Br. Andrew-Thomas
@bratmgosb.bsky.social
Scottish Gael. Anglican Benedictine. Sacramental and liturgical theologian. Autistic voice. Writing the holy in the hard and the hopeful.
My Religious Name has evolved. Fr. Abbot has called me Br. Andrew-Thomas.
I’m keeping Thomas — the name that holds my questions, my faith, and my formation.
I’m keeping Thomas — the name that holds my questions, my faith, and my formation.
July 18, 2025 at 3:59 PM
My Religious Name has evolved. Fr. Abbot has called me Br. Andrew-Thomas.
I’m keeping Thomas — the name that holds my questions, my faith, and my formation.
I’m keeping Thomas — the name that holds my questions, my faith, and my formation.
I’d appreciate your prayers, friends.
I’ve got a big interview tomorrow with Inclusion Scotland. It’s everything I’ve been hoping for — a role that speaks to my heart, my hopes, and the kind of change I want to be part of.
I’ve got a big interview tomorrow with Inclusion Scotland. It’s everything I’ve been hoping for — a role that speaks to my heart, my hopes, and the kind of change I want to be part of.
June 26, 2025 at 12:45 PM
I’d appreciate your prayers, friends.
I’ve got a big interview tomorrow with Inclusion Scotland. It’s everything I’ve been hoping for — a role that speaks to my heart, my hopes, and the kind of change I want to be part of.
I’ve got a big interview tomorrow with Inclusion Scotland. It’s everything I’ve been hoping for — a role that speaks to my heart, my hopes, and the kind of change I want to be part of.
32 degrees in London today. As a Scot, I consider this both a health hazard and a moral failing. Back home we call this ‘judgment day.’
June 21, 2025 at 9:53 AM
32 degrees in London today. As a Scot, I consider this both a health hazard and a moral failing. Back home we call this ‘judgment day.’
I got my Kindle in junior school. It’s been through childhood grief, teen drama, undergrad heartbreak, postgrad exhaustion, and a tour of most major denominations.
It saw me grow up, fall apart, write essays at 02:00. Today it died. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend its spirit.
It saw me grow up, fall apart, write essays at 02:00. Today it died. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend its spirit.
June 19, 2025 at 7:29 PM
I got my Kindle in junior school. It’s been through childhood grief, teen drama, undergrad heartbreak, postgrad exhaustion, and a tour of most major denominations.
It saw me grow up, fall apart, write essays at 02:00. Today it died. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend its spirit.
It saw me grow up, fall apart, write essays at 02:00. Today it died. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend its spirit.
Three job shortlists, further interviews on the way. Packing up my life in Teddington with a heart full of endings and beginnings. Preparing for solo long-haul travel, then a house move. If you pray, I’d be grateful.
June 10, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Three job shortlists, further interviews on the way. Packing up my life in Teddington with a heart full of endings and beginnings. Preparing for solo long-haul travel, then a house move. If you pray, I’d be grateful.
On this feast of St Columba, apostle of the Gaels, let’s remember: he crossed the sea not to escape, but to begin again. The waves didn’t wash away his past — they baptised it. He turned a mistake into mission.
June 9, 2025 at 12:11 PM
On this feast of St Columba, apostle of the Gaels, let’s remember: he crossed the sea not to escape, but to begin again. The waves didn’t wash away his past — they baptised it. He turned a mistake into mission.
Who’s buzzing? Me! Flights to Puerto Rico are booked — just over four weeks till I finish as a pastoral assistant and head straight to the abbey.
Thankfully, the promise of sunshine, psalms, and suspiciously loud geckos is softening the blow of leaving the parish.
Thankfully, the promise of sunshine, psalms, and suspiciously loud geckos is softening the blow of leaving the parish.
June 3, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Who’s buzzing? Me! Flights to Puerto Rico are booked — just over four weeks till I finish as a pastoral assistant and head straight to the abbey.
Thankfully, the promise of sunshine, psalms, and suspiciously loud geckos is softening the blow of leaving the parish.
Thankfully, the promise of sunshine, psalms, and suspiciously loud geckos is softening the blow of leaving the parish.
My Substack is where I write the kind of theology that doesn’t have a pulpit. To keep it up, I hope return to the Abbey in Puerto Rico this summer.
Just ten more annual subscribers will get me there. If you believe in this slow, holy work, please share: open.substack.com/pub/sromgosb
Just ten more annual subscribers will get me there. If you believe in this slow, holy work, please share: open.substack.com/pub/sromgosb
Sanctum Scotia | Sr. Margaret-Thomas | Substack
Liturgical and sacramental theologian writing on autism, liberation and the Church. Side publication on religious trauma. Click to read Sanctum Scotia, by Sr. Margaret-Thomas, a Substack publication.
open.substack.com
June 2, 2025 at 7:36 PM
My Substack is where I write the kind of theology that doesn’t have a pulpit. To keep it up, I hope return to the Abbey in Puerto Rico this summer.
Just ten more annual subscribers will get me there. If you believe in this slow, holy work, please share: open.substack.com/pub/sromgosb
Just ten more annual subscribers will get me there. If you believe in this slow, holy work, please share: open.substack.com/pub/sromgosb
Reposted by Br. Andrew-Thomas
You don’t have to worship where you’re not wanted. Happy Pride! 🙏🏼❤️🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
June 1, 2025 at 1:49 PM
You don’t have to worship where you’re not wanted. Happy Pride! 🙏🏼❤️🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
A reminder: all of us are made in the image of God — even us queer peeps, no matter what we’ve been told.
We can bring our whole selves to the table — and Christ meets us there, every time.
Happy Pride, beloveds.
We can bring our whole selves to the table — and Christ meets us there, every time.
Happy Pride, beloveds.
June 1, 2025 at 1:12 PM
A reminder: all of us are made in the image of God — even us queer peeps, no matter what we’ve been told.
We can bring our whole selves to the table — and Christ meets us there, every time.
Happy Pride, beloveds.
We can bring our whole selves to the table — and Christ meets us there, every time.
Happy Pride, beloveds.
Today is the feast of St. Dymphna, patron of mental health and neurodivergent minds.
She stands with those the world misunderstands: the anxious, the grieving, the autistic, the overwhelmed.
St. Dymphna, pray for all who live at the edges of calm. We are seen. We are beloved.
She stands with those the world misunderstands: the anxious, the grieving, the autistic, the overwhelmed.
St. Dymphna, pray for all who live at the edges of calm. We are seen. We are beloved.
May 30, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Today is the feast of St. Dymphna, patron of mental health and neurodivergent minds.
She stands with those the world misunderstands: the anxious, the grieving, the autistic, the overwhelmed.
St. Dymphna, pray for all who live at the edges of calm. We are seen. We are beloved.
She stands with those the world misunderstands: the anxious, the grieving, the autistic, the overwhelmed.
St. Dymphna, pray for all who live at the edges of calm. We are seen. We are beloved.
Team, let’s keep in mind that the Gospel didn’t spread because it was palatable. It spread because it was magnetic—disarming power, unsettling norms, and making space at tables no one else would set.
May 30, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Team, let’s keep in mind that the Gospel didn’t spread because it was palatable. It spread because it was magnetic—disarming power, unsettling norms, and making space at tables no one else would set.
Caledonian Sleeper northbound: 10/10. Falling asleep in London, waking up in the Highlands—there’s nothing holier than that.
May 29, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Caledonian Sleeper northbound: 10/10. Falling asleep in London, waking up in the Highlands—there’s nothing holier than that.
Please say a prayer for my Granny Ross who died this morning.
May 27, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Please say a prayer for my Granny Ross who died this morning.
Scrolling Perth rental listings is my new therapy. Whole houses with gardens for a third of what I pay for one room in London really takes the edge off the fruitless job hunt.
May 25, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Scrolling Perth rental listings is my new therapy. Whole houses with gardens for a third of what I pay for one room in London really takes the edge off the fruitless job hunt.
Reposted by Br. Andrew-Thomas
You don’t have to worship where you’re not wanted.
May 25, 2025 at 1:17 PM
You don’t have to worship where you’re not wanted.
I’d be grateful for your prayers, friends. After sending out 50+ applications with no outcome, I sat down to it again today—applying for work in Inverness and Perth that could support me alongside ministry. Holding it all in trust, and hoping for what’s needed to unfold.
May 24, 2025 at 5:55 PM
I’d be grateful for your prayers, friends. After sending out 50+ applications with no outcome, I sat down to it again today—applying for work in Inverness and Perth that could support me alongside ministry. Holding it all in trust, and hoping for what’s needed to unfold.
Finishing a hectic work week with good news—Substack say I’ve made my first $1000.
I’m so grateful to everyone who reads and supports me. I hope that one day my writing makes enough for me to live on, so I can give myself fully to ministry that doesn’t pay but matters so much.
I’m so grateful to everyone who reads and supports me. I hope that one day my writing makes enough for me to live on, so I can give myself fully to ministry that doesn’t pay but matters so much.
May 22, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Finishing a hectic work week with good news—Substack say I’ve made my first $1000.
I’m so grateful to everyone who reads and supports me. I hope that one day my writing makes enough for me to live on, so I can give myself fully to ministry that doesn’t pay but matters so much.
I’m so grateful to everyone who reads and supports me. I hope that one day my writing makes enough for me to live on, so I can give myself fully to ministry that doesn’t pay but matters so much.
BREAKING: I’ve found a shop in London that sells Teddy Grahams. Planning a full-scale pilgrimage tomorrow evening. Might even take holy water and a rucksack.
May 20, 2025 at 6:42 PM
BREAKING: I’ve found a shop in London that sells Teddy Grahams. Planning a full-scale pilgrimage tomorrow evening. Might even take holy water and a rucksack.
Team, let’s remember: the Church doesn’t exist to preserve power or respectability—she exists to break bread with the outcast, to speak truth in love, and to form us in the risky business of resurrection living. We’re not building an institution; we’re becoming a body.
May 20, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Team, let’s remember: the Church doesn’t exist to preserve power or respectability—she exists to break bread with the outcast, to speak truth in love, and to form us in the risky business of resurrection living. We’re not building an institution; we’re becoming a body.
Friends, I’d appreciate your prayers. I’m having my first Crohn’s flare-up of the year.
It’s horribly uncomfortable—but at the same time, I’m so very grateful for modern medicine that keeps it at bay and has kept me flare free since late December.
It’s horribly uncomfortable—but at the same time, I’m so very grateful for modern medicine that keeps it at bay and has kept me flare free since late December.
May 14, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Friends, I’d appreciate your prayers. I’m having my first Crohn’s flare-up of the year.
It’s horribly uncomfortable—but at the same time, I’m so very grateful for modern medicine that keeps it at bay and has kept me flare free since late December.
It’s horribly uncomfortable—but at the same time, I’m so very grateful for modern medicine that keeps it at bay and has kept me flare free since late December.
Today I posted my 100th Substack. When I started, I just wanted to share what was on my heart — reflections, prayers, questions. I never imagined anyone would really read it, let alone that it would grow into a community.
May 13, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Today I posted my 100th Substack. When I started, I just wanted to share what was on my heart — reflections, prayers, questions. I never imagined anyone would really read it, let alone that it would grow into a community.
Reposted by Br. Andrew-Thomas
You don’t have to worship where you’re not wanted.
May 11, 2025 at 12:56 PM
You don’t have to worship where you’re not wanted.
A year ago today, I stood in the aisle of the church that nurtured me and then hurt me, holding my dissertation—Between Tradition and Progress—a project that cost me more than I knew I had to give.
I wrote it with shaking hands and a heart full of questions.
I wrote it with shaking hands and a heart full of questions.
May 10, 2025 at 2:34 PM
A year ago today, I stood in the aisle of the church that nurtured me and then hurt me, holding my dissertation—Between Tradition and Progress—a project that cost me more than I knew I had to give.
I wrote it with shaking hands and a heart full of questions.
I wrote it with shaking hands and a heart full of questions.
Day off Waterstones finds.
May 10, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Day off Waterstones finds.