day as Christmas Eve!  In the morning of December 24th, we will have the 4th Sunday of Advent Services at 8 AM and 10 AM, and we will have them both in the Chapel as Low Mass (no music).  We then return in the evening for 4 PM Children’s Service, 8:30 PM Carol Prelude, and 9 PM Choral Candlelight Mass.  Christmas Day, we will have Mass at 11 AM.    Mark those calendars now and start inviting people to join us!!! In 2024 we have a leap year which pushes back Thanksgiving to the end of November (28th) and Christmas Eve pushed back to Tuesday evening. 

Despite Advent’s late start, we are getting in lots of opportunities to prepare!  Advent Tea is this Saturday, and the Lighting of the Garden Tree next Sunday evening,.  The Giving Tree, Christmas Bazaar, Mitten Tree, Cookie Walk and Advent Soup Luncheon, the pre-greening and greening of the Church are all on the agenda now and in the coming weeks! 

Of course, the most important thing you can do from now through Christmas is to renew your faith, attend worship EVERY Sunday, and dive deeply into the reasons for Advent!  Not only will we be preparing for the coming Christmas Feast, but also for Jesus’ return in glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead! 

Let’s enjoy our Sunday Next before Advent and be ready to get to work next week for the new Church year.

 

Anniversary, Interment, and upcoming holiday - Rector's Rambling for November 19, 2023

It’s a busy day today at St. John’s, which kicks off a busy week as well.

Today we celebrate the 60th Wedding anniversary of George and Helen Waters at the 10 AM Service.  10 years ago they had a renewal of vows and today we give thanks with a blessing before the sermon.  They have known each other since elementary school, and we give thanks to God for them!

After the 10 AM Service, we will have the interment of the ashes of Ronald and Patricia Pike in our chapel columbarium.  Ronald died in 2008 before Patricia and her son Jeff started attending St. John’s.  Patricia passed away earlier this year.  Rest eternal grant unto them O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them. 

Today also sees the appearance of our Giving Tree.  Take a tag and buy the gift (and any other gift you might like to add to it) and  bring it back unwrapped to give to the Georgia Street Community Collective.  Thank you in advance for your generosity!

The Alpha Course meets on Tuesday.  Regular weekday Service schedule is in effect Monday through Wednesday, with the addition of the Thanksgiving Eve Service which will be in the Chapel at 7:30 PM on Wednesday.

On Thursday we have our wonderful Thanksgiving Pancake Breakfast and Front Door Canteen, and we host many guests for the parade.  Henry Porter Baldwin, when he purchased this corner lot to found a church, could never have imagined that we would be midway between two major sports venues and prime viewing location for a great parade!

Be sure to invite friends/family/neighbors/co-workers to join us for Thanksgiving morning.  This is a wonderful ministry of hospitality to Metro Detroit.

 
 

Being Prepared - Rector's Rambling for November 12, 2023

Last Sunday we celebrated the Feast of All Saints, and remembered all the faithful departed with series of Requiem Masses on All Souls’ Day on Thursday  Throughout the rest of the week the Collect for All Saints’ Day is recited at the Daily Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer, and the Holy Communion.  It is a major Feast Day, so it has an octave (8 days) of commemoration.  To some it seems morose to speak about death and dying, but it is actually an opportunity to remember that no one escapes death, and that death is not the end of our being alive to, and with, God.  Because of the Resurrection from the dead of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our faith (by Grace) in him, earthly death is not the end!

Having said all that above, I would be remiss if I did not follow this admonition from the Book of Common Prayer:

The Minister is ordered, from time to time, to advise the People whilst they are in health, to make Wills arranging for the disposal of their temporal goods, and, when of ability, to leave Bequests for religious and charitable uses.”

p. 320

Having a Will (or trust) relieves the family of unnecessary worry or concern about what goes where when you die.  Additionally, there can be a tax benefit in giving to the church or other charities in your estate planning.

But also, I would admonish you to make plans now for what you would like to have done with your mortal remains, as well as choices of hymns and type of Burial service you desire.  In the time of grief the family can be at ease knowing of your wishes in writing (and be sure that several family members have them).  Some people even pre-pay for their arrangements.

No one escapes earthly death.  The Good News is that Jesus Christ looks forward to welcoming you on the other side of the veil!

 

All Saints Sunday - Rector's Rambling for November 5, 2023

Having celebrated All Souls Day on Thursday, with Requiem Masses at Elmwood Cemetery and in our own Chapel, we celebrate today a feast day that actually occurred on Wednesday, November 1st.

Today we celebrate the Feast of All Saints on this the 5th day of the Octave - major feast days are commemorated for 8 days so that at least one Sunday occurs in it.  We celebrate those who have died and by God’s grace lived lives of heroic virtue!  The Church holds them up as  examples of  Christian lives well lived in faith.

Remember that anyone can be a saint because it is God who initiates the process.  We can only have faith because God has overwhelmed us with His Grace: a free, and unmerited gift from God whereby we given the ability to have faith and to battle against the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil.  God is making available to all of us the blessing needed to become saints -  the challenge for us is to cooperate with that Grace to allow our lives to be changed as God sees fit.  The biggest obstacle to becoming a saint is our own self-will.  I am the one standing in my own way of being the saint He wants me to be.  But when we fail, we repent and try again.

Reading the lives of the saints reminds me that I have a long way to go, but the stories of their lives encourages me that God can do it!

________________________

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the October Food, Coat, and Blanket Drive.  Mark and Lorraine Covington from Georgia Street Community Collective filled up the cab and bed of their pickup truck with our donations, and expressed  gratitude for our continued support of their community ministry.