St. Thomas Tidings: March 27, 2025
St. Thomas Tidings: March 27, 2025
A collect for the Third Sunday of Lent: Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
March 27 is the memorial of Charles Henry Brent, Bishop. (April 9, 1862 – March 27, 1929) was the Episcopal Church's first Missionary Bishop of the Philippine Islands (1902–1918); Chaplain General of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I (1917–1918); and Bishop of the Episcopal Church's Diocese of Western New York (1918–1929).[3] The historian and Episcopal minister Frederick Ward Kates characterized him as a "gallant, daring, and consecrated soldier and servant of Christ" who was "one of modern Christendom's foremost leaders, prophets, and seers."[4]
2025 Church Wall Calendars: The calendars that were donated by Luyben Dilday. There is a small stack in the narthex, and more in the church office. Please feel free to take them and give them to a friends or keep them for yourself. They have our church information on them, so they make great evangelism tools.
St Martha’s Guild: Please join us at St. Martha’s Guild. We are a very friendly group that gathers each Tuesday morning. We crochet, knit and handcraft items. We would love to give free lessons in knitting and crocheting. This is also a great opportunity to build community and have a nice chat. We meet Tuesdays in Larkin Hall from 9:30-11:30 am.
Easter Floral Decorations: Please consider donating for our Easter Decorations in honor, memory or thanksgiving. Donation envelopes will be in the narthex. Please respond by Palm Sunday April 13, 2025 for your message to be in the Holy Week Bulletin.
Lenten Schedule
Stations of the Cross
12:00 Noon - Every Friday in Lent including Good Friday
Palm Saturday April 12, 2025:
The Altar Guild is veiling crosses, decorating and making Palm crosses, for Palm Sunday, on Saturday April 12th at 9am. All Parishioners are welcome to help decorate or learn and or make Palm crosses.
Palm Sunday-Episcopal Rosary Making
Sunday, April 13 - 9:00-10:00 am (between Services) and 11:30am -12:30 pm (after 10:15 service)
Maundy Thursday
Thursday, April 17 – Agape Service Meal in the Church at 6:30 pm
Good Friday
Friday, April 18, 7:00 pm (at St. Gregory’s)
Great Vigil of Easter
Saturday, April 19 – If there is sufficient interest in having this liturgy
Easter Morning Services
Sunday, April 20, 2025: 8:00 and 10:15 am
St. Thomas High Tea: Saturday, May 10, 2025
11:30am-1:00pm
$25.00
Presale Tickets Only
Contact Shelley
shelleyarnold1@aol.com Or text 562-477-7665
Study of the Rule of St. Benedict begins April 24, 2025 at St. Gregory’s: Have you ever wondered what monastic life is like? Ever been curious why The Rule of Benedict is still important 1500 years after St. Benedict’s life? Would you like to know how Benedictine spirituality can help everyone better live as Christians in today’s world? Then please consider signing up for this year’s book study on The Rule of Benedict: A Spirituality for the 21st Century. Using Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister’s commentary on the Rule and its applications for life today, we’ll learn about how a rule of life written in the sixth century can still inform and nurture us today. The class will start on Thursday, April 24 and run through mid-September (exact date to be determined, as we will miss a few Thursdays here and there over the course of the summer). We’ll meet from 6:00 to 7:00 PM in the Parish Hall Conference Room at St. Gregory’s. You are welcome to purchase and use either a print copy or an e-copy of the book; both versions are readily available online or your favorite bookstore. Contact Mother Sharon if you have any questions. See you there!
Supper Club: St. Thomas - Larkin Hall and Game Night Monday, April 28, 2025 from 6:00-9:00 pm. Come have Fun and Fellowship. Friends are Welcome. Sign up is in the Narthex.
From the Diocese
Episcopal Relief & Development is offering Lenten Meditations with deep reflections from Jerusalem Jackson Greer on the divine gifts we find in community. Here are some ways your congregation can participate. Subscribe to daily email meditations Daily email meditations will be delivered to your inbox every day (except Sundays) starting March 5. These emails will include thoughtful questions to inspire your own reflections. Download the full booklet If you don’t want to receive meditations one at a time, you can download the full booklet of meditations at once, print it out or view it digitally at your own pace. This option is great for groups or for making printed versions available to your worshiping community.
Episcopal Church Immigration Action Toolkit for dioceses, churches, and individuals
Amid executive orders on mass deportation and the halting of new refugee resettlement, many are asking how to respond in support of our immigrant and refugee neighbors. The Episcopal Church offers advocacy tools, links to upcoming webinars, ways to help, and more in the Immigration Action Toolkit. Resources are available in Spanish where indicated.
Public Policy and Witness Weekly Prayers
Join us in these weekly prayers to ground us and to discern what actions we each feel compelled to take. We are one church united in prayer; we name truth in the face of lies; we create space for grief in the face of denial; and we free space in our souls for hope. Join in prayer and share.
Join Lent book club focusing on immigrants’ stories
Tuesdays at noon ET, March 11 through April 8
All are welcome to join the United Thank Offering and Episcopal Migration Ministries in a five-session Zoom book club this Lent on “The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You” by Dina Nayeri. Participants will explore the experiences of refugees and what can be learned about gratitude through their stories. Register for all sessions or the ones that most interest you.
Episcopal Church offers free Lent resources
Find new and updated Lent resources for individuals, small groups, and congregations, including “Holy Week Explainer” videos, curricula, sermons, lesson plans, podcasts, and much more. Review each listing for available languages.
‘Prophetic Voices’ podcast: ‘Preaching the Easter Vigil’
This episode features a discussion of the lectionary for the Easter Vigil, with guests the Rev. Jo Ann Lagman, missioner for Asiamerica Ministries for The Episcopal Church; the Rev. Shana McCauley, canon vicar of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, Oregon; and Rachel Ambasing, missioner for community vitality and diversity for the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego. “Prophetic Voices” is hosted by the Rev. Isaiah “Shaneequa” Brokenleg, Episcopal Church staff officer for racial reconciliation. Learn more.
‘Good News and Gratitude’ podcast:
New episode: Gratitude In Times of Division
In its inaugural season, this podcast from the United Thank Offering—hosted by the Rev. Erin Jean Warde—explores the messages of gratitude and good news found in Scripture and the world around us, as well as through the wisdom of guests and personal spiritual practices.
All invited to Bishop Search Committee listening sessions
The Bishop Search Committee in-person listening sessions, designed to gather input for the November 2025 election of a successor to the Rt. Rev. John Harvey Taylor, are scheduled in the diocese's geographic deaneries as follows:
March 22, Deanery 3, Holy Faith, Inglewood, 10 a.m.
March 22, Deanery 4, St. Mark's, Glendale, 10 a.m.
March 29 Deanery 9, Trinity, Orange, 10 a.m.
March 29, Deanery 10, St. Wilfrid's, Huntington Beach, 10 a.m.
April 5, Deanery 1, St. Paul's, Santa Paula, 10 a.m.
April 5, Deanery 7, Trinity, Redlands, 10 a.m.
April 12, Deanery 2, St. Stephen's, Santa Clarita, 10 a.m.
April 12, Deanery 8, St. Cross, Hermosa Beach, 10 a.m.
April 26, Deanery 5, Our Saviour, San Gabriel, 10 a.m.
April 26, Deanery 6, Holy Trinity, Covina, 10 a.m.
Parishioners and clergy may attend any of the listening sessions, regardless of their deanery.
There also will be additional virtual listening sessions held by Zoom. These will include general virtual sessions open to all, sessions specifically for clergy, a session for diocesan staff, and sessions for special ministry groups, including Asian and Pacific Islander (API) Ministry, Black Ministry, and Latino Ministry groups.
The Latino Ministry listening sessions will be April 1, 6 p.m. and April 10, 6 p.m. Contact the Rev. Carlos Ruvalcaba, associate at St. Stephen’s, Hollywood, and St. Barnabas, Eagle Rock, at associatestbeststephens@gmail.com.
The Black Ministry listening session will be April 8, 6 p.m. Contact the Rev. Joseph Oloimooja, priest-in-charge of Holy Faith, Inglewood, for zoom links at oloimooja@yahoo.com.
A listening session for API ministry communities is being scheduled and details will be available soon.
The general laity sessions will take place April 3 and April 22; 6 p.m. Zoom links will be available in coming weeks.
Clergy listening sessions will be April 24. Zoom links will be made available in coming weeks.
A session for diocesan staff will be April 1 at 2 p.m. Diocesan staff will receive the zoom link in coming weeks.
In addition to the listening sessions, the Bishop Search Committee will have a survey, which will open March 31.
Spanish translation will be available at all in-person deanery sessions. For questions about translation from languages other than Spanish, and other questions about listening sessions, contact Laura Mahaney at lolako@yahoo.com.
St. Thomas Post Scripts
April Canterbury Tales: We are in need of articles for the St. Thomas Canterbury Tales publication. Please send all article information to Bill Henderson at whender808@yahoo.com, whender808@gmail.com or Rick Fridrick at stlb47@verizon.net, or call the Church office. Articles should be submitted no later than noon on Monday, March 24, 2025.
St. Thomas Tiding: If you have any article/announcement for the tiding please send to Rick Fridrick at stlb47@verizon.net or call the Church office.
Update on California Fires: If you would like to contribute to the Diocesan relief efforts, you can donate to the One Body & One Spirit fund, which will be used for fire relief: https://diocesela.org/annual-appeal/ Also, Episcopal Relief & Development has established a “Wildfire Response Fund” to help with recovery in our diocese. You can donate to that fund at https://www.episcopalrelief.org/what-you-can-do/give/donate-now/individual-donation/
Service Reminder: All our services stay on our Facebook page so you can view them whenever it’s convenient for you. It’s always better to view a service later in the day than not at all! The link to the page for all our services is here: https://www.facebook.com/Saint-Thomas-of-Canterbury-Episcopal-Church-of-Long-Beach-CA-124554214274325
Share Our Services: Please feel free to share our Sunday services. The more people we reach, the better we do at evangelism. People are hungry for what we have to offer, and I encourage you to do your part to share our services with your friends and neighbors. Send them the link when you email them, invite them to join you on Facebook or in person… whatever way works best for you to share what we have to offer.
Episcopal News Updates: These email updates from the diocese are a great way to stay informed about what’s happening all over our six-county diocese. If you want to receive the Episcopal News, visit https://diocesela.org/episcopal-news/contact/ and enter your email address in the box provided.
Reminder the Church office is open Monday-Friday: If you have any need, Rick Fridrick is in the Church office Monday-Thursday from 9:00 am – 1:00 pm and Friday from 9:00 am – Noon. 562-425-4457
Pastoral Care: If you have normal “every day” pastoral concerns, contact Rick in the office, or Allen at (714) 381-5910. But if you have more profound concerns (serious illnesses, deaths in the family, significant problems in coping with life’s challenges, etc.), please feel free to contact Fr. Michael Fincher (Rector at St. Gregory’s). Fr. Michael’s cell phone is (909) 373-6478.
We hope to have a more detailed pastoral care plan soon.