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St Thomas

“Activist Annie” featured in June 2019 Advocate

By News

Annie Jones has spent a lifetime on the frontline of disabled rights. This East Dallas resident has advocated for the rights of people with disabilities in public transportation since the 1980s. Annie Jones just wanted a nice dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse. But she wasn’t about to relegate herself to the back entrance, where the restaurant’s only wheelchair ramp was located. Instead, she and her friends sat outside the downtown eatery in their wheelchairs in front of folding tables, complete with a candle in the center. After their nondisabled friends went inside and ordered takeout, they ate their pasta outside in front of onlookers and police officers. The protest worked. A few weeks later, the Spaghetti Warehouse installed a wheelchair ramp at the front entrance thanks to supporters like Jones who fight for greater access for people with disabilities. Jones, an 84-year-old resident at Juliette Fowler Communities, has been a…

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Boy Erased Movie – June 11

By Christian Formation, Upcoming Events

As we conclude discussing our book selection for Holy Week/Easter, we invite you to join us Tuesday, June 11, at 10am in the South Room as we present the movie based on Gerrard Conley’s memoir Boy Erased. Jared Eamons (based on Conley), the son of a small-town Baptist pastor, must overcome the fallout after being outed as gay to his parents. His father and mother struggle to reconcile their love for their son with their beliefs. Fearing a loss of family, friends and community, Jared is pressured into attending a conversion therapy program. While there, Jared comes into conflict with its leader and begins his journey to finding his own voice and accepting his true self. Next book study for the St. Thomas Book Club: During the Season of Pentecost, we will begin discussing Barbara Brown Taylor’s newest book Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others, starting June…

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Our Need to Remember

By Christian Formation

This past weekend my wife and I were in Washington DC leading a training for people who will be using our Living Compass wellness resources in their communities. We had limited free time, but were determined to get to one particular memorial, one that had opened since our last visit to the DC area, the World War II Memorial. My father served in the Navy during World War II and at the age of twenty-one was on one of the first landing craft vehicles to land on Utah Beach on D-Day. In his later years (he died in 2011 at the age of eighty-eight) he often talked of his friends who died all around him that fateful day, wondering why he had survived and had lived a long life while their lives had been cut short. Visiting the World War II was, not surprisingly, an emotional experience for me, as…

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Holy Eucharist & Confirmation with the Bishop

By Christian Formation, Upcoming Events

The Bishop is coming! Please welcome our new Pastoral Bishop, Bishop Wayne Smith, as he makes his first visit to St. Thomas. Sunday, May 28, 2019 10:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist (Rite II) and Confirmation (one service only) 11:30 a.m. Reception and Teaching, followed by a Q&A with Bishop Wayne Smith Please keep our confirmands in your prayers as they prepare for this momentous day.

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Dallas Pride Festival – Fair Park – June 1

By Upcoming Events

Join us for the Dallas Pride Festival on Saturday, June 1, 2019. Fair Park is open to public from 11:00am-7:00pm (Gate 3, Fair Park, Parry and Washington, Dallas). Volunteers are needed for setup and booth duty, please sign-up in the Narthax. Time slots available: Set-up Fri, May 31 from 12pm-7pm. Festival is Sat, June 1, 11am-10pm. Tear-down is from 8pm-9pm. Add your name to a specific time slot or if you can’t stay for the whole time, set your own time on a blank line. For questions, contact Charles Mullins.

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Wow!

By Christian Formation

If you have ever been to a live orchestra performance, you know that there is always a profound pause when a performance of a musical piece concludes, just before the audience begins to applaud. The pause seems to be a collective opportunity for everyone to fully absorb the beauty they have just experienced before expressing their appreciation. Last week a nine-year-old boy created a magical moment at Boston Symphony Hall at the conclusion of the Handel and Haydn Society’s performance of Mozart’s “Masonic Funeral Music.” He filled the pause at the end of the performance with a spontaneous “Wow!” that was loud enough for the 2,500 people in attendance to hear. The audience laughed in recognition of his expressing precisely what they were all feeling, and then broke out in applause. This boy’s “Wow!” became a viral sensation as a recording of the moment spread across social media. If you…

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Listening Sunday – May 19

By News, Upcoming Events

On Sunday, May 19, the St. Thomas Search Committee will host “Listening Sunday”. This will be your opportunity to meet with members of the Search Committee following each service on that day. You will be asked for your views on the past, present, and future of our Parish. These sessions will take less than an hour each. Refreshments will be served after the 8:00 am service and lunch will be provided after the 10:00 am service. If any “8 o’clockers” want to come to the later session, they are encouraged to do so. Please only attend one of these sessions, of course.

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Craft Beer Tasting Event

By Upcoming Events

Join us on Saturday, June 8 at 7:00pm for our Beyond the Pew – Craft Beer Tasting event. Bring a friend and share the fun. Hosted at the home of Mike, Todd and Tyler. Bring your favorite craft beer with a complementary side dish. Call the parish office for more information: 214-352-0410.

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The Living Diet

By Christian Formation

A Christian Journey through Joyful Eating: A Christian approach to food and diet Combines personal, communal, and theological perspectives on eating and body image Food: can’t live with it or without it. We are bombarded with messages that the secret to health and weight loss can be unlocked with the right product or magic discipline, but we are getting neither thinner nor happier. Reports suggest that we are losing our battle with obesity, while the anxiety people experience in relationship with food increases. We are taught that bodies are fundamentally a problem to be solved, or worse, a war to be won, while a misguided worldview suggests that our food choices are of concern to us alone; an individual act of pleasure or consequences. Few resources speak to our food problem from a distinctly Christian perspective. Drawing on a rich assemblage of personal and collected stories grounded in the teachings…

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