Homecoming 2024 - Rector's Rambling for October 13, 2024

     Happy Homecoming Sunday at St. John’s.  We started this tradition in 2001 as an additional excuse to get those Christmas and Easter visitors to come a third time a year. 

When I first arrived here 23 years ago we had many former parishioners who moved the suburbs in the 1970s and 1980s and continued to attend St. John’s for the big holy days, bringing their children with them.  Those children grew, married, and many continued the family tradition of returning to St. John’s for the big celebrations.

But time, and the change in our culture, has interrupted that pattern.  Those ‘kids” now grown have either settled into their suburban parishes and want to spend the holidays there, or tragically have stopped attending church at all.  Nationwide church attendance is down.  Those kids’ kids now grown, do not have the emotional attachment to St. John’s.  Best case is that they just don’t feel drawn to make the trip downtown for worship. Worst case is that they do not practice the faith at all. 

But we continue Homecoming for those who continue in the faith and want to join us, as well as for our own fellowship.  I am so grateful to the women in our parish who coordinate our September Welcome Back Luncheon, this Homecoming Potluck, and the other food-related events coming up in November and December including the Front Door Canteen for Thanksgiving and Advent Soup Luncheon.  All this in addition to the events such as craft days, monthly themes (school supplies in August, Coats/Blankets and Food collection in October), bake sales, Advent Tree lighting reception, the Christmas Bazaar, and The Advent Tea . These are the result of the dedication of the St. Catherine’s Guild and Daughters of the King. THANK YOU for all your hard work!

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Please note - THE ALPHA COURSE will now begin on November 7th.  We are grateful that we had to move the schedule because of the Detroit Tigers playoff run.  

 

Dante, Alpha, and the neighborhood - Rector's Rambling for October 6, 2024

Last week we started our Adult Education Class on Dante’s Inferno.  Elizabeth Savage is leading this class, and on the first week we had 17 people in attendance, with a few more people planning on joining us this week.  Last week we did an introduction to Dante, and Canto 1.  Today we plan on discussing Cantos 2 through 4.  We are using two translations, by Mark Musa, and Robert and Jean Hollander, to help us look at not only the small translations differences, but the differing notes that the authors feel are pertinent about the text.  Just as Virgil is guiding Dante on his way through this epic poetic journey, Elizabeth is guiding us through the class!  Interested?  Come sit in on the class after the 10 AM Service to give it a try. 

Note - with the Tigers Playoff Schedule now announced, we have pushed back the start of ALPHA to November 7th.

On Thursday we begin The Alpha Course.  HOWEVER...as of the writing of this article which we have to send to the printer Wednesday morning, so therefore we do not know if the Detroit Tigers will be hosting a home playoff game that evening at Comerica Park.  For the good of the community I hope that they win the wildcard series and at least one of the first two games of the American League Divisional Series so that they will have game scheduled at home on Wednesday and Thursday.

If this turns out to be true then we will have to pivot on when/where the class will start because of traffic issues in the neighborhood.  This would be a great problem to have (or may not be a problem at all—we will have to see).

All that above being said, let me encourage you to sign up for the Alpha Course.  The evening begins with dinner at 6:30 PM, followed by an entertaining video teaching and then a discussion.  We are generally finished by 8 PM.  And the course is FREE. 

Alpha is not only for those of us in the Church who would like a refresher course on The Faith, but also a class for those discerning a relationship with Jesus Christ, or even those who are just curious about Christianity. Know anyone like that?  Invite them to join us for this free meal, class, and discussion.

  

Ss. Michael and All Angels - Rector's Rambling for September 29, 2024

     
Today we celebrate with great joy the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels.  Michael is the lead angel, the warrior for God against the rebellious legions of demons who refused to serve God and were cast out of heaven. We have an image of St. Michael on our window at the back of the Church.  St. Raphael is also depicted in the window along with Our Lord, Our Lady, and St. John.

On page 4 of today’s Chronicle there is a Teaching Note on the different varieties of created spirits that we generally call angels.  In fact there are many more of these who are named in scripture according to their God-created purpose.  Although I don’t think much about some of the orders like choirs, principalities, and powers, I do think about the Archangels that we sing about in our opening hymn today (Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael) and of course our guardian angels as well. 

I remember my grandmother teaching me as a young child the bedtime prayer “Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love commits me here, ever this day, be at my side, to light and guard, rule and guide. Amen “   I also remember her remarking that my guardian angel must have gotten combat pay when I was in college and outside of the practice of the faith for a few years.

Of course the other reason for my love of this Feast Day is because of our long relationship with the St. Michael’s Conference for Youth, both the original East Coast conference were I worked and met Jennifer, and the Midwest conference were I have been on staff for 25 years.  St. Michael is a strong patron for the young people to look up to and call upon in intercession. 

Today is also an interesting anniversary for me.  It was 5 years ago today that I was life-flighted off a cruise ship in the Baltic Sea because of a diverticulitis attack, an infection that was raging through my intestine.  I was taken by helicopter to Turku, Finland where they removed 2/3 of my large intestine. 

The American doctor with whom I followed up with when I returned home said it was miraculous that the Finnish surgeon was able to remove that much diseased intestine and reconnect the what was left without a colostomy, and also how quickly normal function returned.  She had good skill, but we know she was guided by Dr. Jesus, who also gave the healing as well.  The prayers of the congregation, friends, family and strangers added to the cause. Thanks be to God!

 

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.

 

2 milestones this past week - Rector's Rambling for September 15, 2024

 This past week we had two milestones for our parish.

On Wednesday morning Virginia Burton passed away at the age of 96.  She had celebrated her birthday with family and friends, and 4 days later had a stroke that brought on her final demise 10 days later.  Virginia married into the parish and spent her adult life as an active member.  In the past 23+ years she has been the directress of the Altar Guild, making sure all things were ready, and kept in top condition, for worship.  Her cremated remains will be interred in the St. John’s Columbarium alongside of those of her husband Ralph at a date to be announced.  Rest eternal grant unto her, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon her.  May she rest in peace.

Yesterday our own Cameron Walker was ordained a priest in the Cathedral Church of the Incarnation in Garden City, Long Island, New York, along with 5 others.  The service was livestreamed, and can be watched On-Demand at www.dioceseli.org/ordinations24

6 years ago Fr. Cam started attending St. John’s, having moved to Detroit to attend law school.  He had discovered us via our social media presence while attending college in Illinois.  But law school lasted one semester, the Lord having other plans for him and his vocation.  We joined the staff at St. John’s helping to plan programming (which unfortunately was interrupted by the covid shut downs.

Sponsored by the Diocese of Long Island, Fr. Cam attended Nashotah House Theological Seminary in Wisconsin, and is on staff not at St. John’s Church in Lattingtown,  Locust Valley, NY which is on the northwest portion of Long Island.

We are grateful to God to have been able to play a part in this vocation!

 

Welcome Back Sunday - Rector's Rambling for September 8, 2024

     Today has been dubbed Welcome Back Sunday here at St. John’s because of our Welcome Back luncheon being served after the 10 AM Service. 

The ‘welcome back’ we are referring to is for the return of the full choir, the restarting of Sunday School, and the upcoming start of meetings for the Daughters of the King, the Adult Education class offering on Dante, and the Alpha Course!  And for some, ‘welcome back’ is also in effect for those who have been away for much of the summer traveling.

But there is something bigger for us to think about in saying ‘welcome back’ and that is for those who are coming back to the practice of the faith and attending worship services - both things being related to each other in an important way!  As a college student I walked away from the practice of the faith, and only rarely attended worship.  By God’s grace I came back to the practice of the faith by the invitation of a friend to join me at his church in Philadelphia, and began attending regularly at the invitation of a small group of warm and welcoming faithful attenders at their weekday Evening Prayer service!  The chart above, floating around social media, rings true in my experience and observation as a clergyman for 30 years. 

Invite someone to Church!  You may be the person Our Lord is using to bring them back to the practice of the faith, or into a new relationship with Him!  Let God use you for this.  Pray for people, invite them, pray for them again, and invite again.  You never know who may respond, or if your invitation is a follow up on someone else’s prayer and invitation.  If a relationship with our Lord is important to you, it is worth sharing that good news with others as well!

 

The Autumn Eagle - Rector's Rambling for September 1, 2024

I hope that everyone has had a good summer, and are refreshed and ready for the busy-ness of fall.  Work, School and of course Church programming and organizations, all revitalize from their summer hiatus.  This newsleter is chock-full of information about these events this fall, and I hope that you will dutifully mark your calendar and plan on being involved.  Since many of them occur on Sunday, you will be here for worship already (hint, hint).

September 8 is our big kick off day.  The full choir returns, Sunday School resumes, and we will have a celebration luncheon in the undercroft.  In the coming weeks The Daughters of the King and St. Catherine’s Guild also get into full swing again, and our Adult Education offerings of our course on Dante, and the Alpha Course follow shortly thereafter.  Information about all this is enclosed in this letter.

On September 8th we will also be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Dr. Huw Lewis’ appointment as Choirmaster at St. John’s!  Arriving in the United States from Wales in the United Kingdom to study for his Master’s degree at the University of Michigan Huw was snatched up by a wise Fr. Thomas Frisby to take over the responsibilities of our music program.  He succeed August Maekelberghe who served as Choirmaster from 1947 to 1974, who in turn had succeeded John Leigh Edwards from 1905 to 1947. 

In 1990 Dr. Lewis was appointed to the faculty of Hope College in Holland, Michigan, which at the time included Sunday chapel worship responsibilities.  But when Dr. Thomas Sheets departed in 2004 and we were in need of a new choirmaster, Huw agreed to make the commute for a few weeks to help us find a new choirmaster and direct the choir on an interim basis.  But it did not take long for Huw to realize his heart was still here, and we were blessed to have him return to his duties at St. John’s while still on the faculty at Hope College.

On Saturday, September 14 (God willing), in Garden City, Long Island, New York, our own Rev’d Cam Walker will be ordained a priest.  The Service is scheduled to be livestreamed and a link will be emailed.  Fr. Cam is working as the Curate at St. John’s in Lattingtown, NY.  It was 6 years ago that he first arrived at St. John’s as a law student, but then pivoted to a staff member at St. John’s and then a seminarian!