The blog of the Rev’d David O. Browder, Rector of St. Thomas’. Law and gospel, grace, pop culture, links to interesting articles and videos.
Dr. Giles Brightwell will be stepping down as St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church and School’s Director of Music to take another position. His last Sunday with us will be July 8th. Giles has done amazing work with our music, as you are all aware. We owe him a debt of gratitude for his hard work and…
This Sunday, we are pleased to welcome as our guest preacher, the Rev’d Jonathon Wong from the Church of the Good Shepherd in the Diocese of Singapore. Jon is a great friend of mine, an outstanding minister of the Gospel, and one of the best preachers I have ever heard. He is a true blue…
Here’s a great story from the Houston Chronicle: Texas prison program makes ministers out of inmates ROSHARON — Kenny Calliham sat alone in the dark of a prison cubicle when it finally hit him: He couldn’t live like that anymore. He needed something different, something better. Years of drugging and fighting had gotten the Greenspoint…
As I read, I cut out items that raise questions I want to think about, and I clip them to my bulletin board (virtually, of course) so I won’t forget about them. From time to time, I’ll be sharing what I am thinking about some of them with you. Here’s one from The Gospel Coalition…
Lately, I have been asking myself why we don’t share more of our lives together. Why are we not continually at one another’s homes eating dinner, playing together, praying together, letting our kids play together, and spending our lives together? It’s because we don’t have it all together — and that is hard for us…
Work proceeds apace on both our Church restoration and master plan work. The master plan itself is complete; the school produced this video (which includes a view of a covered drop-off for the church from Endicott and of the planned church interior renovation): A fact sheet with 3-D renderings can be viewed here. The church…
We are about to have a really good time — I mean a REALLY good time. Some of your most dedicated brothers and sisters in Christ have been working very hard to put together our Boots and Bling Western Shindig! There will be music, dancing, craft beer, fajitas, wine — and even a mechanical bull.…
My identity is no longer defined as being “In Crimson Tide” but “in Christ”. It seems at first like ascetic self-denial but it is really the case that I enjoy other things more. I can now enjoy watching Alabama and not be cast down for two months if we lose to Auburn or Tennessee. Jesus Christ as the proper marker for my identity gives me a healthy relationship to good but lesser things like football, money, relationships, politics, and even family. Being “In Christ” is that from which human flourishing emanates.
We are reeling from the violent events of the past few weeks. The school shooting in Florida, the mail bombs in Austin, and the most recent school shooting in Maryland are all sad and painful reminders of the broken and often evil world in which we live. What is going on? Is this too complex…
We are approaching seven months since our community, our church and our school were visited by Hurricane Harvey. Most of us have been affected one way or another by the storm and its aftermath. I’d like to bring you up to date on the work going on at the church as we, too, work to…