St Thomas Blog
Keep up to date with news and views from St Thomas Church!
Trinity 3 - a strange homecoming...
Sunday 28th June 2020
Rev.Sarah
Rev. Sarah talks about the theme of homecoming within today's Bible readings and considers how this applies to our current situation. You can read her sermon here.
Saint Peter and Saint Paul
Sunday 28th June 2020
One of the incidents in the Bible most closely linked with Peter is his denial of Christ in the High Priest's courtyard just before the crucifixion. Eric Auerbach (Mimesis 1953) writes of this event from a literary perspective: A tragic figure from such a background, a hero of such weakness, who yet derives the highest force from his weakness, such a to and fro of the pendulum, is incompatible with the sublime style of classical antique literature. But the nature and scene of the conflict also fall entirely outside the domain of classical antiquity. Viewed superficially, the thing is a police action and its consequences; it takes place entirely among everyday men and women of the common people; anything of the…
Trinity 2
Sunday 21st June 2020
Rev. David Nixon
Fr David grapples with some big issues around suffering, Covid 19 and the nature of God. You can read his sermon here.
God and the Pandemic: A Christian Reflection on the Coronavirus and its Aftermath by Tom Wright.
Wednesday 17th June 2020
Book Review God and the Pandemic by Tom Wright So here's the thing. While the world and life around our Christian Church and personally became a whirlpool, a maelstrom of uncertainty, confusion and unpredictability due to the coronavirus; while globally the relative stability of the fabric of international affairs has been severely disrupted: while those who have direct power over the quality of our own personal and national lives have been caught off guard in this crisis, compounding that with knee-jerk, impoverished decision-making with all its now devastating effects - Tom Wright's book can be an enormous help to us personally, and corporately as the Church, in understanding how we should see our place now and the attitude, the character…
Trinity 1
Sunday 14th June 2020
Ian Totterdell, Churchwarden
This week Ian talks about how God is active to heal people and bring them to Himself, and how He wants His followers (i.e. us!) to join Him in that task. Read what he has to say here
Corpus Christi 2020
Thursday 11th June 2020
Following our practice for Ascension Day, we have recorded a simple Mass for Corpus Christi. You can read the talk here.
St Thomas Lockdown Library
Wednesday 10th June 2020
Jenny Tuckett
St Thomas Library is shut for the duration. So is the City Library. And we have all this extra time to read! Spotting a 'niche need' Ann in Wardrew Road started a small lockdown library by popping a few spare books on the wall outside her house, with a notice: 'Take or swap a book and enjoy!'. Thus began St Thomas' Lockdown Library, now an established cultural feature and go to walking destination in these bleak days when libraries, bookshops, cinemas and theatres are all closed. Ann's venture has taken off, with many regular visitors including - most importantly - children, their parents, carers, neighbours and people from afar who have heard about it. Everyone has a story to…
Extracts from Karen William’s submissions to the Exeter ‘Coronavirus Community Diaries’ 2020
Tuesday 9th June 2020
Karen Williams has been kind enough to send a couple of her diary entries from the Facebook page for a Community Diary during this strange time. I hope she will send a few more! 8 April Here is a little something I wrote at the end of my first week of working from home, 27 March: Blog of the Week of Change Sipping my coffee in the warm sunshine, I reflected on how much better I was feeling. My eyes were not strained and dry, I did not feel stiff from sitting for long periods of time and I was comfortably warm: not too hot, and not too cold. My finances may be taking…
A Time to Mourn
Monday 8th June 2020
Rev Sarah Cumming
'A Time to Mourn' is a way of responding to the losses and disappointments many of us have experienced over the past few months of the pandemic. I invite you to join me tomorrow, Tuesday 9 June from 11am to 12 to mark what has happened in your life and family by bringing a ribbon* to tie to the railings outside St Thomas Parish Church as a memorial to your own personal situation. *I will have some ribbons with me if you need them I'll look forward to meeting you there tomorrow. With love and blessings Rev Sarah
Trinity Sunday
Sunday 7th June 2020
Susannah Cornwall
Read Susannah's words here as she helps us understand the Trinity and what it means to us today. You can also listen to it below.