Whitsunday - Rector's Rambling for May 24, 2026

        I had the opportunity in seminary to get to know the then Archbishop of Canterbury’s special advisor on evangelism, Bishop Michael Marshall.  When consecrated, he was the youngest bishop in England, who then subsequently spent some time in the United States at the Anglican Institute before returning to England to serve under the Archbishop.  He was adjunct faculty at Nashotah House and came to lecture us periodically.

One of the lectures that has stuck with me was when he spoke about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and in particular how we often begin to exercise them without realizing it.  In fact, Bishop Marshall said, it is other people who begin to recognize how these gifts are being made manifest through our faithfulness and desire to serve.

He harkened this observation back to the day of Pentecost itself.  The disciples, receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, would not have seen or recognized at first in themselves what was going on, but they would recognize it in others.  As the bishop described the scene in his proper English accent, “excuse me love, but you seem to have a bit of flame up on your head.”

We should certainly be praying and asking God to make manifest in us the gifts of the Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord (as we have been praying for in our Novena the last nine days).  And we should also pray that we may begin to manifest the fruits of the Spirit as well: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.  (Some ancient translations of Galatians 5:22–23 break down “temperance” into self-control, modesty and chastity, which are all aspects of it).

The world wants to reject much of this, or try to redefine the terms into it’s distorted own image, but God’s plan for us is to live in these gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit.  It often takes a loving word from a fellow member of the church for us to realize that these things are in fact beginning to be made manifest in us even if we don’t see it.  And we should press on in faith and hope, relying on God’s grace, to continue to grow in all these attributes.

It is only by His most gracious favor that the world will be changed.  And it starts with our cooperation with Him!

 

Sunday after Ascension - Rector's Rambling for May 17, 2026

     As you’ve noticed by now I am away this week with some of the family and extended family, and God willing will be back on Saturday.  Thank you to everyone who pitched in to make sure worship is happening today here at St. John’s while I am away.

Eastertide has now come and gone, and in a few weeks we will be back in the “green” of ordinary time, also known as Trinitytide.

Easter is certainly the primary feast of the Church calendar.  It is by Jesus’ death and resurrection that we have the price of our sins paid, and death conquered by Jesus himself.

Ascension Day, which was last Thursday, is the culmination of Jesus’ earthly ministry.  Jesus takes his human body, resurrected, with Him back into the Godhead to intercede for us.

Today we are between times.  Like the disciples, we are preparing for the promise of the coming of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.  We have been praying since Friday a novena for the gifts of the Holy Ghost, just as the disciples spent those nine days between Ascension and Pentecost in prayer.  You are most welcome to join this novena – there are forms for it at the back of the church, and it is being sent daily to the St. John’s email list.

Sunday, May 24, is Whitsunday, also known as Pentecost.  On this day we celebrate the birthday of the Church, by the coming of the Holy Ghost to empower the followers of Jesus to continue His work and propagate the Gospel.

The following week we have Trinity Sunday, when the Rector feebly tries to explain this vital dogma about God being one God in three persons.

The following Thursday, June 7, we have our celebration of Corpus Christi – the Body of Christ – at our 10:30 AM Mass.  We rejoice and give thanks that Jesus feeds us with his own body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar.  We will also keep the Feast of Corpus Christi as the external Solemnity on Sunday, June 6.

After that we are in green vestments, with the exception of two Sundays in October and one in November, for the remainer of the liturgical year known as Trinitytide.  The liturgical new year resets and begins again with the First Sunday in Advent on November 29th

Rogation Sunday - Rector's Rambling for May 3, 2026

     As I write this column it is once again raining.  Back in 2020 at this time lake/river levels were at unprecedented high water marks, with flooding on area creeks leading to the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair.  Last fall they dropped pretty low and thankfully this wet spring is helping to restore the levels.  As a rower I keep an eye of these things, fearful to scrap my boat on not-so-deeply submerged rocks!.

Why do I write this?  Because today, in addition to being the 5th Sunday after Easter, is known as Rogation Sunday.  Today, at the 10:00 AM service (weather permitting), we will process around the perimeter of the building, singing the litany hymn in a symbolic “beating of the boundaries” of the parish.  It is an opportunity for us to implore God’s mercy upon us and our community as we begin the planting season.  Our common welfare is tied up with the ability for crops to be planted, grow, and be harvested so that we can be nourished.  The Church this weekend acknowledges that all things are a part of God’s providence, including the temperate weather and the ability for us to grow and harvest.

Today is also the secular celebration of Mother’s Day.  Although not a part of our liturgical calendar, we do honor our mothers, past and present, with the singing of our Mother’s Day Hymn.  We thank God for the moms in our congregation and all the moms in our own lives who give of themselves for the good of those they raise.

And a reminder that this Thursday is the 40th Day of Eastertide and a major feast day!  We celebrate the Feast of the Ascension.  Holy Communion will be celebrated on Thursday morning at 10:30 AM to keep the Feast.

On Friday we begin our preparation for Whitsunday (May 24) with our daily Holy Ghost Novena.

 

Happy 97th Birthday Fr. Bedford - Rector's Rambling for April 26, 2026

In addition to our continuing celebration of The Resurrection of Jesus Christ during this 40 day season we call Eastertide, we have a special celebration today.  Today we celebrate the 97th birthday of our beloved Fr. Michael Bedford!

1929 will most likely be remembered for the great stock market crash on  October 29th.  At that momentus time in our history Fr. Mike was 6 months old!  He spent time in his childhood in England, we we have been privy to his wonderful presentation on living there during the bombing during World War II, including being evacuated to the countryside along with his schoolmates for their safety.

Returning to the United States, he met Mary and married her in 1951.  He made his way to Metro Detroit where he had secular employment, and he and Mary raised seven children.  In 1976, Fr. Mike was ordained a deacon in the Episcopal Church, and in 1982 was ordained a priest.  He served as the Rector of St. Elizabeth’s Church in Redford until 1996.  After his retirement there, he and Mary began attending St. John’s and helping at the altar.  After the retirement of Fr. Kim, Fr. Mike served in various roles assisting the interim priest and also being the supply priest before and after Fr. Leovy’s time here.

My first ‘encounter with Fr. Mike was when I was in seminary at Nashotah House and his parish sent money to my bishop to support seminarians, of which I was one of the recipients.  Afterwards we met as fellow members of the Society of the Holy Cross (SSC).

When I arrived in 2001 at St. John’s , Fr. Mike called to ask if I thought it was okay for he and Mary to continue attending St. John’s.  It is customary for interim or supply clergy to step back when the new priest arrives.  Not only was it okay with me, but I asked him to vest and help at the altar, which he did for many years!  He retired again several times, but we are so happy that he has continued with us throughout!

Mary passed away in 2014 at the age of 91, and she is deeply missed.  Shortly before Mass I always do a quick check to make sure my vestments aren’t discombobulated in the back, something Mary always did for Fr. Mike and I on our way into church for Mass.

Happiest of birthdays to Fr. Mike!  Be sure to join us downstairs for a luncheon celebration!

 
 

A week of saints - Rector's Rambling for April 19, 2026

     Although we are primarily focusing on the Resurrection this Eastertide, we also have the opportunity to look at a variety of Saints this month particularly some notable ones this week.

Today, if it weren’t Sunday in Eastertide, we could be commemorating the Feast of St. Alphege.  An Archbishop of Canterbury during the time of the viking invasions in the 10th and 11th centuries, he negotiated a peace treaty between King Aethelred and the Norse King Olaf Tryggavon in 994.  In 1011 he was captured by the invading Danes.  According to the Episcopal Church’s Lesser Feasts and Fasts, St. Alphage refuse to allow the people to college money to ransom him.  The Danes beat him to death, eventually dispatching his soul to heaven with a blow to the head with an axe-iron in 1012.

April 21 is the Feast of St. Anselm, another Archbishop of Canterbury about about a century later.  Italian by birth, he became a monk in France (Normandy) and eventually Archbishop of Canterbury.  He is best known for his disagreements with the King over the rights of the Church in England, and for what is known as the Ontological Argument for the existence of God.  In a nutshell, “God is that than which nothing greater can be thought.” and that God can be said to exist in reality as well as in the intellect, but not dependent upon the material world for verification.” (LFF, p. 224).  He is also known for the phrase “faith seeking understanding”  “I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe in order that I may understand. For this , too, I believe, that unless I first believe, I shall not understand” (LFF . 224). 

On Thursday the 23rd we celebrate the Feast of St. George, the Holy Protector of England (Edward the Confessor being the Patron Saint of England).  Little is known historically about St. George other than his martyrdom in Palesine about the year 303.  to him was deeply held in the East as a patron protector of soldiers, and the knights from the west brought that cultus back to the west as a result of the crusades. 

The Flag of St. George, a white field with a red cross, is the flag of England, and the basis of the heraldry of our denomination. One flies this week on the flagpole behind the ministry center. 

Saturday if the Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist.  Author of the Gospel in his name, it is attributed as the teaching of St. Peter.  Mark appears in several places in the New Testament, including Acts of the Apostles and St. Pauls letter to the Colossians and St. Peter’s 1st Epistle.

He is believed to have been the bishop of Alexandria in Egypt and there was martyred for the faith. 

 

10 year anniversary of our Prayer Wall - Rector's Rambling for April 12, 2026

 Alleluia, Christ is Risen!  The Lord is Risen Indeed, Alleluia!

We continue our celebration of Easter today, and throughout the remainder of the 40 days of the Easter Season.  It seems only fair that if we spent 40 days of fasting and penitence for Lent, then the celebration should be at least as long!  The Easter Seasons ends with the Feast of the Ascension, which falls on May 14th this year.  We then add 10 more days of special prayer and intention in preparation of the gift of God the Holy Ghost on the Feast of Whitsunday, also known as Pentecost. 

Thank you to the many people who pitched in last week for our grand celebration of the Feast of the Resurrection.  The music was sublime, the liturgy transcendent, coffee hour delicious and plentiful, and the congregation joyful and exuberant.  It was a wonderful day and I am thankful to God for the Feast Day and to the many people of St. John’s who participated in making it such a wonderful day.

Today marks an interesting milestone.  It was on the First Sunday after Easter in 2016 that we dedicated The Prayer Wall on Montcalm Aveue. 

Joe Alff, who with his wife Marge now live the Chicago area, had a great idea that we needed a place were people could offer their prayers in a tangible way 24 hours a day, without having to come inside the church.  The design is based on the idea of the Western Wall of the former Temple in Jerusalem where people write their prayers on slips of paper and insert it in the slots between stones of the foundation of a place were God dwelt in a special way, until it became redundant because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Joe approached his neighbor Gene Pluhar with an idea for the design, and from there was born the the prayer wall we now have located on Montcalm Street on the side of the parish parking lot.  People walking by for events at the stadiums, arena, and, as well as those  just passing by, stop to put a prayer in the wall.  On Sunday a team of parishioners spend a few minutes out there reaffirming their prayers, asking God to grant them as may be most expedient for them.   I have personally witnessed people stopping to pray very late at night, and very early in the morning.

 

He is risen indeed! - Rector's Rambling for April 5, 2026

     
    Alleluia!

Christ is Risen!

The Lord is Risen indeed!

Alleluia!

 

This is our Easter Proclamation as we celebrate Jesus’ victory over sin and death.  What a wonderful statement of faith, which is absolutely essential and central to who we are as members of the Body of Christ, the Church.  His Resurrection is an absolute basic requirement for belief, along with our statement that Jesus Christ is Lord!

This past week we have had a glorious journey, starting with Palm Sunday.  There we celebrated Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, being welcomed with cries of  “Hosanna to the Son of David.”  Surely this would be the great king who would throw off the yoke of Roman oppression.  But his kingship was not to be of this world.  On Thursday he had his Passover celebration with the apostles where he took that meal and with it instituted the Blessed Sacrament of His own Body and Blood.  From there he is arrested, tried, and as we commemorated on Good Friday, was put to death.

Today we celebrate His Resurrection!

Welcome to St. John’s Church.  We give thanks for the many people who make St. John’s their High Holy Day destination, and for those worshipping with us for the first time.  Easter is a grand day, especially with the brass accompanying the choir.  The flowers are glorious, and it is always wonderful to see the Easter joy on each other’s faces!

The other 51 Sundays a year are also a celebration of the Resurrection—the reason we worship on Sundays!  Although we won’t have the brass each week, the choir leads us in sublime worship as we work our way through the Liturgical Year.  We work our way through Eastertide, Trinitytide, Advent, Christmastide, Epiphanytide and then back to pre-Lent and Lent!   Each season and each week has a different emphasis, teaching us about Our Lord and His Will for us.

He is Risen!  Let us rejoice today, and each week of this year!

 

Holy Week - Rector's Rambling for March 29, 2026

     This is the most important week of the year!  Holy Week begins today, and between now and next Sunday you will have 14 opportunities to be at St. John’s for the public worship of the Church.

Three of those worship opportunities actually happen most weeks of the year here at St. John’s: Holy Communion on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 12:15 PM and Evening Prayer will be prayed in the Ministry Center Monday through Thursday.

For Holy Week we add several important opportunities for worship and devotion.  On Wednesday evening we have a service of psalms and lessons at 7:00 PM called Tenebræ.  On Maundy Thursday the one celebration of the Holy Communion will be at 7:00 PM (no 10:30 AM Mass this day), which is followed by the stripping of the altar and an opportunity to spend time at the Garden Watch in the chapel.

Good Friday starts with the opportunity to spend time at the Garden Watch (beginning at 9:00 AM) before the Good Friday Liturgy, which takes place from Noon to 3:00 PM.

On Holy Saturday [Easter Eve] the great Vigil Service of Easter begins at 6:00 PM, which includes the first Communion service of the Easter Feast, and on Sunday we will have the grand celebration of the Resurrection at 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM (Brass Prelude at 9:30 AM).

Information about these various services can be found in the insert in today’s Order of Service called Holy Week Explained.

More importantly, I cannot stress more strongly that we need you to attend these services!  This is the most important week of the year, and I would love to see a larger percentage of parishioners avail themselves of one or more of these services that lead up to Easter Day.

I understand that we are a busy people, and that many of us live very far away from the church facility.  But it is important for your spiritual life to participate in this holiest of weeks, and your presence will also be an encouragement to those others who have taken time and distance to be here, especially our visitors.

God willing, see you in Church!