Yesterday, Ray and I drove into town to attend St. Thomas the Apostle, Hollywood, the parish that has been our spiritual home since 1994, when we first moved to Los Angeles. St. Thomas is part of the same Anglo-Catholic, “high-church” tradition as Holy Trinity in Bonham, Texas, where I grew up, and St. Stephen’s in Sherman, our current parish in Texas.

High church is jokingly referred to as church “with all the bells and smells,” meaning altar bells that signal when to kneel, incense used in every service, candles on the altar, and clergy wearing traditional vestments as they celebrate the Holy Eucharist (Communion), in which congregants receive bread and wine.

St. Thomas the Apostle is the flagship Anglo-Catholic church in the Diocese of Los Angeles, and it brings me great pleasure to participate in Mass there. I love the ritual, the music, and the reverence that connect me to both my past and my present. I also have a wonderful community of friends who feel very much like family.

Our priest, Father Ian Elliott Davies, is a dear friend of both Ray and me, and we also hold his family in Wales close to our hearts. His mother and father have visited Los Angeles countless times during the more than twenty years Father Davies has served as rector, as have his brother and sister-in-law. I feel fortunate indeed to count them among those I love.

I am nourished every time I attend church, wherever I am, but especially at St. Thomas the Apostle. I feel as though I am in a holy place there, and I treasure the fact that all are welcome without exception.

I am also sustained by the many friendships I have made over the years. In a city as large as Los Angeles, this church quickly became a center of acceptance, belonging, and love for both Ray and me. After all this time, we continue to feel deeply connected to this place and its people.

This is the mission statement of St. Thomas the Apostle, which captures perfectly why I feel as I do about this church and congregation:

We are called by God to be a holy place where love is found, where all are named, and where hearts are freed to change the world.

As I begin a month-long journey of writing about the people, places, experiences, and moments that nourish and ground me, this feels like the right place to start. For more than thirty years, St. Thomas the Apostle, Hollywood, has been a source of faith, friendship, and belonging in my life. For that, I am deeply grateful.

Joan Johnson and Joseph Bille, fellow parishioners, friends, and writers at St. Thomas the Apostle