All Posts By

St Thomas

We Are Christ’s Healing Hearts in This Community

By Christian Formation, Upcoming Events

On All Saints’ Sunday, November 4, we hope to begin a new tradition here at Saint Thomas. This new tradition I speak of is rooted in our motto “Helping Hands, Healing Hearts, Welcome All”. As baptized Christians, our role is to serve as Christ’s healing hearts in this community. By “healing hearts”, we live out our mission as Christ’s Church “to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.” As we pursue this mission, we pray and worship, proclaim the Gospel, and promote “justice, peace and love”. (BCP 855) You know of our efforts including our support of such ministry partners as The Gathering and Austin Street Center, our support of the LGBTQ community through efforts such as Lifewalk, as well as the welcoming of visitors to our Sunday worship services. But there is another way we can serve as Christ’s healing hearts: we can help…

Read More
October 31, 2018

St Thomas Book Club – Richard Rohr – Nov 6

By Christian Formation

A question was raised about our upcoming selection Richard Rohr’s From Wild Man to Wise Man: Reflection on Male Spirituality…is this book only for men? The short answer is “no”. It is inclusive to all, and I encourage you to come, regardless of gender. Join our lively bunch at 10 am, each Tuesday, in the South Room. Now, the more in-depth answer is this… In Rohr’s own words, there is no such thing as male spirituality, just spirituality. Thus a discussion on so-called “male spirituality” is not exclusive and is, in fact, an approach many women are more in touch with today than men. Rohr comments: Women have been long encouraged and even forced to work on their inner lives more than men in our culture… In general, women are ahead of men in recognizing the so-called “feminine” and “masculine” parts of themselves. Their inner journeys and outer scholarship have…

Read More
October 31, 2018

Proper 25B Sermon

By Rector's Corner, Sermons

Proper 25 B, October 28, 2018 Job 42: 1-6,10-17,Psalm 34 Hebrews 7: 23-28, Mark 10: 46-52 St Thomas the Apostle The Rev’d Joy A. Daley It was raining. Sound familiar? The rainy period I’m referring to was a while back in 2005. I was serving with a mission team of folks on a small island. We actually had 3 teams one was tending to the medical needs of people. Another team was doing construction I think that year we were putting toilets in the little hand made huts in the Colonia. The team I was serving with was the Christian Ed team trying to give kids a sense of Christ and his love. As I walked into the space where we would be having class with the children, I realized that the roof was leaking (That also might sound familiar) and I needed to do something before the children arrived….

Read More
October 28, 2018

Interfaith Academy – Nov 8

By Christian Formation, Upcoming Events

Join us for our third session, Thursday, Nov. 8 from 7- 8:30 pm at St. Thomas in the Parish Hall. The Interfaith Academy is an interfaith dialogue program where members of different faith groups come together and discuss different subjects in an effort to get acquainted with one another’s faith and culture. This is an effort to enable people of different faith and cultural backgrounds to engage in a deep and meaningful conversation. This enriching experience will not only enable participants to develop their interreligious and intercultural competency, but foster interfaith understanding and friendship among the society that we live in. At the monthly sessions, representative of each faith group will give a short (10-15 minutes) presentation on the topic of the month from their respective religious traditions and it will be followed by round table discussions. At the end of the table discussions, one person from each table will…

Read More
October 26, 2018

Stewardship Ingathering – Nov 11

By News

Our Annual Stewardship Ingathering will be on Sunday, November 11 at both services. It is that sacred time when we bring our pledge cards to the altar as a symbol of giving back to God from what God has generously given to us. If you have already turned in your pledge card, great! At the time of the procession bring a blank card to the altar as a symbol of your commitment. After the 10am service on that same day, we will host the recipients of our 2018 Outreach Grants. This year your Outreach Committee distributed funds to Promise House and to Legacy Counseling Center. Come and hear about how your generosity is transforming our community.

Read More
October 25, 2018

Thanksgiving Potluck – Nov. 18

By Upcoming Events

Everyone is invited to our annual Thanksgiving Potluck Lunch on Sunday, Nov. 18 in the Parish Hall, immediately following the 10am service. Look for the sign-up sheet in the Narthex. Again this year we are excited to welcome Honduras Threads who will have their beautiful embroidered merchandise for sale. Honduras Threads’ supports embroidery cooperatives in rural Honduran villages to enable the women to earn money to help themselves and their families.

Read More
October 25, 2018

Team Harvie

By News

Harvie and I have spent the better part of 2 years in training, preparing to be a Therapy Dog Team. We are so excited to announce that WE MADE IT! My friend and trainer Susan Geib is also certified as a handler. We will be working together as “Team Harvie.” We are very excited to be volunteering at Vogel Alcove, a school for homeless children, where we can play and entertain the children and staff. Another volunteer opportunity that fits us is, Our Friends Place, an Alzheimer’s daycare in Richardson. In this environment the clients sit in a circle in one big room. We go person to person for hugs and petting then we get in the middle of the circle and perform tricks. We love this new and rewarding ministry, and we look forward to years of being a Therapy Dog Team. – Lisa Cain and Harvie

Read More
October 18, 2018

Remembering Matthew Shepard – Oct 26

By News

Last week I had the opportunity to read a poem published by my cousin Ryan’s husband, Richie Hofman. Richie is an accomplished poet and I share this poem with his permission: Book of Statues Because I am a boy, the untouchability of beauty is my subject already, the book statues open in my lap, the middle of October, leaves foiling the wet ground in soft copper. “A statue must be beautiful from all sides,” Cellini wrote in 1558. When I close the book, the bodies touch. In the west, they are tying a boy to a fence and leaving him to die, his face unrecognizable behind a mask of blood. His body, icon of loss, growing meaningful against his will. As you may have surmised, the poem is about Matthew Shepard who died on October 12, 1998 after being beaten, murdered for who he was, a gay man. One of…

Read More
October 18, 2018

A Community Taizé Service – Oct 21

By Upcoming Events

Central Christian Church and The Episcopal Church of St. Thomas the Apostle will be hosting a Community Taizé Service this Sunday, October 21 at 6:o0 pm in the St. Thomas Parish Hall. Everyone is welcome to attend and experience the beauty of this service. Singing is one of the most important forms of prayer. A few words sung over and over again reinforce the meditative quality of the prayer. They express a basic reality of faith that can quickly be grasped by the intellect, and that gradually penetrates the heart and the whole being.

Read More
October 18, 2018

Proper 23B Sermon

By Sermons

Proper 23B, October 14, 2018 Job 23:1-9, 16-17; Psalm 22:1-15 Hebrews 4:12-16; Mark 10:17-31 St Thomas the Apostle The Rev’d Leo Loyola I last spoke of the Bible’s heavy bias towards the poor and disenfranchised. So what does it then say of the rich and wealthy? If Scripture favors the poor, does it, thus, frown upon them? If so, then, a lot of people in this Diocese, this state, and this country will be in for a surprise upon Jesus’s return. For the most part, if you happen to fall into this category you’re generally safe. Any real critique we do see against the rich are specifically against those who put their wealth before God. Any curse made is generally against those who wield unfair power and advantage over the poor and the powerless. For example, Mark 4 tells us that “the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of…

Read More
October 14, 2018