Vestry member Kathy Carson has come up with a terrific idea to make good use of some of our newfound free time and space. It comes from her quilting group. “Marcia Wood, group leader, suggested that the participants make something that reflects our understanding or experience of life with the Coronavirus. We’re making 8″ squares from our imagination or something we’ve found on-line. Once we reconvene our meetings, we will show our work. Someone may take all the squares and combine them into a quilt. An end product is not decided. I may frame mine!” “The blue represents people either in clusters (families, apartment buildings, neighborhoods) and individuals. The white lines show the multiple ways we network and are interconnected. The red represents our new companion, COVID-19. The yellow lines are containment. I got the idea from a PBS program about networking and connectivity.” Kathy would love for us to…
My Dear People of St. Thomas, Good morning beloved Doubters! I am writing this from the living room of the Rectory! I hope that you too are safely tucked into your home, heeding the precautions of our civic and government leaders who are urging us to stay put, to the very best of our ability, unless movement is absolutely necessary. As I have said countless times before, these are challenging times for the Church, because our natural response as the body of Christ, when faced with struggle or strife, is to come together. When we gather, we are reminded that God is with us. We see in each other the face of our God, who we know in our hearts is always with us. And it is a gentle, sweet reminder of that presence. That is what I miss when I cannot see your faces. I long so deeply to…
My Dear People of St. Thomas, It is after much prayerful consideration that your wardens and I have made the decision to cancel all in-person services and events at St. Thomas the Apostle for the next two weeks. This may seem drastic to some, but we (and obviously many others) believe that we really do need to take a physical “time-out” to be able to allow the COVID-19 virus the opportunity to play itself out to the conclusion that it is going to do. While we have not yet had a case tied to St. Thomas the Apostle, we simply cannot, must not risk our vulnerable population to this unknown. Read Bishop Sumner’s updated letter regarding the Coronavirus > For this two week period, we will continue to live-stream services from St. Thomas the Apostle. If you are connected to me on Facebook, you will be able to see that…
The Rt. Rev. Dr. George R. Sumner, Bishop, Diocese of Dallas, released an updated Pastoral Directive today outlining additional changes due to growing Coronavirus concerns. In a continued effort to protect everyone, especially the vulnerable, the following precautions are recommended. If you have any questions or concerns, please email The Rev’d Christopher Blake Thomas, Rector at: christopher@thedoubter.org Read Bishop Sumner’s updated letter regarding the Coronavirus >
My Dear People of St. Thomas, How can it be that we are already three weeks into our Lenten journey toward the Cross? It seems only yesterday that we were marking our foreheads with ashes and preparing to chant the Great Litany in procession. And yet, here we are. Journeys have a funny way of doing that to us. We get so enamored of objects and events and things along the way, and before we know it, we’re out in the middle of deep, often uncharted waters, with little sign of either where we’ve come, or where we’re going. It can be frightening and disorienting. Life can be frightening, particularly when we can’t touch from where we’ve come, or where we are going. And we find ourselves in the midst of the unknown – the uncharted waters of the COVID-19 virus. Every day, things seem to be a little scarier,…
My Dear People of St. Thomas, It’s hard to believe that just two short weeks ago, we were at the end of Epiphany, celebrating the Feast of the Transfiguration, in which Peter and James and John bear witness to the transformative power of Jesus, and by this witness, are themselves transformed. Their own transfiguration moment comes, not so much from what they see and hear, which inspires fear, but in the transformative, healing touch of Jesus, which drives out their fear and anxiety. It was, in fact, that healing touch that I believe transformed the three that day, and that healing touch that continues to be where transformation occurs. Touch conveys relationship, and relationship is healing and restorative and transformational. The community of St. Thomas the Apostle has a long, rich, storied history of using the transformative nature of touch to heal and restore lives to communion, to relationship with…
The Rt. Rev. Dr. George R. Sumner, Bishop, Diocese of Dallas, released the following Pastoral Directive yesterday outlining changes in our weekly church services due to Coronavirus concerns. While there are no reported cases in the Dallas area, like the Flu, this virus is highly contagious. So in an effort to protect everyone, especially the vulnerable, the following precautions will go into effect immediately. If you have any questions or concerns, please email The Rev’d Christopher Blake Thomas, Rector at: christopher@thedoubter.org Read full letter regarding the Coronavirus >
Openly called — The Rev. Christopher Thomas becomes first rector hired at St. Thomas the Apostle as an openly-gay man. When Christopher Thomas was hired as the new rector at St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church in Oak Lawn, he was not the church’s first gay pastor, but he was its first pastor who was openly gay when he was called as pastor. Thomas credits that to last year’s compromise for churches in dioceses headed by bishops who don’t approve of same-sex marriage, such as the Dallas diocese. But that wasn’t Thomas’ only first. When he was ordained in Fort Worth, right after that diocese split over the issue of welcoming LGBT rectors and same-sex marriage, he was that diocese’s first openly gay pastor. Thomas grew up in Sugarland outside Houston and spent part of his professional life in Houston and New York. In Dallas, he’s probably best known for…
As the season of Lent approaches, Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael Curry invites Episcopalians and people of faith to turn and pray on behalf of our nation: “In times of great national concern and urgency, people of faith have returned to ancient practices of repentance, prayer and fasting as ways of interceding with God on behalf of their nation and the world. This is such a moment for us in the United States. “On Ash Wednesday I will join with other Christian leaders observing this Lent as a season of prayer, fasting and repentance on behalf of our nation, with continued fasting each Wednesday until the Wednesday before Advent begins. “Our appeal comes during a time of profound division and genuine crisis of national character. This is not a matter of party or partisanship, but of deep concern for the soul of America. “The group of religious “Elders” who share…
2020 is way more than an election year! The Episcopal Church is an official partner for the 2020 Census with the U.S. Census Bureau! Watch Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry’s video explaining why the U.S. census is important and why you should get involved. For information on how to engage, including our census engagement toolkit, visit https://episcopalchurch.org/OGR/civic-engagement As an official partner, The Episcopal Church can help make the count as accurate as possible. 132 federal programs plus private businesses, state, and local initiatives depend on Census data for effective distribution of resources, while congressional seats are apportioned according to the Census count. Religious denominations and institutions are well-placed to reach historically hard-to-count populations, a critical goal of the Census Bureau. Research shows that someone is more likely to take the census if they hear about it from someone they trust.