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Sharing the light
This week we watched the sun fall through the church windows, illuminating the space with waves of colourful light. Though it is crisp outside, there is warmth now in the rays of the sun and beautiful hints of spring not far away. Hummingbirds are gracing our garden and children are throwing their jackets to the ground to race around the labyrinth. Around us (at least here in this corner of the world), winter starts her slow withdrawal from the earth and the promise of change and birth edges closer. The cycle of the seasons, the cycle of our lives and the cycle of our faith is one of birth and life, death and resurrection. And within all of these cyles is the steady foundation of God's love and presence with us, even when things seem the hardest. It is our most heartfelt prayer that we also see signs of the pandemic receding and so in this cautious hope we are moving toward being fully back in person by Lent. We are grateful to our Bishop for the flexibility she has encouraged within each parish to respond to the unique needs of the context and demographic of our parishioners. To get us there, we will alternate our in-person and Zoom service for the next few weeks in order to support those who are not yet able to join us fully in person. You will see the schedule below. If you would like to be on our weekly Sunday reminder email, please email admin@stmatthiasvictoria.ca. As you will see in this newsletter there are several opportunities to open our minds and heart to how the Spirit is moving in our wider community as well as the good personal work of decolonization. The offering of the Intersections series is especially vital as the church grieves and confronts once more the horror of the graves of children found at the former St. Joseph's residential school. We encourage you to participate as you are able and are looking forward to being back in person to have some focussed conversation about the TRC recommendations as well as how we live this out in our own worship and context. We also commend the latest show at the Chapel Gallery and have been thrilled by the response and engagement of especially the children in this timely and important show. This Sunday we will remember the deep faithfulness of Simeon and Anna as we come together to celebrate the feast of the presentation. We will also bless the candles that we will use in our church and homes this year. Feel free to bring some with you to be blessed! As you light your candles at the dinner table or coffee tables, in prayer or conversation, may you know the light of Christ that shines so brightly in each of you and that we see glimmering all around us in this season of Epiphany! Deep peace to each of you, Meagan & Matt Blessed are you who bear the light Blessed are you Blessed are you © Jan Richardson from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons. janrichardson.com |
Sunday WorshipSunday, January 30, 2022 Welcome to the season of Epiphany. “As a church, we sit at the feet of Jesus in this season, learning again what we are called to be and do.” As we move toward being fully back in person by Lent, we have decided to alternate Zoom and in-person worship for these upcoming weeks. If you need the zoom link, please email admin or team@stmatthiasvictoria.ca. Reach out with any questions you might have or if you would like to be a reader, greeter or pray-er for our worship!
Upcoming Sundays with Readings Sunday, January 30 Presentation/Candlemas - In-Person ( The Rev. Rob Crosby Shearer Preaching)
LEVITICUS 12: 1-8
PSALM 84
LUKE 2: 22-38
Sunday, February 6 - Zoom (The Rev Canon Karen Fast Preaching)
ISAIAH 6:1-8
PSALM 138
1 CORINTHIANS 15:1-11
LUKE 5:1-11
Sunday, February 13th - In-Person (The Rev. Matthew Humphrey Preaching)
JEREMIAH 17:5-10
PSALM 1
LUKE 6: 27-38
Sunday, February 20th - Zoom (The Rev. Meagan Crosby-Shearer Preaching)
GENISIS 45: 3-11,15
PSALM 37: 1-12, 41-42
LUKE 6: 27-38
Sunday, February 27th - In-Person (The Rev. Wally Eamer Preaching)
EXODUS 34:29-35
PSALM 99
2 CORINTHIANS 3:123-4:2
LUKE 9:28-36
For more infomation visit: http://stmatthiasvictoria.ca/events/sunday-worship--206/2022-01-30
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Chapel Gallery Show: 'Once for a while'works by Chrystal Phan - Saturday, January 29, 2022 The Chapel Gallery, located in the chapel of St. Matthias church, is an outreach ministry of St. Matthias. It serves Victoria artists and the local community, presenting art that inspires community engagement and discussion of socially relevant issues. The gallery opened in the fall of 2018 and to date has had 25 shows, exhibiting the work of 50 artists. Additionally, we presented a community show highlighting children’s art in the time of pandemic. At this time the gallery is thrilled to be showing Chrystal Phan’s impressive and engaging body of work that looks at the Canadian/Vietnamese immigrant experience through a humorous, intimate, and engaging lens. The show is titled “Once in a While” and features large scale oil paintings of everyday Vietnamese life in Canada. Chrystal has drawn from her memories and family stories to capture the humanity of her family’s adjustment to their new life in Canada. The paintings express, with a tender sensibility, a universal story of the immigrant experience crossing cultural boundaries. Chrystal captures moments of humour and invites the viewer to join her family at their dinner table, sitting around a campfire, and playing in the pool. Chrystal, who lives in Victoria, is an emerging artist working in the style of western classical realism. She was trained in the classical Atelier studio of Victoria artist Nicole Sleeth, and has studied with Steven Assael at the New York Academy of Art. In 2020 Chrystal was the recipient of a Canada Council for the Arts grant and has created this body of work over the last year and a half. She hopes to show this important body of work in art galleries and museums across Canada. Chrystal has also developed a school field trip program that involves a presentation of her work followed by discussion and has invited several grade 5 and 6 classes to participate. To date one school has visited with 18 enthusiastic and engaged students, some sharing their own families’ immigrant experiences, and excitedly talking about what they observed in the paintings. This show has garnered interest from the CBC, CHEK TV and the Oak Bay News. In the past few years, Covid has isolated and pushed us away from each other. Chrystal’s welcoming work invites us to come together and experience our common humanity, and to think about our own responses to our newcomer friends, and possibly share our own immigrant experiences. - Nicky Rendell, Chapel Gallery Curator The show runs from January 21st to February 6, 2022. Gallery hours are Fridays and Saturdays 12-4pm, and Sundays 12-3pm.
For more infomation visit: http://stmatthiasvictoria.ca/events/chapel-gallery-show-once-for-a-while/2022-01-29
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Placemaking takes it's next steps at St Matthias
We are excited to share some very good progress on our labyrinth and Placemaking project! In partnership with the Emmaus Community and the Greater Victoria Placemaking Network, and with funding support from the City of Victoria "My Great Neighbourhood Grant" - we have installed a brick labyrinth and have plans for sitting benches, a small book box, and beautifying the surround with native plants! Thanks to the Rev. Rob Crosby-Shearer and Penny Martin for their leadership on this project as well as volunteers from the Parish and Emmaus Community.
You can read more on the blog post at the Placemaking Network at this link.
For more infomation visit: http://stmatthiasvictoria.ca/news/placemaking-takes-its-next-steps-at-st-matthias
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Annual Vestry MeetingSunday, February 20, 2022 The Annual Vestry Meeting for St. Matthias Anglican Church will be held on Sunday, February 20, 2022, at 1130am via Zoom"The vestry is an annual opportunity to gather together as a community of faith, receive the reports of various groups, offer appreciation for volunteers, elect members to serve as representatives to Synod, review the financial reports of the parish and to conduct the formal business of the parish." The call to participate as a Member of Vestry is an invitation to live into the rights and responsibilities that follow with being baptized in Christ, and choosing to support and uphold one another and this community of faith in prayer, stewardship and faithfulness." On February 20th we will gather via Zoom at 1130am to celebrate the past year of ministry and receive and acknowledge the hard work of staff and volunteers during this pandemic! Copies of the Vestry report are available by emailing admin@stmatthiasvictoria.ca For more infomation visit: http://stmatthiasvictoria.ca/events/annual-vestry-meeting/2022-02-20
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Intersections (daytime series)Tuesday, February 22, 2022 https://bc-anglican-ca.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIudOCtpjspH90JsdE9UCQlFOkRNx_cCpK3 The above registration link is for the daytime series only. To register for the evening sessions please click here. Capacity is limited to 30ppl/session. If you are a member of a congregation please encourage others in your parish to join you and register today! Intersections: A Dialogue Series is an opportunity to engage with Challenging Racist ‘British Columbia’: 150 Years and Counting (CRBC). Produced as part of the commemorations of 150 years since BC joined Canada, this open-access, multimedia resources documents how the recent cycle of anti-racist activism in this province is part of a broader history of Indigenous, Black and other racialized communities challenging white supremacy for over 150 years. In this seven-week series brings people together in intentional conversations to:
...so we can participate with God in restoring creation and affirming the dignity of all people. A team of trained moderators will offer will offer each of the seven sessions which are based on the information covered in the CRBC project, using video, song, prayer, self-refection exercises, readings and group discussions. SERIES OUTLINE Session 1: Introduction. Introduces pedagogy and content for the series. Session 2: Land, language, treaty. Highlights the interconnection of land, language and the treaties that were signed, or not, in the process of colonization. Session 3: Residential ‘school’ System. Explores the legacy of residential ‘schools’ and the implications for us today. Session 4: Restrictive immigration. Unpacks the ways in which the provincial government restricted immigration from racial groups other than white European and engages some contemporary statistics for reflection. Session 5: Japanese internment. Revisits the response from Canadian authorities to Japanese Canadians during WWII and anti-Asian racism as it is experienced today. Session 6: The Black experience. In the shadow of the Black Lives Matter movement, this session seeks to expose the experience of Black people in the province, both historically and in contemporary BC. Session 7: Conclusion: where to now?, This session will complete the series, but it is also the beginning of our next steps on this journey. For more infomation visit: http://stmatthiasvictoria.ca/events/intersections-daytime-series/2022-02-22
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Pastoral Letter from the Metropolitan to Territory of the PeopleRegarding the discovery at the former St Joseph's Mission (Residential School) Dear People of the Territory, It is with deep sadness we hear that ground penetrating radar has again confirmed what we already knew, that there are bodies of children in unmarked graves at the site of the former St. Joseph's residential school. We know that this announcement brings further trauma to Indigenous communities, especially survivors and intergenerational survivors of residential schools. We lament with them, and we pray for strength and courage for them, as they receive and process this. I also pray that we in the non-Indigenous community continue to feel outrage at the atrocities that were done against Indigenous peoples in Canadian church-run government institutions, and that our outrage fuels action. We renew our commitment to the 94 Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to address not just the wrongs of the past, but racism in our own hearts and in our social systems today. I urge each parish to look through the 94 Calls to Action, especially those directed to the Church parties (59-61), and to discuss in your parish how you might take action. I invite you to post the prayer for Remembering the Children (see attached) outside your church and to pray it in your Sunday prayers. The apologies of 1993 and 2019 are available on the national website. You may want to listen again to the Apology for Spiritual Harm from Primate Fred Hiltz, given at General Synod 2019 to post it on your church bulletin board, and to study it in your parish. Please pray for the Pastoral Elders of the Territory; for all Indigenous leaders; for the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples (ACIP) and our Territory ACIP representative John Haugen; for Archbishop Mark MacDonald, National Indigenous Archbishop; for the Rev. JoAnn Hinter and the parish of St. Peter's Williams Lake; for the whole community of Williams Lake; for the community of Lytton and the Rev. Angus Muir; for the survivors and intergenerational survivors of St. George's residential school in Lytton; and for community workers and suicide prevention As Primate Linda Nicholls said regarding the childrens' graves at the Kamloops residential school found in the Spring of 2021: "These are days to listen to the stories of Indigenous people – to acknowledge that our Church shared in the perpetrating of this pain – to recommit to the hard work of truth-telling and reconciliation.” I pray that we have the courage to be present to this work that is ours, to follow our Lord, the suffering servant who was "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53), who bears our burdens and invites us to bear each other’s. May God deepen our compassion, kindness, and our outrage, turning our outrage to action. Yours in Christ, The Most Rev. Lynne McNaughton Download a copy of this letter below For more infomation visit: http://stmatthiasvictoria.ca/news/pastoral-letter-from-the-metropolitan-to-territory-of-the-people
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Faith Tides - January 2022 issueformerly Diocesan Post The Diocesan Post is now Faith Tides. We've moved online. Find the January issue at faithtides.ca For more infomation visit: http://stmatthiasvictoria.ca/news/faith-tides-january-2022-issue
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World Day of Prayer
World Day of Prayer is a global ecumenical movement led by Christian women who welcome you to join in prayer and action for peace and justice. This year the service was written by the World Day of Prayer committee of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The 2022 WDoP service video is available online beginning February 1. Visit the Women's Inter-Church Council of Canada website to watch the video and to learn more about how you and your parish can take part. For more infomation visit: http://stmatthiasvictoria.ca/events/world-day-of-prayer/2022-03-04
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