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St Thomas

Lighting One Candle

By Christian Formation

Living Compass is currently hosting an Advent group on Facebook. It is based on our booklet of daily readings for the season of Advent, and its theme is Practicing Hope with All Your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind. In case the idea of Advent is new for you, please know that it is a four-week season that many Christians observe to prepare for the celebration of Christmas. It is similar to the season of Lent, which is a time to prepare for Easter. What follows is a reflection I wrote for our Advent booklet. It speaks of the power of love and hope. Have you ever found yourself, perhaps when the power has gone out at night, in a completely dark room where you can hardly see at all? Now imagine yourself in that same situation but with a single candle and some matches. You light the candle and then,…

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December 6, 2020

Sermon for the Second Sunday of Advent

By Rector's Corner, Sermons

Christopher Thomas Second Sunday of Advent, Year B – 12/06/2020 Isaiah 40:1-11 Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13 2 Peter 3:8-15a Mark 1:1-8 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God… The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is not, in fact, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, at least according to Mark, is John. John, you know him. I feel sure you’ve seen him. I know I have. You know the one I’m talking about. John. He used to stand under the canopy of Foley’s Department Store on Main Street in Houston, Texas. “Repent!” “The end is near!” “For you know not the hour or the day that our Lord will make his return!” “Prepare the way of the Lord!” He’s the one I would studiously avoid making…

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December 6, 2020

Zoom Christmas Services

By Upcoming Events

Mark your calendars for special Zoom service to celebrate the Christmas season! Thursday, Dec. 24 at 7:30pm – Join us early for a special selection of music prior to the Christmas Eve Mass. Thursday, Dec. 24 at 8:00pm – Christmas Eve Mass. Friday, Dec. 25 at 10:00am – Christmas Day Mass. A unique zoom link will be sent out for each service. If you’d like to receive the Zoom link, please email Father Christopher.

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December 3, 2020

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