Saint Monica's Episcopal Church
Messenger
September 2016
From the Rector’s desk by Rev. Anthony MacWhinnie, II
It’s back to school time! If you don’t have children or they aren’t in the house now, you’ll remember from your own experience of this time of the year. If you DO have school age children, by now, you’ve about gotten back into the routine of school for the kids. Lunches have to be made. Buses have to be caught. After school events have to be attended. Homework has to be done. Projects have to be remembered. And here’s the fun part that they don’t tell you when you’re a kid… We parents feel just as responsible for all those assignments that the teachers have the kids doing as the kids do themselves! Maybe even more so, because without us providing a good home and good meals and a quiet space, they’d never get that stuff accomplished! I have to confess something… I forgot Trey at school yesterday! I was so overwhelmed with the goings on here at the office (The list is long… Funerals, tractors, and thrift stores are on it.), that I forgot to leave and pick him up from school till late! On the way there I received a call from an unfamiliar number. It was Trey, calling from THE DEAN’S PHONE! I was pretty sure I was going to get detention for my tardiness! I was instantly transported back to my own middle school days, except back then the punishments were “licks or days”… Not that I’d know anything about that… You know, if we’re not careful, life can get ahead of us. And you know what? Even when we ARE careful, life can get ahead of us sometimes. People often say “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” But that’s not true is it? We are quite often in our lives inundated with WAY MORE than we can handle on our own. It’s just a fact. We
Our Staff & Vestry Rev, Anthony MacWhinnie, II, Rector Vestry: Chuck Barnett - Senior Warden Jim Warner- Junior Warden Beth Woods, Susan Early, Ann Philen & John Velaski Twinette McDonald - Music Director Sally Putters - Parish Nurse
can’t do it all, sometimes. And while we hate to admit it, we just have to be okay with that and do what we can to work through those tough times. We have to admit that WE NEED HELP. Part of that admission is realizing that we can’t do it all alone. We need help, God’s and our neighbors. A friend and mentor offered to pray for everyone that needed it and requested it on his sabbatical time at a monastery. I thought “How wonderful.” And, I knew that I needed to be prayed for… But there was something in me that was holding me back from asking for his prayers. It’s some combination of pride and stubbornness that boiled down to the fact that I didn’t want to admit that I couldn’t do it all on my own. I was resistant. And that resistance made me realize I needed his prayers even more. I asked for those prayers. And even in the asking, there was a holiness. There was a connectedness to the one that created us all. It was the first step toward those needs being met, and my relationship with God being back in a more fruitful place. So, I want to offer to you the same thing that my friend offered me. I will pray for you, for your needs and wants, whatever it is you tell me. Just let me know. I will lift them up to God for you, with you. We can’t do it all alone and prayer is a great first step. Peace, Anthony+