Lex orandi - Rector's Rambling for August 9, 2026

     Last week we had the wonderful occasion of the baptism of five of the Wilson children; Leonardo, Lot, Levi, Luke, and Leah.  And what a great moment of grace it was.   I got pretty emotional seeing their faces all aglow as they held their candles, smiles from ear to ear!  We are grateful to have them, as well as mom and dad Leo and Shay and daughter Kiylah as members of St  John’s

Last week in this column I wrote about welcoming newcomers into our midst.  We get a lot of visitors to St. John’s who come to us out of curiosity because they have seen the building, read something online, or follow us on social media. It is always interesting when I meet someone at the end of the service visiting from out of state who say that they have watched our worship and Daily Morning Meditations online and wanted to visit while in town for another reason,  Others, as I mentioned, find us via google because they are looking for a specific kind of traditional Anglican/Episcopal/Anglo-catholic church that uses the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  This is that place in Metro Detroit. 

Liturgy, how we worship, is a vital part of our identity.  And St. John’s is unique in it’s continued use of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  Newer liturgies have been published since then and are in use around the rest of the denomination.  We are now the only parish left in this diocese using the traditional form.  

In my first interview with the Search Committee for this parish, I asked them why they continued to use the old prayer book.  I was looking for a specific type of answer, and Libby Schudel, on the other end of the phone with the committee, gave that answer. “It best expresses the faith that we believe at St. John’s.”.  That was the answer I was looking for!  Not a litany of the deficiencies of the newer liturgies, but a positive affirmation of the faith once delivered to the saints and expressed in the prayer book tradition as embodied in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.

In addition to the faith that is expressed in the Prayer Book Tradition, our worship is best classified at Anglo-catholic.  Every Sunday we profess during the Nicene and Apostles Creed that we believe the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.  Our worship supports and highlights the catholic teaching  that we profess to believe and is embodied in the traditional Anglican formularies.  There is an old adage Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi—the Law of Prayer is the Law of Belief.  In other words it’s prayer (and worship) that forms and encourages our belief system.

Being regular in the use of the Prayer Book for worship and prayer helps to form us in right belief!