Sharing Our Anglican Tradition

Dear Friends,

I hope this finds you still soporific after your Thanksgiving festivities! Denise and I didn't have our young adults in the house so we invited colleagues and friends and ended up having a great time although I ate way too much!  

In the last couple of weeks, I've had several interesting and enlightening conversations with folks who've not had much experience with the Anglican tradition but are finding it to be a renewing resource in their lives now that they are connecting to it. I guess what that tells me is that the beauty of the Great Tradition as that comes to fruition in Anglican Liturgy and, for lack of a better phrase, the Anglican way of being in the world, is still helpful and attractive to people if it is made known. One of our common tasks/privileges in the next while is to share our way of being without apology when people ask us about our "approach" to understanding/experiencing God. Of course, in typically Anglican fashion, we do so, not from a sense of superiority, but from a position of people who are surprised by the gifts we have to share.  My prayer for you is that you will find, this fall, that your connection to our parish and our common prayer is renewed.  

Godly Play - On Sunday I announced that we're prayerfully planning to start a Children's Ministry at St. Thomas. This ministry is called Godly Play and uses elements of the Montessori approach to childhood development to help children experience the liturgical worship of the Great Tradition. The Rev. Denise Doerksen (my wonderful partner!) is willing to work with/mentor people at St. Thomas to get this ministry started.  Several people have expressed a willingness to help but we need a couple of more folks to help out. Don't worry, we're not looking for an "every Sunday" commitment but a once, or at most, twice-a-month commitment. Please chat with me or Rev. Denise (on one of the Sundays she's with us) if you want to know more. Starting children's ministry at St. Thomas is going to be important if we are to continue our redevelopment as a congregation.

Events

Oct 12 (today) -- 7 pm -- The next installment of our Book Study is based on N. T. Wright's book Broken Signposts: How Christianity Makes Sense of the World. Today's topic is Chapter 5 Freedom. Here is the Zoom link to join the study: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87902193406?pwd=MHhzaUlXTUpMd2FpUnZWeEtRdXVTUT09