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St Thomas

Sermon for Sixth Sunday of Easter

By Rector's Corner, Sermons

Christopher Thomas Sermon for Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year A – 5/19/20 Acts 17:22-31 Psalm 66:7-18 1 Peter 3:13-22 John 14:15-21 When you’re weary, feeling small When tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all I’m on your side, oh, when times get rough And friends just can’t be found Like a bridge over troubled water I will lay me down – Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon & Garfunkel Troubled. Troubled. Troubled. Paul Simon penned those iconic words, as Simon & Garfunkel’s anthem of angst took to the airwaves and pretty much summed up the feelings of a nation, maybe even a world, that was, “troubled,” to say the least. The year was 1970, and the world was on the edge of crises, the Vietnam War, raging all around, politics deeply dividing nations, peoples, communities, friends, families. Sound familiar? To say that things were “troubled” would have been…

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May 19, 2020

Let’s Talk Things Out

By Christian Formation

Two years ago, this month, there was something quite positive happening that also captured global attention. Several hundred million people from around the world tuned in to watch the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Megan Markle. And while they have also been in the news quite a bit since their wedding day, I actually want to focus in this column on a story about Prince Harry that first aired in the spring of 2017, a year before his wedding. In a very candid interview, Prince Harry talked honestly about his mental health struggles as a young man. I wrote a column about this interview at the time that it was aired, and have now decided it would be worth repeating some of that column. The reason is because so many people are currently facing mental health challenges due to the stress and loss that they are feeling in this…

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May 16, 2020

Basics of the Faith/Inquirer’s Class

By Christian Formation

Your faithful clergy are hard at work preparing a most unusual on-line “Basics of the Faith/Inquirer’s Class” to deepen our spiritual journey together and also to prepare those who wish to join with St. Thomas the Apostle and the Episcopal Church in a more formal way, through confirmation, reception, or reaffirmation. The class is open to all, and especially geared to those who may be new or have been visiting, and want to learn more about our worshipping community. We will be using John Westerhoff’s text, “A People Called Episcopalians: A Brief Introduction to Our Peculiar Way of Life.” We’ll explore five main areas of Episcopal life – identity, authority, spirituality, temperament, and polity. (And we will throw in a little St. Thomas history for good measure!) The text is available on Amazon.com or from Church Publishing. We’ll meet Wednesday evenings June 3 – July 8, 6:15 pm – 7:30…

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May 14, 2020

The Strangest of Journeys

By Rector's Corner

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” – Hebrews 11:1, NRSV I feel like you and I, dear Doubters of Great Faith, are on the strangest of journeys, this path we’ve been led into, not of our own choosing, but borne of necessity, at the most peculiar of times, in the very infancy of our relationship together. It’s the time when Rector and congregation, like partners who have wed, learn through acts, and signs, and words, and deeds, what trust, and hope, and, indeed, faith, and “faith-full-ness” (to be filled with faith) look like. I refer to you as “Doubters of Great Faith” for a reason. To my way of thinking, that is a sign and symbol of your great courage to live in the place of tension between that which you can see, that which seems so obvious, and that which…

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May 14, 2020

Doubters’ Happy Hour – May 19

By Upcoming Events

Please join the Doubter community for our next Happy Hour, May 19 at 6 pm, as we welcome Dr. Terry Parsons, Ph.D., D.Min. discussing “Pandemic PTSD.” As we move into our ninth week of social-distancing, mask-wearing, and isolation, we’ll have a frank conversation with Dr. Parsons about what he’s beginning to see in terms of the potential longer-ranging impacts of psychological stress and trauma related to the COVID-19 crisis. Terry earned a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and a Doctorate in Pastoral Care and Counseling, and draws from over thirty years of experience as a therapist, hospital chaplain and ordained United Methodist pastor. Terry holds teaching and consulting positions at Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology, and is widely sought after for his seminars and retreats for couples based on his book, The Intimacy Jungle. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Terry presents two to three Zoom seminars each week for church…

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May 14, 2020

Sermon for the Fifth Sunday of Easter

By Sermons

A Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Easter May 10, 2020 The Episcopal Church of St. Thomas the Apostle Dallas, Texas Stephen V. Sprinkle, Theologian-in-Residence For Jesus’ Sake I thank Fr. Christopher and the community of St. Thomas the Apostle for the courtesy of the pulpit, and for the opportunity to preach. It is an honor to serve as a Theologian-in-Residence for this church. What is it that motivates Christians today, or more precisely for an embodied religion such as ours, Who is it who motivates Christians? I concede that some, perhaps many, who call themselves “Christians” do so at the risk of false advertising, but join me this morning in granting all of us the benefit of the doubt. After all, one of the central tenets of this faith is called, “grace.” Who is this One around whom the earliest believers gathered? After whose death on the cross and…

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May 10, 2020

When a Wise Woman Speaks

By Christian Formation

My annual sharing of the favorite “Momisms” that readers have shared with me has a unique focus this year. I have curated what was sent to me and am sharing the words that are especially relevant to navigating one’s way through a pandemic. What I enjoy most about collecting these words of wisdom from mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and other women in our lives are the stories that readers include about the women they are quoting. I hear stories of women who passed years ago and of ones who have died recently. I hear stories of kind mothers and some who were not. And I hear of stories of fun times and hard ones as well. Quite a few of you shared stories this year of adversity that was overcome, which made what was shared especially relevant to what we are experiencing today. Mother’s Day can be an emotional time. Many…

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May 9, 2020

Doubters’ Happy Hour – May 12

By Upcoming Events

Please join the Doubter community for our next Happy Hour, May 12 at 6 pm, as we welcome the Reverend Susan A. Slaughter, priest resident in the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth. Mother Susan has the distinction of being the first female to be ordained to the priesthood in Fort Worth, shortly after the split of the diocese and the reconstitution of the Episcopal Church in Fort Worth in 2008. Susan has a fascinating “call story,” her own journey through conversion to social justice and activism. It promises to be a fascinating conversation!

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May 7, 2020

7th-Inning Stretch

By Rector's Corner

“…those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” – Isaiah 40:31, NRSV I didn’t grow up a sports fan. I avoided sports at all possible cost! I was the nerdy kid who found his sense of “place” in music, and in Church (big C). And so, I missed out on all the wonderful life lessons that sports offer, about being a part of a team, working together toward a common goal, about strategy, and purpose, about sacrifice for the common good, healthy competition, and about, well, waiting. And so, I’ve surprised myself in the last few years as I have developed a taste for what I once considered a great bore, America’s pastime, baseball; and more specifically, Houston Astros baseball! One of the things that I know…

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May 7, 2020