SAVE THE DATE

• October 25, 4:00 - 7:00 p.m., English Learning Center Open House, Students from around the world will share their personal stories, food, music, and dance. Please bring your family and friends to support the English Learning Center’s vision to empower individuals through language and more.
• October 26 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., Forum on White Christian Nationalism, Dr. Jemar Tisby
• November 2, 10:00 - 2:00 All Souls Retreat: Death and Dying10:00 - 2:00. St. Thomas Episcopal Church followed by an All Souls service remembering all those whom we love but see no longer at 3:00 p.m.
• November 3, The Feast of All Saints
• November 5, Election Day - Don't forget to vote and ensure all your friends and families in swing states have a plan to vote.
• November 6, 7:00 p.m. Vigil for Hope
• November 28, 2024, 4:00 Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service, Temple Sinai, 3509 S Glencoe St., 80237

Building Community, Deepening Relationships

The Vestry is very grateful to everyone who participated in our survey on building community. In the coming week we will be sending emails to those of you who expressed interest in coordinating or joining various activities. The emails will contain everyone's contact information so that you can coordinate with each other to organize your activities. Please contact terri@saintthomasdenver.org if you need support setting up a ZOOM or hybrid meeting, publishing information in the newsletter or other forms of support. You may also make use of the information board in the Great Hall to advertise your groups events or share photos of your activities.

We also appreciated your comments and will review them for further follow up.

Faith Based Voter Guides

Guest Preacher: The Rev. Terrance Carrol

Our Community Is Not A Tribe

October 29, 2024

There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. ~ Galatians 3:28

The Rev. Terrance D. Carroll will join us on Sunday October 29, 2024 to close out our sermon series on faith and democracy.

The Rev. Terrance D. Carroll, Esq. was the 54th Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives.  He is the only African-American to have served as Speaker of the Colorado House.  Terrance has been listed by 5280 Magazine as one of the "50 Most Influential People in Denver," Terrance's entry noted his reputation as a skillful dealmaker, stating that he is a "critical and respected negotiator."  

Currently, Terrance is an attorney with Sherman and Howard, leading the firm’s government and political law practice. He is also an opinion columnist for the Denver Post and a Distinguished Guest Lecturer in the Master of Public Policy program at the University of Redlands in California.

Additionally, the Denver Business Journal has listed Terrance as a Power Book Industry Leader in Law.  He is an alum of the Marshall Memorial Fellowship of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.  He previously served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. 

Terrance is a graduate of the Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law, and holds a Master of Divinity degree from the Iliff School of Theology in Denver.  He is an ordained minister in the American Baptist Churches-USA and the Progressive National Baptist Church.

Faith Communities Against

White Christian Nationalism

October 26, 2024, 9:00 - 12:00

Dr. Jemar Tisby

The Spirit of Justice

Session 1: Who We Must Be - Often our discussions of justice focus on external realities we desire to change, but we may lose sight of the inner changes that must take place as well. This session will highlight four virtues that characterize people who engage in justice work. 

Session 2: Red and Blue and Black and White- While we must focus on specific policies and personnel in each election, our politics is starkly divided along racial lines. There's a history and a theology connected to this division. This session explains why people of different races and ethnicities vote the way they do.

Vigil for Hope

November 6, 2024, 7:00 p.m.

What Is A Family Sunday?

Family Sundays are an opportunity for St. Thomas Kids to learn (not perform!) key roles in a church service. 

Families intentionally prepare for weeks to take part in Family Sunday service. Each child chooses the role they’d like to learn during the service, and then parents and children’s ministry leaders support each child’s learning experience. 

Preparation for Family Sunday is a thorough and thoughtful process. For example, the children learn which liturgical season we are in, and dress accordingly. This month, the children all wore green to reflect the growing season we are in. 

On Family Sunday, children focus much more on the why than the what; during our huddle before Family Sunday service, we consider things like why we have collective readings, why we take the bread and wine from the back of the church to the front, why we present the offering rather than simply collect it, why we pray together as a group, and why we sing a song before we dismiss rather than just heading home. 

While these Sunday morning plot points might feel rote to us adults, they are new to our children, and we encourage our children to approach them with their fresh, open, and curious hearts.

We discuss that we might feel nervous during our Family Sunday roles, and then place our nervousness in a bowl for a trusted adult to hold onto during the service. We share excitement about other adults hearing how we learn our stories each Sunday, and how it feels to wonder about our stories. We consider ways to support each other during the service, sharing high fives and hugs after each child’s part. 

We do not worry about messing something up, because we are learning. 

The children’s ministry and families are grateful for the opportunity for our St. Thomas Kids to learn about church services in this meaningful way: by participating in the services themselves. We are already looking forward to, and preparing for, our next Family Sunday on October 13!

If you would like to get more involved in supporting Family Sundays, or have questions around these Sundays, please reach out to Kristin Grabarek at k.e.grabarek@gmail.com.

Faith and Democracy Sermon Series

In this election season as we encourage people to let the gospel values guide their actions, conversations and voting decisions, we will be six fundamental teachings of our faith drawn from Jim Wallis’ book The False White Gospel: Rejecting Christian Nationalism, Reclaiming True Faith and Refounding Democracy.

September 22, 2024               Luke 10:25-37

The Rev. Terri Hobart           You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. …Who is my neighbor?

September 29, 2024                Genesis 1:26

Mark Retherford       Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’

October 6, 2024                      John 8:32

Cate Colburn-Smith                and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’

October 13, 2024                    Matthew 25:31-46

The Rev. Terri Hobart            As you have done to the last of these, you have done to me.

October 20, 2024                    Matthew 5:9

The Rev. Terri Hobart        Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the “children of God.”

October 27, 2024                    Galatians 3:28

The Rev. Terrance Carroll      There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

Civil Rights, The African American Tradition

of Spirituals and Freedom Songs 

Africans to enslaved in America created songs to express the hardships of slavery and their longing for freedom and home. Many spirituals combine lyrics about Christian themes with musical elements typical of West and Central Africa, making these songs one of the few ways in which slaves could preserve a small part of their native culture. Music was a common element for Africans from many disparate tribes as they faced new circumstances of terrible suffering and gradually forged a communal identity as African Americans. As they were passed down over the generations, many spirituals were adapted to new circumstances and became important sources of inspiration and expressions of protest in the 20^th century, especially during the Civil Rights movement. Music energized the Civil Rights Movement, motivating protestors on long marches and providing psychological strength against harassment and brutality.

St. Thomas has a long legacy of social justice advocacy. In the 1960’s a coalition of Park Hill churches, including St. Thomas, their congregants, and other neighborhood residents established the Park Hill Action Committee to create an inclusive neighborhood by dismantling school segregation and the practice of redlining. Park Hill and St. Thomas quickly became the center of the civil rights movement in Colorado. Our work continues to this day. Beginning this September 15^th and continuing through the fall, the St. Thomas Choir invites everyone to join them during the offertory in singing Freedom Songs from the Spirituals Tradition. It is our deepest hope that these songs will once again inspire, energize and mobilize us to stand up to those who would strip the rights from people of color, women, immigrants, the LBGTQ community, and people of other faith traditions.

COFFEE HOUR RETURNS, RENEWED & RE-INVIGORATED!

Join Us for Joy and Fellowship

During our conversations and meetings about community at St. Thomas, one fact quickly rose to the top : our Sunday Coffee Hours are beloved. 

Being the action-oriented group we are, St. Thomas made a quick pivot to reorganize and reinvigorate Coffee Hours, beginning Sunday, September 8. 

Our Coffee Hour restructure is centered on five values, which are our weekly Coffee Hour goals: 1) joy ; 2) fellowship ; 3) something to drink ; 4) something to eat ; 5) sustainability. 

Every decision and action our Coffee Crew makes around hosting Coffee Hours is made with these five values in mind.

Speaking of our Coffee Crew, we are so excited to announce that Coffee Hours are now being run by a group of twenty-six St. Thomas parishioners, divided into teams to lead the charge one week per month. 

Please make plans to stay after church for Coffee Hour on Sundays, and expect a little something different each week!

Emma Jurado-Hillenburg & Kristin Grabarek, Coffee Crew Co-Coordinators

Office Hours

Tuesday, 10:00 - 3:00