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St Thomas

Episcopal Church leaders support Federal employment protections for LGBTQ people

By News

Presiding Bishop Curry, President Jennings are lead signers on brief sent to Supreme Court Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry and President of the House of Deputies the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings are the lead signers of a friend of the court brief filed today with the Supreme Court of the United States. In the brief, they join more than 720 interfaith clergy and faith leaders in declaring that their religious beliefs compel them to support equal protection under the law for LGBTQ people who face employment discrimination. The brief, which supports plaintiffs in three cases that ask the court to rule on whether or not to roll back protections for LGBTQ people under the Civil Rights Act, is consistent with actions taken by the General Convention of The Episcopal Church in 1976, 2009, and 2018. Curry and Jennings, who were also the lead signers on a 2017 friend of the…

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July 4, 2019

July 4th Holiday Schedule

By News

Holiday Schedule for the week of July 4th: Monday, July 1 – Office will be open from 8:00 am – 4:00 pm Tuesday, July 2 – Office will be open from 8:00 am – 4:00 pm. The Doubter submission deadline is 11:00 am. The Doubter will go out at Noon. Wednesday, July 3 – Abbreviated phone coverage by volunteer Thursday, July 4 – Office will be CLOSED Friday, July 5 – Abbreviated phone coverage by volunteer

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June 26, 2019

Senior Safety Summit

By Upcoming Events

Please join the City of Dallas’ Senior Services, the Dallas Police Department and AARP Texas for an information-packed workshop. Learn about some of the dangers older adults face and how to protect yourself. Our experts will provide you with the information and techniques to help keep yourself safe. Space is limited so register early! Lunch is included with registration. RSVP is required, call: 1-877-926-8300 or register online: aarp.cvent.com/SSS_2K19 Hoarding | Financial Exploitation | Home and Personal Safety Thursday, June 27, 2019 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM (9:00 a.m. registration, 9:30 a.m. start) Lakewest YMCA 3737 Goldman Street Dallas, Texas 75212

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June 13, 2019

Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others

By Christian Formation

During the Season of Pentecost, the St. Thomas Book Club will begin discussing Barbara Brown Taylor’s newest book Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others, starting June 18. In Holy Envy, Taylor contemplates the myriad ways other people and traditions encounter the Transcendent, both by digging deeper into those traditions herself and by seeing them through her students’ eyes as she sets off with them on field trips to monasteries, temples, and mosques. Troubled and inspired by what she learns, Taylor returns to her own tradition for guidance, finding new meaning in old teachings that have too often been used to exclude religious strangers instead of embracing the divine challenges they present. Re-imagining some central stories from the religion she knows best, she takes heart in how often God chooses outsiders to teach insiders how out-of-bounds God really is. Throughout Holy Envy, Taylor weaves together stories from the classroom with reflections…

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June 13, 2019

Presiding Bishop’s Pride Month statement honors LGBTQ Episcopalians

By News

Jesus said: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35) In my years of ministry, I have personally seen and been blessed by countless LGBTQ sisters, brothers and siblings. Dear friends, the church has in like manner been blessed by you. Together with many others you are faithful followers of Jesus of Nazareth and his way of love. You have helped the church to be truly catholic, universal, a house of prayer for all people. You have helped the church to truly be a reflection of the beloved community of God. You have helped the church to authentically be a branch of the Jesus movement in our time. Your ministries to and with this church are…

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June 12, 2019

“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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June 5, 2019

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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May 29, 2019

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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May 24, 2019