Category

Christian Formation

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

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

Saint Thomas Book Club – Oct 2

By Christian Formation

Jesus Never Said, “Tolerate One Another, As I Tolerate You” The Saint Thomas Book Club will continue discussing Jim Wallis’ God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It. This semester we will wrestle with a challenging question: Are we truly loving as Christ did, or are we merely tolerating one another? In the next session, we will cover the remaining chapters of this book: October 2: Part VI: Spiritual Values and Social Change (343-374) Join our lively bunch at 10 am in the South Room. My hope for this semester is to challenge our notions of Christian love, as we explore topics of religion, politics, science, gender roles, and inter-faith dialog. Other selections include (not in exact order): The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions (Marcus J. Borg, N. T. Wright) Two great Bible scholars (one, a liberal; the other, a traditionalist) engage in debate,…

Read More
September 20, 2018

Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy

By Christian Formation, Upcoming Events

Join us Tuesday, May 15, as we wrap up our three-week Easter Book Study series Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy by Anne Lamott. In a world rife with conflict, Lamott invites us to seriously heed the scriptural imperative to “love mercy”. We will discover and discuss what mercy must look like in today’s world. Chicago Tribune Review- “Mercy is radical kindness,” Anne Lamott writes in her enthralling and heartening book, Hallelujah Anyway. It’s the permission you give others—and yourself—to forgive a debt, to absolve the unabsolvable, to let go of the judgment and pain that make life so difficult.” Full of Lamott’s trademark honesty, humor and forthrightness, Hallelujah Anyway is profound and caring, funny and wise—a hopeful book of hands-on spirituality. Order your copy today on Amazon >

Read More
April 27, 2018

Easter book series

By Christian Formation

Looking for a fresh look at the Christian faith? Or are you rediscovering Christ in your life? Then join Father Leo Loyola as he begins the Easter book discussion series with Rob Bell’s Velvet Elvis. The four-week Easter study began April 3rd. The last class will be held on Tuesday, April 24, from 10:00 – 11:15 am, in the South Room. Order your copy of Velvet Elvis from Amazon >

Read More
March 23, 2018

Lenten Study for St Thomas Book Club

By Christian Formation

Join us for our three-week Lenten Study on Nadia Bolz-Weber’s Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint. If you are: • dealing with serious burnout with church; • angry about the finger-wagging and divisiveness of so-called Christians; and/or • desperately seeking for a taste of God’s truth, hope and grace in the brokenness of this world. We began March 6 seeking to strip this faith down to its bare bones as we rediscover a God who loves the righteous as much as God loves the alcoholics, depressives, misfits, and cynics. The next meeting is on Tuesday, March 20th, at 10 am in the south room. Order Pastrix on Amazon >

Read More
March 9, 2018