St. Thomas’ proudly celebrates Campus Pride Month alongside Rowan University all April long! Join us as we celebrate diversity, inclusion, and unity throughout the month with engaging formation hours, notable LGBTQ+ spotlights, The Shop supply drive and more!
April’s formation hour will focus on LGBTQ+ families and challenge us to find more ways to ensure our sacred space is welcoming to everyone. All in God’s Family is a program created by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and promoted by the Institute for Welcoming Resources. Each week, we will be exploring this program in a variety of ways – join us!
Week 3 (21 April): View a documentary and discuss.
Week 4 (28 April): Collaborative Workshop
There will be no 4pm Monday afternoon Centering Prayer / Evening Prayer
at St. Thomas’ on 22 and 29 April. We hope to see in you in May!
Join the ECW for our church-wide spring book drive to benefit BookSmiles, a local non-profit that provides books to under-resourced school districts throughout New Jersey and Philadelphia. We will be collecting new and gently used children’s books from April 14 through June 2. Whether fiction or nonfiction, we are looking to collect books from ages infant to high school. If you would like to donate books starting on April 14, please put them in the collection bin in the Parish Hall. If you would like to make a monetary donation for the book drive, please see either Rachael O. or Linda K. or leave a donation in a labelled envelope in the collection plate. To learn more about the type and quality of materials BookSmiles accept, please watch the following video. If you have any questions about the book drive, please see Rachael O.
The Rev. Naomi Washington-Leapheart
The Rev. Naomi Washington-Leapheart is an ordained minister with the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries and the faith work director for the National LGBTQ Task Force, the oldest LGBTQ advocacy organization in the U.S. She previously served as the only Black minister at Wisdom’s Table at St. Peter’s United Church of Christ in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where she fully came out as queer and was supported in her role.
Rev. Washington-Leapheart is also a professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University, recognized for teaching excellence in 2019. Her work focuses on disrupting the weaponization of faith against LGBTQ lives and creating a world where diverse identities, including her own, can thrive.
She has provided faith-based guidance to the city of Philadelphia and has been active in advocating for federal nondiscrimination protections. Her commitment to promoting an inclusive vision of freedom of religion remains critical, especially as religious freedom continues to be debated in the political landscape.
Sources:
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/9-lgbtq-faith-leaders-watch-2019/
Lectionary readings for this week: Acts 3:12-19, 1 John 3:1-7, Luke 24:36b-48, Psalm 4
Lectionary readings for next week: Acts 8:26-40, 1 John 4:7-21, John 15:1-8, Psalm 22:24-30
Please continue in your daily prayers for: Lou, Bob, Sandy, Joe, Harry, Cheryll, Cecilia, Donna, Bud, Andrea, Sam, Joyce, Margaret, David, James, Sarah, Kathleen
Announcements for the parish email are due via email by noon on Wednesday of each week. You can email them to announcements@stthomasglassboro.org
The church calendar can be seen at https://www.stthomasglassboro.
Are you serving in liturgy? Check the rota!
Prayer requests can be sent to prayer@stthomasglassboro.org
Watch our livestream here Saturdays at 5:30pm and Sundays at 8am & 10:30am!
Full-text of the liturgy is available at https://www.sharedprayers.net
