Christ the King - Rector's Rambling for October 26, 2025

 “We have no king but Caesar”  John 19:15

 The phrase above is recorded for us from the mouths of the religious authorities of Jesus’ earthly time.  Having brought Jesus before the governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate, they accused him of all sorts of sedition mainly centered in religious disagreement.  Pilate seems to know better than to meddle in such matters, and looks for a way to let Jesus off with a scourging and admonition.

But the religious authorities were set that Jesus must be put to death for having declared himself the Son of God, in their ears a blasphemy.  In one last attempt at relief Pilate asks why he should crucify their king (they had tried to trip up Pilate with a political charge that Jesus was trying to usurp Rome’s earthly authority with a claim to be an earthly king).

When asked, the Sanhedrin, no friends or admirers of their Roman overlords, reject Jesus and claim Caesar as their own.  A full apostasy on their part.

Today we have a secondary observance of Jesus as Christ the King.  Not an earthly kingdom, as many expected, but King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.  Although it is primarily the nineteenth Sunday after Trinity it is important to also honor our Lord’s Kingship in this way.

Jesus is King, and where he desires to rule is in our hearts and in our lives.  His Kingdom is among us as his faithful people, and we worship and adore him as Sovereign over us.  And yet he is also an intimate friend who dwells in hearts, feeds us in His Word and Sacrament, and loves us so much that he died on the cross for us.  So let us submit in love to his most gracious rule!

—————————————

I am most grateful that Fr. Geoffrey Piper could be with us today at St. John’s while I am in Philadelphia for my annual rowing races yesterday with alumni friends from college, in a Father/Son double with Andrew, as well as a race in our single shells as well.

.  Fr. Piper served in the Diocese of Quebec, then in the Diocese of Michigan at Church of the Advent, Orchard Lake and Christ Church, Detroit before moving on to the Diocese of Western Massachusetts.  He retired back to the area to be near children and grandchildren and I am grateful!

God willing I will be back in Detroit this evening.

 

Musings on the Church post-Covid - Rector's Rambling for October 12, 2025

     Welcome to Homecoming Sunday at St. John’s!  I am so glad that folks are here to worship and for the fellowship of a good meal following the 10 AM Service.

Recently I have been musing on what the Church (not just St. John’s but the larger Church) looks like now that we are about 5 years post–Covid shut downs.  What an interesting time that was with closed parishes and reopening restrictions based initially on what we thought might be best practices.  The fact that St. John’s was the only parish in the city limits to open for a full year continues to confound me, as does that period of time that we were limited back to “9 people plus the priest” for a Service due to a rise in infections in society (but not a St. John’s).  Having 10 weekend Services so that all who wanted to come to church (3 Saturday evening, 7 on Sunday) is an adventure I hope we never have to repeat.

Since then society has changed.  Many people who were locked out in March 2020 never returned to public worship.  At first many did this out of an abundance of caution.  Unfortunately not coming to church became the habit, a most unfortunate habit.  The devil has a way of taking our best of intentions and instill fear to keep us from making the commitment to return to our obligation to worship God every Sunday in His Church.  There is nothing the devil wants more than for us to find any reason to keep us from worshipping the living God and receiving the Blessed Sacrament.  This change has been reflected across society with church attendance still struggling to reach pre-pandemic levels.

The good news is that God is not done with us, and not only is He moving hearts to return to Him, and that people are starting to hear and obey, but also new people are coming to know Jesus Christ as Lord.  Here at St. John’s we are welcoming new people to worship who are exploring, trying to figure out what God might be doing in their lives.  Some new folks grew up in the church, or with no church background at all.  But God the Holy Ghost is busy moving hearts and minds to learn more about God and His Church.  We welcome this movement of the Spirit.

Today for Homecoming we welcome old friends and new, as well as our regular parishioners.  Everyone is welcome to join us in this exploration in the Faith that God will change our hearts, and help us to deeper conversion to His Will for us as members of the Church!

 

Rector's Rambling (Fall Eagle Edition) - October 5, 2025

     August and early September are usually “down time” at churches.  Hot weather, people away on vacation, and the last of summer activities usually means less activity and attendance at the church.  This has not been so at St. John’s!  From mid-August to the third Sunday in September was full of activity for us!

During this time we had three baptisms at St. John’s!  Leo (4 years old) and Charlie (infant) were born again of water and the Holy Spirit on August 24th.  On September 21st Victor (infant) also joined the church as a child of God and heir of the kingdom.  Not only were two sets of the parents of the children married at St. John’s, but two of the parents involved were baptized at St. John’s when they were infants!

On August 30th and September  6th we had two weddings.  Jeff and Sunshine Glover, and Rob and Addison Burton, were united in Holy Matrimony.  Although this can be an insufferably hot time of the year, these weddings were blessed with cooler weather for the occasions. 

Speaking of marriage, we celebrated with a special blessing at the 10 AM Service the 55th Anniversary of Andy and Alice Baetz on August 17th and the 50th Anniversary of Ralph and Sarah Babcock on August 24th. 

And we also had three funerals in this time period. Phyllis Lewis passed away last year in Western Canada and we had a Requiem Mass for her on August 26th.  On September 13th we had the Burial Office for the Repose of the Soul of Ruth Roby Glancy and on September 23rd we had the Requiem Mass and burial of Gail Weedon.  May they rest in peace.

Additionally the Vestry has been busy improving the signage around the parish.  New halo backlit signs have been added to the Burton Ministry Center, and new signage for the front tower door, the chapel door,  and freeway side walkway have been ordered.  Additionally the large electronic signboard will be restored and upgraded.

Inside this newsletter is information on all the upcoming events, God willing, happening at St. John’s.  Be sure to be here for worship and the activities!   Fall Eagle