Fall News
Fall Greetings!
As the church year continues with the fresh energy of fall, I wanted to take the opportunity to introduce myself properly and let you know about the exciting things happening at St. Matthias.
As you may already know, my name is Meagan and I am the new Priest at St. Matthias. I was born here in Victoria but have had the opportunity to live in many places across our beautiful country. I come from a background in nursing that included both time in the hospital in the post-partum unit as well as a year in the Philippines working in community health with a rural midwife and doing human rights accompaniment.
I experienced a call to ministry early on in life and finally had the chance to pursue this calling in Toronto, finishing my education at the Vancouver School of Theology. I live in Fernwood with my husband and twin children and am part of a New Monastic Community called The Emmaus Community. I bring to my ministry a passion for creating spaces of beauty and welcome where we can encounter the Divine presence of God in our worship, our engagement with the community, in the face of both neighbour and stranger and in the beautiful creation that surrounds us. I have a love of liturgy and music, story-telling and space for silence as well as for digging into the questions of our faith and deepening our discipleship as followers of Jesus.
While I bring my own ideas and vision for our life together, I am very excited that our Bishop will be joining us on Saturday, September 9th from 9-3pm to help us discern where the Spirit is leading us as we look to the future. I would like to personally invite you to join us for this vital day in our life together. Childcare will be provided as well as refreshments but if you could bring a bag lunch that would be wonderful!
This fall brings some exciting changes! September 10th we will welcome to our ministry team Victoria Beauchesne. She has composed and performed, directed three different handbell choirs, and worked as a MusicTogether early childhood educator. She currently teaches piano to all ages; and has worked as a church musician since 2007. Her love of song has grown to encompass accompanying congregations and choral directing in a broad range of musical styles. We are excited to have her enthusiasm and vision!
Our Children and family ministry launches this coming week and we look forward to welcoming children back to Sunday school. Gillian has many exciting plans in store for them. We are planning an Advent children’s supper church on November 18th and a children’s choir is in the works! This September we will also welcome Rob as our Intern/Deacon. Rob is completing his studies at VST and is the team leader for the Abbey Church which worships in the St. Matthias space at 4 pm on Sundays. This fall he will be leading us in a series entitled ‘Faith and Film’ which will happen at 7 pm at the church on Sept 23rd, Oct 28th, Nov 18th and Dec 9th.
Whether you are someone that comes to St. Matthias frequently or haven’t come for a while, you are always very welcome! We will have special service of welcome on September 24th complete with BBQ after the service. I am also delighted that October 16th at 7 pm will be the date of my Induction. This will be a wonderful opportunity to celebrate and bless the ministry here at St. Matthias. I hope that you will join us for both of these wonderful occasions! On Oct 8th we will have a Blessing of the Animals at our Thanksgiving Service and if you are a fan of Celtic Music, we will host Celtic Thunder on Oct 2 which will be an amazing evening of music.
St. Matthias continues in its strong tradition of ministry beyond our church doors. We continue to support Threshold Housing in the recycling day held on the 4th Saturday of the month and have added our own church sale to the festivities. Our refugee committee continues to be active and we are in the process of developing a closer relationship with our sister congregation in Rwanda. Our community members are active in a variety of social and environmental causes throughout Victoria and the world.
I am truly excited by all that stretches before us this fall and I am eager to get to know each of you and your families better. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like a visit or an opportunity to talk more.
I wish you every blessing in this season of change and abundance