I'm away, choir and Sunday School back, and Stigmata - Rector's Rambling for September 13, 2026

As you read this on Sunday morning I have been in Western Michigan for the weekend and am on my way, God willing, back home later this morning.  I had the opportunity to do a wedding yesterday for family members, and I am grateful to have been asked and to be with Jennifer’s family.  God bless Samantha and Robert as they begin their new life together.

I am so grateful that Fr. Geoff Piper is available to celebrate today at the 8 and 10 AM Services!  I have known him since 2001 and it is an honor to have him here to preach and care for you while I am away.  Ordained in Quebec, he served in Canada, parishes in the Diocese of Michigan and in Western Massachusetts, and during the winter has care of a parish in Boca Raton, Florida. 

Sunday School starts today during the new 9:15 AM time slot.  We could still use a few volunteers to assist with the teaching on a rotating basis, and of course we could use more kids!  Adult Education, also at 9:15 AM, will begin next week with a course on Comparative Denominations: who are we and they?

Our Fall Kick Off Luncheon will also be next Sunday after the 10 AM Service.  Nothing beats a community lunch at St. John’s and a chance to hear about the various ministries and groups in the parish.

Thursday is the Feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis. 

In 1224 St. Francis was deeply in prayer on the Feast of the Holy Cross (September 14), meditating on the great sacrifice that Jesus made for him and for all humanity by dying on the cross for our sins.

Suddenly there appeared to him a seraph, a heavenly being, and from him St. Francis received on his body the marks of the crucified Christ.

This is a rare occurrence in the church, when our Lord allows someone to share in His sufferings by bearing on their body the marks of The Crucified.  Francis was embarrassed by it – not embarrassed to share in our Lord’s suffering, but rather the public nature of it.  He could not hide from others the special person God thought him to be (not that that was a great secret anyway by then!)

He bore these marks until he died in 1226.  So much of Francis’ life was one of utter contradiction to the world.  Yet the world was attracted to “God’s Fool”, as he liked to refer to himself, because he radiated the love of God, and in his last two years literally reflected him to the world in his own body.