Our Staff & Vestry The Rev, Anthony MacWhinnie, II, Priest in Charge

Vestry: Chuck Barnett - Senior Warden, Dan Ferguson- Junior Warden,

Linda Aligood —Treasurer Susan Early, Frank Murphy, Ann Philen & John Velaski

Viv Welch—Clerk of the Vestry Brenda Ferguson—Church Secretary Twinette McDonald - Music Director

Sally Putters - Parish Nurse

Saint Monica's Episcopal ChurchSaint Monica's Episcopal Church

MessengerMessenger February 2015February 2015

Change is in the air at St. Monica’s. And, you know what? It started long before I came here. There is defi-nitely something positive in the works here, and I am excited about it. And like many here at St. Monica’s, I believe that the Holy Spirit is at work in this place, changing it for the better, reinforcing the good, and strengthening an already strong foundation. I’ve personally observed changes since I’ve been here. Where there once was a bit of fear about the fu-ture, now I see hope. Where there once was a sense of relief on people’s faces that the priest is the same from week to week, now I see surety. Where there was once a sense of trepidation, now I’m seeing confidence. And I have to tell you, it feels good. It feels good to be in a place where people aren’t afraid to be led by the Spirit, where they’re confident about what we’re doing and how we’re going about it. Not only are they not afraid, but they are looking for it. It feels good to be in a place that is excited about their prospects for the fu-ture. In 1 John 4:18 it says that ―perfect love casts out all fear.‖ And there is no better example of that than St. Monica’s right now.

From the priest’s desk by The Reverend Anthony MacWhinnie, II

On January 16-18 we par-ticipated in the New Begin-nings Retreat-A Hospitality Workshop here at St. Mon-ica’s. It was very well at-tended and rightfully so. The participants left with a sense of the fact that the hospitali-ty that we show, in a very Lukan way, is a direct result of the loving relationship that we share with God; Fa-ther, Son, and Holy Spirit. And when we DO that, hos-pitality, people are attracted to it and us! The first step to church growth is cultivating our own relationships with God and accepting God’s love and forgiveness. When we do that, it just naturally flows forth from deep inside us, and who can resist that? Look for more changes coming soon, good changes. Ash Wednesday is on February 18. We’ll have two ser-vices of Imposition of Ashes, Noon and 6pm. The next Wednesday after that, Feb. 25, we’ll begin our Lenten series of simple soup and salad suppers with discussions each week on hospitality as set out in the Gospel of Luke. Look for a schedule of services for Holy Week soon. I intend to pack that week with services every day, and sometimes two a day. If you can attend all week, I promise, you will feel the power of Easter morning in a new way. And, speaking of Easter… There will be bap-tisms that day! There is no more positive sign in the church than baptisms! Thanks be to God! Peace, Anthony+

Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper February 17

5 pm until in the Parish Hall

Enjoy all you can eat, cooked to order pancakes, sausage, bacon & more!

Donations accepted, but not required.

Saturday, February 14 6 pm

If you are new to St. Monica’s, this is for you!

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I never thought about the hospitality of God before. That was until I attended New Beginnings Retreat—A Hospitality Workshop presented by Fr. Anthony and Elizabeth MacWhinnie at St. Monica’s January 16-18. 1 Peter 4:8-10 “Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received.” That is hospitality! Plain and simple, maintain con-stant love for one another. It is found throughout the scriptures, stories about offering hospitality, teaching hospitality and refusing hospitality. It goes way back to the book of Genesis when Abram and Sarah gave food and shelter to three strangers, and discovered afterwards that they were messengers from God. What if they hadn’t done so? What would the rest of the Old Testament look like if Abram and Sarah had not prepared a meal for these strangers? Hospitality was a fundamental moral practice in the early church. In the Scriptures, those who offered hos-pitality were presented as blessed. Those who refused to offer hospitality were exposed as evil, foolish or cor-rupt. Hospitality requires work. Hospitality requires kind-ness. But mostly, hospitality requires conversion. During our workshop, we looked to the Gospel of Luke for examples of hospitality. Again and again, Luke uses triangular stories involving Jesus, a principle character and a third party as illustrations of extreme hospitality. Jesus visits the house of Simon and an un-named woman washes his feet. Jesus visits Zacchaeus and the people grumble. Mary sits at Jesus’ feet and Martha complains. Jesus showed us the ultimate form of hospitality with his dying for us on the cross. When we partake of his sacrificial love through his body and blood, we are wel-comed at God’s table. No one is left out. Sinners, out-siders and outcasts all have a seat at the family table. Hospitality comes from deep within your soul. It is a

sign of the joy that is in your heart. Hospitality is an action of love shown to those we love and to those we do not love. Hospitable hearts demonstrate the love they’ve been shown in salvation through Christ Jesus. This is real conversion. When we reflect the love of Christ, hospitality becomes a way of living. This kind of hospitality cannot be turned on and off like a light switch. It is more than a means to an end. It is a way of creating real community. When we say we are ―a welcoming church,‖ or ―all are welcome,‖ do we REALLY mean it. Or do we mean you are welcome if you look like us, dress like us, or act like us? Is this practicing the hospitality of Jesus? For someone to feel comfortable at our church, he or she needs to make a connection, build a relationship, and feel welcomed. When we are able to practice real hospitality, we will no longer need to be worried about dwindling numbers or paying the bills. People will see our joy and want to share in it. Attending the New Beginnings Workshop was an eye opening experience for me, as I think it was for all who attended. Hospitality is not just about serving at coffee hour or greeting people at the door, though that is im-portant too. Biblical hospitality is when we give our-selves willingly to the needs of others without expecta-tion. It is the outpouring of mercy and grace that has been given to us. At the workshop, we talked about finding new ways of building and rebuilding our community, about shar-ing our buildings and grounds with the community in new ways, about caring for each other in new sacrificial ways and about forgiving one another over and over again – the way Jesus forgives us. Those of us who at-tended are excited to begin practicing this radically dif-ferent form of hospitality at St. Monica’s. If each of us begins living our lives this way, we will find new joy in everyday tasks and breathe new life into our church.

A reflection on the New Beginnings Workshop by Viv Welch

Members of St. Monica’s discuss new ways to welcome visitors with Elizabeth MacWhinnie at the New Beginnings Hospitality Workshop January 17.

February is Heart Health Month!

Free Heart Health Screening Presented by Sacred Heart Health Systems

Tuesday, February 4 9-11:30 am

Blood pressure checks, screening for glucose levels, hematocrit, hemoglobin and

cholesterol. Results will be provided on site.

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February is Heart Health Month!

PLEASE NOTE: We are hitting the peak of flu season and if you had your flu shot, it will protect you against the most common strains. Unfortunately there are some strains that we are not protected against, so we have to be cautious. Here are some ideas to help you stay healthy during flu season. When shaking hands, use a fist bump and no hugging. When you go to the snack table during coffee hour, use the hand sanitizer dispenser to cleanse your hands. Don't touch the food with your hands, use a utensil. Most importantly, if you feel bad, stay home! We will pray for you. Wash your hands with soap. It only takes 20 seconds. I speak from experience. As I write this, my brother in Nebraska died yesterday - the end result of the flu. They are having a true epidemic. So let us stay healthy. February is Heart Health Month and on February 4, Sacred Heart Health Systems will be here from 9 to 11:30 am providing Health Screenings. They will be providing blood pressure checks (no HT OR WT unless you request it), screening for glucose levels, hematocrit, hemoglobin and cholesterol. Results will be provided on site. Be sure to bring your family and friends. A physically inactive lifestyle is a risk factor for cor-onary heart disease and stroke. Regular, moderate, in-tense, vigorous physical activity (like a brisk walk) done for at least five days a week helps prevent heart and blood vessel disease. The more activity you enjoy, the greater your benefits. The most common heart attack warning signs are: Chest discomfort. Most heart attacks involve dis-

comfort in the center of the chest that lasts more than a few minutes, or goes away and comes back. It can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain.

Discomfort in other areas of the upper body. Symptoms can include pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.

Shortness of breath. The feeling often comes along with chest discomfort. But it can also occur without chest discomfort.

Other signs may include breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.

Most common stroke warning signs Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg,

especially on one side of the body. Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding. Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes. Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or

coordination. Sudden severe headache with no known cause. *Resource: American Heart Association. “LIFE IS WHY.‖ Nurse Sally

USS New York (LPD 21) MEDITERRANEAN SEA (Dec. 27, 2014) Airman Apprentice Jonathan Aligood, from Pensacola, Florida, tightens the chains on an MV-22B Osprey on the flight deck in preparation for flight operations aboard the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS New York (LPD 21), Dec. 26, 2014. New York, part of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group/24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, is conducting naval operations in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations in support of U.S. national security interests in Europe. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jonathan B. Trejo/Released)

The picture below is of (Jonathan) Connor Aligood, grandson of Linda Aligood, one of the members of the military for whom we pray. It appeared on the timeline of the Facebook page of USS New York. We are proud of these young men and women sacri-fice so much to protect our freedom.

Our military members at work

Five Wishes Seminar Wednesday, February 11, 4:30 pm

Presented by Sacred Heart Health Systems

Wish 1: The person I want to make health care decision for me when I can’t Wish 2: The kind of medical treatment I want or don’t want Wish 3: How comfortable I want to be Wish 4: How I want people to treat me Wish 5: What I want my loved ones to know

Free to the public—Invite your family and friends!

Saint Monica ’s Messenger Page 4

Editor’s note: In keeping with our Lenten theme of Hospitality in the church, we are sharing the following article from a re-cent blog on the Episcopal Church Foundation Vital Practices website. At the small Episcopal church in San Antonio where I grew up, everyone knew me and I knew everyone. I felt completely at home every Sunday. That experience of being completely accepted and welcomed is part of the reason I am still part of the Episcopal Church. Yet, I am occasionally reminded that church isn’t al-ways supposed to be a comfortable place. At panel dis-cussion during last week's Trinity Institute conference, the Rev. Amy Butler, Senior Minister of Riverside Church, reminded attendees that church should not be comfortable. Our churches should be ―communities of conversion,‖ she said, not places that simply confirm our beliefs and biases. This was one of several conversations I was a part of this past week about race and economic inequality. In these conversations, I’ve been reminded again and again how segregated our churches are, not only in terms of race but also economics and politics. It’s not hard to see how this has happened. We all feel more (at) comfortable in a homogenous church. It’s easier. Spending hours every week with strangers and people with vastly different experiences can be exhaust-ing. How do we reconcile the uncomfortable truths of the Gospel, its call to love and serve and be in communion with those who are different from ourselves, with our desire to feel at ease in our own community?

Trey MacWhinnie and Ann Philen talk with The Very Reverend Edward Francis O’Connor, one of the candidates for the Fourth Bishop of the Diocese of the Central Gulf during the Walkabout Luncheon on January 19 at St. Francis of Assisi, Gulf Breeze. Learn more about the candidates at https://www.facebook.com/cgcbishopsearch

An uncomfortable home By Jeremiah Sierra, ECFVP, January 26, 2015

During another panel dis-cussion at the Trinity Insti-tute conference, Dr. John A. Powell, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, added that the church should be a home, a place where you are loved and accepted. Home is a place where you know people and where you feel like you belong, but that doesn’t mean you agree with everyone. It doesn’t even mean you all look the same or come from the same background. A home isn’t filled with strangers, but nei-ther is it filled with people just like you. So here are two questions to ask ourselves about our churches: Is my church filled with people who all look and think

the same? Is my church filled with strangers? If the answer is yes to either of those questions, then we have to consider both how to connect with people different from ourselves and how we can make them (and ourselves) feel like they belong. Answering these questions will be a life-long process and an essential part of creating a Christian community. As the Rev. Amy Butler said later in the discussion, ―We have to know each other. We have to know each other’s stories.‖ A community that allows us to grow and challenges us is one in which we know each other and feel that we can speak the truth to each other. We need to know and love the people with whom we can easily relate as well as those with whom we have almost nothing in common. This is how change and growth happens. We might not always feel comfortable in such a church, but we will always feel like it is our home.

Begin the journey to the cross

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Saint Monica’s Episcopal Church

699 South Highway 95-A

Cantonment, Florida 32533

Phone: 850-937-0001

E-mail: Office@st-monicas.org

We’re on the web at Www.st-monicas.org The peace of the Lord be always with you.

Birthdays in February… 6, Kathy Vail; 13, Mary Currie; 22, William Hayes

Roy Aligood Brian Bartels Avery Beadle Adam Blankenship Don Blankenship Herman Boudreaux Justin Camber Diane Duncan Tracie Ferguson Amy Franklin Mike Godwin

Nancy Holland Jane Hunter Charlene Lee Steven Martinson Bob Matlock Gina Palma Maggie Rose Rodak Pauline Somerville Susan Frank & Polly Welch Marcella Young

Connor Aligood Brian Condon Daryl Coy Mark Feely Aaron Gaff Benjamin Gaff Tim Hartford Johnny Hurd James Klinginsmith William Knapp

Andrew Kuntz Nicholas Matroni Chase Scott Jeremy Wright

February Prayer Requests Military and First Responders Prayer List

Anniversaries in February… 16, John & Melanie Velaski If your birthday or anniversary is not listed or it is not correct, please let Viv Welch know.