166 years and counting - Rector's Rambling for November 16, 2025

     November 17th is the 166th Anniversary of the dedication of the Chapel of St. John’s in what was then the rural outskirts, outside of the City of Detroit.

It is hard for us to fathom that when the chapel, and then the church, were constructed, this was out in the country.  Our founder, Henry Porter Baldwin, purchased this land to build a church – it was an apple orchard at the time!  Future Governor/Senator Baldwin had built his country estate house where I-75 is located across Woodward Avenue.  He surmised that Detroit would grow in this direction and he wanted the Episcopal Church to be planted here for those already living out in the country, and those to come soon thereafter.

The book Fifty Years of St. John’s Church (1909) records for us:

The cornerstone was laid by Bishop McCroskey on Tuesday afternoon, April 19, 1859, with nine other clergy present. … And now the Chapel was nearing completion.  Two meetings were held in the Sunday School room of St. Paul’s and one in the unfinished Chapel, “to practice in congregational singing,” on which very rightly great stress was laid; and on Thursday morning, November 17, 1859, the congregation assembled for the first time for their common worship, on the occasion of the Consecration of St. John’s Chapel.  With the Bishop and the Rector were twelve other clergy. … At Evening Prayer the same day, the Rector ministered the first Baptism in the parish, to Louis Alden Grelling (see photo above of the original parish register).

By the time the chapel opened it was already too small.  Two weeks later the Vestry voted: Resolved that in view of the fact that every seat in the Chapel is already rented, and that there is a large demand for additional seats, it is desirable that efforts should be made for the immediate erection of a Church seating about one thousand persons.

 

Unselfing of ourselves - Rector's Rambling for November 9, 2025

     Last week I wrote about becoming a saint.  And in my sermon I mentioned several other saints: like Paschal Baylon, Charles Borromeo, and Mother Theresa. All of them came from different backgrounds and starting points in the spiritual life, and all of them are considered saints in the church even though they all had different temperaments and gifts at the end of their earthly life.

Being a saint does not mean we become some sort of mind-numbed robot.  We become saints in many unique ways just as we start out our lives with unique attributes.  Some of these God uses for our greater sanctification, others God strips away so that other gifts from Him can come to the forefront and be used by Him.

Despite the many differences, however, there are things that the saints, holy people in general, do share in common.

Fr. Fredrick Faber, a friend and compatriot of St. John Henry Newman, and author of the great hymn Faith of our fathers! living still, writes in his book All for Jesus:

“I do not mean to say we can easily be equal to saints.  No!  But what I say is that the ways in which they loved God and served the interests of Jesus are easily in our power, if we choose to adopt them.  In a word, while the saints differ in almost everything else, here are three things in which they all agree: eagerness for the glory of God; touchiness about the interests of Jesus; and anxiety for the salvation of souls.”

Are we striving for their attributes in our lives?  Putting aside our own self-interests in order to glorify God, promoting the interests of Jesus, and working to bring others to Him?  Rather than focusing on self we need to instead, as Jesus says, deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him (see Matthew 16:24).

      modified from a rambling from 11/10/2019

 

Anglican Notables at St. John's - Teaching Note for November 2, 2025

        The Roman Catholic Church has a very detailed system for discerning whether someone should be declared and venerated as a saint of the church, someone who has led a life of heroic virtue and whose manner of life is worth emulating, and whose intercession for us is efficacious.

      The Episcopal Church and the larger Anglican Communion does not have such a thorough system.  The closest we have in the Episcopal Church in the USA is those added to the calendar and recorded for us in what is known as the book of Lesser Feasts and Fasts.  People are proposed for inclusion in the list to a committee of the Triennial General Convention and if recommended they have a three year trial use while feedback is solicited from the wider church.  Some recent additions are noteworthy for what they have done to glorify God in their lives: CS Lewis, and the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, to name just two.  Others have been proposed and removed.

    There are three members of that august list that have a connection to St. John’s!  Bishop Jackson Kemper was the great missionary bishop to the Midwest and founder of Nashotah House Seminary.  He preached here in 1860, and returned again in 1866 to consecrate our first Rector as his successor in the Diocese of Wisconsin.  Fr. James Lloyd Breck was the first dean of Nashotah House, founder of two more seminaries/schools, and missionary to California.  He preached here in the 1860s to raise money for his seminary in Minnesota.  Fr. James DeKoven preached here twice.  The first time was to raise money for Racine College, an Episcopal school in Wisconsin where he was Dean after being on faculty at Nashotah House.  He returned in 1873 to preach the funeral sermon for our first Rector/second Bishop of Wisconsin William Armitage.  DeKoven was elected Bishop Armitage’s successor in Wisconsin but his election blocked by the larger church because of his promotion of the doctrines of the ancient universal church as found in the Anglo-catholic movement.    

    Bishop Kemper is commemorated the church calendar on May 24, Fr. Breck on April 2, and Fr. DeKoven on March 22.    Their hagiography (holy biography) is read at the weekday Masses on those days at the Holy Communion Service. 

 

To be saints! - Rector's Rambling for November 2, 2025

“There’s not any reason, - no, not the least -  why I shouldn’t be one too”

 We are reminded in today’s hymn I sing a song of the saints of God that we all should be striving to be saints.  I love this hymn, and it is a favorite not only of your rector but on our YouTube channel it is the most popularly played video by a large margin! 

Although the 1940 Hymnal places it among Hymns for Children, it has become popular not only for the children but among adults as well. 

It is easy enough for us to admire The Saints.  We hear the stories, perhaps read deeply a biography, or even dive deeper by reading materials written by them.   But are we doing this like we might read a biography of Teddy Roosevelt or Abraham Lincoln?  “Sure is an interesting person who accomplished great things in their time” we might think.

But when it comes to the saints, we study them because we need to figure out how God’s grace was working in them, and how they cooperated with it, to make them into the saints that they became!.

The saints, those men and women of heroic virtue that we admire, all start out in the same condition.  Affected by original sin, they are separated from God.  But by His Grace they are born again of water and the Holy Spirit, and they make strides in avoiding falling into those occasions of actual sin and begin to mould their lives according to God’s will and purpose for them. 

The key is trying to find out how God will have you serve Him and in what way will you become holier.  “What is God’s will for me?” is an important question that we should be asking in prayer regularly.

A wonderful thing about the lives of the saints is that they are not cookie-cutter alike.  Some start out rich, some poor.  Some have earthly gifts and physical advantages, and others do not.  The starting point isn’t the same for everyone, and the finishing point isn’t either!  Some saints start religious orders with many followers, others lead countries, and yet some others great leaders in the Church.  Others live lives of quiet sanctity.  They glorify God in simple every day ways that affect others for the better through their prayers, love, and selflessness.

Perhaps most importantly we remember today that it isn’t about what we do and accomplish in a worldly way, but who we are becoming in Christ.  We are becoming more humble and loving and open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to change our lives as He sees fit..