During her visit with us last Sunday Bishop Anna spoke of different aspects of church and where we put our times and resources.  In the First letter of Peter this Sunday we hear about the church as ‘living stones’, an image that reminds us that while our church buildings provide us with a sacred place to gather, the church building is not ‘the church’, we are. As we follow the path forward, it is important to remember that Christ always goes before us preparing the way and we can trust where he will lead us  even if we don’t understand it. Our bishop reminded us that we should not identify totally with the church buildings: we are more than that. Today, let us see ourselves as living stones: a dynamic church that is capable of ongoing transformation as we travel onward. 

Rev Colleen Lissamer

Sunday, May 7th, 2023 - Fifth Sunday of Easter  

Readings 

ACTS 7:55-60;

PSALM 31:1-5, 15-16;

1 PETER 2:2-10;

JOHN 14:1-14  

Photo by Sergey Shmidt on Unsplash 

Join us weekly on Thursday mornings for a small and prayerful sharing of communion in the Chapel. All are welcome.  

Thursday morning worship begins at 10am with refreshments to follow at 11am. We use a Celtic liturgy from the wonderful book 'Celtic Daily Prayer Book Two, Farther Up and Farther In.' 

This is not a ‘Celtic’ service in the sense that it recreates a Communion Service from the Celtic monastic era, but it is a service shaped by a Celtic theology. The potential strength of this service is its simplicity. It aims to get to the ‘essence’ of this meal that all Christians share. In it, also, are echoes of the meal at Emmaus, the Passover Seder meal and the sharing of bread and wine that is part of the ritual binding between brothers, like David and Jonathan.  

Thursday communion continues on a weekly basis so we invite you to come everyweek or whenever you can.

Photo by Greg Willson on Unsplash 

Thursday, May 4, 5:00-6:30pm in the SUB Upper Lounge at UVic. The Thursday lecture, "Permanent Revolution: Religion and the Canadian Social Order" (David Seljak with Bishop Anna Greenwood-Lee) is free and open to the public. This lecture will also be livestreamed on Zoom (sign in at uvic.ca/csrs/events). If you plan to attend in person, please register for a free ticket through this eventbrite site (this helps us plan accordingly!).

Friday, May 5, 8:30am-4:30pm in the SUB Michele Pujol Room at UVic and Saturday, May 6, 9:00-11:00am at First Metropolitan Church in Victoria. The registration fee for the Colloquium on Friday, May 5th, and Saturday, May 6th, is $20 (i.e., $20 entitles you to attend both days). Students may attend for free. Lunch will be provided on Friday and light refreshments throughout. No livestream will be provided for the Friday and Saturday sessions, though recordings will be made available on our YouTube channel at a later date.

PROGRAM INFO At the workshop we will examine the use, regulation, and stewardship of religious property in the 21st century. In a rapidly changing social and religious context, faith communities and institutions face new questions about their use of property. Lands and buildings that religious communities once considered essential to communal life look different in the light of a housing crisis, an aging population, calls for justice for Indigenous peoples, and three years of Covid-19. Innovation and adaptation seem essential for religious institutions to continue to contribute to society. The workshop aims to explain and interrogate the regulatory and social landscape in which members of religious communities must make decisions about the future use and management of religious property.

The John Albert Hall Lecture Series is a collaboration between the Anglican Diocese of Islands and Inlets and the University of Victoria's Centre for Studies in Religion and Society. Generous funding provided by the John Albert Hall Trust. Please visit our events or John Albert Hall page for more details.      

Registration is only required if you plan to attend in-person.

The Church of the Advent is holding a Garage Sale on Saturday, May 6, from 9 am to 3 pm.

Last held in 2019, this event attracts many from the Westshore and Greater Victoria areas. The sale is well organized and the items are clean and well-displayed. Come browse and shop, enjoy a BBQ lunch and take home lots of treasures. Everyone is welcome. We hope you can join us.

We are accepting boxed items.

(Got anything to donate? Please note that we are not accepting clothing, TVs, computers, large furniture, mattresses, or books, records and movies for the Garage Sale).

High Tea with sandwiches and cakes will be served.

Enjoy watching the Coronation on a large screen.

Tickets are $25 per person, purchased in advance from Claire White by e-mail (events@stlukecedarhill.ca). 

The Moose Hide Campaign is an Indigenous-led grassroots movement of Canadians who are standing up against violence towards women and children. The Campaign is grounded in Indigenous ceremony and traditional ways of learning and healing.  

On May 11th they will gather in ceremony for a Walk to End Violence and they would love to share this space with everyone.

In Victoria, those interested in participating should meet at the corner of Douglas and Belleville at Noon. Everyone will walk from this meeting place to the Legislative Assembly.

There are bus drop-off and pick-up zones for groups on Douglas Street. Please contact ngraham@moosehidecampaign.ca for more information.

To learn more about this event, please click here.

Our choir is excited to be performing on Sunday, May 14th at 2pm! Bring your Mother for a special afternoon treat of beautiful music this Mother's Day. The concert will include instrumentals solos by pianist Yousef Shadian and a string/piano quintet from Campus View Elementary School. We can't wait to see you there!

1) we'll have a token Mother's Day gift at the door for all mom's  

2) Tickets $20: online at viachoralis.ca, at the door, Brown Paper Tickets, or choir members. 

3) children 12 & under FREE  

5) Any students (13 & older) $10 per ticket  

6) A young student string quartet will also be performing along with panio accompaniment.  

7) Our closing number will be a rousing audience participation piece. :)  

We are the Saanich Penninsula's (not-for-profit, amateur) community chamber choir.  Any net proceeds go to supporting youth choral endeavours in Victoria.   FINALLY.....If you like what you hear, have always wanted to sing and have fun, we are ALWAYS recruiting and welcome one and all, no previous experience necessary! 

St. Matthias Anglican Church is thrilled to welcome the Victoria Chamber Orchestra into our sanctuary space on the evening of June 9, 2023 at 7:30pm for its NATURE IN MUSIC concert.

We hope you can join us for this very special event. Our own music director, Daniel Brown, will be the soloist in Handel's Organ Concerto “The Cuckoo and The Nightingale” . 

Please see below for the program and ticket information.

NATURE IN MUSIC CONCERT

Ludwig van Beethoven

Spring Sonata

Violinists: Layla & Veronica Park

Piano: Jennifer Mitchell

Frédéric Chopin

Butterfly, Ocean, and Raindrop Études
Pianists: Eu-Rway Chew, Alexander Moldoveanu, Larisse Zhao

Edward Elgar

Sea Pictures

Mezzo-soprano: Cassidy Stahr

Piano: Daniel Brown

Franz Joseph Haydn

The Lark

VCO String Quartet

George Frederic Handel
Organ Concerto “The Cuckoo and The Nightingale”
Daniel Brown and VCO ensemble

Friday June 9, 7:30 PM
St. Matthias Anglican Church
Richmond Road at Richardson Avenue

Tickets at the door:

    cash, cheque, debit/credit

Adults: $20.00

Seniors/students: $10.00

Music students: free

Faith Tides is the official publication of the Anglican diocese of Islands and Inlets. It is a space where people of faith and doubt can share their stories, challenge their perceptions, and grow together.

In this issue: New relationships with our land and neighbours by Bishop Anna; Lovely as a tree; Seeking sanctuary — my home, their homes, our homes; and more!

Read it here!

Recent census data reveals that over half of the population in BC identify as ‘no religion.’ People who have spent some or all of their life in Christianity feel less and less at home there. For 60 years, many have imagined that Christianity isn’t so much dying as going through a once in an epoch shift.

Join Bishop Anna and The Rev. Christine Conkin for a week of theological exploration towards a Christianity to Call Home. We’ll revisit some of the progressive theological texts of the 20^th century (Religionless Christianity, Secular City, Honest to God, Comfortable Pew) to see what they have to say to us 60 years later. We’ll also tune into some of the theological voices of our own age (Richard Rohr, Ilia Delio, James Smith, Christina Cleveland, Kate Bowler and others) to see what new life-giving theology is emerging in these turbulent 2020s.

To register, visit this page: https://sorrentocentre.ca/events/coming-home-to-yourself-564/