Lenten Series on Wednesday Mornings
March 12 to April 16, 2025
Wednesdays in Lent from 12 March through 16 April, beginning with Morning Prayer at 8:30 a.m. at St. Thomas’s and continuing with coffee and conversation at 9:00 a.m. at L’Espresso Bar Mercurio, 321 Bloor St. W. (just a few steps east of St. George).
Join Fr. Nathan Humphrey, rector, and Dr. Gideon Strauss, academic dean of the Institute for Christian Studies, in a study of Being Christian: Baptism, Bible, Eucharist, Prayer, a brief and accessible introduction to the essentials of the Christian faith by former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. Participants are invited to Morning Prayer at the church followed by coffee around the corner. Can’t make it to Morning Prayer? Join us at 9:00 at the café, conveniently located across the street from the St. George TTC station.
Participants are expected to buy their own copy of the book (order here or here or here) as well as their own coffee and any other treats, but if you are a student or otherwise would appreciate assistance with the expense involved, please email frhumphrey@stthomas.on.ca, who has several free copies of the book on a first-come, first-served basis and can treat you to coffee, too.
The plan is to gather to pray at the church at 8:30 before proceeding as a group to the café, but if your schedule is such that meeting us there works better, simply grab a beverage at the counter and look for us in the back room, where we will have a table reserved.
No spare time to read yet another book? We will be reading aloud the sections chosen for discussion, so reading each of the four brief chapters in advance is not compulsory—nor is it forbidden!
PAST EDUCATION EVENTS
Poetry as Liturgy: A Selective Survey of English Christian Poetry
Tuesdays, 7:00-8:30 pm
Via Zoom
November 5, 12, 19, 26 & December 3, 10.2024
This six-week course will consider English Christian poetry from its Anglo-Saxon origins to the present and will offer possible connections between Christian poetry and liturgy.
Questions which may occur: What distinguishes religious poetry from secular poetry? Does the Christian poet have a prescribed role? Does the poet bear witness to God? Do some poems have direct liturgical connections? Are some poems actual liturgical texts? The selection will aim to catalogue some of the best-known and best-loved poems of the tradition, with apologies for those omitted. A handout of the selections will be emailed to participants beforehand.
Course Leader: Margo Swiss has a BA (Hons) Trent, MA Manitoba, PhD York, and taught Humanities, English, and Creative Writing at York University until her retirement in 2018. She has written articles on Milton and Donne, and co-edited, with David Kent, two collections of essays on Milton: Heirs of Fame: Milton and Writers of the English Renaissance (1995) and Speaking Grief in English Literary Culture: Shakespeare to Milton (2002). She edited an anthology of fourteen Canadian Christian poets in Poetry as Liturgy (2007), and has four books of poetry: Crossword: A Woman’s Narrative (1996), Here Now (2012), The Hatching of the Heart (2015), and Second Gaze (2020).
October 19–20 2024
Reflection & Reconciliation with The Most Reverend Christopher A. Harper
The Most Reverend Christopher A. Harper, the National Indigenous Anglican Archbishop, will lead a day of reflection and conversation, which will begin with Morning Prayer and Low Mass and include lunch.
Please RSVP for this event at this link so that we can plan accordingly.
Archbishop Chris will preached on October 20 at the 9:30 and 11:00 am services. He and his wife, Tracy, will join us to enjoy fellowship at Coffee Hour following High Mass.
Archbishop Chris is known internationally as a bridge builder and peacemaker. He and his wife, Tracy, consider St. Thomas’s their parish home in Toronto. Archbishop Chris has spoken movingly of how welcoming the people of this parish were to him and to Tracy, and how grateful he is to have been able to serve for two and a half years as a seminarian here.