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St Thomas

Sermon for Third Sunday after Pentecost

By Rector's Corner, Sermons

Christopher Thomas Sermon for Third Sunday after Pentecost, Year A – 6/21/20 Genesis 21:8-21 Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17 Romans 6:1b-11 Matthew 10:24-39 Well… “Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?” I’m going to share with you just a little bit of the “Priest’s Playbook” here in the beginning of this. There are three types of sermons that any good priest might offer to you, and they are basically modeled on the psychological implications of the ways that Jesus lived out his earthly ministry, functioning as a pastor, a priest, and a prophet. Sermons take on the characteristics of these different aspects of Jesus’ nature. Sermons tend to be particularly pastoral or prophetic. It doesn’t take much to figure out that pastoral sermons are the ones we look to for comfort and strengthen, binding up the hearts of the faithful as we sojourn through life. They shore us…

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June 21, 2020

I will, with God’s help!

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!” — From the Service of Holy Baptism, BCP I believe those words, along with the other four questions that precede them, those resonate questions that make up our baptismal covenant into the Christian faith and identity, are some of the sweetest words to hear, and yet some of the most difficult words to live out. If the Christian faith were easy, a country club, I guess everyone would do it! That is why it is so reassuring that the questions are followed by the answer, “I will, with God’s help!” God knows that Christ’s walk, the journey we are called into, is not an easy or light one, but one of responsibility, and that God will be with us in and throughout the journey. In the midst…

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June 18, 2020

Doubters’ Happy Hour – June 23

By Upcoming Events

Please join the Doubter community for our next Happy Hour, June 23 at 6 pm, for a Conversation with Dr. Andy Stoker — “Speaking Up and Speaking Out” Though he grew up in El Paso, TX, Andy strives to be an ally to those communities who look and love differently than him. By listening to Andy’s story, we will be empowered and motivated to think together about how we can be better allies to those around us. Andy is the Senior Minister of First United Methodist Church of Dallas, Texas. He is a graduate of Texas Tech University, Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University, and Texas Woman’s University where he earned his PhD in Family Studies. He has served on the boards of National Project Transformation, Dallas Project Transformation, the North Texas Food Bank, Methodist Health Systems, The Dallas Arts District, CC Young Senior Care, the Texas Methodist Foundation,…

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June 18, 2020

Sermon for Second Sunday after Pentecost

By Sermons

A Homily for the Second Sunday after Pentecost June 14, 2020 The Episcopal Church of St. Thomas the Apostle Dallas, Texas The Reverend Stephen J. Waller “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.” Can you believe that Jesus actually uttered those words? “Go nowhere among the Gentiles?” “Enter no town of the Samaritans?” Go rather only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel… Ok. We all know that that statement of mission was one delivered at the beginning of mission work for the disciples … that statement would be followed at the end of Jesus’ life with his telling his disciples to go into all the world and make disciples of all people. A different commission, indeed….

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June 14, 2020

Graduation, Grief, and Gratitude

By Christian Formation

Most years, I write a column about the annual rite of passage that so many people and their extended families participate in this time of year— graduations. This year is no different, yet everything is very different. I spent a few hours this week online reading the stories of graduates describing what it has been like to graduate during a pandemic. I also talked with several parents whose sons and daughters are graduating from either high school or college at the momentous time. I even spoke with my grandson, who graduated virtually from kindergarten. What I read and heard can be summed up in two words: grief and gratitude. The grief that graduates are experiencing is palpable. Not being able to attend a traditional graduation ceremony was undoubtedly at the top of the list of disappointments for high school and college seniors. Some of the other losses that were mentioned…

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June 13, 2020

Worship gathering in the age of COVID-19

By Rector's Corner

“…and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith…” – Hebrews 12:1-2, NRSV My dearly beloved Doubters of Great Faith, We are now into our 12th week of official Corona-tide, the time that this virus known as COVID-19, drove us from our beautiful church property at Inwood and Mockingbird, into our places of isolation. Thankfully, throughout this process, we have continued to be the Church, capital C, the community of faith known as St. Thomas the Apostle that doubts in great faith in amazing, loving, connected ways as it always has, in spite, and even because of, COVID-19. And in the pastoral care work that I do with the congregation, I see the effects that 12 weeks of isolation, and separation, is beginning to have on us all. I include myself in this, because I see…

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June 11, 2020

Virus as a Summons to Faith: Biblical Reflections in a Time of Loss, Grief, and Uncertainty

By Christian Formation

Books of Note for St. Thomas the Apostle’s Readers and Their Friends. This month’s feature book is Virus as a Summons to Faith: Biblical Reflections in a Time of Loss, Grief, and Uncertainty by Walter Brueggemann. Foreword by Nahum Ward-Lev. Cascade Books, 2020. ISBN-13: 978-1-7252-7673-4. “Timely,” could not be a more appropriate descriptor for Walter Brueggemann’s new hot-off-the-press book. The daunting challenge of COVID-19 is on the minds of millions. The timeliness of Brueggemann’s important little book is not primarily about the coronavirus pandemic of the last several months. The real gift of this eminently readable book is the stunning way the message of scripture breaks in upon us with new meaning during these uncertain times. Brueggemann, Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary, again demonstrates for us why his works are so widely read. He is no proof-texter or Bible-beater. Coronavirus is nothing less than an occasion…

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June 11, 2020

Doubters’ Happy Hour – June 16

By Upcoming Events

Please join the Doubter community for our next Happy Hour, June 16 at 6 pm, for an evening with your Rector & Regathering Committee – “A Look at Regathering”. We will gather for a frank discussion regarding worship in the age of COVID-19. The Rector, who is in charge and responsible for the use of all church-held property on behalf of the Bishop of the Diocese of Dallas, has convened an ad-hoc advisory committee, the Regathering Committee, to consider the ways in which we can safely and effectively repopulate the church facilities when the time is appropriate. There are guidelines provided by the Bishop’s office which the Rector and Committee are utilizing to guide their work as they plan for all the different things that will be needed, as well as training and facility preparation, as we look toward that day. We hope you will join us as we talk…

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June 11, 2020

Doing Better When We Know Better

By Christian Formation

St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington, DC, located immediately across from the White House, has been prominently featured in the news this week. Those of us who are members of the Episcopal Church (as I have been the entire sixty-four years of my life) took particular note. For those unfamiliar with the Episcopal Church, one of the things we are known for is the beautiful and poetic language of our Book of Common Prayer. There is one particular prayer from our prayerbook that has been on my mind this week. That prayer is the Prayer of Confession, and I pray it these days as a confession of my own failure to address the sin of racism more fully in my life. From my personal and professional experience, I know that an honest accounting of one’s shortcomings and blind spots is at the heart of authentic spirituality. This is a truth…

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June 7, 2020