September 9, 2021 “Always we begin again.” Benedict Dear Doubters of Great Faith, Thankfully, by God’s great grace, we are constantly and consistently in the ever ongoing process of “beginning again.” With each new day, we’re gifted fresh opportunity to meet God in that grace, to rise to new levels, no matter what prior days have held. Being together is, I would venture to guess, one of THE most important aspects of the Christian identity. It is how our identity is shaped and formed and grown and strengthened. Being together is how we know we are a part of the body of Jesus Christ. Being together is how we celebrate and worship our glorious, merciful creator God. Being together is how we breathe Holy Spirit life into each other, and into the world. I have heard the statistic quoted that in the current age, many Christians consider themselves “faithful” attenders…
Allen M. Junek Year B: Proper 18 The 15th Sunday after Pentecost The Episcopal Church of St. Thomas the Apostle, Dallas, TX 5 September 2021 In the name of our loving, liberating, and life-giving God: + Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. “Do not rob the poor nor crush the afflicted for God pleads their cause and lays waste the lives of those who plunder them.” So says the Book of Proverbs, traditionally said to have been written by none other than Solomon, both son of David and king of Israel, and counted the wisest among men. God pleads the cause of the poor. God favors the poor. The poor are precious to God. Does God play favorites? Isn’t God supposed to be the God of everyone? Isn’t ours the God of all people? From today’s passage, Proverbs also acknowledges that, “The rich and the poor have this in…
Dear Co-conspirators in the Gospel, If you attended any of our worship offerings last week, then you heard Father Christopher mention an upcoming “Basics of the Faith” or “Episcopal 101” class. Mark your calendars! Our first class will be Wednesday, September 29th at 6:00pm and will continue weekly until November 3rd. Classes will meet in-person the South Room and there will be a virtual option as well. All are welcome! While the Episcopal Church recognizes that all baptized with water in the Name of the Triune God are full members of Christ’s one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church, we also recognize the need to make this faith our own. After this period of six weeks, participants may choose to be confirmed, received, or reaffirm their baptismal vows: Confirmation: the sacramental rite by which baptized Christians make a mature, public affirmation of faith and commitment to the responsibilities of their baptism…
Christopher Thomas Sermon for 14th Sunday after Pentecost, Year B, Proper 17 – 8/29/21 Song of Solomon 2:8-13 Psalm 45:1-2, 7-10 James 1:17-27 Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 “Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith:” “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” The words of Jesus, referred to as his “Great Commandment,” are so important that it makes all four Gospel texts. These words are a part of the opening sentences of the Rite I service of Holy Eucharist in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. Although I have vague memories of the 1928 prayer book that preceded it, as a cradle Episcopalian, most of…
