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St Thomas

Little Red Socks of Love 2020

By Outreach

Nothing personifies the mission of Bryan’s House more than the Little Red Socks of Love, which represent the little boy for whom the organization is named. Bryan Allen was the first known child in Dallas to die from AIDS after being infected perinatally from his mother, who had unknowingly contracted the disease through a blood transfusion. Bryan’s mother kept him outfitted in little red socks in hopes that he would live through the holidays. Bryan lived to see his first Christmas, but he died shortly after at only 8 months old. With nowhere to turn for help caring for her children with AIDS, Bryan’s mother Lydia Allen founded Bryan’s House to serve as a hospice for children infected with HIV / AIDS. Sadly, Lydia and her older son Matthew both passed away due to complications from AIDS. Today, Texas is ranked 49th in the USA to serve at-risk children with…

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December 3, 2020

We wait for you to ache

By Rector's Corner

With the energy we have, we begin the day, waiting and watching and hoping. We wait, not clear about our waiting. But filled with a restlessness, daring to imagine that you are not finished yet – so we wait, patiently, impatiently, restlessly, confidently, quaking and fearful, boldly and daring. Your sovereign decree stands clear and we do not doubt. We wait for you to dissolve in tender tears. Your impervious rule takes no prisoners, we wait for you to ache and hurt and care over us and with us and beyond us. Cry with us the brutality grieve with us the misery tremble with us the poverty and hurt. Attend to us – by attending in power and in mercy, remake this alien world into our proper home. We pray in the name of the utterly homeless one, even Jesus. Amen. — Walter Brueggemann, 1989 How do we wait for…

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December 3, 2020

Sermon for the First Sunday of Advent

By Rector's Corner, Sermons

Christopher Thomas First Sunday of Advent, Year B – 11/29/2020 Isaiah 64:1-9 Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 Mark 13:24-37 We light the candle of hope, to remember the hope we have in Christ, for whom we must remain alert as we wait for his return. Hope. And wait… Hope. And wait… Hope. And wait… How those words are intricately intertwined, at once such juxtapositions of each other, each required of the other, for this most queer of journeys that we find ourselves on. Oh, you might think that the journey to which I refer is the journey of 2020, and that certainly has been, and continues to be, a journey of nothing less than, Hope. And wait… But the journey to which I speak is one that is much broader, longer, deeper, and wider. It’s the journey that was going on long before each of us showed up, you…

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November 29, 2020

80th General Convention postponed to July 2022

By News

Amid the continued uncertainty of an unrelenting coronavirus pandemic, the church’s presiding officers announced Nov. 20 that they had decided, with Executive Council’s unanimous backing, to postpone the 80th General Convention from July 2021 to July 2022, a move intended to ensure the large churchwide legislative gathering can be held in person in Baltimore, Maryland, as originally planned. “Like you, we have spent the last several months riding waves of pandemic news,” Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, president of the House of Deputies, said in a letter to bishops and deputies. Even with vaccines expected to be approved as soon as next month, “it is unlikely that even highly effective vaccines and robust federal intervention would permit us to gather as many as 10,000 people safely by next summer, as we had originally planned.” Instead, the 80th General Convention has been rescheduled for July 7-14,…

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November 25, 2020

The City of Thanks-Giving

By Rector's Corner

Dear Doubters of Great Faith, Today, I was given a tour of a most amazing place, nestled in the heart of downtown Dallas, called Thanks-Giving Square. I already knew that it is a wonderful, peaceful, serene setting within the hustle and bustle of our major metropolitan area. But hearing about its mission, for this city, our city, and beyond, from its CEO, Kyle Ogden, and touring the building and grounds (and behind the scenes!) was nothing short of awe-inspiring! The mission of the Thanks-Giving Square Foundation is to “…make North Texas a better place to live, work and play by educating, inspiring and moving its people towards becoming the City of Thanks-Giving.” The common ground upon which we can all stand is gratitude. Gratitude for all that we have, all that we are, all that we have been given, and all that we can possibly hope to be. Gratitude for…

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November 20, 2020

The Season of Advent

By Christian Formation

This year has been one of waiting. We were waiting for elections to come and go. We are waiting for a vaccine for COVID-19 and to safely be with those we love. And especially now, we wait for the coming of the Christ Child. Many of us know that the season of Advent is the period before Christmas when we, the Church, anticipate the birth of Christ. What is often overlooked is that Advent is also a season of expectation for when Christ will come again to fulfill God’s dreams for the world. As Christians, the first Sunday of Advent is our New Year’s Day. Advent is the mantle of the Church’s year when we consider the kingdom that is both among us and yet to come, and when we—with Mary—ponder these things in our hearts. In light of this season of expectations, your clergy, vestry, and I want to…

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November 20, 2020

Sermon for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

By Rector's Corner, Sermons

Christopher Thomas Twenty Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A, Proper 28 – 11/15/2020 Judges 4:1-7 Psalm 123 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 Matthew 25:14-30 “For God alone my soul in silence waits; from God comes my salvation.” – Psalm 62:1 Time, and waiting, at least to my way of thinking, seem to be at such odds. I think that’s because, as I now rapidly approach the marking of 55 trips around the sun, I feel such a sense of urgency around the fleeting nature of this thing called Chronos, human time. It’s a gift; we’re only given so much, time. It’s the one commodity that we cannot manufacture more of, steal more of, beg, borrow, or plead more of. We are given, by God, what we are given, this lifetime, and that, as they say, is that. And so, I am disquieted, anxiety-filled, even at times overwrought, by waiting. I think what…

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November 15, 2020

“I Moan Like a Lonely Bird on a Roof”: The Broken Mirror of Lamentation and Grief

By Sermons

Stephen V. Sprinkle, Ph.D. Professor of Practical Theology Brite Divinity School, and Theologian-in-Residence The Episcopal Church of St. Thomas the Apostle November 14, 2020 Hear the words of the Psalmist from Psalm 102: “I have become like a pelican in the wilderness, like an owl in desolate places. I lie awake and I moan like some lonely bird on a roof.” And again, from the Letter of Paul to the Romans: “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” Let those who have ears to hear, hear what the Spirit has to say to us in our mortal condition: The truth is that we mortal beings are in acute consciousness of loss. It is as apparent as the latest reports of mounting viral infections and fatalities—there is no reason…

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November 14, 2020

Virtual Toy Drive for 2020

By Outreach

Parishioners of St. Thomas the Apostle have supported Community Partners of Dallas’s Annual Toy Drive for several years. These toys go to children in need throughout Dallas. The CPD Toy Drive for 2020, as you might expect, is virtual. You aren’t being asked to get out and shop for the toys which will probably be disappointing for many of us who love shopping for toys. Please go to https://www.helpcpdkids.org and select the wishes you would like to fill. It’s super simple to do! Wishes this year range in price from $10.00 to $34.00 each. Please go the website and share the love by December 11. Once you’re on the checkout page, please find the spot that asks if you are filling wishes for a group. Enter “St. Thomas the Apostle” so we can see how many of us participate. Every year, the Pillowcase Guild, headed by Kathy Carson, makes custom…

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November 12, 2020