On Sunday, October 9, the community of St. Thomas’ Parish welcomed the Rev. Alex Dyer for his first Sunday morning worship service with us, followed by a festive coffee hour.
St. Thomas’ Welcomes the Rev. Alex Dyer!
St. Thomas’ is delighted to call the Rev. Alex Dyer as its Priest-in-Charge. Having begun his ministry as a missionary in Cairo, Egypt working with Sudanese refugees, he has since served numerous parishes in New York City and Connecticut. Alex has a heart for urban ministry beginning with his time at St. Luke in the Fields in New York City, where he oversaw outreach programs for LGBT youth and a program for people with HIV/AIDS. Upon moving to New Haven, he created an outdoor Eucharist that ministered primarily to people who were experiencing homelessness. He also served as the Executive Director of the largest food pantry in New Haven, CT, which served about 300 families each week.
Alex also brings experience in the wider church, which started with working for Episcopal News Service. Since then he has served as a Deputy to General Convention, a member of the search committee for the Bishop of Connecticut, a member of the Commission on Ministry for the Diocese of Connecticut and is currently the President of the Standing Committee in the Diocese of Connecticut.
For the past three years, Alex has been working on his Doctorate in Ministry from Virginia Theological Seminary. His project focuses on reconnecting churches to their neighborhoods, discovering what God is up to and how parishes can join God’s mission. He hopes to defend his thesis this coming spring.
While Alex was born in Tennessee, he spent much of his childhood in Montgomery County, Maryland, and is delighted to rejoin many members of his family who still live in the DC area.
We also welcome Alex’s husband, Ryan DeLoach, and their beautiful daughter, Savannah Gayle. Ryan has a Masters Degree in Social Work from Columbia University, and has most recently worked for a large nonprofit specializing in shelter and housing services for individuals and families experiencing homelessness.
Alex’s first Sunday at St. Thomas’ will be on October 9. Please join us as we welcome our new Priest in Charge and Ryan and Savannah to our family.
Introduction from Alex Dyer on Vimeo.
A Message from Our Recently Retired Rector, the Rev. Dr. Nancy Lee Jose
Beloved St. Thomas’,
It has been a month-plus a few days since we last shared Holy Communion on June 26th, our glorious leave taking Sunday. And we will not get to share a common table this week either, although I will have all of you close in my heart as my retirement officially begins with the stroke of midnight tomorrow.
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the fact that the word tomorrow is not found in our Book of Common Prayer. ‘Yesterday’ occurs twice; ‘today’ 15 times; there’s no ‘tomorrow’. And in our lives, as well, tomorrow competes for our attention with yesterday and today. Yet so much of who we are depends on how our tomorrow fits with today.
I wouldn’t be writing to you this day if it weren’t for a lot of yesterdays that got us here, a history as priest and community who explored together some of the little and big mysteries that come to light as we worshipped in common prayer. The past will determine who we have been, and are, and may still be to one another—priest and congregation, our common faith seeking richer understanding of the difference we made, together.
I’m wagering, however, that the most important thing we share is not our past, but what is yet to come— our tomorrows, which will intertwine in ways that only God can today imagine. Tomorrow is the winnowing fork of yesterday and today; it tosses them up in the air, and only what matters falls out to remain, all else blowing away with the wind. Past tradition and present experience matter only if they pass the test of tomorrow.
Tomorrow nurtured by Common Prayer and participation in Holy Communion is a miracle waiting to happen. It’s neither a repetition of the past, nor an escape from the responsibilities of today, but an open door, a blank-page, calling us to knock and live, serve and commit, all that we are and all that we have.
Tomorrow emerges from yesterday’s worship as the place where all we’ve done and dreamed together, thought together, spoken about together, means something beyond our imagining at the time. We feed and drink at Christ’s table where the gifts of God for the people of God refresh us, empower us, to love and serve God in one another in a world of need.
And that’s where I am confident we will meet again, where what is significant in God’s sight about your tomorrow bumps into what is significant in Gods’ sight about mine. And, by the grace of God, we may for a moment recall all the days we’ve spent in conversation — in person, by email, and telephone, and letter — about the words with which we worship and serve God. And they will have a significance that only tomorrow knows today. As always, thank you St. Thomas’ Parish.
God’s love and mine,
Nancy Lee+
Message from President Obama on the fatal shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota
Posted on President Obama’s Facebook page on July 7, 2016:
“All Americans should be deeply troubled by the fatal shootings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. We’ve seen such tragedies far too many times, and our hearts go out to the families and communities who’ve suffered such a painful loss.
“Although I am constrained in commenting on the particular facts of these cases, I am encouraged that the U.S. Department of Justice has opened a civil rights investigation in Baton Rouge, and I have full confidence in their professionalism and their ability to conduct a thoughtful, thorough, and fair inquiry.
“But regardless of the outcome of such investigations, what’s clear is that these fatal shootings are not isolated incidents. They are symptomatic of the broader challenges within our criminal justice system, the racial disparities that appear across the system year after year, and the resulting lack of trust that exists between law enforcement and too many of the communities they serve.
“To admit we’ve got a serious problem in no way contradicts our respect and appreciation for the vast majority of police officers who put their lives on the line to protect us every single day. It is to say that, as a nation, we can and must do better to institute the best practices that reduce the appearance or reality of racial bias in law enforcement.
“That’s why, two years ago, I set up a Task Force on 21st Century Policing that convened police officers, community leaders, and activists. Together, they came up with detailed recommendations on how to improve community policing. So even as officials continue to look into this week’s tragic shootings, we also need communities to address the underlying fissures that lead to these incidents, and to implement those ideas that can make a difference. That’s how we’ll keep our communities safe. And that’s how we can start restoring confidence that all people in this great nation are equal before the law.
“In the meantime, all Americans should recognize the anger, frustration, and grief that so many Americans are feeling — feelings that are being expressed in peaceful protests and vigils. Michelle and I share those feelings. Rather than fall into a predictable pattern of division and political posturing, let’s reflect on what we can do better. Let’s come together as a nation, and keep faith with one another, in order to ensure a future where all of our children know that their lives matter.”
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