Funeral and cemetery musings - Rector's Rambling for September 28, 2025

     On Tuesday morning this past week we had the funeral for Gail Weedon, a longtime member of St. John’s.  Increasing immobility due to her Multiple Sclerosis made her have to give up her home in Sylvan Lake and move into a retirement community, and then after additional medical issues she moved into a nursing home setting.  With each move her world got smaller, and she had to let go of things like her wonderful art collection and things accumulated in her many travels over the decades.  But as her world got smaller time with family continued to be of utmost importance.

On Tuesday afternoon I said the final prayers at the graveside where her ashes were being interred next to the mortal remains of her mother and father.  I buried Dorothy and George in 2002 and 2005.  Time continues to move on, and her daughter Audrey and I realized that we are the same age now that Gail was when I arrived at St. John’s in 2001.  Audrey and Lara’s kids who were baptized here and ran around the nursery with my kids are now grown, the three youngest of them now college aged. Tempus Fugit.

Having arrived early at Pine Lake Cemetery in West Bloomfield I had a few minutes to walk around and visit the burial place of Tigers great Norm Cash, and the mother of Charles Lindbergh, who was a teacher in the Detroit Public Schools and owned a house in Grosse Pointe Park later owned by a former members of ths parish, and currently owned by a friend of my wife.  And there were stones marking the final resting place of generations of people known to God and their family and hopefully not forgotten.

I say all this as we head out of September and are only a little over a month away from All Souls Day, where the church remembers all the faithful departed.  I was told that there is an old Jewish adage that there are two deaths - the day you have your early death, and the last time someone says your name out-loud. 

Here at St. John’s everyone who has died and been entered in our burial register are remembered in prayer on the anniversary of their death.  They are not forgotten by God or by us and we remember  them by name as well.  We may not know much, if anything about them personally, but they are prayed for nonetheless.

I have had the privilege of doing a lot of funerals here in nearly 25 years as rector of St. John’s, and am thankful to be able to pray for them, and remember them, before the throne of God.

 

St. Matthew, and Victor Morley - Rector's Rambling for September 21, 2025

     Once again we find ourselves in the red vestments with red pulpit and lectern hangings as we celebrate the Feast of St. Matthew the Apostle.  Like last week’s Feast of the Holy Cross, this is an important enough feast day to ‘bump’ the observance of the 14th Sunday after Trinity.  A bio of St. Matthew can be found on page 4 of this Chronicle.

This past week and today we have the last regular season homestand for the Detroit Tigers.  How wonderful it is that the team is once again on the way to the playoffs.  This is exciting not only for the team and fans, but a good thing for our neighborhood surrounding the church.  Local businesses such as restuarants, sports apparel, lodging and parking depend on the revenue brought in by those coming to the game.  When they are having a winning season like last year and this then more people continue to attend the games into September, and of course the playoff games will be a bonus addition!  And this also means more people walking by St. John’s, seeing our new signage on our gloriously beautiful building.  We have the doors open when the office is staffed, and on somedays upwards of 100 people stop in to pray and look around, many taking tracts from the rack in the narthex on their way out to learn more about St. John’s and Our Lord.

Some of the longer time members will remember what the neighborhood was like before the building of the stadiums and arena.  With the exception of the Fox and Fillmore (then known as the State) Theatre shows, the neighborhood was quite derelict.  And when Comerica Park opened (2001) and then Ford Field (2003) the teams weren’t that good and late in the season one would hardly notice an event was happening!

Thank you for your patience in coming down to St. John’s when the neighborhood is busy with sports events and shows.  We work with the Olympia Development and Parking to make sure we have access and egress to the lot to park for worship. We can’t do anything about the increase in the number of cars on event days, but we are grateful that not only are the teams doing well, but more people are seeing St. John’s and maybe someday will join us for worship!

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Today we welcome into the Church Victor Morley Stevenson, who will be baptized at the 10 AM Service, being made a child of God and heir of the Kingdom through regeneration; born again of water and the Holy Spirit.  Thanks be to God for Victor, his mom and dad Cole and Suzie, and for all the family and friends joining us today for worship.

 

Holy Cross Sunday - Rector's Rambling for September 14, 2025

 We adore thee O Christ, and we bless thee; because by thy Holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

     Today is not only Sunday, it is also The Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14).  This Feast day goes back to the year 335, when the church built over the place of our Lord’s Crucifixion and His Resurrection was dedicated on this date in that year.

The empress Helena, mother of Roman Emperor Constantine, directed the excavations of the site, buried when the Roman City of Aelia Capitolina was built over the ruins of Jerusalem.  During that excavation what was believed to be the true Cross was believed to be found.

But more important than that holy place and holy object is the reality of why that Cross was holy!  It is holy because upon it was hanged the body of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  Upon that Cross Jesus bled and died not as a criminal or one unjustly condemned, but to pay the price for our sins, the propitiation, the atonement, that frees us from eternal death!

As by the tree Adam transgressed and we inherited that original sin, so by this tree (the Cross) we are justified by Jesus!

It is said that St. Bonaventure, the great Franciscan Theologian, spent more time meditating on a crucifix (Cross with a representation of the Body of Jesus on it) then he did reading and writing, because the cross was his inspiration for that writing.  And although we have mostly sanitized the idea of a cross by making it of pretty metals and wearing it as jewelry, it is to our advantage to spend time meditating upon its crude, rough hewn reality, and to think of how Jesus died upon it to pay the price for our (for MY) sins.

Let us look with love upon the cross, and thank God for his sacrifice made for us, and for the whole world.

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Next week we look forward to celebrating on Sunday the Feast of St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist.  At the 10 AM Service we will baptize, God willing, Victor Cole Stevenson.  In the past four weeks we have had  two funerals, two weddings, two milestone wedding anniversaries  (55 and 50 years) and two baptisms!   Thanks be to God for His Blessings.

 

Ephphatha Mission - Rector's Rambling for September 7, 2025

         This morning we hear of the healing of the man who was deaf, and had an impediment of speech.  Jesus performs the healing with the command Ephphatha, which means “be opened”.

This reading, and that phrase, holds a special place in the heart of St. John’s.  For over 100 years, St. John’s was the host of  the Ephphatha Episcopal Mission of Detroit.

According an article in the February, 1919, edition of the magazine, “The Silent Worker: a magazine for the deaf by the deaf”, the mission to the deaf at St. John’s began in 1877.  Originally meeting at Grace Church on Jefferson (now closed), by summer of 1877, the mission moved to St. John’s, and continued her ministry here until the 1970s.

By the 1920s St. John’s had seven Sunday services, two of which were held in sign language.  At 11:00 AM, while the rest of the congregation worshipped in the main sanctuary, the Ephphatha Mission worshiped in the chapel.  In the afternoon there was also a 3:00 PM Evening Prayer service.  Many of the staff and members were graduates of the Michigan School for the Deaf in Flint, which continues to this day.

By the 1970s, the mission’s congregation size had dwindled, and those few remaining members attended the larger congregational service with a sign language interpreter instead of having a separate service.  In 2001, the last remaining member of the congregation, Elizabeth Prescont Weber Walker, died.  She had been wife and granddaughter of two of St. John’s Senior Wardens.

Today we have a Welcome Back Fellowship Luncheon in the Undercroft after the 10 AM Service.  The Full Choir and the Sunday School are back in session for the academic year.

Next Sunday, God willing, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Cross, and the following Sunday is the Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist, with the baptism of Victor Morley Stevenson.

 

Labor Day Weekend - Rector's Rambling for August 31, 2025

As August comes to a
close we look back at a month full of fun and wonderful ‘extras’, including two wedding anniversary celebrations, two baptsims, and a guest celebrant and preacher who grew up at St. John’s but until this past month hadn’t have the opportunity to say Mass at our altar where his vocation to the priesthood was awaked under the tutelage of Fr. Thomas Frisby.  Each of these occasions brought many guests to worship with us at a time when many of us were away on vacation and attendance is usually at it’s lowest for the year.

St. John’s is in a prominent location.  We are easily recognized in reference - “the corner of Woodward and I-75 next to Comerica Park and across from Hockeytown Café”. We are very recognizable to those who come downtown or drive by on the freeway.  They know the building, but  are less likely to know the name of the Church since they glance at us in passing as they head to the ballpark, stadium, arena, or theatres. 

One of the projects the vestry has been working on this spring and summer has been to improve the signage, to put a name in people’s heads when we are refenced in conversation. 

We now have our two halo-backlit  St. John’s installed on the Burton Ministry Center.  This is a remarkable addition!  People walking or driving on Montcalm Avenue to the south cannot miss the name of the church.  The north side sign is visible from the freeway and the housing on the other side. 

The updated historic sign in the front of the Church has been installed and a replacement “St. John’s Chapel” entrance sign has arrived and will be installed shortly. 

There are three more signage upgrades to come soon.  On the Fisher Freeway Service Drive side a sign will be installed with the name and our service times for those walking toward the stadium or from the arena toward parking.  Over the tower door will be another St. John’s sign prominently visible for those on the Service Drive or walking on Woodward.  The large electronic pedestal sign will be removed for 2 weeks, repainted, and re-installed with an upgraded electronic screen.

Of course, the most important part of a visibility project is getting the parishioners to share their love for St. John’s with friends, family, and strangers. Folks will know the building and will know the name - your invitation may be how our Lord is bringing them into His fold.

  

St. Bart's Day Baptisms and Wedding Anniversary - Rector's Rambling for August 24, 2025

     Today we celebrate 50 years of marriage for Ralph and Sarah Babcock, and new life in Jesus Christ for Charlie and Leo!  What a great day at St. John’s! 

In 1975 Ralph and Sarah stood before God and in front of Sarah’s dad, Fr. Thomas Frisby (11th Rector of St. John’s) and promised to love, comfort, honor, and keep each other in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others keep only to each other as long as they both shall live.  50 years of this promise kept with prayer for many more years!  And yes, Dr. Huw Lewis was the recently appointed organist of St. John’s playing that day!

Leo and Charlie are making their official beginning.  Baptism is most generally appreciated as the gateway to membership in the Church.  It is the outward public statement that you belong in this group of believers that claims Jesus Christ as Lord.  It is public in the sense that in the last generation or two the Church has reclaimed the ancient practice of having baptism done either during, or immediately proceeding, the primary worship gathering of the community.  The baptism service is a public statement that this child (through their sponsors) or adult is making promises in a community.  The community witnesses the promises and itself promises support to the newly baptized.  In the case of infants and young children the parents and godparents promise to be sure the children “learn the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, and all other things which a Christian ought to know and believe to his soul’s health”.  And not only the parents and sponsors, but all in attendance at the baptism do their part in prayer, fellowship, and support of the Sunday School ministry of the parish.

But something deeper than a public affirmation of belief occurs in the waters of baptism.  We are all born into the Body of Adam and therefore are inheritors of sin and death (known as birth sin or original sin).

But by the grace of the Sacrament of Baptism we are BORN AGAIN of water and the Holy Spirit; we are taken out of the body of Adam and grafted into the Body of Christ.  This is called Baptismal Regeneration.  More than just a public promise or membership ritual, it is God changing people!  And changed we are!

By the end of this day, 7402 people will have been baptised at St. John’s.  Ralph and Sarah were marriage number 3199 at St. John’s, and we have marriages 3451 and 3452 scheduled in the coming weeks. Thanks be to God!

 

Anglican Office Book - Rector's Rambling for August 17, 2025

     One of the glories of Anglicanism is the Daily Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer. When the first English Prayer Book was published (1549) it included the form for Morning and Evening Prayer so that not only the clergy could pray it, but so were those who are members of the congregation.  The previous expectation was that the Daily Office was to be prayed by the clergy and monks/nuns, in latin with instructions that could be intimidating. 

The 1928 Book of Common Prayer continues the Prayer Book formulary of the Daily Offices.  But even in this form finding the proper reading assigned for the day depends on knowing what week of the liturgical year we are currently doing.  This is one of the reasons we republish the lectionary for each week  in this publication (page 3).  Morning and Evening Prayer requires a prayer book and bible, and takes about 15 to 20 minutes prayed alone.

There are also what is known as the minor office, 5 minute moments of prayer which can prayed throughout the day in addition to Morning and Evening Prayer.  They are not in the regular Book of Common Prayer, but available in supplemental texts.

One of those supplemental books is called The Anglican Office Book.    The printed version, available at  https://store.standrewsalmanor.org/collections/books 

This includes the Daily Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer, the Authorized (King James) Version of the Bible, and the minor Offices, also known as The Hours, of Prime, Terce, Sext, None, and Compline.

Additionally, they now have a free website www.anglicanoffice.com where it automatically knows what day it is, loading up Morning and Evening Prayer for that day with all the appointed psalms and readings for that day.  Just start at the top and pray - no need to go flip back and forth between the office, psalm, and bible readings.  And at the top right corner you can click on the Hours tab and get the minor office for that time.  It is a very convenient way to pray using your laptop or phone.

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 Today we rejoice in the 55th Wedding Anniversary of Andy and Alice Baetz with a blessing before the final blessing at the 10 AM Service.