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Greetings From
St. Thomas Episcopal Church
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St. Thomas has placed contemporary, artistic interpretations of The Stations of The Cross along the sidewalk on the corner of 22nd and Dexter. These installations are in place temporarily during Lent and Holy Week, and offer neighbors an opportunity to reflect on the traditional Stations while pondering an extra layer of artistic interpretation offered from a contemporary viewpoint.
Our stations this year honor the Civil Rights Movement and the Freedom Marches in Alabama and offer an interpretation of the Stations in the light of current events. The photographs document those journeys in which many suffered and died – and, indeed, continue their struggle even today – as a lens through which we can represent Jesus’ journey and suffering in relation to happenings closer to our own time and place.
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Update from The Priest-in-Charge Committee |
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Note: The Priest-in-Charge Committee is changing its name to the Congregational Vitality Committee to better reflect the work we are doing.
Hopefully you were able to read our update that was included in the Annual Report. Since our retreat at Cathedral Ridge in October we have been working diligently. We have met monthly. Our work has involved deepening our understanding about family and congregational systems, appreciative mindset and the impact that betrayal and abuse of power has on a congregation. We are using these frameworks to understand what drives the unhealthy patterns that have continued to surface in the life of our congregation. This understanding will help us to implement best practices to create and sustain a healthy system. We will be sharing these frameworks with the congregation when we begin our work together. In the meantime, if you would like to begin learning more about these on your own, please email Terri and she can send you an overview of Congregational System and Appreciative Mindset. You can also read Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times: Being Calm and Courageous No Matter What by Peter Steinke or Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue by Edwin H. Friedman. Understanding of Congregational System Theory has help us to connect many dots and understand our past in a different way.
We are seeking to understand our past so that we can do the necessary work of healing and reconciliation. This will allow us to leave the challenges of the past behind us and move forward into the fullness of who God is calling us to be. There are three touchstones we refer to often in our discussions. They are 1) what needs to be confessed (where were we complicit), 2) what needs to be healed (what wounds need to be tended) and 3) what needs to be celebrated (what do we want to carry forward into the future). We will invite each of you to reflect on these questions over the summer months.
We are learning a process that we are eager to share with the entire congregation. We expect to hold our first congregational meeting in late May or early June and then monthly thereafter until we complete the process. We hope each of you will commit to participating in this work. During this congregational process we will lay the groundwork for moving into a healthy and thriving future and decide together where the Spirit is calling us.
As a refresher, the committee members are Angela McClam. Angela Pleasants, Daniel Klawitter, Jamie Thrun, Kathi Atkins, Morgan Harrower, Karmen Carter and Terri+. Please know that you can bring your questions to anyone of us and we will respond or get further information from the Committee.
Kathi Atkins
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This is a super Lenten resource. I would highly recommend this SGCJ Lent Course to anyone in our community who has not been to the Holy Land, as I have not. The first video is truly a you-are there experience: for a short time I was really in Jerusalem, exploring the Desert, right along with the Dean!
~ Martha Larwenz
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Lenten Reading
During Lent I am reading this wonderful book The Holy Thursday Revolution by Dr. Beatrice Bruteau. I invite you to read it as well and join me in a conversation after Easter. ~ The Rev. Terri Hobart |
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As we strive to build a thriving sustainable church, we are looking for 2-3 members of our congregation to join us in this training sponsored by the Episcopal Church in Colorado. Please contact The Rev. Terri Hobart if you would be interested in serving our community in this capacity.
Project Resource teaches culture and systems change around financial development in the worldwide Episcopal Church. Project Resource provides teaching, focus, and adaptable resources to equip clergy and lay leaders to develop their year-round annual stewardship campaigns and to plan, ask for, and receive major gifts.
Project Resource:
- helps church teams to gather the best resources to transform all areas of stewardship and explore internal narratives of money while addressing societal shifts, organizational change, and leadership challenges.
- assists teams in interpreting the training curriculum, session by session, relative to their cultural and regional context.
- empowers participants to leave the conference with a working plan and measurable objectives tailored specifically for their own congregation.
Church Teams:
Project Resource trainings equip stewardship teams to plan and develop year-round stewardship ministries that can be replicated and adapted for years to come. An ideal church team would consist of at least 3 members including the clergyperson, stewardship ministry chair, and other committed lay leaders.
Church teams will complete the course with:
- A year-round stewardship calendar
- A step-by-step plan for implementing a 2021 fall annual campaign
- Hands-on training on how to make personal invitations
- Understanding generational and individual donor motivations
- Cultural and technological strategies in light of both the presidential election and the pandemic
The training sessions will be online for six consecutive Sundays, April 18 to May 23, Online via Zoom; 1:00 to 2:30 pm.
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During Lent, Cathedral Ridge invites you to a time of personal retreat as your schedule allows. March 17-21, we welcome Kirsten Wilson, a creative and engaging teacher who lives at the intersection of faith, story, and relationship. She offers a virtual Lenten retreat “Step into the Story: Jesus’ Passion and Resurrection” that guests may wish to experience to enhance their conversations.
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Support St. Thomas With Amazon Smile |
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Do you shop on Amazon? If so, Amazon Smile is a great way to support St. Thomas. If you designate St. Thomas as your preferred charity, Amazon will donate .05% of your purchases to St. Thomas Episcopal Church. |
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We Make Church Together
Many Hands Make Light Work
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Volunteer to Serve:
Clerk of the Vestry. Distribute Agendas, record attendance and votes, file minutes of meetings. Time commitment: 3 hours / month.
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