Cathy Morgan, rest in peace - Rector's Rambling for August 18, 2024

     Yesterday we had the funeral for Cathy Morgan.  Cathy transferred to St. John’s shortly after I arrived, and with the exception of a short stint living in New Jersey, she had been a wonderful and active member of the parish.  She served on the vestry and as treasurer and assistant treasurer.  She was very active in the Daughters of the King as well. 

But it was after returning from that time living in New Jersey that Cathy brought to us what has been a most impactful ministry at St. John’s.  While at St. George’s by the River in Rumson, Cathy became involved in their outreach committee.   

After returning to Metro Detroit she once again joined the vestry as we were negotiating our development lease with Olympia Development. The Vestry prayerfully discerned that it was a good thing for the parish, and Cathy also prayerfully discerned that this was our opportunity to copy the idea of an Outreach Ministry Committee at St. John’s!  After all, if we were going to receive a windfall from a yearly lease on property Henry Porter Baldwin purchased for the Church in 1858, the LEAST we should do is TITHE the first 10 percent of it to support ministries here in Detroit!

By the time the first check for the lease was received a Committee had already been formed.  Using the documents from the committee at St. George’s in Rumson, NJ,  we started soliciting local ministries to apply for grants from St. John’s. 

 In honor of Cathy’s love and motivation to help others, from this time forward one of the grants will be designated as the Cathy Morgan grant.  She has left us a wonderful legacy here at St. John’s, and it is most fitting to attach her name to one of the grants!

 

Dormition/Assumption/St. Mary the Virgin - Rector's Rambling for August 11, 2024

     On Thursday we will celebrate the Feast of St. Mary the Virgin.  This Feast is a relative newcomer to the Anglican Calendar, but has ancient roots in both the Western and Eastern Churches, and is worth celebrating!

For the Eastern Orthodox this is known as the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, or the Feast of the Falling Asleep of the God-bearer.  For the Western (Roman Catholic) Churches the Feast is known as the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Both titles deal with the historical fact of the end of the earthly life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of God.

For Anglicans we call this celebration the Feast of St. Mary the Virgin.  We celebrate the important role that she plays in the story of our salvation.  It is by her agreeing to the message of the Archangel Gabriel that she conceives in her womb Jesus by the Holy Ghost.  She gives birth to him, nurses him, and raises him to follow the original covenant between God and the people of the Hebrews.  She is present throughout his earthly ministry, stands at the foot of the cross when he dies for our sins, she is a witness to the Resurrection, and she is present at Pentecost when God the Holy Ghost empowers his followers to be The Church to the world.  There is no other human being that can be counted as more faithful to him throughout his earthly life.  For that we celebrate her and give thanks to God for her.

For the Eastern and Western Churches, this feast deals with extra-biblical events of her death and assumption into heaven.  Although the bible does not mention her death, we can assume that in fact her time on earth came to an end.  And both churches, in their own ways, describe Mary being reunited in heaven with her son Jesus as we all will also be with him at the end of time in the general resurrection of the dead.

Although as Anglicans we do not have the emphasis on these latter events because they are not explicitly detailed in Scripture (and therefore not required for belief for salvation), they can be helpful in reminding us about the role Mary played in giving flesh to Jesus, the second person of the Holy Trinity. And this celebration can give us hope in what is the reward of faith - to be united with our Saviour in heaven at the end of our earthly life.  

 

August Feasts and Saints - Rector's Rambling for August 4, 2024

     

    August brings us warm but shortening days as summer begins to wind down.  Thank you to everyone for tolerating our sometime warm and muggy worship in our wonderful old building.  If it cools down overnight we can open the upper windows and the very large exhaust fan in the bell tower to pull out the warm air and have the cooler air drawn in.  It is old-time cooling for an old time building.  Soon enough we will be poking at the furnace to warm the church up!

August also brings us a bevy wonderful Feast Days and Saints Days!

Today is the Feast of St. Jean Marie Vianney, also known as the Cure d’Ars.  He is considered the patron saint of parish priests and he died in 1859, the year our parish opened.  His feast day will be observed tomorrow at the 12:15 Holy Communion Service.

Tuesday is a Prayer Book Holy Day.  It is the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord.  See the Teaching Notes column on page 4 for more information on this important day.  Holy Communion will be celebrated at 12:15 that day.

Thursday in the Feast of St. Dominic, the founder of the Order of Preachers, better known at the Dominicans.  A contemporary of St. Francis of Assisi  (died 1221) who founded a similar religious order to the Franciscans, being ‘mendicants’.  These are religious who are not centralized in a monastery like the Benedictines or Cistercian but working out in education, parish work, or preaching/evangelism missionary work. Although the Franciscans later developed an educational charism,  the Dominicans have had it as a foundational principle from the start.

St. Clare of Assisi’s feast day is August 11th (celebrated this year on August 12 at 12:15 Mass).  She was received into the Franciscan Order by St. Francis and was the foundress of what is called the Second Order of the Franciscans, also known as the Poor Clares.

August 15th is a special feast of St. Mary the Virgin, mother of our Lord.  St. Helena, the mother of Constantine has her feast day on August 18 (founder of the relic of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem), St. Bernard of Clairvaux is August 20.  He decided to become a Benedictine Monk and convinced 30 friends and family members to join him to reform the Order into a stricter observance of the original rule of life, now known as the Cistercians.  St. Bartholomew the Apostle is August 24, King Louis of France on August 25, St. Augustine of Hippo on the 28th and The Beheading of John the Baptist commemorated on August 29th. 

Don’t know much about these saints?  Look them up online, or better yet join us for Mass those days.