February 2018
From the Rector’s desk by Rev. Anthony MacWhinnie, II Lent begins on February 14th, Valentine ’s Day. At first, that seems contradictory, with Lent being a serious and solemn time for reflection, prayer, and fasting. Ash Wednesday this year may bring you chocolate temptations right off the bat! But, the more I think about it, the more I realize that Lent IS about love. Maybe it’s not about romantic love like Valentine’s, but it is about love. And more specifically, it’s about demonstrating that love. We demonstrate our love for another on Valentine’s Day by overt gestures, usually involving candy and a card. These both might be in the shape of a heart. Maybe a date night to the movies will be involved. Maybe a nice dinner will be had. We celebrate our life together. “Be mine.” We demonstrate our love on Ash Wednesday by beginning our Lenten observances. We impose the ashes on our foreheads in the shape of a cross. And we think about what it means to be tempted, or to give one’s life for another. Or, we think about our own mortality and what that means. “Remember that you are but dust, and to dust you shall return.” Yes, these two days do seem to be in conflict, but they are similar in scope. They are both about love. The difference is that one is only about the emotion of the present, whereas the other takes into account the inevitable future. One puts on rose colored glasses and the other puts on the ashen colored mark of the cross and the purple color of the altar hangings. This year, part of my Lenten observance will be to read along with the Good Book Club that our Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, is advocating. Each day there are readings
Our Staff & Vestry Rev, Anthony MacWhinnie, II, Rector Vestry: Beth Woods - Senior Warden Jim Warner - Junior Warden Dora Giles—Treasurer Susan Early & Margaree Mills-Fitchett Twinette McDonald - Music Director Sally Putters - Parish Nurse
that will take us through the Gospel of Luke. Then in the Easter Season, each day we’ll read a portion of Acts. I like this idea of doing something corporately for Lent, along with my fellow Episcopalians. It is meet and right so to do… Join me, won’t you? You’ll find more information in your bulletins each Sunday, as well as periodic updates from your parish GBC coordinator, Viv Welch. Peace, and I invite you to the observance of a Holy Lent. Anthony+
World Mission Day, February 11 Traditionally observed on the last Sunday after Epiphany, World Mission Sunday in 2018 is February 11. Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop and Primate Michael B. Curry invites the church to observe World Mission Sunday in a video here . The purpose of World Mission Sunday is to focus on the global impact of the Baptismal Covenant’s call to “seek and serve Christ in all persons” (Book of Common Prayer, p. 305), and to raise awareness of the many ways in which the Episcopal Church participates in God’s mission around the world. “On World Mission Sunday, we are reminded that we are all called by God to live a life of reconciliation,” the Rev. David Copley, Director of Global Partnerships and Mission Personnel said in a sermon, “Reconciliation with God and with one another, and there has been no more urgent time to participate in God’s mission than today.” Currently, Episcopal Church missionaries are serving in many international locales, including Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, England, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Israel/Palestine, Panama, the Philippines, Qatar, Romania, South Africa, and Tanzania. For more information, contact Jenny Grant, Interim Officer for Global Relations and Networking.