Dear Folks,
I am delighted to announce that Thomasina Wharton will be our new Director of the Center for Wellbeing. The Center for Wellbeing was created by the Reverend Caroline Stewart and David Ware in 2019, and Caroline led the Center for two years as its first director. Begun in response to an educational series on mental health, its mission is to promote emotional wellbeing for individuals and the Baltimore community, and to nurture spirituality as a component of mental and physical health.
In all that it does, the Center recognizes that wellbeing is a path and a practice, rather than a destination. Grounded in a parish context, the Center presents workshops, speakers, and book studies, as well as offering spiritual direction for individuals. It promotes awareness and interest in holistic health, inviting conversation, study, and practice. Thomasina will begin her service on September 1.
Thomasina is a native Baltimorean and the youngest of six siblings. She was educated in Baltimore City Public Schools, Villa Julie College (now Stevenson University), and pursued continuing education at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. She spent 25 years in management roles at Verizon. Upon leaving corporate America, she served as the Executive Pastor at Connexion Point Church in Baltimore with her husband, the Rev. Rayner C. Wharton, Sr., who was lead pastor there for over 30 years. Connexion Point is an intentionally cross-cultural, multi-generation, multi-site church in Edmundson Village, West Baltimore.
In the summer of 2021, Thomasina and Rayner began attending Redeemer, and the following year they were confirmed in the Episcopal Church. They are active members of the parish—part of the Rector’s Bible Study, Connections Choir, leaders in BUILD, and lay eucharistic ministers.
Thomasina brings a lifetime of experience to her role as Center Director. She is a graduate of the Renovare Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation, a two-year training program exploring a variety of spiritual disciplines, Christian community, and retreat leadership. She serves as an on-line facilitator for the Institute, leading a cohort of students across the country and the world. This summer she completes her training at the Bon Secours Spiritual Direction Institute. Perhaps most powerfully, Thomasina offers the presence of a loving, healing spirit to the individuals and couples she guides. “I think my gift is to make space for people, as they find their way,” Thomasina told me last summer as we began to pray about her role at the Church of the Redeemer. It is true: “when you are speaking with Thomasina,” said one of her directees, “it feels like you are the only person in the world.”
Thomasina and Rayner have four adult children and nine grandchildren.
If you haven’t yet met Thomasina, you are in for a treat. Please help me welcome her to our team at Redeemer.
Love,
David