All Posts By

Laura Giffin

What is Foyer

By News, Upcoming Events

What is Foyer? What today we refer to as foyer dinner groups were born in the Diocese of Coventry, England, in the aftermath of the massive destruction at the height of the German bombings of London and Coventry during World War II. The fourteenth-century Cathedral of St. Michael (Coventry Cathedral) was destroyed in the nine-hour blitz of 14 November 1940, but a ministry of reconciliation evolved from that destruction.  Rather than dwell on the violent loss of his beloved place of worship, Provost Howard was inspired to found a ministry of reconciliation that he called the Community of the Cross and Nails. While sifting through the rubble of the cathedral, he gathered many of the old nails that had fallen among the ruins and was inspired to have them twisted together to form a cross. This cross of nails and the words “Father, Forgive” became the unifying symbol of the…

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May 28, 2021

The Visitation

By Rector's Corner

Dear Doubters of Great Faith, This is the final week of Fr. Christopher’s vacation, and I know we are all itching to have our dear rector with us again. As many of you know, this coming Sunday is Trinity Sunday. Trinity Sunday is the most recent principal feast of our Church Year, but even then, it has been around for more than just few centuries! Your seminarian has been given the daunting task of bringing this week’s sermon. It should be an interesting time for the lot of us—ha! I look forward to seeing all of you this week on our virtual and in-person platforms. Due to Sunday’s feast I will be devoting much of my sermon to the Holy Trinity. Consequently, I will not be preaching about one of my favorite days of the year, so I thought I might bring it to your attention in this week’s Doubter….

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May 28, 2021

Sermon for the day of Pentecost – Whitsunday

By Sermons

Dr. Stephen V. Sprinkle Sermon for the Day of Pentecost – Whitsunday Year B 5/23/21 Ezekiel 37: 1 – 14 Psalm 104: 25 – 35, 37b Acts 2: 1 – 21 John 15: 26 – 27, 16: 4b – 15   Shook Up and Shook Loose Acts 2:1-21; John 15: 26-27; 16:4b-15 Preaching texts: “‘And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.  Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved’” [Acts 2:19-21 NRSV]. Stephen V. Sprinkle Theologian-in-Residence The Episcopal Church of St. Thomas the Apostle Dallas, Texas Brite Divinity School Fort Worth, Texas Pentecost Sunday   Movement or monument?  At the core of these Pentecost lessons from Acts 2 and…

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May 28, 2021

Sermon for the Seventh Sunday of Easter

By Sermons

Christopher Thomas Sermon for the Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year B – 5/16/21 Acts 1:15-17, 21-26 Psalm 1 1 John 5:9-13 John 17:6-19 It started off a day like most any other. Safety.  Security.  Familiarity.  That which is known, my life, clung to me, even at that tender, early age, in such a way, that I somehow knew, trusted, that it had been present, was now present, and forever would be present, in every fiber of my innermost being.  It had always been; why should I think that would change? Trust. And then, she did something so different, so completely out of character, this person that I trusted, that I relied upon, so very intimately, that my world, my world-view, my life as I knew it, was changed forever, in an instant. SHE LEFT ME! Yes, it was, in fact, my first day of preschool, at the First Baptist Church…

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May 25, 2021

Serving our community with joy, without walls!

By Outreach, Rector's Corner

May 13, 2021 “…for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,  I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” Matthew 25:35-36, NRSV My Dear Doubters of Great Faith, Last evening, we held the first meeting of the newly constituted Mission/Outreach Committee at St. Thomas the Apostle, and I have to admit, I think we had a fun time coming together to ponder what outreach means to us, the Doubters of Great Faith, in 2021, on the heels of the great pandemic, racial reckoning, the economic downturn, hunger, immigration, and all the other looming issues that face our community, our country, and our world today.  How could any or all of that possibly be fun,…

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May 13, 2021

Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter

By Sermons

Stephen J. Waller Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year B – 5/9/21 Acts 10: 44 – 48 Psalm 98 1 John 5: 1 – 6 John 15: 9 – 17   IN THE NAME OF GOD… ABIDING IN OBEDIENCE… Let me begin this morning by telling you that I have no idea why the Rector asked me to preach a homily on what the world around us knows as “Mothers’ Day.”  I  have spent considerable time pondering his motives.  Suffice it to say, however, that I am about as maternal as a fence post.  None the less, here goes: “Obedience and abiding in love are indistinguishable in the life of Jesus.” They go together… Obedience is not a word that falls easily on our ears…especially if one is usually bent, as am I, on doing nearly anything to “not obey.”  Yet, today, Jesus tells us to obey in…

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May 13, 2021

The Air We Breathe

By Rector's Corner

May 6, 2021 Dear Doubters of Great Faith, I hope and pray that you continue to find your spiritual needs met in the two different forms of service offerings currently being made available at St. Thomas the Apostle.  We continue to see growth in the 10:30 am in-person worship service as more people feel comfortable venturing back onto the campus and into our sacred worship spaces.  I believe one reason for this comfort is that the Regathering Committee strives to be completely up-front and transparent about each and every detail, in advance, that worshipers will encounter so that nothing is a surprise when they arrive. One of the details that we have been clear and forthcoming about in our Parish Hall worship is that the doors to the hall would remain open for a good supply of fresh cross-ventilation.  That has worked well the first two Sundays of our in-person…

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May 6, 2021

Sermon for the Fifth Sunday of Easter

By Sermons

Christopher Thomas Sermon for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year B – 5/2/21 Acts 8:26-40 Psalm 22:24-30 1 John 4:7-21 John 15:1-8   “Pure Imagination” (Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley, 1971) Come with me, and you’ll be in a world of pure imagination. Take a look and you’ll see into your imagination. We’ll begin, with a spin, travelling in the world of God’s Creation. What we’ll see will defy explanation!   If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it. Anything you want to, do it. Want to change the world? There’s nothing to it!   Imaginarium – that sacred space into which we can step, if we choose, when we choose, where we choose, and how we choose, to see, and to feel, and to consider, again (like Henry so easily does!) the wonder, the awe, the majesty, the imagination of the God of our Creation.  For…

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May 6, 2021

Regathering

By News, Upcoming Events

ST. THOMAS THE APOSTLE IN-PERSON SERVICES  MAKE A SEATING RESERVATION WITH AN EMAIL TO pam@thedoubter.org. DATE: Sundays at 10:30 a.m. NOTE: The ZOOM service remains at 9:00 a.m. LOCATION: Parish Hall Outside doors have been left open throughout the service for the first three Sundays, but due to warmer temperatures, these doors will now be closed. During the months that the property was closed down due to COVID-19, the HVAC system throughout the entire property has been outfitted with advanced equipment for our safety. St. Thomas has installed air scrubbers on all of its HVAC units.  These air scrubber systems are many times more powerful than normal HVAC filtration systems at eliminating airborne pathogens. HVAC systems can capture dirt and dust from the air through their regular air filter inserts.  Meanwhile, the scrubbers using UV light can get rid of much more minute living organisms such as bacteria and viruses,…

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May 5, 2021