A further opportunity for Connecting at St. Thomas: Stephen Toon and Virginia Holleman are planning to go to the Monet: The Late Years exhibit at the Kimball Art Museum in Fort Worth on Wednesday, August 28. Everyone is invited to join us. We’ve heard it is a wonderful exhibit and would be a fun way to spend the day together. We will meet in the North Parking Lot at 9:30am and drive/caravan over. Contact Virginia Holleman for details.
I have always loved going to farmers markets, but the last two years, my weekly visits to buy freshly harvested vegetables have taken on a whole additional level of significance for me. That’s because the market vendor I am buying my freshly harvested, chemical-free vegetables from is Blue Heron Community Farm, a Wisconsin farm started two and half years ago by my hard working daughter and son-in-law. I have learned more about how to grow and choose healthy food in the last few years than I ever knew was possible. To walk the fields with the farmers who are growing your food and to see first hand how food can be grown without herbicides and pesticides (but with a lot of hard, manual labor) has helped me to connect with the source of my food in a way that no trip to a grocery store ever will. I recently read…
Join us for “Keep Christianity Weird: Christian Distinctiveness and the Episcopal Church” with the Rev. Dr. Will Willimon. The event is scheduled for September 14 from 10am-noon at St. Matthew’s Cathedral, 5100 Ross Avenue in Dallas. The Rev. Dr. Will Willimon is one of the best-known preachers in America, a prolific writer with 70 books to his name who is regarded as one of the most influential voices in mainline Protestantism. For 20 years dean of Duke Chapel and more recently a United Methodist bishop in North Alabama, Willimon now teaches the practice of Christian ministry at Duke and is a sought-after speaker and preacher. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear him speak on a topic that resonates with his best-seller Resident Aliens, co-authored with Stanley Hauerwas: “Keep Christianity Weird: Christian Distinctiveness and the Episcopal Church.” Willimon thinks followers of Jesus ought to be seen as weird, odd, even a…
Some of the most beautiful words ever written about love were authored two thousand years ago by the apostle Paul. The words appear in the Bible’s New Testament. If you have attended a Christian wedding this summer, you may have even heard his words read at the ceremony. No matter how many times any of us have heard or read these words, they are always a good reminder of how we are to live in relationship with others. I, for one, am always moved by them. Here are Paul’s words from his first letter to the Corinthians written almost two thousand years ago. Love is patient; love is kind. Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; It does not rejoice in wrong doing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes…
Isaiah 1:1, 10-20 Psalm 50:1-8, 23-24 Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 Luke 12:32-40 Year C Proper 14 St. Thomas the Apostle August 11, 2019 The Rev’d Virginia Holleman In the Name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. Can you imagine what my reception would be this morning if I walked in and started haranguing you the way Isaiah has in today’s Old Testament reading?!! Even if you deserved it! Basically God is telling the people of Judah – thru Isaiah – that he’s sick of them – he’s sick of their futile sacrifices of burnt offerings, he’s sick of the solemn assemblies, he’s sick of their festivals: I am weary of bearing them, God tells the people, and by implication, I am weary of bearing you too! By recalling Sodom and Gomorrah, God reminds them of his propensity for judgment and the threat of destruction when their sinfulness is as…
Join the Pillowcase Group on Saturday, Aug. 24 in the North Room from 9 am – 4 pm. This dedicated group has made over 1,000 pillowcases for their community partners in Dallas. Come join the fun…the more the merrier!
In the wake of two more mass shootings in fewer than 24 hours — El Paso and Dayton, this time — we call on Christians everywhere to be known by our love and to be the instruments of peace in a violent society. Giver of Life and Love, you created all people as one family and called us to live together in peace. Surround us with your love as we face again the tragedy of gun violence. For the children and adults who were killed in El Paso and Dayton, the many who were wounded and hospitalized, the traumatized, grieving survivors, and those known to you alone, Loving God Make us instruments of your peace. God of Righteousness, you have granted our leaders, especially Donald, our President, and Gregg, our Governor, the members of Congress and of our courts and legislatures, power and responsibility to protect us, and to uphold…
A core principle of centering practices, including mindfulness, meditation, and centering prayer, is focusing on the present moment. Concentrating on one’s breath, or a centering word is often helpful to keep one’s mind from wandering. I have had a mindfulness/centering prayer practice for many years, but in all honesty, it’s a challenge. Sometimes I am very disciplined in practicing daily, and sometimes not. And I always struggle with my attention getting hijacked by a myriad of thoughts and concerns. This summer, I have had the good fortune of spending some extended time with two of the most exceptional mindfulness teachers I have ever known. To be in their presence is to experience what it is like to be singularly focused on the present moment, free from all worries about the past or future. These two teachers are my five and three-year-old grandsons, and when I am with them, I am…
Our office mail always comes with a rubber band wrapped around it. About a year ago, I started saving the rubber bands and making them into a ball. Each day I add a new band to the ball, which doesn’t seem like much, but my ball has gradually grown to the size of a baseball. Given its composition, it is naturally bouncy, and I’m finding it makes for a fun diversion when I take a break. I once used a rubber band ball as an illustration for a children’s sermon on the importance of having a group of supportive people in our lives. I held up a few individual rubber bands and asked the kids what would happen if I tried to bounce them on the floor. They looked at me rather strangely when I threw a few individual bands down to the floor, and nothing happened. Then I took…
Watch the Texas Rangers vs. the Boston Red Socks on Wednesday, 9/25 at 7 PM. 2 Tickets and 1 Parking Pass available. Tickets are $15 each and Parking Pass is $18. If interested contact: Fred Ellis.
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