2018 Advent-Christmas Southern Cross

ADVENT 2018

VOLUME 49 ISSUE 3

SouthernCross

MAGAZINE OF THE DIOCESE OF SOUTHWEST FLORIDA

COMFORT & JOY CONVENTION ROUNDUP THE WORD INCARNATE: LOOKING TO THE FUTURE PAGEANT TRADITIONS

BELOVED COMMUNITY

ALTAR GUILD ADVICE

YOUTH SUMMER CAMPS

CAMP 2019

Our campers participate in a Christian program designed to deepen their faith and strengthen their friendships through a variety of activities. Campers learn team-building skills and are challenged on our ropes courses, enjoy canoeing and kayaking on the Manatee River, and get a chance to just be themselves playing games and creating arts and crafts. Come experience God’s love through great music, worship and food this summer! Six sessions are planned for 2019.

WWW.DAYSPRINGFLA.ORG

ADOPT-A-CAMPER SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM Support our diocesan youth ministry by participating in the Adopt-A-Camper Scholarship program! Your donation sends a child to a camp session they may otherwise be unable to attend, and gives them memories which last a lifetime. You’ll receive a thank you note from your camper, and if you choose, you can inspire them with a note to your camper ahead of their camp session. For more information about this program, contact Greg Randall, Camp Director / Director of Youth Ministry & Programming at

grandall@episcopalswfl.org

BEST. SUMMER.

EVER.

From the Bishop

LOVE’S PURE LIGHT

My Dear Friends, The first televised Christmas commercial I saw this year was in mid-October. Now, since the mid-term elections are over, they have picked up an enormous head of steam with so much content that my eyes glaze over. The Christmas commercials, or better said, the pre-Advent Christmas commercials, are so full of invitations for shopping that I do not want to do for things that I do not want to purchase. And yet I am not a cynic. I love this time of year.

My father, who was a priest in the Episcopal Church, has been gone from this earth now for twenty years. He loved Christmas. I have memories of him serving as rector of St. John’s in Tampa and St. James in Ormond Beach before he retired close to an additional twenty years before he died. At the “Mid-night Mass” Christmas Eve he would participate in the choral festival procession with a baby doll on a pillow. The procession would stop at the crèche and the doll would be placed in the nativity scene with Mary and Joseph to represent the birth of Jesus and the arrival of the Son of God. I always enjoyed the procession and singing in the choir. I admit that as I got older I thought that the doll was a little weird. Yet as I got even older, I could never forget the special beaming on my father’s face as He celebrated the Christmas services. When he did finally retire, he made sure that his last service as rector was on Christmas Day. To this day, I cannot celebrate the Christmas services without thinking of my father’s beaming face on Christmas. I can barely sing “Silent Night” on Christmas Eve. I just choke up. Just ask the Dean of the Cathedral. He watches me every year.

The point of all this is why I am not a cynic. I don’t enjoy the Christmas commercials but I love that they exist because of the baby Jesus. We as people are good about remembering birthdays but this one changed the world.

When we read about this birth we get glimpses of the fullness of God, that we call the Holy Trinity. The Angel Gabriel informs Mary that she has found favor with God; that her son will be called the Son of the Most High; and that the Holy Spirit will come upon her. The shepherds were informed of the birth and told by angelic voices “Glory to God in the highest and on earth Peace among human kind.” In other words God was doing something in and for the whole of humanity and in human history by this nativity. Afterwards for thousands of years people would, and still do, sing in praise for the birth of Jesus and faces still beam. A great number of people, I am certain, struggle to get through “Silent Night.”

It is truly amazing and wonderful and often how many voices still tirelessly speak and sing about Jesus the Christ.

Our lives and our hopes and dreams have been changed forever. As you spend time in the pages of this Southern Cross you will discover anew how many different ways we spend our lives of faith speaking his name in every way from Christmas pageants to gardens to feed the hungry to ordinations. Let your own voice be counted in spreading the name of Jesus this Christmas. The Church is charged with sharing the faith not changing it. I pray for you all a holy season. This season is holy because people are blessed by Gods love in it. John’s Gospel says it the best: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.”

I love the fact that my father loved Christmas so much that it shaped his face in loving light. I love the fact that Our Father in Heaven sent his Son so that I could see my father’s face again. Merry Christmas!

The Rt. Rev. Dabney T. Smith

SOUTHERN CROSS YEAR 49 | ISSUE 3 | ADVENT 2018 FIRST PUBLISHED AD 1970

Geraldine “Jerry” Buss | Bookkeeper jbuss@episcopalswfl.org

Bishop | The Diocese of Southwest Florida The Rt. Rev. Dabney T. Smith

Marilyn Erfourth | Receptionist merfourth@episcopalswfl.org

Assisting Bishops The Rt. Rev. J. Michael Garrison, The Rt. Rev. Barry R. Howe

The Rev. Martha Goodwill | Director of Congregation Support mgoodwill@episcopalswfl.org

Canon for Finance & Administration Anne M. Vickers

The Rev. Christopher Gray | Canon for Stewardship cgray@episcopalswfl.org

Editor & Director of Communications Garland Pollard

The Rev Adrienne Hymes | USF Chaplain, Missioner Church Ext. ahymes@episcopalswfl.org

Managing Editor & Creative Director Shannon Weber

Michelle Mercurio | Administrative Assistant mmercurio@episcopalswfl.org

Contributing Writers The Rev. Keith Backhaus, Dr. George Farrow, The Rev. Martha Goodwill, Sara Kennedy, The Ven. Kathleen Moore, The Rev. Ryan Whitley

The Ven. Dr. Kathleen Moore | Archdeacon kmoore@episcopalswfl.org The Rev. Richard Norman | Canon for Mission & Ministry rnorman@episcopalswfl.org Jan Nothum | Bishop’s Administrative Assistant jnothum@episcopalswfl.org Carla Odell | Executive Director - DaySpring execdirector@dayspringfla.org Garland Pollard | Director of Communications gpollard@episcopalswfl.org Greg Randall | Director Youth Ministry & Programming grandall@episcopalswfl.org Tana Sembiante | Administrative Assistant to Canon Durning & Canon Norman tsembiante@episcopalswfl.org Anne Vickers | Canon for Finance & Administration | CFO avickers@episcopalswfl.org

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Advertising Inquiries Garland Pollard | 941-556-0315 | gpollard@episcopalswfl.org Subscriptions | The Southern Cross is mailed to parishioners of the Diocese of Southwest Florida from member parish lists. Contact merfourth@episcopalswfl.org to subscribe or update delivery preferences Editorial Submissions | The editors welcome submission of articles for every section of the magazine, including features, news and departments. Please submit articles to gpollard@episcopalswfl.org 2019 Submission Deadlines Lent/Easter: January 25 Pentecost: March 29 Advent Issue: October 25 On the cover Christmas pageant at St. Andrews, Tampa.

Photo courtesy Colin Edwards. Back cover, diocesan clergy at 50th Annual Convention, photo by Stephen Lineberry.

FEATURES 14 THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER We drop in on one of the most wonderful times of the year: the parish Christmas extravaganza.

20 CONVENTION: THAT’S A WRAP! A roundup of our 50th Annual Convention, including photos, Episcopal Charities awards, and elections.

28 THE WORD INCARNATE

The word incarnate informs the present day as well as the future of the church body.

DEPARTMENTS Beloved Community | Efforts Spring up Around Diocese Around the Diocese School for Ministry | Iona Collaborative Outreach | Benison Farm Mission | Coffee Pot Bayou Cleanup

2019 DIOCESAN CALENDAR Communications | Word Out Conference Meet the Priest | Nicholas Cassese Christmas | Showing God’s Abundance Transitions Altar Guild | Spiritual Aspects of Altar Guild Work Briefly Looking Back | The Allman House

6 7 8 9 10 11 13 33 34 35 36 38 42

Beloved Community

EFFORTS SPRING UP AROUND DIOCESE At the 2017 Annual Convention, the plenary speaker was Dr. Catherine Meeks from the Diocese of Atlanta, who challenged us to help create a “Beloved Community” that could better deal with racism by ending the “fiddling around” about issues of race and instead use prayer, dialogue and the Holy Eucharist to help come to new solutions within a Christian framework.

Since that session, numerous “Beloved Community” efforts have sprung up across the diocese and indeed across The Episcopal Church, including this speaker session series in the Venice Deanery spearheaded by the Rev. Rev. Keith Backhaus. In our diocese, the Committee on Race & Reconciliation is encouraging

The Jet Stream Choir from Booker High School in Sarasota, set to perform on Jan. 21

these grassroots initiatives. More information is at episcopalswfl.org/ reconciliation.html Our Book of Common Prayer reads, “O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth.” Jesus taught us that our first obligation

is to God, and the second covenant obligation is to our neighbor. Yet in our contemporary culture here in the U.S., much of our language reflects categories of ‘otherness’. Rich. Poor.

Black. White. Hispanic. Rednecks.

Refugees. Aliens. Other religious groups. And race. (cont. page 7)

AMERICAN RACISM: YOURS, MINE AND OURS SERIES January 21 | Sarasota pastor Dr. John Walker will lead off the series with a spirit-filled, justice-seeking celebration of Martin Luther King Day. January 28 | Jeff LaHurd, retired Sarasota County historian, and Chief Judge Charles Williams of the 12th Judicial Circuit will talk about past practices of racism and what has changed (or not) in Sarasota County.

February 4 | ‘’Black Like Me” will be presented by Kristofer Geddie, Director of Diversity for Venice Theater, and Sandra Terry, Director of the Laurel Community Center shedding light on the lives of black people in a white-dominated society.

February 11 | Dr. Marvin McMickle, president of Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School in Rochester, N.Y. will speak on the idea of “Building the Beloved Community,” re-introducing the ideas of Martin Luther King Jr. as a template for creating communities of equality, justice, and love.

February 18 | Dr. Catherine Meeks will speak on “Racial Healing: an Inner and Outer Journey.” Dr. Meeks is a lay preacher in the Episcopal Church and Director of the Absalom Jones Center for Racial Healing. She has also served as chair of the Commission for Dismantling Racism for the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta.

February 25 | The final program in the series will be presented by Dr. Lori Hale Brandt. Dr. Brandt, a recognized scholar of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s work, will guide us in moving from belief to action in her presentation, “What We Believe Matters: A Bonhoeffer Moment.”

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As believers, our stand should rest on the teachings from Scripture and Jesus. For us, pejorative labels of suspicion about ‘otherness’ are morally and ethically wrong. But are we as color blind as we think? Do we need to listen to our neighbors and hear their truth? Must we listen to our own realities and our own stories and come face to face with our own prejudices and racism?

One of the many outreach programs that St. Mark’s in Venice offers is our active involvement in the Venice Interfaith Community Association.

The goal of the group is to bridge differences and build community through cooperation, respect, and understanding among people of different faiths and ethnic and cultural traditions. When the board met last spring to begin planning its 2019 winter series of educational programs, we agreed on one thing: there was a serious need to make a difference in the Venice community.

Across the entire group, all felt that the time was now to speak out against the pervasive racism in American society. Voices were needed to prepare us for working toward racial healing.

To that end, our group developed a series of talks to drive change in our community. It turned into a six-week series of programs set for January and February 2019 which will explore the persistent problems of American Racism: Yours, Mine and Ours.

Please join us for these six weeks of thought-provoking and challenging topics and discussion.

All programs will be held at 7:00 p.m at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 790 South Tamiami Trail, Venice.

Donations will be accepted at the door.

The Rev. Keith Backhaus, a deacon at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Venice, is Vice President of Venice Interfaith Community Association and a member of the board of directors.

Questions? contact The Rev. Keith Backhaus at

okbackhaus@hotmail.com or 941-488-7714

veniceinterfaith.org

Around the Diocese CHRISTMAS EVENTS BONITA SPRINGS – Advent Lessons and Carols will be held at St. Mary’s at 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2, 2018. At 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 6, 2019, Charles Baker will perform as St. John the Baptist. 9801 Bonita Beach Rd SE, Bonita Springs.

FT. MYERS - St. Luke’s Episcopal Church will sponsor holiday music on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2018 at 3 p.m. when the St. Luke’s choir presents A Festival of Carols with well-loved anthems and carols. Free; a reception follows.

2635 Cleveland Ave, Ft. Myers.

TAMPA - St. Mark’s Episcopal Church: The parish will gather in the church’s beautiful courtyard accompanied by musicians for the singing of Christmas Carols on Friday, Dec. 14 at 7:30 p.m. The church provides cookies, hot cocoa, easy to follow song sheets and first come seating. Bring a small flashlight.

(813) 962-3089. St. Mark’s, 13312 Cain Rd., Tampa.

BRADENTON – Christ Church will offer Advent organ recitals at 12:15 p.m. With Julane Rodgers, harpsichord, Dec. 6; James Walton, Dec.13 and Richard Benedum, Dec. 20. Advent Lessons and Carols with the Christ Church Chorale is Dec. 9.

Music for the Holiday Season is Dec. 24 at 10 p.m. At Christ Church, 4030 Manatee Avenue West, Bradenton.

PALM HARBOR - A service of Nine Lessons and Carols will be offered on Sunday afternoon, December 16 at 4 p.m. With The Cambridge Ringers and St. Alfred’s Parish Choir of Adults under the direction of Kevin Johnson, organist and choirmaster. The readings, congregational carols, and anthems tell the story of the coming of the Messiah from the Old Testament prophets to the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. At St. Alfred’s Episcopal Church, 1601 Curlew Road, Palm Harbor.

SANIBEL - Noah’s Ark, a popular island thrift shop located on the grounds of St. Michael & All Angels, will be redecorated this Christmas.

To celebrate, volunteers invite one and all to an annual Christmas Open House, Monday, Dec. 3. The shop will be open for the remainder of the Christmas season.

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School for Ministry IONA COLLABORATIVE

Archdeacon Moore, New Dean of School for Ministry PARRISH - As of November 2018, the Diocese of Southwest Florida is one of 27 Episcopal dioceses participating in the Iona Collaborative, a program of the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas. In January 2019, the diocesan School for Ministry will begin implementing this Iona clergy training curriculum, which is designed to provide formational education for priests and deacons.

In connection with this new direction for clergy formation in our diocese, Bishop Dabney Smith has appointed Archdeacon Kathleen Moore as the dean of the School for Ministry. Archdeacon and Dean Moore will work closely with Canon for Mission and Ministry The Rev. Canon Richard Norman to integrate the offerings of the School with our broader diocesan discernment and formation processes.

The diocesan participation in the Iona Collaborative will enable Southwest Florida to develop an enhanced deacon preparation program that will continue the School for Ministry’s traditional role of preparing deacons to serve the congregations of our diocese. In addition, the new program will provide opportunities for local formation of postulants who have discerned a call to the priesthood. In the longer term, the School for Ministry will provide training for persons who have discerned a call to some form of licensed lay ministry as well as general adult Christian formation offerings.

In the Iona Collaborative model, seminary faculty work with our local facilitators to develop a program that combines the use of online content with on-site formational experiences to create a comprehensive formation experience for postulants for both the diaconate and the priesthood. The program will enhance support for postulants and candidates through assignment of advisors and assistance with identification of appropriate spiritual directors.

The diocese will continue its longstanding affiliation with the Sewanee School of Theology’s Education for Ministry program, which has over 40 laity attending courses in parishes across the diocese. The diocese will also continue its annual Education for Ministry yearly training curriculum at DaySpring.

The School for Ministry, which currently has 10 students in diaconal training in four-year course cycles, will work with the diocesan Commission on Ministry to strengthen our discernment processes and increase awareness of the role and ministry of deacons within the Diocese.

For more information about the School for Ministry, contact the Ven. Kathleen Moore at

kmoore@episcopalswfl.org

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Outreach

BENISON FARM AT ST. AUGUSTINE’S As Frederick Buechner said, “the place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

ST. PETERSBURG – St. Augustine’s was blessed this year to receive a $63,000 grant from the United Thank Offering, one of 34 grants that were announced at the 79th General Convention of the Episcopal Church.

The grant is for Benison Farm, a partnership between St. Augustine’s and St. Thomas’ Episcopal Churches. The purpose of the farm is to provide fresh produce to an area considered a food desert and to engage a racially diverse group of people in helping the needy. Our name, Benison, comes from an old English word for “blessing.” The farm was dedicated Sunday, Nov. 11 with a blessing.

This project has been a long time in the making. After a commercial farmer backed out of his proposal to farm a vacant 1-1/2 acre parcel on St. Augustine’s property, the idea sprang in us to continue the idea of a farm for a very different reason. Parishioners from both congregations were looking for opportunities for community outreach. Coupled with a desire to address the lack of fresh produce in south St. Petersburg, Benison Farm became the solution to both dreams.

The foremost goal of Benison Farm is to bring together a diverse group of volunteers to serve those living in an area of St. Petersburg that is a food desert by providing fresh produce. Pinellas County is Florida’s most densely populated county, with 938,098 residents in 274 square miles. Despite its size, the county has many food “deserts”, a term defined by the United States Department of Agriculture as an impoverished urban area with infrequent access to fresh fruit, vegetables and other healthful foods, usually due to lack of grocery stores, farmer’s markets and other health food providers.

South St. Petersburg is a highpoverty, low-access area. This is the target area for Benison Farm. We cannot serve the entire population of approximately 150,000 people, but do hope to make an impact in south St. Petersburg.

We also plan to seek partnerships with schools, after-school programs, and community centers to educate people on healthy eating and home-based farming to reach beyond just providing food and focus on long-term life improvement. Our farmers’ market, on the grounds of St. Augustine, will provide access to fresh produce and help people get to know us as a welcoming, diverse community.

Benison Farm will be the center of many life-giving, reconciling activities. We will be about so much more than farming. Through mutual work and learning, groups from various ethnicities and backgrounds will grow to respect each other and work together to support our community. The dream is that our service to the community will lead to love, respect and caring which will blossom into the broader community. Our hope is that Benison Farm will be a blessing to all.

GET INVOLVED Interested in starting a project like this at your church? Interested in being a volunteer or church partner? Please contact Deacon Martha Goodwill at benisonfarm@gmail.com

DIG DEEPER Plan to be with us at DaySpring on Jan. 19th for The 8th Day: Caring for God’s Creation. Brian SellersPetersen, author of Harvesting Abundance: Local Initiatives of Food and Faith, will be our featured speaker. See page 32 --- for more information.

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Mission

COFFEE POT BAYOU CLEANUP ST. PETERSBURG – Last summer, St. Thomas’ parishioner Walt Jaap approached the Rev. Ryan Whitley with an observation - there was a lot of trash in beautiful Coffee Pot Bayou and Mr. Jaap wanted to do something about it. He envisioned a parish-wide cleanup day of the watershed that frames Snell Isle, where St. Thomas is situated in Northeast St. Petersburg. Fr. Whitley thought this would be a great opportunity to partner with neighbors and other community organizations in order to have a bigger impact.

Thus, one muggy summer night in June, the Coffee Pot Bayou Watershed Alliance was born at St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church with representatives from the Canterbury School of Florida’s Marine Sciences Programs, North Shore Elementary School, the Friends of Crescent Lake, Keep Pinellas Beautiful, and others joining forces.

On Saturday, September 22nd, the new organization held their first clean-up of Coffee Pot Bayou with over 75 volunteers participating, representing all ages. Local Boy Scout Troop 219 joined the team as well, and did tremendous work separating organic debris.

Younger children from North Shore Elementary School helped pick trash out of the mangroves from the land side, while older teens from Canterbury School were on the water in kayaks collecting plastic, glass, styrofoam and other trash. St. Thomas’ parishioners were involved 10

in everything from registration to trash collection and separation. It was a great day, and a great event.

Fr. Whitley said, “This is about more than just picking up trash to keep our neighborhood beautiful. This is about environmental stewardship, about taking care of the good earth that God has given us, and about protecting that gift for future generations.” The Coffee Pot Bayou Watershed Alliance is planning their next clean up day for Winter 2019, and is applying for grants to fund the purchase of a Water Goat (a device that assists with storm water debris capture and removal) as well as a water quality sampling device.”

Diocesan Calendar DIOCESAN EVENTS

2019

February 22-24

Clergy Spouse Association Weekend: Dr. Rita and The Rev. Michael Piovane

February 23

Deacon’s Gathering

March 19

College of Presbyter’s: The Rev. John Lewis, D. Phil. “New Wine of Formation”

March 20

Retired Clergy & Spouses Luncheon

April 16

Chrism Mass Cathedral

April 30

Eastertide Quiet Day, “Living and Telling the Good News”, Bishop Porter Taylor, Wake Forest University School of Divinity

May 11

Diocesan Vestry Retreat, The Rev. Canon Tim Hodapp, Canon for Mission Collaboration for the Episcopal Church in Connecticut

September 3-5

Fall Deanery Convocations

September 23-25

Fall Clergy Retreat: “Invite, Welcome, Connect” with Mary Parmer

October 11-12

Diocesan Convention

December 3

Advent Quiet Day: “Put on the Armor of Light” with Bishop Smith

December 7

La Noche de Velitas

DAYSPRING 11 AM EUCHARIST & LUNCH January 2

The Rev. Canon Richard Norman

February 6

The Rev. Adrienne Hymes, Wesley Chapel Episcopal Church

March 6

The Rt. Rev. Dabney T. Smith, Fifth Bishop of Southwest Florida

April 3

The Rev. Peter Lane, St. Alfred, Palm Harbor

May 1

The Rev. Carol Fleming, Diocese of Northern Indiana

September 4

The Rev. Rob Crow, St. Anne of Grace, Seminole

October 2

The Rev. Robert Douglas, St. Mark’s, Tampa

November 6

The Rev. Bryan O’Carroll, Holy Innocent’s, Valrico

December 4

The Rev. Alex Andujar, St. Vincent’s, St. Petersburg

SCHOOL FOR MINISTRY January 5

Epiphany Quiet Day

May-August

Summer Term

August 24

Michaelmas Quiet Day

November 12 Vocation Day

EPISCOPAL VISITATION Our Bishops regularly visit our 76 churches. For a schedule of The Rt. Rev. Dabney Smith & Assisting Bishops the Rt. Rev’s.

Michael Garrison and Barry Howe’s visitations, please see episcopalswfl.org

DIOCESAN HOUSE | 941-556-0315

episcopalswfl.org DAYSPRING FRONT DESK | 941-776-1018

dayspringfla.org

Visit episcopalswfl.org for exact details, times and other events. Events at DaySpring Episcopal Conference Center unless noted. All events are subject to change, consult episcopalswfl.org.

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Diocesan Calendar

2019

SPECIAL WEEKENDS January 19

The 8th Day: Caring for God’s Creation: Brian Sellers-Petersen

January 25-27

Recovery Ministries

February 21-24

Cursillo #141

April 25-27

Journey Series: Journey Toward Gratefulness. Diane Butler Bass and Kristi Nelson

May 17-19

Recovery Ministries

May 17-19

Cursillo #142

September 14

Salt & Light: Hispanic & Latino Ministry Conference

October 25-27

Recovery Ministries

October 25-27

Cursillo #143

November 16

Race & Reconciliation Series: Becoming Beloved Community

November 21

Episcopal Church Women Annual Meeting

November 22-23

Hospitality Series: Retreat Guide: Rev. Dr. David T. Gortner

DIOCESAN HOUSE | 941-556-0315

episcopalswfl.org

DAYSPRING FRONT DESK | 941-776-1018

dayspringfla.org

YOUTH & CAMPS

SPECIALIZED PARISH TRAINING January 15

Word Out Conference

January 29

Parochial Reports & Audits

February 7

WordPress Beginner Training

March 7

Web Help Training Session

May 16-18

EfM Mentor Training

May 28

ACS User Day

August 24

Stewardship Workshop

October 29

Benefits & Budgeting Workshop

March 9

Summer Camp Sneak Peek

March 1-3

New Beginnings #65

March 22-24

Happening #78

June 4-7

Session 1: Breakout Elementary Camp

June 9-14

Session 2: High School Camp

June 16-21

Session 3: Middle School Camp

June 23-28

Session 4: High School Mission Camp

July 7-12

Session 5: Elementary Camp

July 14-19

Session 6: Middle School Mission Camp

TBD

Acolyte Festival – Cathedral of St. Peter, St. Petersburg

October 4-6

New Beginnings #66

November 1-3 Happening #79 12

Communications

WORD OUT CONFERENCE SPEAKERS

Each year, the Word Out conference assists congregations in their marketing and communications. On Tuesday, Jan. 15, the fifth annual conference will feature practical speakers who will discuss the latest methods in marketing your parish. For 2019, sessions and speakers include: THE EPISCOPAL LEGACY | Screenwriter Michael L. Grace will open the conference with the lead session on the legacy and Episcopal marketing savvy of the Rev. Neal Dodd, the famed Episcopal priest who appeared on dozens of Hollywood movies from the 1920s to the 1960s, including Philadelphia Story, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and It Happened One Night. Grace, a former writer for Love Boat and Knott’s Landing, was a producer of the longrunning Snoopy, the Musical.

PARISH DEMOGRAPHICS | Marketing Consultant Bill Blizzard will discuss his work with the remarketing of Church of the Good Shepherd, Dunedin. Earlier this year, he conducted an extensive marketing survey of the demographics surrounding his parish, which influenced the design of their new website, using the free Mission InSite data available from the diocese.

SEARCH ENGINE TIPS | Scott W. Gonello, of Gonello SEO, will present a seminar on search engines and your parish websites. He will discuss practical items to increase your search engine rank.

ARCHIVES AS ASSETS | Deborah W. Walk, the recently retired curator of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, will discuss basics of archives care, and their value in marketing. When she came to the museum in 1991, the archives were housed in a small room. In the last 27 years, the collection grew so it not only detailed the story of the Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey Circus, but helped to expand the museum’s attendance and giving.

DIRECT MAIL & MARKETING | The Rev. Charles Cannon III of St. Hilary in Ft. Myers will report on a successful experiment using the U.S. Mail’s Every Door Direct Mail program to attract newcomers to the parish. He will discuss costs, design and strategy.

DID YOU KNOW?

The diocese also offers monthly training in web design and marketing. Sessions include:

THURSDAY DECEMBER 6: WORDPRESS INTERMEDIATE | Do you know the basics of posting items and logging into WordPress, but need some more pointers? At Diocesan House, 2 to 4 p.m.

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 7: WORDPRESS FOR BEGINNERS | Befuddled by WordPress? The WordPress platform is easy and intuitive, and powers most of the websites online. Come to learn the basics; we will work on our own demo site, or bring your own login and laptop to get things fixed. At Diocesan House, 2 to 4 p.m.

THURSDAY MARCH 7: WEB HELP FOR NOVICES | Confused about your own website platform? Bring your problems and laptop and we will fix them as a group. At Diocesan House, 2 to 4 p.m.

THURSDAY APRIL 4: EASTER WEB TUNEUP | Easter is the second biggest church day of the year. We will provide diocesan graphics for your web page and email, as well as boiler plate promo items that will be available for your use. At Diocesan House, 2 to 4 p.m.

Questions? Call Director of Communications Garland Pollard at 941556-0315 or email gpollard@episcopalswfl.org. To register, visit

episcopalswfl.org/wordout.html 13

The

Best

Christmas

Pageant Ever

While times and fashions may change, the Christmas pageant endures, and has a familiar appeal. In Southwest Florida, the pageant takes many forms, even though the story is always the same.

By Garland Pollard

T he parish Christmas pageant or

nativity play is one of the oldest traditions in the church. In our diocese, dozens of congregations do some form of the play, from fullout rehearsed, costumed dramas to simple “pickup” nativity plays where the cast is determined by whomever comes in the door during the Christmas Eve family service and picks up a costume.

It is believed that St. Francis of Assisi began the live nativity tradition in or around 1223. Through much of 14

the 20th century, it was a tradition at most public and private schools, though increasing secularism has turned the pageant into a more secular holiday play. But it endures, perhaps because it was immortalized in 20th century popular culture by the CBS (now ABC) special A Charlie Brown Christmas, based on the Peanuts cartoons by Charles Schulz, who grew up Lutheran. In Charlie Brown, of course, the issue is that Lucy has a grander vision for the school Christmas pageant than Charlie Brown. Lucy’s view of the

holiday is more akin to Snoopy, who wants to tacky up Christmas with a doghouse full of lights. The play ends with Linus reading the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke in the Authorized King James Version: “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night…”

The animated show ends with the carol Hark the Herald Angels Sing, sung by St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in San Rafael, California.

In our diocese, our pageants all follow much of that same format with a Gospel reading, though some are more complex than others. At All Saints, Tarpon Springs, the parish for a time did not have a pageant, said the parish’s deacon, the Rev. Bob Kinney. Trying to pull off a Broadway production is just not possible when you don’t have a large enough group of children. “We used to try to do it the old fashioned way,” said Kinney.

PROP FLEXIBILITY At St. Andrew’s, Spring Hill, they have their Christmas pageant on the Sunday before Christmas during the regular morning service, about the time that the children’s Sunday school processes back into the church. Rehearsal is part of Sunday school. The Spring Hill version is all children, so Jesus is always a doll, because it’s the kids who are the Mary and Joseph.

The popular animal to be is the sheep, even though sheep costumes are little more than a piece of material tied together with a rope.

Church Secretary Lisa Emerson has a prized photo of her son from previous years as a shepherd. He did not need to have any children in sheep costumes near him; instead he carried a Shaun the Sheep doll. Shaun was a claymation sheep character in the Wallace and Gromit-like series. There is something special on Christmas Eve though; their parish tradition is that “Bishop Nicholas” visits and gives out chocolate coins to the kids.

Their previous rector, the Rev. Wayne Farrell, brought the pageant back to their 5 p.m. Christmas Eve service. It is a simple production where costumes are available for those who attend the service, by the luck of the draw. “Essentially you hand out certain roles as people show up so you don’t have to go through the trauma of having days when they come and are expected to practice,” said Kinney. Sometimes, St. Nicholas arrives.

The drop-in pageant format is also used at Good Shepherd, Dunedin, at their 5 p.m. Christmas Eve service.

Costumes are arranged beforehand in the library, though Mary, Joseph and Gabriel are determined beforehand. “Gabriel is the key to the whole thing,” said the Rev. Becky Robbins-Penniman. “Gabriel is either an older kid, or a game adult.”

At her previous church, Lamb of God, she had the delicate issue of potentially having two actual babies as Jesus because of a mix-up.

“I don’t care how theologically liberal you are, two baby Jesus’ is too many,” said Robbins-Penniman. Her solution was to turn one child into John the Baptist. She is also a purist about wise men, who only appear at Epiphany, she said. “We do not mix up Luke and Matthew. Most people read Luke. Matthew is a little short.”

At Church of the Good Shepherd, Punta Gorda, they have three different pageants, according to Rector Roy Tuff. The first is a preschool pageant for children up to three years old. “That’s probably the most entertaining,” said Tuff.

“No matter how bad it is, it is still adorable.” The four-year-olds have their own program. “Costumes are the key,” said Tuff. “Somebody gets to be Mary. I stay out of that.” In terms of the crowd, Tuff says, “The sheep are always the favorite, right.

It’s crazy.”

Facing page,Trinity-by-the-Cove, photo

by Colin Edwards. This page, top to bottom: Church of the Good Shepherd, Punta Gorda; St. Andrew’s, Tampa.

MORE COWBELL! The Rev. Kathleen Walter at St. John, Clearwater, does not always 15

have a full enough youth group to have a complete pageant. Instead, they have a song with the children, who talk about the sounds of the stable. At the family service, she reads a Christmas story for children while they bring the pieces of the manger out.

In his London parish, the Rev. Richard Norman, Canon for Mission & Ministry in the diocese, did not have a full, rehearsed pageant. Instead, what is frequently done in the U.K., is a “crèche service” which is a simplified pageant that involves the blessing of an actual smaller crèche, and the main characters from the nativity participating in the pageant in a pick-up fashion. Costumes from the pageant are laid out in pews, and volunteer children are asked to come up to the altar to help tell the story. Sometimes, the kids have soft lamb dolls. Because there is no rehearsal, you have the spontaneity of the moment, with the structure of a liturgy. “The crèche enactment becomes the gospel,” said Norman.

The key to its success is in the approach. “It is just the telling of the story in a sincere dignified way, that is not schlocky,” said Norman.

When the Rev. Charles Cannon arrived at St. Hilary’s in Ft. Myers, he was predisposed to have a pageant and traditional Christmas Eve service. “I was used to old fashioned wax and candles, but we can’t do that, because we have cloth seats.”

So he asked if they had ever done anything different. “They said, ‘Well, we do this ‘bell thing’.” The “bell thing” is a bell ringing service held at their 4 p.m. Christmas Eve service. For the bell service, every person that comes in the church 16

receives a bell. The congregation gets to ring the bell anytime the word Jesus is mentioned. “At first, it doesn’t make sense,” said Cannon.

But the service has grown on him. “I have my own cowbells that I bring.

After an hour of that, everyone is smiling ear to ear. It wipes away all the grumpiness of shopping.”

THE ALL-INCLUSIVE EXTRAVAGANZA The pageant is still an institution at larger churches including the Cathedral Church of St. Peter, Church of the Redeemer in Sarasota

and Trinity-by-the-Cove in Naples, though even the largest churches have sometimes simplified the pageant as the Advent season is so busy. At Trinity-by-the-Cove, the pageant is a narrated drama using Luke; two fifth or sixth graders are readers, and the cast requires some rehearsal, supervised by Sunday school teachers, said the parish rector, the Rev. Edward Gleason.

Through the years, it has only had minor modifications. Jesus is always the same doll, though one year, there was a live baby (all went well, but the doll was safer).

Sarasota’s Church of the Redeemer follows Christmas Eve pageant tradition that was changed over 20 years ago. It was once a very difficult pageant, with all sorts of papiermache costumes. It is now an allinclusive nativity held at their 3 p.m. family service. “It is a very simple pageant,” said parish rector the Rev. Fredrick Robinson. “We read the Gospel, always the Luke. Every child who wants to can participate without any rehearsal, and we have them come up. Some of them are stars, some of them are shepherds, some are angels.” The simpler pageant was spearheaded by the Rev. Rick Marsden, a former priest at Redeemer. He believed that while Redeemer had a higher church

feel, the family service needed to look like what people thought a traditional Christmas service looked like, if they were to attract new families to the church.

In the pageant, costumes are handed out to children on the way in, so that children visiting with grandparents over the holiday can participate. Shepherds have a sort of rag that goes on their heads, and other animals are represented, though the costumes have become simpler over the years. “We used to have trees,” said Christian Education Director Jacki Boedecker. “We don’t have trees anymore.” Redeemer does have one tradition; the newest baby boy or girl of the parish gets to be Jesus, and the parents dress up as Mary and Joseph. St. Nicholas always appears, as well, after the reading. He then places the baby Jesus in the parish crèche.

There is opportunity to have more participation; the Advent Lessons and Carols service involves the children’s choir, and kids read each of the lessons.

The Cathedral Church of St. Peter recently moved their pageant to a Sunday service, instead of a midweek night. This year it is Dec. 16. The simplified pageant, with readers, requires two rehearsals; they used the need for music to jump start a new youth choir. “Most of it is kids in cute costumes,” said the Rev. Canon Katie Churchwell.

The costumes are recycled year after year. “Last year we added a camel, which is a sort of two-person type of deal.”

Facing page: St. Andrew’s, Tampa. This page, clockwise from top: St. Andrew, Tampa; Cathedral Church of St. Peter crèche; Trinity-by-the-Cove pageant portrait; Church of the Redeemer, Sarasota, pickup Nativity costumes.

For 2018, St. Mary’s in Bonita Springs will do a full-on production, according to Music Director Kathleen Viglietta Pignato. She is (continued on page 19)

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“MADDEN’S WAY” ABOUT ST. MICHAEL’S PRIEST SANIBEL - This fall, St. Michael & All Angels parishioner Dr. George E. Farrow published the book Madden’s Way: Scotland to Sanibel, about the church’s beloved Scottish-born priest, the Rev. Thomas Madden. Farrow, a Scottish geologist who now lives in Sanibel, researched the 270-page biography of the Scottish-born priest at the suggestion of a fellow parishioner who knew that the author grew up close to the factory town in Scotland where Madden was born in 1908.

Father Madden, son of an Irish laborer and later orphaned as a teen-ager, was instrumental in bringing architect Gustel R. Kiewitt to design and build what is now the current church building, which is shaped like an upsidedown Noah’s ark! But what is most notable about Madden is that St. Michael’s was the first integrated church in Lee County. One of Madden’s tools was the parish Christmas pageant, and the yearly feast of St. Michael and All Angels. In the spirit of the Christmas pageant in the diocese, here is the story of the pageant’s integration.

EXCERPT FROM “MADDEN’S WAY” THE CHRISTMAS PAGEANT Integration may have seemed a long haul for Fr. Madden: a matter of four and a half years between the time when he first met the black children on the grounds of their defunct old school and the service of Integration at the Patronal Festival in [September] 1962. Of course, it was a darn sight longer for the black families. When Thomas started out, he could have had little sense of strategy—it was purely and simply his outstretched arms of love.

However, Fr. Madden was never unaware of the benefits of publicity and he was not slow in ensuring that the press covered the services that he ran. Note this story in the Ft. Myers News Press for 1961, announcing that the Negro congregation will present a pageant. This 1961 pageant was the last segregated pageant at the church. It read: A Christmas Eve service will be held at 7:45 p.m. at St. Michaels and All Angels Episcopal Church, Sanibel, for members of the Negro congregation, who will present a Christmas pageant at 8:15 p.m. in the church.

This Christmas pageant would 18

have been deeply significant for the black families and comparable with what we in the U.K. would call the Nativity Play where, every Advent, families would be on tenterhooks, desperate to learn who was going to play Joseph, Mary and the Angel Gabriel; while the rest of us would learn how to cope with being ninth sheep, after having been a disgrace as a shepherd the previous year. Eager anticipation once again a hallmark of the human condition. Fr. Madden took his decision to integrate when he was about to start another round of confirmation classes. In all conscience, he felt quite simply that he could no longer take the classes with integrity when isolation was the prospect in view. This had to change.

No matter what your strategy, however, at some point you need that extra stimulus that turns planning into action. The stimulus was provided by two black ladies.

Mozella Jordan and Pearl West went to see the education authorities in Ft. Myers. They wanted the Sanibel School, which needed to be rebuilt, to be integrated. Their request was met with this question:

Well, is your church integrated?

Ouch! Fr. Madden would have felt that blow below the belt.

The Rev. Thomas Andrew Madden was a savvy man. He realized that it was highly unlikely he’d be able to take everyone along with him, and he probably would have anticipated some collateral damage. His great skill was showing restraint when the damage turned out to be greater than he may have anticipated. Obscenities were scrawled over documents, and arson committed as church records were set fire to. But he made no song and dance about it; that would only have fanned the flames still further.

When it came to the integration of the Sanibel School on the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels in September, the press were there in droves and, as unfortunately is their wont, looking for trouble. What reporting there was took the form of a no one hurt in minor earthquake. With a feint [sic] whiff of the Episcopal, afternoon tea was served,

by Pearl West, amongst others.

By Christmas of 1962, the Sanibel mission, and pageant, was integrated, without note.

(continued from page 17)

new this year, and is planning a fully scripted drama, one that one of her youth classes wrote in 2012 while she was at a Tennessee Episcopal church camp, Cathedral Domain. She has “Floridafied” the wintry costumes, which takes the Jesus narrative from the perspective of the animals, a sort of “all creation rejoices, Christ is born anew” kind of approach.

“It has a cast of 35, a few more animals than usual,” said Pignato.

“It’s basically Luke, with a few animals added in.”

The pageant production is intergenerational, said Pignato.

“The kids didn’t know all the parishioners. They sort of know people by sight. But this gave them all something to work together on.

The key to making that pageant, and any pageant, work is not to be too professional,” Pignato said.

With a scripted pageant, in past years she has not worried about whether they memorized the script. “Some of the kids needed to do it from the books. It made it so much real. They weren’t going up there with dread.”

Dramatic effect is still welcomed at St. Mary’s. The most accessorized and Broadway part of the pageant is the arrival of the angel Gabriel, whose wings can be extended in dramatic effect by PVC plumbing poles attached to Gabriel’s arms. When the angel lifts its arms, over 30 strands of silver garland are exposed. At the moment of highest wingspan, Gabriel gets to switch on a “battery thing in her pocket” that lights a blue halo.

Clockwise from top, St. John, Tampa pageant; Church of the Good Shepherd, Punta Gorda; St. Michael and All Angels, Sanibel; Cathedral Church of St. Peter, St. Petersburg; St. Andrew, Tampa, pageant.

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50 Annual Convention ! p a r W th

a s ’ t a Th

50TH ANNUAL ADDRESS: CHURCH LIVING IN GOD’S WILL

his annual address to the Diocese of Southwest Florida, Bishop Dabney Smith called on the gathered In

to continue to live for God’s will, even as the church today is challenged by both health and fragility, often at the same time. Quoting Anselm, the 36th Archbishop of Canterbury, he said that Anselm’s idea of “faith seeks understanding” can be understood today, as we “try to live for God’s will at the same time that we try to understand who God is.”

Today, the Church of England priest John Polkinghorne’s view of a rational and beautiful universe helps to sustain the church at this time. “Faith is motivated belief, based on evidence,” said Smith. “In the last five decades, some diocesan congregations have succeeded beyond original dreams, while others no longer exist. Through all of that, the diocese is blessed by God’s people who at Confirmation continue to renew their commitments to Jesus Christ.”

“We will be responsible, we will make good plans, we will attempt to renounce evil; and we will seek to be faithful to Jesus Christ,” said Smith. “God’s strength and presence will always be with us working His purposes in the midst of our plans in failure and flourishing; in fragility and health.”

The full address is online at episcopalswfl.org 20

CES I F F N O al A S E C nu O I h An 2018. t D 0 5 S TO offices by thheeld Oct. 13, N O I ECT d to diocesawnest Florida, L an E n Slo e l l E NEW ing were eleoccteese of South . r ev. D ord

R i Alf n) he D ollow r; The hael e c i t n The f ntion of t matio o o M a s l o . l r i c C c e M W a ric y n y: Conv ev. E e, La lesto ler (b Char mitte pang The R

v. y: om gS he Re Clerg . Dou ing C , T n d : e o n y e a g H St e ler mitt ay; th ge, C Com r D g a k n L i row c t a the cil, A Stand ohn T on. J J n H u r t for They o e e e t h C s m T e e y: Ch itte as ion. esan Rev. rd, La omm r convent onnelly .

Dioc a e C o h g B T C r n i e ” ergy: linary Stand diately aft les “Chip ent and M l p i C w c , e s Di ard The n e imme ev. Char ice presid ry Bo R a im v n i l p first t the Very y Stoll as Disci Ra ry. ted elec ent; Mr. s secreta a d presi el Alford a h Mic

PRIMATIAL STAFF RESTORATION The staff that Bishop Curry carries has a legacy from our Diocese.

The London-made staff was a gift of our predecessor diocese. In his sermon, Bishop Curry detailed the history of the staff, and the primatial staff ’s restoration.

“On December 19, 1961, here in the diocese then known as the Diocese of South Florida, this diocese presented to Presiding Bishop Arthur Lichtenberger a cope and mitre so that he would be properly attired, and they gave it to him and to the Episcopal Church the primatial staff to be carried by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.

And since that day this staff, now refurbished, has been carried by Presiding Bishops, and we pray will be carried by Presiding Bishops going forward into God’s future.

It has aged a bit, the wood had aged, and my predecessors didn’t take good care of it (I’m kidding, I’m kidding) but the wood and the screws where the wood went in was beginning to fray, and literally I was in the National Cathedral at the consecration of the Bishop Suffragan of the Armed Forces and Federal Ministry and walking up the aisle of all places at the National Cathedral, and I can feel it coming apart in my hands. And we went to several places to get it repaired, and eventually there were some Episcopalians at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The “Met” took it and provided ebony wood, just like the original, so thank you Southwest Florida, thank you.”

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s t h g i l h g from our 50th Hi A WAVE OF REVIVAL HITS PUNTA GORDA

Our 50th

Annual Convention began quietly the morning of Thursday, Oct. 11, when Presiding Bishop Michael Curry arrived at Church of the Good Shepherd, Punta Gorda to address the clergy of the diocese.

It was a rainy arrival; the evening before, Hurricane Michael had skimmed past the Southwest Florida’s Gulf Coast through the Gulf of Mexico on its way to Florida’s Panhandle, leaving only small flooding in its local wake.

At Church of the Good Shepherd, Bishop Curry’s talk centered on John 15, the “abide in me, as I abide in you” passage, where Jesus talks about being the vine, as the disciples being the branches.

We should all be on mission, wherever we are. Bishop Curry gave as his example the work of the popular 20th century evangelist Billy Sunday, for whom many have compared Curry. “He was a remarkable preacher, revivalist.

But he also loved the Episcopal Church. Which you wouldn’t expect.” Bishop Curry referenced Billy Sunday frequently, and talked about Billy Sunday going into an 22

Episcopal Church in New York and discovering the “comfortable words” section of the Book of Common Prayer, and how powerful the Episcopal Church could be if it woke up.

The clergy event was followed by visit with students from Good Shepherd Episcopal School, where students had the opportunity to hear from Bishop Curry, and ask questions which touched not only on God and His presence

all around them, but also delved into more practical topics such as how he got to work each day, whereupon Bishop Curry described to his students his route each week from North Carolina to his office in New York.

FRIDAY PLENARY & MORNING WORKSHOPS As with any convention weekend, the Friday began with Morning Prayer. Following the service, the gathered attendees attend sessions on church management, safeguarding and prayer. But by the middle of the day, the 50th Annual Convention had changed dramatically. Crowds were beginning to assemble and grow for the afternoon Plenary Session with Bishop Curry. During the convention teaching sessions, the crowd became so large that it took on the feel of a rock concert, as the doors had not yet opened. The entire Punta Gorda Event and Conference Center was set up with seats.

The Plenary Session began with Bishop Curry and Bishop Smith

seated on stage, in front of a historic carved wooden chair of the Missionary District of Southern Florida. At the Plenary Session, Bishop Curry talked about our diocese, the Episcopal Church in General, and his friendship with Bishop Smith. However, his main remarks were about the church going back to its ancient roots.

He referred to Starbucks founder Howard Schultz, whose book Onward detailed the issues that Starbucks faced from 2005-2010 when they had to “revisit their origins� and go back to who they 23

were in the beginning as they began to lose market share, and serve too many other products.

Curry said that there was a direct parallel with the Episcopal Church, a problem that Coca-Cola had when it tried a new formula.

“There’s no reason for Starbucks to exist when it’s not brewing coffee,” said Curry. The solution? Getting back to Jesus.

“The closer we get to who and what we really are, to our deepest origins, we will find strength and vitality that we didn’t realize we had.” He said this was not difficult, not rocket science. “All they did was gather around Jesus, and listen to his teaching, and learn from Him,” said Curry. “You take Jesus out of the equation, it doesn’t work.”

The plenary talk, which had a revival feel, was followed by a round of audience questions, Phil Donahue style. Perhaps the crowning moment, among many, were the remarks of Nicholas Ransone of St. Hilary, in Ft. Myers.

Being English, told Bishop Curry how much he appreciated his 24

remarks at the wedding of Meghan and Harry, where he said, “you certainly set the Chapel alight.”

Ransone was reminded that he had been confirmed in the Church of England by a previous Archbishop of Canterbury, and he was excited to hear Bishop Curry refer to himself as an Anglican Episcopal.

“I think your emphasis on the notion of us returning to our Jesus Movement roots is so dead on, that I can hardly believe it,” said Ransone.

HOLY EUCHARIST After the Plenary session at 4 p.m., the room cleared out for a break. In came an over 100-person all-diocesan choir, led by Dwight Thomas at the Cathedral Church of St. Peter.

They had been rehearsing in a small conference room before the plenary session, and arrived into the main convention all to take their places for the service.

The hall capacity was over 1,500, with most of it filled. Behind the scenes, the Diocesan Altar Guild continued its preparations for the Holy Eucharist, as the participants, including vergers and acolytes, rehearsed the timing of the service.

The Holy Eucharist began with a gospel prelude; the entire clergy processed into the convention hall to the hymn “The Church’s One Foundation.” In his sermon, Curry preached on his favorite topics, Jesus and Love. “There’s an uncomplicated word for this selfishness,” said Curry. “It’s called sin.”

After the service, the crowd went outside for a celebratory 50th Annual Convention celebration party, overlooking the Peace River.

Inside, the clergy gathered for a group photo. After the group photo, as he was throughout the day, Bishop Curry was gracious about photos, as person after person came over for photos and selfies. After the last guests were finishing outside, Bishop Curry was still inside, gamely taking selfies with guests.

FIND THE FULL SERVICE AND SERMON ONLINE AT

episcopalswfl.org

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Scenes from the 50th Annual Convention

26

See you in 2019!

EPISCOPAL CHARITIES GRANTS ANNOUNCED At the 50th Annual Convention of the Diocese of Southwest Florida, Bishop Dabney Smith announced recipients of Episcopal Charities grants. “It makes my heart glad to say that it will keep on giving for generations to come,” said Bishop Dabney Smith in this year’s address to the 50th Convention. In his address, Smith remarked on the growth of the program, which aims to support parish-based solutions to basic human needs in Southwest Florida. The Episcopal Charities program has contributed approximately $307,775 over the last decade; the endowment fund for Episcopal Charities is now close to $1 million. The following programs were awarded grants, which total $32,341:

Christ Church, Bradenton | Lord’s Pantry Ministry, $3,000 St. James House of Prayer, Tampa | “Cornerstone Kids” Reading without Walls, $3,641 Good Shepherd, Dunedin | Pack-a-Sack Program, $1,500 Good Samaritan, Clearwater | Ten Cent Treasure Center, $1,500 St. Catherine, Temple Terrace | Child Underwear and Sock, $1,500 St. George, Bradenton | Food Pantry, $4,000 St. Hilary, Fort Myers | Hygiene Bags for Needy/Homeless, $3,600 Get a peek inside St. John, Pine Island | Beacon Bites Meal Delivery, $1,500 plans for Benison St. Mark, Venice | Venice Area Community Dinner, $3,600 Farm on page 9 of this issue.

St. Mary, Bonita Springs | Kindness for Kids Program, $2,500 St. Augustine/St. Thomas, St. Petersburg | Benison Farm, $3,500 St. Vincent, St. Petersburg | Water Bottle Filling Station, $2,500

NEW DIOCESAN HISTORY BOOK AVAILABLE A new history of the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida, The First Five Decades, was released at the 50th Annual Convention in Punta Gorda. The full color, illustrated book was put together by the diocese from items and photographs in the Diocesan House Archives Room, and includes history from before the creation of the diocese in 1969, including the rapid growth of Florida that necessitated the need for a new diocese. The story of the diocese since its creation is told in five chapters, detailing diocesan history during the time of each bishop.

Canon to the Ordinary the Rev. Michael Durning and Communications Director Garland Pollard compiled the history with the assistance of diocesan staff as a follow up to the 25-year work of the Rev. Canon John Thomas, the former diocesan historiographer. The limited-edition book is available by mail, for $10 each, including mailing. For those purchasing in bulk, the books are available in bundles of 10 for $5 each. Mail a check to: Diocesan House 8005 25th St. E Parrish, FL 34219

Questions? call Jan Nothum or Garland Pollard at

941-556-0315 27

I

The Word

ncarnate Looking to the Future

F

or the first decades of our diocese, we were still mostly new. While some of our parishes were historic, the institutions of the diocese were not. As we celebrated our 50th convention, we heard many stories of the people who have contributed to our diocese in the past, but are very much living in the present. Here, we meet but a few of the people who are now active in our diocese. Anchored by youth events like Happening, and visits to DaySpring, these current stories will help inform our next five decades.

When the Rev. Michelle Robertshaw, rector of St. Andrew’s, Boca Grande, goes anywhere in the Diocese of Southwest Florida, it is all familiar territory. She, and a group of youths in the 1980s, drove much of it, in a flurry of youth activities that helped to bring unity to a diocese that was still in its formative stages.

28

“We learned that God was outside of the walls of our little bitty church,” said Robertshaw, who began as an acolyte at St. Christopher’s in Tampa, and is now rector of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Boca Grande.

“These kids would drive to be together for some kind of spiritual conversation, presentation, singing, a meal and you would go home,” said Robertshaw. “I remember driving all the way

down to Naples. My parents had to let me. A whole group of us would drive down to Tampa.”

Robertshaw’s parents were active in the diocese from its earliest days in the 1970s. The problem was that all of the institutions of a diocese had to be reinvented, as the Diocese of Southwest Florida was one of three dioceses created from the Diocese of South Florida in 1969. Every

part of the institution was split, from camps, to committees, to archives, to records, to accounting.

There were no institutions. This need for reinvention included the laity, including her parents, who participated in a program called Theological Education

by Extension, a predecessor to Education for Ministry. They were also part of a pilot program to help bring Cursillo from Central Florida to Southwest Florida, where it had not yet taken hold.

Before DaySpring was available, youth groups had to bunk in churches, or in the homes of parishioners. As many as 50 would sleep over. They eventually helped build DaySpring. “Back then, they didn’t just have a construction crew,” said Robertshaw. “Various churches came in for their work day.”

s

be inventive. She remembers going to a retreat at DaySpring on the subject of dreams, led by the Rev. John Hiers, then at Christ Church, Bradenton. “It was a full-on retreat on dreams, and how to interpret your dreams and talk to kids about how God speaks to kids through their dreams.”

The group took some spiritual leaps. During college, they went beyond the usual mission trip to visit the seminary in Barbados, which was then a companion diocese. Thirty youths and just four adults spent 10 days in Christian fellowship; the students stayed with families and spent most of the time in fellowship and praying together. Each Southwest Florida youth was partnered with someone from Barbados, all led by

the late the Rev. Ray Kress.

“The spirituality of the youths impacted the parents,” said Robertshaw. “It wasn’t evangelical, it was just sharing your faith stories. It wasn’t some evangelical movement, it wasn’t some laying on of hands. It was people who have discovered God in a new way.”

She can still reel off the names; Jeannie and David Kenyon, St. Johns in Tampa; Drew Peterson, and Eric Johnston from St. Mary’s in Tampa.

“It was my first inkling of God saying I am seeking after you,” said Robertshaw. “What I would say is not to underestimate the energy of our youth, or our commitment.”

“The spirituality of the youths impacted the parents. It wasn’t evangelical, it was just sharing your faith stories.

It wasn’t some evangelical movement, it wasn’t some laying on of hands. It was people who have discovered God in a new way.”

s

After opening, the dining room was the singular multi-purpose building for DaySpring, where they not only ate, but slept. The women slept on one side, and the men slept on the other.

Some events were a bit off the wall; they were always having to 29

The Rev. Ryan Randolph Whitley grew up at St. Hilary’s in Ft. Myers, where his family attended. A nudge from a youth leader encouraged him to come to a weekend youth event in the diocese; today he is rector of St. Thomas, Snell Isle. He told the story of his conversion at a recent diocesan gathering.

I was in high school. I was invited to go to a weekend high school retreat called Happening.

In that point in life, that was the very last thing that I wanted to do. I did not at all want to go to Happening, I wasn’t interested in it. I wasn’t interested in what it might offer. And I wasn’t interested in the people who were putting it on.

I had far better ideas about the kind of people I wanted to hang out with, and they weren’t it. So my youth leader had asked me to go, and I told her ‘no’. And about six months passed. And spring rolled around, the youth leader changed tactics. She sent a girl to ask if I wanted to go, and then I said, “Oh I would love to.”

That would be the best thing I could do!

So I went. And I had never been to DaySpring before. I had never been to an event like this before. And I got to DaySpring, and the very first thing that happened to me while I was there, was a big guy came over and gave me a huge hug and said, “Welcome to Happening.” And then I knew I didn’t want to be there.

s

“He began to talk about the masks that we all wear. The masks that we wear in front of our friends at school. The masks that we wear in front of our parents. The masks that we wear at church.

And I started to think as I sat there, maybe this guy has something to say. And I listened, and I realized that he was talking to me.”

30

s

So I began my weekend very inauspiciously, and by the latter part of that evening, a young man whose last name I forget, but whose first name was Bryan, gave a talk.

And Bryan was the only one in the room that dressed like my people.

And what I mean by that is grungy, ratty jeans with holes in them, long plaid shirts that probably hadn’t been washed, a wallet chain descending past the knee and no small amount of eye makeup. These were my people. It was not a good look for me. He began to talk about the masks that we all wear. The masks that we wear in front of our friends at school.

The masks that we wear in front of our parents. The masks that we wear at church. And I started to think as I sat there, maybe this guy has something to say. And I listened, and I realized that he was talking to me.

And that began a very long journey that culminated in ordination.

Very trepidatiously, I went to a meeting with Bishop John Lipscomb, which was held at DaySpring to talk about the prospect of me entering the ordination process. This is a terrifying conversation to have. And Bishop Lipscomb held this meeting on the back porch of one of the houses that was there that used to serve as his office, the Hall House, with his feet up on a chaise lounge, smoking a cigar, overlooking the river, with no intention of going anywhere else for that meeting.

And I was immediately put at ease.

Bishop Lipscomb and a few others were the aegis over [the Rev.] Doug Scharf and I, who were the youngest people to enter the ordination process in the diocese in a long time, facing Commissions on Ministry and Standing Committees who didn’t know what to do with high schoolers

and college students that wanted to do this ordination thing. It was John Lipscomb who said to the Standing Committee ‘You can’t ask them to meet next Tuesday when you all meet, he is in North Carolina. He can come down at Christmastime, and you can meet with him then.’ It was a blessing and a defense.

Fast forward a number of years, I am beginning my service as an ordained person in the diocese as the curate of St. Mark’s church which up in Carrollwood in Tampa. I was ordained to the priesthood on a Friday night in December. And I left the next day to lead an Advent retreat for the youth of St. Mark’s Church.

And I celebrated my first mass at St. Thomas Chapel at DaySpring.

I went to a group called Vocare, which was like Happening, but for people in their 20s who do not know what to do with themselves. And they had asked me to be the spiritual advisor for the weekend. I said I can’t possibly advise it, because I have never attended one. I need to attend one in order to understand how to advise it.

So they said ‘well fine and then just come to this one and you can be the spiritual advisor for the next weekend’. I went to that weekend. My brother Trevor went with me to that weekend. And I was seated at a small group table in Bishop Haynes lounge, with the small group that was going to be my group for the weekend.

And seated next to me was a young woman named Elise Woodroffe. So I met my wife at DaySpring. So this place is very, very special to me and influential and important not only in my personal history, but in my formation as a Christian first, and an ordained person second.

In 1984, the diocese celebrated the opening of Curry Hall, the first diocese building at DaySpring Episcopal Center. Liz Curry, the daughter of donors Mac and Chris Curry, spoke to a group about her present-day faith and her place in the church today.

I am a lifelong Episcopalian and a lifelong member of St. Thomas’.

And when this idea of DaySpring came along, I was still pretty young and naive, in my late twenties. I can only imagine what their thoughts were, my father Mac Curry, Bishop [Paul] Haynes, and that whole group that was getting together. I imagine it was to create a place of fellowship, learning, worship, again for the whole diocese. Obviously, that has happened. I am sure at that time, they weren’t sure what would happen, but that has certainly come to fruition.

I can’t speak to exactly what was in their minds. I can speak to what was in their hearts. That was their love of God, and love of church. To use a line from Fr. Ryan [Whitley, the St. Thomas rector], they weren’t there to be seen. They were there to do the work of the church.

s s

“When this idea of DaySpring came along, I was still pretty young and naive, in my late twenties. I imagine it was to create a place of fellowship, learning, worship, again for the whole diocese. Obviously, that has happened.”

Obviously, they worked hard.

DaySpring has come to fruition. And I am sure my father could have never imagined that I would be working at three Episcopal churches in the diocese. But I am. And I am still a member of St. Thomas as well. So, I feel like I have my hands kind of in everything. And working in three Episcopal churches, I obviously see the work that DaySpring does. I have experienced that myself. I have been down there many, many times.

Growing up before DaySpring happened, we would always go to Kanuga in the summers. And that place holds a dear, dear place to my heart as well. So that’s where I come at this from: I would hope that folks as they get older, that kids who have experienced DaySpring will grow into adults, and say ‘DaySpring changed my life.’

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At the last Happening at DaySpring, the leader of the weekend, its rector, was St. Mark’s student Jason Flack.

During a chapel service at St. Thomas Chapel, he gave his faith testimony.

A few years ago, I thought I had it all figured out. I thought I had seen it all and knew what life was really about. I grew up going to a small Episcopal church in upstate New York. Attending service, and acolyting every time that I could.

But as I got older, I remember slowly fading away from the church. Feeling as it was a chore to wake up early on Sunday and sit in a room for an hour and a half, while people railed on about things that I didn’t believe or understand. I started to argue with my parents about going, and I eventually went less and less.

A few years ago, I left my small hometown and moved to Venice, Florida. I felt so out of place living in such a big town that I just resented moving. I focused on all the bad things in Florida. I remember crying out to God to make things better, to move me back home with my friends. But when I didn’t move back, I gave up on God.

I figured no caring God would make my life miserable. My parents joined a church, and forced me to attend Wednesday night Eucharist. I hated going, and felt as if it was wasting my time. I learned my parents had signed me up for a weekend retreat called Happening. All I thought I knew about Happening was it was a boring Christian retreat. I immediately started arguing with my parents about going. And I begged them to let me stay home that weekend. I felt kind of betrayed by them.

Within the first hour at DaySpring, I started to change. Not huge changes but tiny little cracks were forming in a mask I was wearing for years.

I couldn’t make sense of what was happening. I woke up that morning with a sense of belonging. That Saturday, I started to experience what God was about and I truly started to feel His presence.

I may not have seen or heard of God, but I truly felt his presence. I felt a warmth that I have never felt before.

I remember standing outside in tears, so shocked at the amount of people who went out of their way to show me how loved I am. During prayer

stations, I decided to go talk with one of the spiritual advisors. I spent so much time ranting to her about everything going on in my life, and she listened. My whole outlook on life changed, in such a short amount of time. And she could tell I was confused and overwhelmed. She assured me that I was never alone and that Jesus was always with me. I just have to get to know him.

I learned that it was possible to know Jesus. Because Jesus is not dead. The God we serve is a living, breathing God. And He spreads his love by the people we come in contact with in our daily lives. No matter who you are, or what you have done, God chases you down. Think about that. No matter who you are, no matter what you have done. God chases you down. God will not stop until He has your ear. I find it amazing just how much God loves us.

There’s no shadow He won’t light up.

There’s no mountain He won’t climb up chasing up after you. For God to love with that much persistence.

For God to chase after you, leaving the 99. For God to send His one and only Son to die on a cross just so we can experience his love is amazingly reckless to me.

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“The God we serve is a living, breathing God. And he spreads his love by the people we come in contact with in our daily lives. No matter who you are, or what you have done, God chases you down. Think about that.

No matter who you are, no matter what you have done.

God chases you down.”

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s

Meet the Priest

THE REV. NICHOLAS CASSESE Q: Galilee Episcopal Church, the largest church in Virginia Beach, has a long tradition of evangelism. How did that shape your ministry call?

A: Gallilee was a wonderful environment in which to start the ordination process. The church is vibrant with beautiful worship, excellent formation opportunities, and strong outreach. It was a blessing to see so many beautiful examples of Christian living.

NAPLES - The new priest associate at Trinity-by-the-Cove is The Rev. Nicholas Caccese, who was ordained as a deacon at Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg in June, and will be ordained priest this December in Naples. A recent graduate of The School of Theology at the University of the South, he also holds a M.A. in theology from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He taught philosophy at Christopher Newport University; at that time he discerned God’s call to parish ministry. Nicholas and his wife, Jessica, have two daughters, Julia and Hannah.

Q: What is your earliest memory of the Episcopal Church growing up?

A: Growing up I sang in a treble choir. My earliest memories of church are the beautiful, solemn evensong services where I experienced God in the beauty of holiness.

Q: What convinced you to pursue the ministry call?

Q: What are you enjoying most about being in Naples?

A: I had long sensed a call to service, and it was just a matter of determining how I would serve God. Through my time at seminary and teaching philosophy and in the local church I gradually came to see that all my excuses for putting off ordained ministry were silly and God had all along been preparing me for life as a priest.

A: Southwest Florida is beautiful – lovely climate and much to see and do. The most joy I have found here, however, is in getting to know the wonderful people at Trinity by the Cove. They have given us such a warm welcome and made the practice of ministry a joy.

Q: How was your ordination at historic Bruton Parish church?

A: My diaconal ordination was a wonderful event and the culmination of a long process through the Diocese of Southern Virginia. The Dean of the School of Theology at Sewanee came up to preach, and the historic building added a certain solemnity to the event.

Q: What is your favorite hymn, and why?

A: It’s too hard to pick just one, but since I have to narrow it down I’d probably say (at least today!), “O sacred head sore wounded” (#168) because it brings to mind the hold of Bach’s glorious St. Matthew Passion, “My song is love unknown” (#458) for the simplicity of the gospel message in poetic form, and “Lord, forever at thy side” (#670) for giving me my daily marching orders.

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Christmas

SHOWING GOD’S ABUNDANCE I would like to define what a miracle is in a way many of you may have not thought of. What if I were to tell you that when we are blessed by the grace of God to be on the receiving end of a miracle, what is actually happening is that God, through His abundant grace, is making us to be more like what he intended us to be.

In the very beginning of the Bible in Genesis, there is the creation story. Each time God creates something what does he call it?

God always says, “and it was good.”

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind.

And God saw that it was good.

What do we gather from all of this? That everything God created was GOOD. God has created His kingdom and has given dominion of His kingdom to Mankind. Evil had not yet entered the world, death had not yet entered the world.

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We see in Genesis that the natural order God has created works in unison with the humans he created to tend to the earth.

God created paradise. A place of abundance, abundant food, and more than that a place where the human relationship to God was clear and accessible. God gave strict commands to Adam and when Adam disobeyed, God confronted him directly. We all know what happens the serpent very easily persuades Adam and Eve to disobey God. To give into the desire of the self for self.

I believe what the story of creation reveals to us is that total obedience to God from the beginning would have allowed our world, God’s creation, to have remained in perfect order: no death, no hurricanes, no cancer, no heart attacks. When we proclaim to believe in the resurrection of the dead that is exactly what we are saying. We await the time that Jesus returns to eliminate all evil from existence to return us to the pre-fall state. But even better than the pre-fall state, because we will be unable to sin after Jesus returns, because all evil, especially that wicked snake, will be gone. Only the good in us will be left.

The answer is ‘yes’ Jesus has defeated death, but the perfection of creation is yet to come.

God intended for us to be good.

To strive for good, for common good, and to be in a loving relationship with God. We messed that all up, and Jesus’ life and death have given us the ability to again and again say we are sorry to God for all the shameful things we do, and for all the times we choose anything at all over God. Remember the disciples of Jesus all believed he was bringing on the eschaton, or the full culmination of the kingdom of God. Here we are more than two thousand years later, and we are still awaiting the fulfillment of God’s kingdom.

So, if the Kingdom of God is something like what we read about in Revelation, where the new Jerusalem comes down from heaven for all who are washed in the blood of the lamb to reside in, then what kingdom are we living in now?

The answer to that is the already, but not yet kingdom of God. Jesus’ life is the perfect revelation of the Kingdom of God. That’s why so many of His parables begin with “the kingdom of God is like” and why he says to the people he is around “the kingdom of God is at hand.”

When Jesus performs miracles in the Gospels, healing the lame, giving sight to the blind, healing lepers, and all the rest, he is not

making the people new, he is restoring them to what they should have always been. Miracles are God’s way of restoring us to the way he intended us to be.

They are not making us anything we weren’t intended to be. And every miracle I know of shows us God’s abundance. The abundance of his grace.

John’s account begins by introducing us to Jesus not as a baby, or as a teacher, but as God’s eternal word, through which all creation was made! Jesus the divine word of God still maintains power over his creation. Jesus’ miracles are not magic acts, they are not changing the world into what it shouldn’t be, and they are in fact revealing The Kingdom of God. The Kingdom where there

is “no death, neither sorrow nor crying, but the fullness of joy” Just like God intended Eden to be.

When we witness miracles they are God’s hand reaching down into the world and making us more real, and more like he intended us to be, and more like we all will be one day. If you have been touched by a miracle, you have been touched by the very kingdom of God, by Jesus himself.

I pray that God will bestow on this parish miraculous faith, and works of healing, and love so that we can reveal God’s kingdom to the nations of the world by imitating the loving sacrifice of the lamb, not by killing our enemies, but by dying for them.

The Rev. Christian Michael Wood is priest associate for adult formation at Church of the Redeemer. This piece is an excerpt from a talk he gave at the parish on the real meaning of miracles.

Transitions The following are clergy changes in the diocese: ALL ANGELS, LONGBOAT KEY | The Rev. Dee de Montmollin is interim priest.

ALL SAINTS, TARPON SPRINGS | The Rev. Janet Tunnell was installed as rector Nov. 30.

ALL SOULS, NORTH FT. MYERS | The Rev. Christian Maxfield is the new rector at All Souls.

CHRIST CHURCH, BRADENTON | The Rev. R. J. Johnson is leaving to become the new rector of

St. Peter’s, Sheridan, Wyoming.

LAMB OF GOD, FT. MYERS | The Rev. Carol Gates is interim pastor.

ST. ANNE OF GRACE, SEMINOLE | The Rev. Rob Crow is the new vicar.

ST. ELIZABETH, ZEPHYRHILLS | The Rev. Edward Scully retired from the parish on Nov. 18.

ST. MARK, TAMPA | The Rev. Robert Douglas was installed as rector June 21.

ST. VINCENT, ST. PETERSBURG | The Rev. Alexander Andujar was installed as rector June 29.

ST. PAUL, NAPLES | The Rev. Dr. Thomas Thoeni, formerly of St. Peter’s, Plant City, will be installed as rector on

Jan. 6, 2019.

ST. MARK, MARCO ISLAND | The Rev. Jessica Babcock will join the parish as rector on Jan. 1.

ST. MARY, DADE CITY | The Rev. Dewey Brown retired from the parish on Sept. 30..

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Altar Guild

SPIRITUAL ASPECTS OF ALTAR GUILD WORK Editor’s Note: In 1977, the Rev. Robert Maurais addressed the Diocesan Altar Guild in a Holy Eucharist at St. Boniface Church.

This sermon was one of a number of Altar Guild items donated to the Diocesan House by the Diocesan Altar Guild earlier this year. We thought his sermon fitting for this Christmas season, as so many members of parish altar guilds, now men and women, labor at our diocesan altars as we prepare for Christmas.

SARASOTA - I have been asked to speak to you today on the Spiritual aspects of altar guild service. It is a subject that I welcome, for it is a subject of special importance in our corporate life together as fellow members of the Body of Christ.

Being a parish priest of rather wide experience in large parishes and small missions, church schools, and even cathedrals, I know that I speak for the ordained ministry when I say that our gratitude is sincere and profound for the dedication and efforts of the countless Christian women who assist our Churches and for the Holy things of God. I do not need to remind you that every altar guild member follows in a most select and distinguished company in the Church’s life and history. The Altar is the Sacramental reality of the Presence of God in the world, and the most sacred human activity is to assist in the offering of bread and wine which becomes the 36

real presence of the Risen Christ in the world, sanctified and made Holy by the power of God in His Holy Spirit, all of it done mysteriously by the Holy People of God at the Altar, the Holy Table of the Lord.

We are a Sacramental church, we believe that there is a spiritual reality to those human acts of life which our Sacraments are the outward and visible signs. And, if this is true, then the Altar of God is much more to us than a block of marble or a tablet of wood, and our spiritual awareness tells us that here is where the living presence of Jesus is most fully manifested. Here is where we encounter Him in a way too mysterious and too precious for us to explain.

There was a time when only one human being knew that, and that human was a young Jewish girl named Mary who was engaged to a poor carpenter named Joseph.

The first Altar Guild servant was the Blessed Virgin who carried the Eternal High Priest beneath her heart, who bore Him in a stable, and who was privileged throughout His earthly life to minister to his physical needs, and we can see her nursing Him and bathing Him as an infant, washing His clothes and trying her best to keep Him clean as a boy, and doing for Him all the many things a mother must do for her son. And when he began His ministry, the first Altar Guild was formed when two sisters named

Mary and Martha were joined by Mary Magdalene following her conversion, and others of that little band of holy women, who began to share with the Blessed Virgin in those chores of caring for Him and for the twelve. The Institution of the Holy Communion was held in the Upper Room of a house in Jerusalem owned by Mary, the mother of John Mark who was to write the first Gospel, and we can imagine that she provided the first simple cup and dish that Jesus used to consecrate the Sacrament, perhaps cleansed them and laundered the table linens He used as well.

When His earthly life was over, given in love on the cross for the sins of the world and they laid Him in Joseph’s new tomb, it was this same band of holy women who brought spices and linens to prepare His sacred body for burial, their last act of love and devotion, only to find the tomb empty and the message of an Angel in their ears: “He is not here, He is Risen!”

Ever since that time, the Holy women of God have offered Him the spices of their skills and the Fair Linen of spiritual devotion in the preparation and care of His House, of His Altars, to spend their time in the polishing of silver and brass; to wash the instruments of worship; to sew and embroider; to cut and arrange flowers ; to work needlepoint and iron and clean and

scrub, to offer the best that they have that the People of God might suitably greet the Bridegroom as He comes to the Great Wedding Feast to claim His Bride, the Church.

We are all members one of another, and St. Paul reminds us that each is to contribute whatever skill and ministry the Father has given to them that the Body of Christ may be edified and the whole structure can be fitly framed together.

The essence of this service has not changed since Christ entered the world and established the pattern of Christian living in the little home at Nazareth. Loving obedience to the will of the Father, offering the best and not the worst that we have and that is in us, consecrating those gifts of personhood and the skills that He has bestowed that we might help Him bring Heaven to earth. In prayer, in life, in work, these are the elements of spiritual dedication we bring, the laymen in his offering of life and labor with gifts of love in preparing and making beautiful her home and the house of God, the Priest in his offering of their offerings and of the eternal Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross.

Preparation for Convention and Christmas.

Clockwise from top, the Rev. Becky RobbinsPenniman, the Rev. Fred Robinson with Sarah Hill and Cindy Davidson of Diocesan Altar Guild; center photos, Christmas preparation at St. Andrew, Tampa; bottom, Sarah Hill of the Diocesan Altar Guild preparing for the Annual Chrism Mass. Above, chalices at Convention.

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Briefly

CREATION CARE, RECONCILIATION & LATINO CONFERENCES HIGHLIGHT NEW CATALOG PARRISH - A new annual catalog of the offerings of DaySpring Episcopal Center is available. For 2019, DaySpring and the Diocese of Southwest Florida are offering a number of new events, including the Salt & Light Hispanic/Latino Ministry Conference; the 8th Day, Caring for God’s Creation with Brian Sellers-Petersen; the Journey Series featuring author Diana Butler Bass; and the Race & Reconciliation Series. Those offerings, as well as parish training, worship schedules and clergy events, are all listed in the catalog.

description of available rooms, dining options and recreation opportunities. Ten thousand copies are distributed each year to parishes, supporters, visitors and friends of the diocese.

Church administrators are encouraged to provide as many catalogs as they wish to parishioners and friends of the Diocese and DaySpring. In addition, bulk copies are available by contacting the Diocese. The catalog is also available online at dayspringfla.org.

DAYSPRING CATALOG

This is the third annual catalog for DaySpring, which includes a

2019

To order catalogs individually or for your parish, call Jan Nothum at the Diocese at 941-556-0315 or email jnothum@episcopalswfl.org.

8TH DAY: CARING FOR GOD’S CREATION EVENT This one-day event on January 19 will focus on caring for all of God’s creation through faith, farming and feeding. We will also spend some time exploring the DaySpring campus and understanding how growing native Florida plants further enhances our care for our surroundings.

Our featured speaker, Brian Sellers-Petersen, author of Harvesting Abundance: Local initiatives of Food and Faith, is currently serving as Missioner for Agrarian Ministry for The Episcopal Diocese of Olympia. Currently, his work is dedicated to church and missional agriculture, land stewardship, food ministry, environmental justice and civil society engagement. Through his work with Episcopal Relief & Development, Brian has a breadth of knowledge to share on agriculture including farmers markets, church gardens, farms with community supported agriculture (CSA) operations, indoor hydroponic gardens, apiaries and community garden education. Brian also works to continue to build the movement for strengthening and expanding small-scale agriculture in the United States through Cultivate: Episcopal Food Movement. Rounding out the day will be speakers from the Florida Native Plant Society, the Manatee County extension service, ECHO Farms, and the UF/IFAS Family Nutrition Program. For more information, call or email Deacon Martha Goodwill at Diocesan House.

To register, visit

dayspringfla.org

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$10 registration fee includes lunch

Briefly

EPISCOPAL CHURCH WOMEN HOLD 48TH ANNUAL GATHERING PARRISH – The Episcopal Church Women of the diocese held their annual meeting at DaySpring on Nov. 15, 2018 with a focus for 2018 on Benedictine spirituality.

Nancy Young, president of The Episcopal Community, and Patti Joy Posen, the group’s vice president, led sessions for attendees at the group’s 48th Annual Meeting. The Episcopal Community is a group in the church that seeks to encourage Benedictine spirituality within the church, to “be more mindful of God’s constant presence and love in our lives.” The day included a Eucharist with music by Fran McKendree; the Rt. Rev. Barry Howe preached and celebrated.

The meeting was led by President Leila Mizer and President-Elect Michelle Schombs. The meeting included an approval of the ECW’s annual budget for 2019 of $16,435.

Officers of ECW from left, first row, Donna Davis, Lana Fitzgerald, Barbara Scotland, Ann Beers, Berry Ludwig, Jeanne Colwell, Leila Mizer. Second row: Jan Sessions, Loretta Dunn, Barbara Counts, Jackie Smith, Cheryl JohnsonTindall, Michelle Schombs, Jean McDonald, Miriam Benitez-Nixon.

A FARE THEE WELL TO THE DURNINGS

PARRISH - Friends from across the diocese gathered at DaySpring Nov. 10 for a ceilidh, or Celtic gathering, for the Rev. Canon Michael During, his wife Bonnie Jean, and his family. Canon Durning has been at the diocese for 21 years, first as deputy for congregational development and later as canon to the ordinary under Bishops Dabney Smith and John Lipscomb.

The master of ceremonies was Kevin Fitzgerald, who represented not only the diocese but St. Mark’s, Marco Island, where Durning was the rector before arriving at the diocese in 1998. Speakers included The Rev. Becky RobbinsPenniman of Church of the Good Shepherd, Dunedin; Mrs. Susan O’Carroll of the Clergy Spouse Association, the Rev. Canon Ernest Bennett from the Diocese of Central Florida and the Rt. Rev. Dabney T. Smith.

DaySpring staff catered the evening: Chef Joe LaCross, DaySpring’s director of food services, led the team with a Scots-inspired menu including salmon, Edinburgh steak and Walker’s scotty-shaped scones.

The evening included a special dedication in memory of Durning’s work here at DaySpring and for the diocese. A Prie-dieu, or prayer desk, was dedicated to Canon Durning at the ceremony. The prayer desk kneeler includes needlepoint of the Diocesan Shield, crafted by Mrs. Augusta “Gussie” Haeffner.

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Briefly

OBITUARIES The Rev. Bennett Herbert Barnes

Okeechobee from 1959-62 and vicar of Blessed Sacrament in Indiantown from 1960-62. As an educator, he was master of religious studies at Berkeley Preparatory School from 1965-1968. He had a special calling for ministry in the outdoors as chaplain and U.S. Park Ranger from 1971-1978, where he served at the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. He served as assistant at St. John's in Tampa from 1985-1992, when he retired from active ministry.

BRUNSWICK, MAINE - The Rev. Bennett Herbert Barnes, for ten years the headmaster of Saint Stephen's Episcopal School and a longtime priest in the Diocese of Southwest Florida, died Tuesday, July 10, peacefully at home. The Rev. Barnes, born July 17, 1933 in Waterbury, Conn., received his B. A. from Colgate and attended Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, where he received multiple degrees.

He was ordained deacon June 11, 1958 and priest Dec. 27, 1962. He first served at St. John’s in Stamford, Conn., before spending time at Durham University in England. He was headmaster of Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School from 1976 to 1986.

The Rev. Fred Henry Diefenbacher

Ms. Shirley Griscom

The Rev. George Harold Cave

BRADENTON - Shirley Griscom, the wife of the Rev. Donald W. Griscom, died Monday, April 30, 2018. Deacon Don and Shirley were active with various ministries at St. George’s and were especially instrumental in getting the Food Pantry started and helping it grow into what it has become today.

NASHVILLE - The Rev. George Harold Cave, a priest resident in both the Diocese of Southwest Florida and its predecessor the Diocese of South Florida, died Monday, Oct. 29, 2018. George Harold Cave, born Feb. 22, 1927 in Newton, Mass., received his B.A. from the University of the South in 1965, later attending the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale and the School of Theology at the University of the South. He became a deacon on June 20, 1959 under Bishop Anson Phelps Stokes Jr., and was made priest on Dec 21, 1959 by then Bishop Henry Louttit.

The Rev. Frank Hiram King Jr. KOKOMO, Ind. - The Rev. Frank Hiram King Jr., assisting priest at St. Paul’s in Naples from 19972016, died May 21, 2018. The Rev. King, a priest resident in the Diocese of Northern Indiana, served as assisting priest at St. Paul’s from 1997-2016.

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Early in his career, he served as vicar of the Church of Our Savior,

VALRICO - The Rev. Fred Henry Diefenbacher died Tuesday, May 29, 2018. Born Jan. 20, 1932, he was a 1954 graduate of Juniata College in Pennsylvania. Before his career in ministry, he worked and taught in the field of social service. He was ordained priest in 1980 under the Rt. Rev. Paul Haynes. Following ordination, he served as an assistant at Epiphany, Cape Coral, from 198385; assistant at St. Bartholomew, St. Petersburg from 1985-86 and served as vicar of St. Cecelia's for five years beginning in 1986.

The Rev. Vernon Creighton Evans OKINAWA, Japan - The Rev. Vernon Creighton Evans Jr. died Friday, May 18 in Japan. Born June 17, 1953 in Charleston, S.C., he was ordained a deacon on June 18, 1994 in the Diocese of South Carolina and ordained as a priest Jan. 4, 1995. Before his ordination,

he worked in social services in Charleston County's Department of Social Services.

The Rev. Eugene Harvey Buxton CLEARWATER - The Rev. Eugene Harvey Buxton, a Diocese of Texas priest who served in Texas, England, Ohio, Wisconsin and Hawaii, died Saturday, Aug. 11, 2018. Buxton, born in 1931, was the son of an Ohio Episcopal priest, the Rev. Eugene H. Buxton.

He served churches including St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Honolulu, where he also served as the chaplain of the Iolani Episcopal School from 1955-57.

In retirement, he came to Indian Rocks Beach, and assisted at Calvary, Indian Rocks Beach, and Good Samaritan, Clearwater.

On the recommendation of Bishop Andrew Doyle of Texas, Buxton wrote the book Bishops in My Life, which detailed his recollections of bishops including Beverly Dandridge Tucker, William Wallace Horstick, John Peres Craine, Milton Richardson and Maurice Benitez.

“I see and feel an exciting and fresh future for the Episcopal Church,” wrote Buxton. “Simply stated, the once-upon-a-time church needs to wake up from her Rip Van Winkle sleep and discover with fresh words what it means to truly receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I still wonder what the great 19th century gospel preacher Billy Sunday meant when he said, ‘The Episcopal Church is a sleeping giant’.”

The Rev. Irvin Walter Maranville BRADENTON - The Rev. Irvin Walter Maranville, a Diocese of Vermont deacon who served at Church of the Annunciation, Holmes Beach, died Wednesday, July 25, 2018.

The Rev. Patricia Parsons McIlwain TAMPA - The Rev. Patricia Parsons McIlwain, a deacon in the Diocese of Southwest Florida, died Monday, Oct. 29, 2018. Born July 28, 1941, she was ordained as a deacon on Oct. 22, 1988 and served the diocese on the Spiritual Renewal Committee as secretary from 1986-88 and also served on Cursillo. She served as co-chair of Happening from 19841988. She and her husband Dr. Jim McIlwain led a ministry beginning in 1988 called Jesse's Children, which ministered to the Dominican Republic. The missions included dental supplies and medical help

for places that included Bani, Las Cruses, Limonal and Santana. The work included cleft palate surgery, building projects, dental clinics, scar reductions and other medical needs, supported by parishes across the diocese.

The Rev. Dr. Robin George Murray ZEPHYRHILLS - The Rev. Dr. Robin George Murray, 82, died Thursday, Oct. 11 at Gulfside Regional Hospice, Zephyrhills.

A native of Glenlig, Australia, he was ordained priest in 1969 by Bishop Richard Emrich. In this diocese, Murray served as rector of St. Andrew’s Spring Hill from 1986-2004. In our diocese, he also served at St. Mary, Tampa from 2008-11. He was dean of the Pasco/ Hernando Deanery, president of the Standing Committee and co-chaired the Diocesan Episcopal Search Committee in 1995.

Bishop Harry Sherbourne Kennedy, at left, with The Rev. E. Harvey Buxton, second from left, with the choir at Iolani School.

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Looking Back

THE HISTORY OF THE RETREAT HOUSE PARRISH - When the Diocese of Southwest Florida demolished DaySpring’s leaky Dome House this June, a bit of Southern Rock history was seemingly lost.

The Dome House was a wooden geodesic dome house located just behind DaySpring’s Cabins 1-6, to the north of Curry Hall. It had been used a place for school groups, but because of its leaky condition, it became a storage facility. This summer, the diocese put a small, simple storage shed on the property. In spite of its leaky nature, the “Dome House” endowed to DaySpring a popular bit of local folklore, with various stories involving “visits” or “ownership” from rock star Gregg Allman and/ or his then wife, Cher, sometime during the early years of DaySpring (they were married in 1975.) The most oft-repeated story was that the Dome House was where Allman and Cher spent their honeymoon.

Allman died in Savannah, Georgia in May 2017 at age 69. DaySpring does not appear in Allman’s 2012 autobiography, My Cross to Bear, though there are frequent mentions of the Bradenton area and Anna Maria Island. Allman married Cher in 1975, the year Allman Brothers Band filled the New Orleans Superdome during a celebrated concert tour, and well before the diocese purchased the first DaySpring property in 1979. In truth, Greg Allman actually owned the house across the road from the Dome House, 8535 25th Street E, 42

which will be familiar to many of DaySpring’s guests as the Retreat House. The Retreat House was built

by George and Betty Brown in 1977; court records show that Allman purchased the house from the Browns through Allman’s Georgiabased corporation, Lighthouse Inc. On Nov. 10, 1979, Gregg Allman married his wife Julie in Ellenton, according to documents from the Manatee Clerk of Courts. Their daughter Delilah Island Allman was born on Nov. 5, 1980; Allman’s autobiography says that she was named “Island” because by that time, they were living on Anna Maria Island. During the time of Allman’s short ownership, then neighbor Gregory Sutton does not recall that Allman lived at the house for any extended period, though there was at least one report of a Cher sighting by a neighbor.

The Allmans divorced in 1984.

Lighthouse Inc. defaulted on the mortgage; Manatee County papers show that the Retreat House was auctioned on the Manatee County Courthouse steps July 7, 1981. It was eventually sold to the Rev. Ed Donley, a Christian Reformed pastor, and his wife Louise. It was

the Donleys who sold it to the Diocese of Southwest Florida in 1992.

Meanwhile, the Dome House, as it became nicknamed, was actually built by a Billy W. McClintock, according to Sutton. McClintock operated a company called Geodesic Domes of Florida. The company was dissolved in 1982; the Diocese of Southwest Florida purchased that property on Nov. 28, 1990.

Sutton talked with McClintock over the years, and had never heard the honeymoon tale from him, though he did remember McClintock complaining of noises from roadies staying at the Retreat House during the Allman era.

Allman did not mention DaySpring in his autobiography, but he did talk a bit about the Episcopal Church. He wrote “I don’t think you have to dress up or show God a bunch of gold for him to forgive yours sins, love you, and guide you. Then I went to an Episcopal Church in Daytona, and it just felt right. The Episcopal Church isn’t about gimme gimme, gimme.

The Episcopalians are like enlightened Catholics. They have the faith, but they’re a little more open-minded.”

ASSIST EPISCOPAL CHARITIES OF SOUTHWEST FLORIDA

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BISHOP’S ANNUAL APPEAL

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ASSIST DAYSPRING ENDOWMENT DaySpring is a sacred place that seeks to enrich and empower its visitors in Christ through prayer, worship and fellowship. Your gift protects the legacy and ensures the permanent viability of DaySpring.

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Below: Clergy from the Diocese of Southwest Florida gather on October 12th for their 50th Annual Convention. For a glimpse of our convention weekend and a wrap-up of events, please see our 50th Annual Convention Wrap-up inside.