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St Thomas

Good Friday Offering

By News, Outreach

Dear Brothers and Sisters, I greet you in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am writing to you as we look ahead to Holy Week, with its focus on our Lord’s sacrificial offering of love on the cross. The Good Friday Offering of our Church is one way to help connect the love of Christ on the cross with our support of the ongoing ministry of love and compassion carried out by our Anglican sisters and brothers throughout the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East. Whether funding a hospital in Gaza or the West Bank, or an eye clinic in Aden, or women’s programs, or summer camps and leadership training for young people, the Good Friday Offering is making a difference in the lives of so many. I have witnessed this Jesus-inspired compassion and commitment at work with my own eyes. I believe our partnership…

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April 4, 2019

Easter Vigil Baptism – April 20

By Upcoming Events

On April 20, Saint Thomas will hold a baptism service during its 8pm Easter Vigil service. As baptized Christians, we are to take our place in the “life, worship and governance of the Church”. Our duty is to “work, pray, and give for the spread of the kingdom of God.” Thus, we are compelled to invite and welcome all to know, to experience and to share in the Christian life we lead (BCP 855-6). One way we invite others to experience the life of Christ is through the sacrament of baptism. By inviting family members or those in the community to take their first step in their walk with Christ, we carry out Christ’s work of reconciliation, while welcoming newcomers to our Saint Thomas community. For those interested in baptism, we will have a one-hour Introductory class on baptism following the 10am service on Palm Sunday, April 14 in the…

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April 4, 2019

St Thomas Book Club-A Different Kind of Resurrection Story

By Christian Formation

During Holy Week and Easter, the Saint Thomas Book Club will discuss Boy Erased: A Memoir of Identity, Faith and Family by Garrard Conley. Boy Erased tells Conley’s story of confronting and accepting his sexuality and the conversion program his religious parents imposed upon him. As a young man, Conley grew up the son of a Baptist pastor and deeply embedded in church life on small-town Arkansas. When he was 19, he was outed to his parents, and was forced to make a life-changing decision: either agree to attend a church-supported conversion therapy program that promised to “cure” him of homosexuality; or risk losing family, friends, and the God he had prayed to every day of his life. By confronting his buried past and the burden of a life lived in shadow, Garrard traces the complex relationships among family, faith, and community. At times heart-breaking, at times triumphant, this memoir…

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April 4, 2019

Confirmation – May 26

By Christian Formation, Upcoming Events

Are you seeking for something more out of your spiritual life? If so, then take the next step in your spiritual journey here at St. Thomas: Confirmation. Confirmation is a sacramental rite in which candidates “express a mature commitment to Christ, and receive strength from the Holy Spirit through prayer and the laying on of hands by a bishop” (BCP, p. 860). It is both a public affirmation of your faith and a public commitment to live up to the responsibilities of your baptism. Consider it a way for you to stand before God and St. Thomas to say, “With God’s help, I will better serve God and God’s people.” On Sunday, May 26, Bishop Wayne Smith will confirm potential candidates during our 10am service. If interested, sign up at the back table for our upcoming three-week Confirmation classes. During our time together, you will: Understand the basics of Christianity…

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March 28, 2019

Lenten Conversations with Henri Nouwen

By Christian Formation, Upcoming Events

The late Catholic priest Henri Nouwen posed the question back in 1972: What does it mean to minister in contemporary society? Phrased another way, how can we at Saint Thomas find relevance and effectiveness in today’s dislocated world? Father Nouwen said of the ministering roles of both laity and clergy: For all ministers are called to recognize the sufferings of their time in their own hearts, and make to that recognition the starting point of their service. Whether we try to enter into a dislocated world, relate to a convulsive generation, or speak to a dying person, our service will not be perceived as authentic unless it comes from a heart wounded by the suffering about which we speak. If you have a heart for God and people, and feel disillusioned by traditional practices of Christian outreach that seem alienating and ineffective, join us for a conversation with Father Nouwen,…

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February 28, 2019

The Tree of Life – Kess Frey

By Upcoming Events

Contemplative Outreach of Dallas/Fort Worth presents “The Tree of Life”, with featured speaker Kess Frey on Saturday, March 23 from 9:30am-3:00pm (sign-in begins at 9:00am) at St Thomas’s Parish Hall. Early Registration: $30/Person or $20/Student. (Early Registration & payment must be received by March 15, 2019 – After deadline: $35/Person) Bring a bag lunch for the mid-day break. Morning Refreshments, Coffee & Bottled Water Included. Advance reservations are encouraged. Space is limited and available on a first come, first serve basis. All reservations are subject to confirmation. The Qabalistic Tree of Life comes to us from “the secret wisdom of Israel” that was known to Jesus and the Old Testament prophets. It is a map of consciousness, God’s creation, and the individual soul. As such, this mystical Tree may serve as a model of the inner work of healing and transformation the divine presence and action carries out in us…

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February 21, 2019

Lenten Services & Events

By Upcoming Events

ASH WEDNESDAY • MAR 6 7:00am-9:00am | ASHES-TO-GO (near Inwood entrance) 12 NOON | NOONDAY EUCHARIST (Blessing and distribution of ashes) 6:00pm | EVENING EUCHARIST (Blessing and distribution of ashes) 6:30pm-7:15pm | BLESSING & DISTRIBUTION OF ASHES (In the Church) WEDNESDAYS IN LENT • MAR 13 – APR 10 6:00pm | WEDNESDAY EUCHARIST Followed by a community dinner and Lenten Conversations with Henri Nouwen (In the Church and Parish Hall)

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February 21, 2019

How Can I Serve Others?

By Outreach

The Angels Ministry is a ministry of Saint Thomas created to provide short-term support to parishioners recuperating at home or in need of temporary help due to health issues in performing normal tasks. Services provided by volunteers include: Meals – one per day for a finite period of time Transportation to appointments -maximum of four hours Sitting with parishioner to talk, read to them, watch a movie, etc. Short-term (1 to 4 hours) respite care for primary caregiver Assist with grocery shopping (either with them or for them) Visit during hospital or rehab stays If you are interested in volunteering or requesting this type of assistance, please contact the church office.

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February 13, 2019

St Thomas Book Club – Race Matters by Cornel West

By Christian Formation, Upcoming Events

Beginning Feb. 19, the next selection of the Saint Thomas Book Club is Cornel West’s groundbreaking classic on race in America and national best-seller, Race Matters. First published in 1993 on the one-year anniversary of the L.A. riots, Race Matters contains West’s most powerful essays on the issues relevant to black Americans today: despair, black conservatism, black-Jewish relations, myths about black sexuality, the crisis in leadership in the black community, and the legacy of Malcolm X. And the insights that he brings to these complicated problems remain fresh, exciting, creative, and compassionate. Now more than ever, Race Matters is a book for all Americans, as it helps us to build a genuine multiracial democracy in the new millennium. The Saint Thomas Book Club meets each Tuesday at 10am in the South Room.

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February 13, 2019