Our busy neighborhood - Rector's Rambling for September 22, 2024

     As I write this the Detroit Tigers are creeping closer to earning a wildcard spot for the Major League Baseball playoffs.  Tuesday begins the last homestand of the regular season, which means that it could be a busy week of people attending to cheer on the team.  It has been a few years since the Tigers have played ‘meaningful’ baseball games in September, and it is exciting to welcome people to the neighborhood in their excitement.

And the Lions are anticipated to be a playoff contender, and even in bad years they have drawn large crowds to the games.  Last Sunday we had the perfect storm of a Tigers and a Lions game at basically the same time!  That means we had about 100,000 people in the neighborhood for those two events.  Thankfully our worship service was earlier than either of those games so we had access to our parking, albeit perhaps slowed down from the usual trip time to get into the lot. 

This year, because the Lions are expected to be a playoff contender many of their 9 home games are scheduled for “prime time” instead of 1 pm.  In fact there are only two more Sundays when the Lions play at 1 PM this season: October 27 and November 17.

When I first arrived as Rector here in 2001 Comerica Park had recently opened, and since then Ford Field and Little Caesars Arena have all made their debut.  For the most part there is RARELY a Sunday morning show or game scheduled, giving us time to get here and worship!  Add to that shows at the Fox and the Fillmore Theatres, and we are now in the middle of a busy neighborhood!!!

As I have said before, signage and a open door are invitations for those in the neighborhood to take a moment to stop, view, pray, and hopefully think of Jesus!  I call this our “Open Door Ministry”.  On Sunday between our worship services we open the doors to welcome people in, and the doors are also open most weekdays when someone is in the office and we often have people join us for Sunday Evening Prayer or a part of Sunday Morning and Weekday Masses because the door is open and they walk in.