Saint Monica's Episcopal Church
Messenger
March 2016
From the Rector’s desk
by Rev. Anthony MacWhinnie, II
How is your Lent going? Are you managing to keep up with your Lenten observances? I’m doing fairly well with mine, but another church function conflicted with my ability to stick to mine this last weekend. Or I should say, the 45th Annual Convention of the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast is my excuse for missing a couple of days of my Lenten disciplines. Every single year something comes up that I allow to interfere with my Lenten observances, which I’m sure happens to you too. I think I’ve only perfectly observed my Lenten disciplines once in my entire life. Every other time I’ve fallen down on the job somehow. It’s what comes next that is real test, the real gauge of my commitment to follow these observances. Will I start them back up? That’s the real question, isn’t it? Will I begin again? It’s so easy to be a perfectionist with something like this. I say “easy”, but really mean tempting, typical, and usual. Being a perfectionist is actually spiritually difficult because perfectionists focus on the failure. They don’t move on and get back to the spiritual good they were accomplishing before the set back. Perfectionism is a trap that we must escape if we are to move on and carry out, not just our Lenten observances, but our daily lives. Yeah, it’s not perfect, but it’s still worth doing. It’s still good for you, and once you get past this little set back, it’ll feel like the right thing again. So, I encourage you, in the name of Jesus Christ, set yourself free from perfectionism. Pick yourself up and dust yourself off if you have fallen down, and get back to the good work you’ve started in your life. And not just with your Lenten observances, but with all those good habits you’ve started. You’ll be better and healthier for it. God bless you. Peace, Anthony+
Our Staff & Vestry Rev, Anthony MacWhinnie, II, Rector Vestry: Chuck Barnett - Senior Warden Dan Ferguson- Junior Warden/Co-Treasurer Linda Aligood —Treasurer Susan Early, Ann Philen, John Velaski & Beth Woods Viv Welch—Clerk of the Vestry Brenda Ferguson—Church Secretary Twinette McDonald - Music Director Sally Putters - Parish Nurse
St. Monica’s Beans & Rice & Emergency Food Pantry How can you help? Cash donations for beans and rice to be bought in bulk Most needed items for food pantry: Canned tomatoes and other vegetables Canned meat such as tuna, chicken & Vienna Sausage Individually wrapped items such as crackers with cheese or peanut butter Pudding cups and fruit cups, raisins Cans of pork and beans or Chef Boy-R-Dee