St. John's Episcopal Church

Skeptics often criticize Christians for making such a big deal over the Bible which, they say, is “just a bunch of stories.”  My response is: “Of course it’s a bunch of stories!… What else could it be?”

One writer has noted that we humans are “story-telling animals.”  To my knowledge we are the only creatures on the planet who understand themselves principally by means of narrative.  Our brains are hard-wired for story-telling.  We know who we are mainly because we know our stories — our own stories, the stories of our people, and the story of the human race.

Alzheimer’s is disturbing precisely because one’s place in the world erodes as memory — memory of one’s stories and relationships — deteriorates.  Amnesia is the complete absence of story.

It’s natural, then, that we Christians help our children understand who they are by filling their heads with stories!  These Bible stories tell us who we are, where we come from, and how we relate to God and other human beings.  Because Bible stories are foundational to the life of faith, helping children learn the narrative of God’s people is one of the most important gifts we can give young people.

St. John’s Sunday School begins this Sunday, Sept. 7, at 9:30 a.m.  We warmly invite you to enroll your children, aged preschool-5th grade, so they too can learn the stories of God’s people.  For information, call the Church Office at (616) 842-6260.

— Fr. John +

One of the interesting things about attending seminary is that you meet such interesting… words!  

It is said that George Whitefield, Methodist evangelist and friend of Ben Franklin, could make men laugh or cry by the way he pronounced “that blessed word Mesopotamia.”  For me that blessed word is amphictony.  It’s not your usual word.  It’s not a word you hear bandied about on most-trusted CNN or fair-and-balanced Fox or even stodgy old NBC.  It doesn’t show up in my recently purchased Oxford American Dictionary, and my computer’s Spell-Check questions its very existence!

And yet, however neglected, that blessed word amphictony is close at hand, glittering in the toolbox of scripture students, ready to illuminate the history of God’s people as they try to hang on to the land God had promised.  

Moses led them to the verge.  Joshua settled some significant hash, especially at Jericho.  But not all the locals are happy with these newcomers.  How will this Hebrew amphictony — this loose confederation of independent tribes — cope?  The answer is in the Book of Judges, which will be the subject of St. John’s Community Bible Study on Tuesdays, Noon-1:00 p.m., starting Sept. 16.

Kathryn Roberts, who this year is teaching Old Testament at Western Theological Seminary, will be our lead facilitator, with Fr. John Laycock assisting.  All residents of the Tri-Cities community, regardless of church affiliation, are welcome to join us.  Bring a Bible and, if you wish, a brown bag lunch.  For information, call the St. John’s church office at 616-842-6260.

This is the first posting on the new St. John’s Blog (blog is a Cyberspeak contraction of “web log”).  Blogging has become an international passion in recent years.  Teenagers blog about their latest fashions and heartthrobs.  Corporations blog about their products and services, hoping to drive readers to their web sites and tills.  Political bloggers have made it difficult for a candidate to misspeak at some chicken dinner without his/her minor malapropism or major gaffe being immediately trumpeted across the blogosphere and into the maw of the 24/7 news beast.

But what does a church blog about?  I’ve asked myself that question this past week as I’ve tried to figure out how this new WordPress blog software works, and I’m not sure I’ve come up with a simple answer.

Perhaps that’s because there don’t seem to be many local church blogs out there.  Lots of churches have web sites — most of them pretty grim, unlike ours, which is really quite handsome, thanks to web guru Jim — but not too many congregations seem to have blogs.  Thus, while we don’t often think of St. John’s Episcopal Church in little Grand Haven, Michigan, as being on the cutting edge, perhaps in this case we are!

For the uninitiated (and those like me who are just getting initiated) blogging is intended to be an interactive enterprise.  Someone posts some information, and then others add their comments in reaction to that post.  Thus the St. John’s Blog is an opportunity for our parish community — which gets together mainly on Sunday morning — to engage in a continuing conversation about any number of subjects, from theology to politics, and from the priest’s last sermon to the best recipe for heart-healthy chili.  (If you like the chili better than my sermons, try to let me down easy.  Frail ego, you know.)

Note, too, that St. John’s Blog sits on the World Wide Web.  That means anyone with a computer or an iPhone can log on and post a comment.  Comments will be screened before being posted.  We intend that this blog be “G” rated.  

We also hope that what a visitor finds here might lead him or her to visit St. John’s on a Sunday.  We’re a cool group of Christians!  Cool… not chilly.  Big difference!

So, again, what is St. John’s Blog about?  Actually, it’s about almost anything you wish it to be about.  As the principal editor, I will use this category — An Orbicular View — for my own well-rounded comments.  I will also post sermons.  Your comments are most welcome.  If you have suggestions for other categories, please let me know.

Blessings,

Fr. John +