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St Thomas

Sermon for Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

By Rector's Corner, Sermons

Christopher Thomas Sermon for Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A – 9/20/20 Exodus 16:2-15 Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45 Philippians 1:21-30 Matthew 20:1-16 “…do not be anxious about earthly things, but love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, hold fast to those things that shall endure…” Episcopalians have the most elegant, eloquent way of stating the seriousness of the situation. For this collect must surely have been written about our very condition today, tossed in this chaotic morass we call the year 2020. Do not be anxious about earthly things. Do not be anxious about earthly things?!? Almost 7 million of our fellow Americans are infected and 200,000 dead from an earthly thing called COVID-19. At the very height of the economic collapse from this earthly thing called COVID-19, 20.5 million folks are forced out of the work force, some out of homes,…

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September 20, 2020

The ministry of urban social justice work

By Rector's Corner

My Dear Doubters of Great Faith, It is amazing when I stop and consider that only one brief year ago (and yet a lifetime), I had my first conversation with the Search Committee of the Episcopal Church of St. Thomas the Apostle. I remember telling you in our first Sunday together that my time with you, our time together, while sometimes seeming painfully slow, as in a pandemic, would in reality, be fleeting. And so, if we had business to attend to, we’d best be about that business! I was clear in my interviews as to the kind of ministry that God was (and is) calling me into, the ministry of urban social justice work with a particular emphasis on race, reconciliation, and healing. And I believed that was something that St. Thomas would be particularly good and gifted at, based on the leadership and hard work this place has…

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September 17, 2020

Sermon for Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

By Sermons

Bishop Smith Proper 19 Year A St. Thomas the Apostle September 13, 2020 The putting back together of broken things on this fragile earth is God’s purpose for the church. Just as God put Jesus back together, only more so, after they killed him. The resurrection is our template for mission. That’s why there is a St. Thomas. That’s why there is a Church. We are here to participate in God’s project of restoration and renewal. Because, we humans have a way of falling apart and falling to pieces. (I’ll spare you my fabulous rendition of the great Patsy Cline.) If something can be broken, then someone will break it. It is poignant that the gospel today is Jesus’ teaching about forgiveness, seventy-seven times over, if that’s what it takes, and a parable about two people who desperately need forgiveness themselves. In God’s cosmic project of putting together broken things,…

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September 13, 2020

The Courage to Change What We Can

By Christian Formation

September is National Recovery Month. Through the years, I have been inspired and learned so much from my friends in recovery. Recently several of them have shared with me that what they have learned in their journey of recovery is serving them well as they now face the many losses and challenges brought about by the pandemic. A few weeks ago, a friend told me that he printed the first three lines of the Serenity Prayer, a prayer that is beloved by many people in recovery, and posted them next to his computer. Because his work requires him to spend so much time on his laptop, these words are a constant reminder to accept the limits of what he can control and what he cannot. God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference….

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September 11, 2020

And With the Fall Comes Change!

By News

Labor Day marks the giving way of summer to the beginnings of fall, even in the age of “Corona-tide,” and as is the custom of St. Thomas the Apostle, we mark that passage with changes to our liturgy. There are several things that deserve your knowledge and attention. Our Song of Praise will be Canticle 13, “Glory to you, Lord God of our fathers,” which we will initially speak, but in the coming weeks will be sung by all. We will reintroduce the intonation of the psalms, led by a cantor. In conjunction with the book study we are undertaking on Monday evenings (“Caste,” by Isabel Wilkerson), we are reintroducing Prayers of the People composed by the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, at the request of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, written specifically to address the issue of racial reconciliation and social justice. And, this Sunday, it…

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September 10, 2020

The cry of justice and peace and dignity

By Rector's Corner

Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? I will, with God’s help! My Dear Doubters of Great Faith, It was over ten years ago that I began my official journey toward ordination in the Episcopal Church, and one of my first assignments was the penning of a “spiritual autobiography.” I crafted my work around the touchstone of our particular Episcopal tradition, the Baptismal Covenant, specifically the questions that get asked of or on behalf of candidates. These questions really are foundational to our Christian identity, because they reflect the ways Jesus lived out his human, and yet divine existence, thereby modeling goals for our own behavior. As such, they are (or should be) the lenses through which we view all of life. But this question of justice, and peace, and dignity, particularly when coupled with the seeking and serving…

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September 10, 2020

Say Yes to the Mess

By Christian Formation

In 1959 Miles Davis and a group of musicians recorded the album Kind of Blue, which became the best-selling and one of the most influential jazz albums of all time. The remarkable thing about this album is that the musicians had very little preparation time, not knowing what they would be playing until they walked into the studio to record. The original liner notes for the album said that the musicians were only given a few scales and melody lines on which they were to improvise. There were no rehearsals beforehand. All of this was by design to create a genuinely spontaneous, improvised experience co-created in the moment. And the results of what happened in that studio in 1959 are captured in the words of musician Carlos Santana, “They went into the studio with minimal stuff, and came out with eternity.” While you have quite likely heard of Miles Davis,…

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September 6, 2020

Sermon for Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

By Sermons

The Rev’d Virginia Holleman Year A, Proper 18 – September 6, 2020 Exodus 12:1-14 Psalm 149 Romans 13:8-14 Matthew 18:15-20 In the Name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. AMEN. If ever I thought my faith was a matter just between me and Jesus, this story from Matthew’s Gospel would surely correct my thinking. Faith, my faith, is a community affair. So is yours; so is every other person’s who professes to be a Christian. Sure, we do need time alone to ponder the things in our hearts and lay them at the feet of our Lord. It’s why people have special places in their homes for private prayer; it’s why we go on retreat – either by ourselves or with a small group or even with a trusted friend. We do need time to spend in quiet and reflection with our Lord; we need Sabbath time. It recharges…

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September 6, 2020

Fall Book Study | Sept 14-Nov 9

By Christian Formation

Everyone is welcome to join our Fall Book Study, featuring Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson. It is an engaging and compelling read that I believe will help provide us a structure to give voice to some of these systems of injustice, a starting place for dialogues of change. The course will run 9 weeks, in Zoom, on Monday evenings, September 14 – November 9, from 6 pm – 7 pm. It will be facilitated by Father Christopher, seminarian Allen Junek, and Mother Sandi Michels, St. Elisabeth’s/Christ the King, Fort Worth. Email Father Christopher for the Zoom meeting link. Read the New York Times book review of the book, and to read the book in advance of the course. Please join us in this. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/31/books/review-caste-isabel-wilkerson-origins-of-our-discontents.html

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September 5, 2020