St Thomas Blog
Keep up to date with news and views from St Thomas Church!
2nd Sunday in Lent, 28th February Talk
Monday 1st March 2021
Read Helen Pearce's Zoom Talk for Lent 2 here
These Are Our Stories - the Exeter Diocese Lent Course
Thursday 25th February 2021
Here at St Thomas Parish Church we are running a series of 5 sessions based around the Exeter Diocese course - These Are Our Stories. Each session focuses on an our experiences of the last 12 months and how we can make sense of them - together. The course starts on Thursday 25th February from 7-8 on Zoom. Please contact Revd Sarah on rev.sarahcumming@gmail.com for more details.
Devon County Council Grant
Tuesday 23rd February 2021
We are delighted to announce that the Parish has been succesful in another small grant application to support our outreach towards vunerable people, especially those with difficulty accessing the internet. Devon County Council has awarded us £437 as a contribution to the costs of our weekly postal mailing, which goes out to about 50 people in St Thomas and slightly beyond, and which has continued from the start of the pandemic. Thank you DCC!
First Sunday in Lent, 21 February
Monday 22nd February 2021
Read John White's talk on Zoom to mark the start of Lent.
Lent 2021
Monday 15th February 2021
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday which is 17 February this year. We are marking this with a zoom service starting at 7pm, which will include optional ashing - that is the blessing of ashes and the marking of our foreheads with ash, as a sign of penitence, and as a recognition of our mortality: earth to earth, ashes to ashes etc We are using these worship resources for Lent including Ash Wednesday here. This is the link for Ash Wednesday and 10.30 on Sundays via Zoom. Read Fr David's zoom talk for Ash Wednesday here Additonal resources will be included on this page including a help for prayer here. Especially this year, Lent is not a miserable time: rather it is an opportunity to…
2nd Sunday before Lent
Sunday 14th February 2021
Phil Baker
Read Phil's sermon for the 2nd Sunday before Lent here
Candlemas and Christingles on Sunday 31st January
Friday 29th January 2021
We'll be making Christingles together at our Zoom Service at 10.30 on Sunday 31st January. The service sheet is here. Readings and other prayers from the pewsheet. An outline picture to colour in can be downloaded here. Find more information about The Children's Society here. We will also bless candles on Sunday morning so have one to hand if you wish. Click here for a delightful contemporary Candlemas story by Karen Williams.
Prayers for the week beginning 25th January
Thursday 28th January 2021
A prayer for Holocaust Memorial Day Loving God, we come to you with heavy hearts, remembering the six million Jewish souls murdered during the Holocaust. In the horrors of that history, when so many groups were targeted because of their identity, and in genocides which followed, we recognise destructive prejudices that drive people apart. Forgive us when we give space to fear, negativity and hatred of others, simply because they are different from us. In the light of God, we see everyone as equally precious manifestations of the Divine, and can know the courage to face the darkness. Through our prayers and actions, help us to stand together with those who are suffering, so that light may banish all darkness, love will prevail over…
Talk for Epiphany 3 - Wedding at Cana
Monday 25th January 2021
You can read Ian's talk for Epiphany 3 here. You might like to consider these three questions as you read it: What do the seven miraculous signs (performed by Jesus and recorded in St John's Gospel) mean to you? What signs showed you the way to faith? What signs might you be able to show to a friend who does not know Jesus that might help them to come to faith in him?