Summer slow down, or shift? - Rector's Rambling for July 19, 2026

 Fr. Ben DeHart of St. John’s Park Slope (Brooklyn, New York) recently posted this on Facebook.

 "Not sure if this is a city thing, but over the past few years I’ve noticed St. John's gets as many or more newcomers on Sundays during the summer than we do in the fall, winter, or spring. Someone told me today it’s because so many people move in the summer. Have you noticed the same?  Clergy definitely need seasons to slow down, recharge, and get away. But this pattern has changed how I think about summer. Instead of turning everything off, we slow things down while still offering fun, low-key ways to connect. The goal is to stay “sticky” for newcomers, and to keep enough going so that our regulars don’t face a yearly “decision” about whether to come back in the fall.

 We have seen a similar pattern here at St. John’s in Detroit.  The choir goes down to quartets, Sunday School goes on hiatus, and the organizations don’t have their regular meetings  during the summer.  But  not only does Sunday and weekday worship continue (weekdays being dependent on whether I might be at the St. Michael’s Conference or away a few days). but we continue to have guests and visitors on a regular basis.

Some of this is because we are a city parish.  Being here in the middle of the entertainment district we have visiitors to worship and the open building at other times attracts people walking but or going to events in the neighborhood.  More people are discovering they can come her to worship on Sunday and then walk over to the baseball game or a matinee show across the street at the Fox theatre.  And I meet guests who are in Detroit for business meetings or conventions and look us up on line to join us for worship while here.  And we even find tourists who wander their way into the building because the building is open.

I think Fr. DeHart is spot on when he talks about having summer ways to stay connected in addition to worship, which we have done with special events like our Outreach Sunday,  DOK new member institution, Independence Day Celebration, lunches/enhanced coffee hour, and next week’s Founders Day and Ice Cream Social.

Although many of our members are away for periods of time for the summer, we have had several people from other parishes and denominaitions in the last few weeks stop by to worship with us to experience for themselves what they have heard about St. John’s from others, or discovered through our social media sources.

Your being here to welcome the visitor and newcomer is a blessing to the parish, and I am grateful for the gracious way that so many introduce themselves to visitors and encourage their returning to be with us again.

 

St. Mike's Thank You - Rector's Rambling for July 12, 2026

     Thank you to all for the prayers and financial contributions in support of the St. Michael’s Conference for Youth, Midwest.  What a wonderful blessing this parish is to the conference, and we were remembered in the daily prayers while there.

I am writing this mid-conference to meet the publishing deadline.  For 28 years I have been on staff of this conference, in addition to the 2 years on staff of the original one out east. 

This year was particularly interesting in that after last year’s conference being at full occupancy, we made the bold move to spin off a new St. Michael’s Conference for Youth, South, which is scheduled to take place in Stanton, Tennesse July 19-25.  This meant we split the staff (a few are doing both conferences in this transition year), and the Michaelites got to choose whether to come here or the new Conference. 

The majority of those attending the  Michigan one over the last few years have been from Tennessee, Kentucky, and South Carolina and they for the most part chose the new one.  And with last year being at the limit of 50 youth attendees (limited by the number of accommotations at the retreat center for students and staff), the split has resulted in the attendance at both conferences topping out at over 75 with more applications pending for the new conference in a week. 

The majority of students heading to the Tennesssee conference means that ours was considerably smaller, a community of 30 of us.  And although we missed friends from last year, we also were hopeful that this will be an opportunity for growth for both conferences in the coming years!  After all, we were a spin off of the conference that was in Massachusetts (now Connecticut), and the conference in Texas spun off from us nearly 20 years ago and operates at capacity at their retreat center.

So we are already praying for next year’s conference and look forward to what God may be doing next !

 

This week I will be out of the office Wednesday through Saturday because I am competing in USRowing’s Master’s National Championship regatta, which takes place this year on Ford Lake in Ypsilanti, Michigan.  My son Andrew and I are racing in singles in our age groups, and then we are racing together in the Father/Son Double race.  We will also be there supporting teammates and friends and volunteering with regatta operations too.  One good thing to come out of the covid shut-downs was my taking up the sport of my youth, and training for a couple of regattas a year: this one and one or two in the fall in Boston and Philadelphia. 

 

Independence - Rector's Rambling for July 5, 2026

     In the Anglican Tradition in the United States Independence Day is a Prayer Book Holy Day, Even though today is actually Fifth Sunday after Trinity and yesterday was the Holy Day, we are commerating it today in honor of the 250th Anniversary of our country’s founding. 

It makes perfect sense that this would be in our prayer book calendar, since our country’s founding document, the Declaration of Independence, was signed by a majority who were members of what would become The Episcopal Church.  According to Gregory Elder of Redlands Daily Facts, “32 of the signers, well over half, were Episcopalians, or Anglicans, the old state Church of England.  There were 13 Congregationalists, 12 were Presbyterians.  There were two Quakers, two Unitarians, and one Roman Catholic.”

Being that Episcopalians were accustomed to praying for the King and his government in the Daily Office, it would be understandable that that would be converted into a daily prayer for the President and all others in authority, as well as a celebration of our God-given liberties, along with the responsibilities that come with that freedom.  We are blessed to have this freedom, and it is our bounden duty to glorify God and to make sure that those liberties are preserved and equality applicable to all.

This evening the St. Michael’s Conference for Youth, Midwest, begins at the Manresa Retreat Center.  This is a wonderful week of prayer, instruction, and a fun for the Michaelites (the students attending), and the staff as well.   Daily Office, Daily Mass, Compline (nighttime prayers) are part of the scheduled, three morning classes, afternoon freetime with organized activities, and evening group games.  It is a wonderful time!  This will be my 27th year on staff of the Midwest Conference, in addition to 2 years on staff of the original conference on the east coast. 

Thank you for all the financial support that St. John’s members and organizations have contributed to the Conference.  Without that support this Conference could not exist!

Could I please ask that everyone pray for us this week.  If you pray for us at 7:30 AM, 8 AM, or 5 PM you will be praying for us while we are assembled in chapel for Morning Prayer, Solemn High Mass, and Evening Prayer.   And of course we will take your prayers any other time of the day as well!

God willing we finish the Conference about noon on Saturday.

 

DOK, Ss Peter and Paul, and looking ahead to Independence Day - Rector's Rambling for June 28, 2026

     Today we have the institution of  Deb Bush as a member of the Daughters fo the King.  Welcome to the members of the Diocesan Chapter joining us today.  More information about the DOK can be found on page 4.

This week we celebrate on Monday, June 29, the Feast of Ss. Peter and Paul.

Technically, on our traditional calendar it is the Feast of St. Peter.  But there is also a great tradition that, on the various dates when St. Peter or St. Paul are commemorated, there is also a collect for the other one of this duo: their deaths, as well as Peter’s Confession that Jesus is Messiah, and Paul’s Conversion on the road to Damascus.

The new calendar commemorates Peter’s Confession and Paul’s Conversion eight days apart in January, and it has become the occasion to pray for the unity of the Church.

There couldn't be two people who are less alike than St. Peter and St. Paul.  Peter was a simple fisherman who was often impulsive, and was as often wrong as he was right in his speaking to and about Jesus.  One minute Jesus is confirming Peter’s Confession by proclaiming him The Rock, and shortly afterwards chiding him for wanting to prevent Jesus from going to Jerusalem to die.

St. Paul, on the other hand, was a more affluent, educated, and cultured man, with religious training as a pharisee whose family had arranged for them to have Roman citizenship.

Yet these two became the great leaders and evangelists for the new Church.  St. Peter is usually considered the Apostle to the Jews because his work was primarily to them, and St. Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles because of his desire to incorporate them into the new covenant sealed in Jesus’ own blood.  But of course, both men preached to both Jew and Gentile.

They shared in common that they both died for the faith in Rome, and that they had a burning desire to share the Good News that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that he has died and risen for the forgiveness of sin.

On Saturday, July 4th St. John’s will be participating in a citywide Church bell ringing at 2 PM in honor of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and then on Sunday we will be celebrating the 250th Anniversary of our Independence with hymns and the appointed lessons and collect for this Prayer Book Holy Day.  A Strawberry Social follows.  Be sure to invite your friends and family!. 

 

Tiger Baseball Sunday 2026 - Rector's Rambling for June 21, 2026

     Another exciting Sunday at St. John’s.  This is our 26th Tiger Baseball Outing Sunday, something we started the year after Comerica Park opened next door!  My first few months here one of our then parishioners who worked in the Tigers front office suggested I should throw out a first pitch, and that we should have all the parishioners and friends come over to see it!  The next year the choir began singing the National Anthem (and I got to lead Take me out the ballgame that year) and the choir continued to do so for many years, until the Tigers (and all of Major League Baseball) converted Sunday games into Kids Day and reserved the anthem that day for kid-related groups.

Welcome to our guests who are joining us today for worship and to go over to the game .  Be sure to come downstairs for lunch after worship.  We will be cooking up hot dogs for the occasion so we can fill up beforehand.

Today of course is also the secular holiday Fathers Day, and we give thanks for all the dads in our congregation, and for our fathers absent today or who have gone on to eternal life.  Although this holiday doesn’t seem to get the traction that Mothers Day does (perhaps rightfully so) we are grateful for the gift of fatherhood.

We do have a busy next couple of weeks ahead, including an induction of Deb Bush into the Order of the Daughters of the King next week, and a celebration of our country’s 250th anniversary of declaring independence from Great Britain.  We will have some patriotic hymns to sing, and after the 10 AM Service will have Strawberry Shortcake as a treat at Coffee Hour.

The St. Michael’s Conference for Youth, Midwest begins that same afternoon, July 5th, at Manresa Retreat Center, and your prayers and financial support are greatly appreciated. 

In addition to the organizations that St. John’s supports through our Outreach Committee, the St. Catherine’s Guild reached out to our former parishioner, now a priest, Fr. Cam Walker, for a recommendation of who we could support at Nashotah House Theological Seminary.  For three years the parish, and several members of it, supported Fr. Cam as he was studying there in preparation for his ordination, and the St. Catherine’s Guild wanted to continue that support.  Father recommended Jason Flack of the Diocese of Florida. 

He graduated last month from Nashotah House,   has been ordained a transitional deacon and God willing will be ordained a priest in August.  He is serving as the curate at The Church of Our Saviour in Jacksonville, Florida. A curate is generally a new priest in his first assignment, working with a rector.

 

The long green season - Rector's Rambling for June 14, 2026

     The long Church season known as Trinitytide is now upon us and the neighborhood will be as busy as ever.  On any given Tigers home game day, the neighborhood around us is bustling, as well as for shows at the Fox Theatre and concerts at the Little Caesars Arena.  Add to that the uptick in new housing available and occupied in the neighborhood, and this Piety Hill area (the old name for this neighborhood) has certainly come back to life with joggers, walkers with strollers and pets, and those coming and going on their bikes.  It is a big change from 25  years ago when I arrived as rector.

Here at St. John’s, I used to say that things slowed down for the summer.  But, in fact, the busyness just changes.  Instead of Sunday School and Guilds/Organizations meeting regularly, we have summer projects and programs.  Until this Sunday we have had something ’special’ nearly every Sunday since Easter; Canon Bedford’s birthday luncheon , 3 baptisms, 2 baby showers, outreach recognition Sunday, and the Malawi Ingathering, 

Next week we have our Tiger baseball outing and the following Sunday the institution of a new member of the Daughters of the King   In July we celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday, send students and staff to the St. Michael’s Conference for Youth, and end the month with a day in celebration of our parish founders.  And with the exception of the week that I am at St. Michael’s Conference for Youth we should be having our regularly scheduled weekday Masses and Evening Prayer. 

Summer is a time for travel and recreation.  I hope you will take the opportunity to visit a church or two if you are away on holiday, and be sure to bring back a worship bulletin or other information about the church so we can see what others are doing in Jesus’ name.

But if Sunday morning finds you in the area, then I hope that you will make the effort to come down to Church to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.  Although the choir is only at quartet strength, the music is still wonderful, the Gospel powerful, the Sacrament Grace-filled, and the fellowship welcoming and encouraging.

And I hope that while home, or while traveling, you will keep current on your pledge to the parish.  Although the parish income is never considered “straight line”, expecting the same amount each week, the bills expect to be paid regularly throughout the summer months.  In addition to dropping it in the collection plate on Sunday or using the QR code to give electronically, you can always put a stamp on your giving envelope and drop it in a mailbox, and it will get to us that way.

 

Corpus Christi Sunday - Rector's Rambling for June 7, 2026

     

    Today is one last great hurrah before we enter fully into the long season of green vestments known as Trinitytide. 

Today we celebrate Corpus Christi.  The actual Feast Day was Thursday, but it is important enough, like All Saints Day, that we also keep it on the Sunday following.

In the summer of 1990 I experienced my first Solemn High Mass for Corpus Christi.  It was at S. Clement’s Church in Philadelphia.  Three things that I remember most poignantly 36 years later is 1)that it was so hot and humid I felt like I was melting into a puddle, 2) that I had never heard a Mass setting performed at a Mass (it was Shubert’s Mass in G), and  3) that I had never experienced something so sublimely beautiful as the Mass and procession of the Blessed Sacrament that day.   It was a glorious day that deepened my own faith and devotion in a way that continues to this day.

The Sacrament of our Lord’s own Body and Blood is such an important part of the life of Christians.  Jesus said that unless we eat His Flesh and drink His Blood we have no life in us, and he has provided that under the species of bread and wine. (See John Chapter 6 and all the Last Supper narratives in the other three Gospels).

Back in Holy Week we celebrated the institution of this Sacrament at the Last Supper, the night before Jesus died for our sins.  In all the focus on the cross of that week, this very important aspect of our Faith seems to get lost in the shuffle.  The Church, in her wisdom, celebrates this day outside of Lent and Eastertide so that we can kick off the new season with the important reminder of this powerful assurance of Grace!  May we take advantage of if this gift by receiving often...at least once a week if not more!