Founders Day - Rector's Rambling for July 28, 2024

     

    We are blessed with a wonderful history here at St. John’s, and today we celebrate that by honoring the founders of our parish.  As the Psalmist exclaims, “(we) have a goodly heritage” (16:7).  Henry Porter Baldwin and his neighbors started something wonderful out in the countryside, beyond the then city borders. 

We got off to a good start, growing rapidly as the area became enveloped by the city itself.  But within 50 years the area surrounding this Victorian Gothic structure had completely changed from rural to residential and then to commercial.  With the changes came challenges as well as new opportunities for mission and ministry.  Attendance peaked in the late 1920s (average Sunday attendance of 2500 people, membership of 4000).  But the neighborhood decline began during the depression, and accelerated in the 1960s and 1970s.  By the 1950s attendance was down below 1000, and shortly before the year 2000 attendance bottomed out at an average of 37 people per Sunday.

By God’s grace the neighborhood has greatly improved, and membership at St. John’s has increased since 2000.  The opening of the new stadiums (2000, 2003) and the new arena 2017), as well as the overall improvement in housing options and the popularity of downtown office space has helped St. John’s to regain its footing and develop new ministry opportunities.

The heart of that prelude that defines us is none other than the unchanging Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the expression of the faith expressed in the traditional Episcopal (Anglican) Book of Common Prayer.

As our first Rector wrote, “As Christians and as Churchman, we thank GOD for our strong assurance and conviction, drawn on past history, that the Protestant Episcopal Church, for whose communion this building will be reared, is so grounded on the one foundation, JESUS CHRIST, so true to Him, in the ministry, the doctrine, the Liturgy, the sacred year, the entire system which she has inherited; so careful of His complete Gospel; holding each and every part thereof, in its own due proportion and harmony; that however we and those who shall follow us may prove unworthy of her and of her Lord, among all the changes and chances of this world, she will remain, in all essential things unchanged.”

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Today we welcome Robert Johnson, who goes by RJ, to the Sunday Staff at St. John’s.  He works for First Team Response, the security detail for the Detroit Opera House.  RJ will be helping to coordinate security with the ushers and our parking lot aid Bernard.  He will primarily be stationed in the ministry center greeting members and guests, making rounds during the Service, and in radio contact with others during

Summer church visiting - Rector's Rambling for July 21, 2024

     Today is a rare Sunday this summer that we don’t have something EXTRA at St. John’s.  Since June we have had on Sunday our Outreach Giving Day, Institution of a new member for the Order of the Daughters of the King, Baptisms, and an interment of ashes in the Columbarium.  Next week we have our Founders Day Sunday when we celebrate our 165+ years of worship and ministry at St. John’s Church with worship from the original American Book of Common Prayer, in use at St. John’s when we opened our doors for worship on November 17, 1859.  An ice cream social follows. 

Summer is a time for travel and I am grateful for the many parishioners who have visited other churches while away, and brought back the Service Bulletin so we can see what other parishes are doing on Sunday.   Some folks have regular ‘away’ parishes because they vacation each year in the same place.  Others have the adventure of discovering a new parish in a new place they are visiting.  I know just last year I worshiped again at Holy Innocents in Lahaina, Maui, only to hear it was consumed in the tragic fire there a few weeks later.  I also consider it a great blessing when I travel and get to visit a parish where a friend is the priest and be  able to join him for worship.  Only if there is no parish available nearby on vacation to do go to plan B, which is to say Mass myself.  Of course, if you are on vacation and can’t find a parish at which to worship you can always pray Morning Prayer with the readings assigned for the day.

Wednesday is one of my favorite feast days — St. Thomas a Kempis.  His book, The Imitation of Christ, as the Episcopal Church’s Lesser Feasts and Fasts says, “has been translated into more languages than any other book except the Holy Scriptures. Millions of Christians have found in the manual a treasured and constant source of edification.”  It was this book which I read the first year after my return to the practice of the faith that furthered my conversion and understanding of the place of scripture and the sacraments in the life of the faithful.  I continue to re-read it if fits and spurts even to this day.  I highly recommend it to you.  It is a book of devotions best digested a chapter or so a day over a long period of time.

 

St. John's at night - Rector's Rambling for July 14, 2024

     

The photo above is how so many people see St. John’s.  The doors are open during the weekdays, and the office staffed Monday through Friday.  But for so many people who come downtown in the evening for events at Comerica Park, Ford Field, Little Caesars Arena, The Fox and Filmore Theatres they see St. John’s lit up at night as they go from parking to event venue and back.  Although we can’t leave the doors open in the evening like we do during the daytime, good signage helps to introduce people to the parish.  One future project is additional signage on the sides of the Ministry Center to identify the name of the parish as “St. John’s” when driving by down on the  freeway, or walking on Montcalm after an event.  Also, the lighting on the sides of the building, particularly the freeway side, needs to be upgraded.

The St. Michael’s Conference for Youth 2024 is now complete.  I am writing this article for publication before it is over  sincethe printer needs it by Wednesday morning at the latest.  If past experience is a trustworthy predictor I am pretty tired, my voice strained from singing so much all week, but I am both happy for what has been accomplished at the conference and sad to know it is 51 weeks until we gather again.  What I will most miss is having 70 people to sing Morning Prayer, Holy Communion, and Evening Prayer every day of the week like we do at “St. Mike’s”.

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Today after the 10 AM Service we will gather in the Chapel for the interment of the cremains of Eleanor Johnson Tuttle, who passed away in California in September of 2021.  Mrs. Tuttle is the daughter of St. John’s 10th Rector, Rev’d I.C. Johnson.  He was rector from 1934 to 1962.  Her daughter  Dana and son Richard and their families are to be with us as her ashes are interred at the church were she baptised in 1935.

This past week we interred the ashes of Robert Hart in the columbarium, and on August 11 we will pray the Burial Office for former parishioner Mel Palmer who passed away in Alabama.

Baptisms, Weddings, and Funerals are an important part of the rhythm of being a parish church, and we have had several f them all this summer.

 

St. Michael's Conference, and Robert Hart's Burial - Rector's Rambling for July 7, 2024

It is that time of the year when the St. Michael’s Conference for Youth, Midwest, meets at the Manresa Retreat Center in Bloomfield Hills.  This will be my 25th year on staff of the Midwest Conference, and 27th year overall after to years on staff at the east coast conference.  The conference begins this afternoon, and concludes at lunchtime on Saturday.

What is the St. Michael’s Conference?  It is a week of worship, learning, and fellowship for young churchman and churchwomen, between the ages of 12 and 20.  We are at full capacity this year, with 70 Michaelites, faculty, and staff. 

The weekday schedule is rigorous.  Morning Prayer is optional but all are in attendance for 8:00 AM Solemn High Mass with all the trappings.  Breakfast follows and then three classes on a variety of topics.  I am once again teaching the Survey Course, required for all first year Michaelites, and is an introduction to Jesus and Christianity.  I am also teaching a class for older Michaelites on World Religions.  Other classes offered by the faculty include The Bible, Church History, Meditation, Sever Virtues, The Saints, and more.

After lunch there is free time with the opportunity to play organized games, or unorganized time together.  We reconvene at 5 PM for Solemn Evensong and a faculty talk.  This year the talks are on the 10 Commandments.  After dinner there are discussion groups and an evening activity, which ranges from games, a square dance, and a talent show.  After Compline (night prayers) it is off to bed to recharge for the next day.

The Conference concludes on Saturday with the Michaelites offering a performance of The Pageant of Salvation for family and guests.  Then after a closing ceremony there are lots of hugs and tears as we conclude the week and begin looking foward to next year’s conference.  The overwhelming majority of  kids return every year they are eligible!

Perhaps most remarkable is that the conferes give up having cellphones and internet access for the week!  And most admit by Tuesday or Wednesday that is kind of nice to not have it, to have to check it all the time!

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 On Wednesday, July 10th at 2 PM we will have the Burial Office for the repose of the soul of Mr. Robert Hart, who passed away on May 22nd.  Robert was our oldest parishioner who passed away at the age of 97.  He was regular about Sunday church attendance until about year before his passing.  Rest eternal grant unto him O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon him.