Respectfully submitted by Paul McCright, Clerk
St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church
August 5, 2021 My Dear Doubters of Great Faith, As of this writing, Judge Clay Jenkins has returned Dallas County’s COVID-19 threat status to red, the highest of its color-coded threat assessment system, indicating that there is a high risk of virus transmission in our community. Our county has not been at this level since March, as vaccines began to roll out, and it seemed that we were beginning to find our way out of this pandemic morass. The red level indicates a shelter-in-place order, as well as the mandating of face coverings, particularly in indoor settings. All of those generalized public health control measures have been taken from local authorities and centralized in the Texas governor’s office. This does not mean, however, that we do not have control, and for that matter, responsibility in how we live out our Christian faith in light of the public health of those…
Stephen V. Sprinkle Sermon for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 11, Year B-8/01/2021 Exodus 16: 2-4, 9 -15 Psalm 78: 23 – 29 Ephesians 4: 1 – 16 John 6: 24 – 35 “Here’s the Question No One Seems to Ask Any More” Then [the crowds who tracked Jesus down after he fed the 5,000] said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” – John 6:28 So, what did you want to be when you grew up—back in the day? I used to be asked that question when I was a kid. Didn’t you? So, how did you answer? And I have a further question for you then, the same one I put to myself: “Was your public answer the same as the secret answer you held in your heart for who you wanted to be?” John Claypool, the longtime Baptist pulpiteer who later…
Stephen Waller Sermon for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 11, Year B – 7/25/21 2 Samuel 11: 1-15 Psalm 14 Ephesians 3:14-21 John 6:1-21 David! All of us know many stories of David… We encounter him for the first time when he is busy with the sheep while Samuel is checking out his several brothers to figure out which one God wants him to anoint. When everyone else failed to meet God’s standard, Jesse, their father said, “the youngest is out taking care of the sheep.” So, young David was summoned…and there in the presence of his siblings (think of the trouble this would cause among siblings), Samuel pours holy oil on the lad, anointing him. We are told that he was ruddy and beautiful…young, ruddy and beautiful…is that what God looks for when selecting a leader? Not long afterwards, David learns that the armies of Israel are being…
July 29, 2021 I will, with God’s help! My Dear Doubters of Great Faith, I cannot imagine that there are five more important words contained anywhere in our beloved Book of Common Prayer than these five, “I will, with God’s help,” our response to the five life-changing, identity-altering questions of the baptismal covenant. For it is, after all, the baptismal covenant, that shapes and guides how we live out our Christian faith, responding to the broken and hurting world in which we find ourselves. I am beginning to realize that there is very little, if any, of this that I can do without God’s help! I have to be honest that this week’s update from the CDC regarding the on-going, continuing state of the COVID-19 pandemic has me in a bit of a funk. I really had hoped we had turned a corner, that more of this crisis was in…
