Dear friends in Christ,

   The fifth mark of mission of the Anglican Church is “To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth”. With this as our focus, we begin the Season of Creation on September 1st, and this will be the theme of our worship until October 4th.  As we move into fall, we will resume regular parish activities and practices. Thursday worship will begin again on September 1st, with refreshments available from 9.am, and the liturgy at 10.am. During this season, we will be using a Celtic liturgy on Thursdays, and the Liturgy of the Islands and Inlets on Sundays. A new exhibition highlighting aspects of the Season of Creation will be opening in the Chapel Gallery on September 16th:  An exhibition of recent works by artists Marilyn Walker and Mary Anne Molcan entitled “Human/Nature".

    I have greatly enjoyed my individual visits and conversations with many of you during my first weeks in the parish and they have provided me with a beautiful emergent picture and understanding of the parish. To those of you that I have not yet had an opportunity to meet with, I invited you to make an appointment with me so that I can get to know you too. To all of you, I want to say that I am here first and foremost for you and I will never be too busy to listen to your concerns. My door is always open to you.  

Blessings on your week

Reverend Colleen+

Thursday morning worship will begin again this coming week, September 1st, with refreshments available from 9.am and the liturgy at 10.am. During this season, we will be using a Celtic liturgy. All are welcome. 

Thursday communion will continue into the fall on a weekly basis so we invite to come everyweek or whenever you can.

Please join us at St. Matthias Anglican Church on Thursday September 1, 2022 at 2pm to celebrate the life of beloved parishioner and community member Gerry Howell Jones.

The service of life will begin at 2pm with refreshments to follow in the church hall. 

 Gerry (Gerald) Ieuan Howell Jones, 83, of Victoria, BC, passed away on April 25th, 2022 at St. Francis Manor By the Sea. 

St. Matthias is home to a new Music Committee comprised of Rev. Colleen, Daniel Brown, Marilyn Denton, Hazel Tremblay and Joan Wilson. 

We selected music for Sunday services up to October 2nd. If you have favourites, please let us know by sending them to Daniel Brown at music@stmatthiasvictoria.ca. We will take your recommendations into consideration as we select music appropriate to the liturgy each Sunday.

 
We will be without Daniel’s music expertise September 4th and six other Sundays up to August 2023. If you have music talents, or know others who are willing to volunteer, please let us know. We will incorporate all the musical assets, and hopefully some guests, into our Sunday morning worship.

We also have a number of people in the congregation who sing (or have sung) in choirs. If you would you like to join me, Hazel Tremblay and Bob Hall in the “musical pew”, please let me know marilyndenton@hotmail.com.  
-    Marilyn MacLean Denton

Photo by Laura Seaman on Unsplash 

We are thrilled to announce the opening of our next show, HUMAN/NATURE, featuring the work of Mary Anne Molcan and Marilyn Walker.

OPENING: Friday September 16 from 6-8pm. Artist talks at 6:30pm.

GALLERY HOURS: 12-4pm on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays until October 2, 2022.

In line with Season of Creation Themes, this exhibition explores the consciousness that links us all together. Featuring Mary Anne Molcan’s and Marilyn Walker’s multidimensional prints, drawings, paintings and source materials. Molcan’s images depict the art of interbeing, where she blurs boundaries between human identity and the natural world. Walker’s multimedia art practice is a contemplative process. Her works focus on sentience and interbeing, where she portrays the consciousness in all living beings. 

Pre-register to join us IN-PERSON for three NEW Victoria Reconciliation Dialogues in 2022! The events are free and all are welcome.

Dialogue #7 – Na’tsa’maht: Going Forward Together Monday, September 12 from 6 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. (Doors open at 5:30 p.m.), Victoria Conference Centre, Carson Hall

For more information and to pre-register, visit: victoria.ca/ReconciliationDialogues.  

(Artwork by Brianna Bear)

God willing, the bishop will ordain Sheila Cook, Kirsten Evenden, and Trish Vollmann-Stock to the sacred Order of the Diaconate at Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, on September 14 at 7:00pm.

All are welcome to attend this service of celebration. There will be a reception to follow. 

Clergy who wish to vest and process are asked to inform the bishop's assistant at tsaracuse@bc.anglican.ca. 

For those who cannot attend in-person, the service will be livestreamed on the diocesan website and also on Vimeo.