In this week’s news…
- The Rector’s Message
- This Week’s Service
- Giving Tuesday
- Adult Education
- Thursday Evening Prayer and Meditation
- Sunday’s Virtual Coffee Hour
- Children and Families’ Zoom gathering
The Rector’s Message
My dear friends,
This Sunday is known as Good Shepherd Sunday, and we reflect on the role of Jesus as the Shepherd whose voice is known by the sheep and who is prepared to lay down his life for each and every one of them.
The Bishop, in consultation with Bishops in neighboring dioceses, has announced that the earliest date for resuming public worship will be July 1. This will be distressing for some of you and a frustration to your clergy and musicians, who long to worship with you again in person. However, we know that as restrictions are lifted in our great city, there is the likelihood of further waves of infection, until such time as a treatment and a vaccine are available. As I write this, I am aware of human clinical trials pioneered by Oxford University and in other research centers around the globe; I think we are all hopeful for a vaccine, if not a cure, by early 2021. Until then, we will continue to have all kinds of restrictions. As I said in my sermon last week, “For things to remain the same, everything must change.”
In the meantime, I am conscious that not every one of our parishioners has access to the internet, has a computer, or a mobile device. I have asked the hospitality committee to think about how we can be more in touch with those parishioners, especially our frail elderly, who have been unable to participate in our worship. Now that we know that we have two more months being apart, perhaps we should consider mailing CD’s to those who have no access to a computer. You may remember in years past when books for the blind were recorded and mailed out on cassette tapes. If anyone would like to join me in providing simple CD players for the homes of seniors, please contact me or Fr. Moretz. If you know of someone who might like to receive our worship on CD, please let us know.
That takes us back to the voice of the Good Shepherd. One of the consequences of the PAUSE order is that some of us have more silence than we have had in the past. In the ‘city that never sleeps’ that is a curious thing! When I walk the dog through Central Park, I see many people on their own walking slowly. Perhaps we can use these next two months to be more attuned to the voice of the Good Shepherd, calling us, even when we are feeling stress or anxiety.
What if we were to use these next weeks as a time to embrace silence in order to discover stillness? Silence has been used in the spiritual life since the earliest of days but not as an end in itself, rather as a means to an end. Entering into the silence allows us to become still, and once we have discovered how to be truly still, then we discover that we have learned a method of quieting ourselves even when it is noisy around us! One day, New York will be like its old noisy self; how wonderful if many of its residents have discovered the beauty of stillness in the noise of the city.
Let me end with a little example. Many years ago, when I worked in London, I was interviewed for a job at the Royal Foundation of St. Katherine – a retreat center in Limehouse, East London, founded in 1147. When founded, it was in beautiful countryside; when I went to visit, I discovered that it was now extraordinarily urban. Several railway lines, the London Underground, and several large and busy roads surrounded it. And of all things, opposite the center was a cement factory with large trucks coming and going all day! I was quite amazed.
I was talking to a Franciscan sister about this and complaining that I couldn’t possibly run a retreat center with all that noise. “So where do you go on retreat then, Carl?” she said. “A Cistercian Abbey in the middle of nowhere,” I replied. She looked me up and down and said slowly, “Well, at least you can afford to travel there. But if you can’t find stillness in the city then how do you expect others to find it?”
She was right, of course. I went for my interview and found myself in the chapel of the center. The noise from the road nearby was deafening; I could hear the screech of the underground trains which travelled above ground nearby and the beeping of the cement trucks reversing out of the concrete factory. I was agitated and wondered how on earth anyone could find stillness and peace in this place. I shut my eyes and tried an exercise an old spiritual director had advised many years before; instead of allowing the sound to annoy me and agitate me I would actually listen to them, accept them and even incorporate them into my prayer. Instead of fighting them I found myself becoming calmer. And then it happened; it was sudden and brilliant as a flash of sunlight on a dreary day – in the retreat house garden, a blackbird lifted up her voice and sang the most beautiful and thrilling song.
It was breath-taking. It was melodic and very, very pure. After listening for a few moments, I realized that I had stopped listening to the traffic and the trains and the cement trucks; the Blackbird had drowned them all out with her song and I was grateful – so very grateful to have been taught a lesson: Stillness is not an absence of noise but the centering of the soul on God.
We, too, have the chance to discover stillness and solitude even here in New York – actually, especially here in New York.
Stillness is not an absence of noise but the centering of the soul on God.
Affectionately,
Carl,
Your priest and pastor
This Week’s Services at St. Thomas Church
The Solemn Eucharist of the Fourth Sunday of Easter
Sunday, May 3
Video and Audio Webcasts available at 8am
Shrine Prayers (Intercessions) and Mass
Monday, May 4 – Saturday, May 9
Audio Livecast at Noon
Evening Prayer and Meditation
Thursday, May 7
Via Zoom at 6:30pm
(see complete information above)
The Solemn Eucharist of the Fifth Sunday of Easter
Sunday, May 10
Video and Audio Webcasts available at 8 am
Giving Tuesday
Giving Tuesday is a global generosity movement that unleashes the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world. #GivingTuesdayNow is being launched as a global day of unity, taking place on Tuesday, May 5, 2020.
For this global day of giving, Saint Thomas Church welcomes you to make a gift to the webcast ministry of our parish. Through our expanding audio and video online presence, we are able, during this pandemic, to share in a common life of worship, including extraordinary sacred music. Your gift will help us to sustain and then fortify our web presence in the years ahead.
Adult Education at Saint Thomas Church
Theology Class
Sunday, May 3, 10:00-11:00am
A study class on the English and Greek texts of
Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians
Pilgrims’ Course
Tuesday, May 5, 6:30-8:00pm
“When things go wrong: Confession and Healing Ministry”
Friday Online Bible Study
Friday, May 8, 12:45-1:45pm
A study on the Gospel of John with Fr. Bennett.
For more information about these activities, all on the Zoom platform, please contact Fr. Cheng for the first two classes, and Fr. Bennett for the Friday Bible Study.
Evening Prayer and Meditation
Thursdays at 6:30pm via Zoom
Saint Thomas Church has begun a regular 6:30pm Thursday service of Evening Prayer and Meditation that you can join online, led by Fr. Adam Spencer, Associate for Pastoral Care, and Sr. Promise Atelon, Deacon and Seminarian. This service will take place over the Zoom platform.
Please join us for this time of peace and prayer together.
For log-in access to these worship services, please contact Fr. Spencer.
“Virtual” Coffee Hour, May 3 at 12:30pm
This coming Sunday, we will continue hosting our “Virtual Coffee Hour” which will use the conferencing program “Zoom” to host a virtual meeting. This meeting will start well after the webcast of the service on Sunday, May 3 at 12:30pm and will last no longer than an hour.
It will start with a short prayer and will continue with checking in and conversation, as best we can. The pacing and scope of the online gathering will very much depend on the amount of people who join in. We will continue to experiment with Breakout Rooms, which will allow for smaller groups to talk together. The hour will be moderated by Fr. Moretz and you can contact him to learn more and receive login credentials.
Please click here to learn more about Zoom, an extraordinary tool for communication and community.
I look forward to joining all of you who can make it for “Virtual” Coffee Hour this Easter Day!
Children and Families’ Sunday Zoom Gathering
In place of our regular Nursery and Sunday School gathering, we are meeting via Zoom this Sunday, May 3, at 10:15am.
If you know a child or family that would like to participate in this half hour gathering please contact Email Mother Turner for the required invitation codes.
As we discover new ways of being a church community during in this new chapter of our lives, we will be producing an additional weekly newsletter for families Be Faithful, Be Creative and Be Connected.
If you know a family who wishes to be added to the distribution list for children and families, please also contact Mother Turner.
