Monthly

I pray everyone is enjoying our beautiful spring weather. Our Lay Chaplain, Jo Ann and I went with another Lay Chaplain, Rhonda, and our friend, the Diocesan Military Ministry Liaison (Leslie) to visit the Frank Tejeda Veteran’s Home in Floresville. St. Matthias has been sending the Home, Veteran’s Day and Valentine cards for a few years and we were finally able to visit them. They have veterans from WWII to the current conflict in the Gulf. We spent time visiting, listening, and sharing. We also presented veterans with prayer shawls and bracelets, Armor of God challenge coins and pins. Jo Ann and I also visited the Devine Nursing Home to see how we can get involved with visits in the future.

Wow! What a Holy Spirit filled Diocesan Council we had in San Marcos. I accompanied our two delegates, JoAnn and Karen, with other delegates from 87 Diocesan churches representing over 26,000 Episcopalians. They voted for board and committee members, the annual budget, and listened to ministry reports. I loved seeing Council through the eyes of JoAnn who attended her first Council. I couldn’t hope to adequately explain to anyone what they would experience, until they see it in person. Her eyes were lit up, she had the biggest smile and just soaked in the loving experience being surround with hundreds of Christians.

Ash Wednesday is on Valentines Day this year, so we’ll be having Imposition of Ashes during our Ash Wednesday service at 12pm. If you are in the local area and unable to attend the service and would like ashes, please let us know. Our Lay Chaplain, Jo Ann or I will come to you.

2023 was a year of highs and lows for St, Matthias. We continued our tradition of being involved in our community impacting so many lives with our efforts. We lost two of our family, Erica and Harry. They were both a very big parts of our church and will be sorely missed. We held a Celebration of Life service for Harry Trupp last month. He made a tremendous impact at St. Matthias. I want to thank everyone who helped with the service and reception.

We lost one of our saints, Harry Trupp on November 21st. He blessed St. Matthias with his presence and was the epitome of being a disciple of Christ as an evangelist inviting everyone he met to attend St. Matthias. He is our Bishop’s Warden and served as Worship Leader, Lay Eucharist Minister, Visiting Eucharist Minister, and Lector.  He was directly responsible for almost all the recent improvements at our church. Harry was also a key member of our annual community events. Visitation is Monday, December 11th from 2:00-5:00 at Primrose Funeral Home in Devine. We’ll be having a Celebration of Life service Tuesday, December 12th at St. Matthias’ Church, 1:00 pm with reception following the service and internment.

I pray everyone is enjoying the fall weather. We had a busy October at St. Matthias. We held our annual community Blessing of the Animals, annual community Trunk or treat, and attended the National Night Out. We’re looking forward to our second year of entering the St. Matthias float in the Devine Cactus Festival parade. Thank you, Jon and Allison, for spearheading this event and everyone who is volunteering.

We held a Celebration of Life for one of our saints, Erika Gibbs. Family and friends shared their love and stories of Erika during the reception following the service. If you weren’t able to attend the service, you can view it on our St. Matthias Facebook page.

Meg, Luna and I had a wonderful vacation in Rapid City, South Dakota. The temperature was in the mid 60’s to mid-80’s. We visited a small church, St. Matthews Episcopal Church led by Bishop Burnett. All the hymns were sung in Lakota as well as different parts of the liturgy. Maybe I should talk to Phyllis about periodically including a Lakota hymn. I could actually carry a tune. Meg wouldn’t have to cut my mike like she does now for our hymns. I was able to share some info on what our Diocese is doing with small churches as well as the efforts of St. Matthias.

Meg, Luna and I had a wonderful vacation in Rapid City, South Dakota. The temperature was in the mid 60’s to mid-80’s. We visited a small church, St. Matthews Episcopal Church led by Bishop Burnett. All the hymns were sung in Lakota as well as different parts of the liturgy. Maybe I should talk to Phyllis about periodically including a Lakota hymn. I could actually carry a tune. Meg wouldn’t have to cut my mike like she does now for our hymns. I was able to share some info on what our Diocese is doing with small churches as well as the efforts of St. Matthias.

I pray everyone is enjoying the summer weather. It did hit 110 in Devine and the heat index was 119. We’re all counting the days until the Ordination and Consecration Service of the 11th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas, the Rev. Dr. David G. Read on Saturday, July 8 at 11:00 a.m. at All Saints Chapel, TMI Episcopal. I encourage everyone to watch online at dwtx.org/events/dwtxconsecration2023 if you can’t attend in person.

We had a glorious St. Matthias 50th Anniversary celebration. The Rt. Rev. Rayford High, Assistant Bishop of West Texas and dear friend of St. Matthias received JoAnn, John and Pat. Erika pulled double duty as the Bishop’s Chaplain and our crucifer and Harry was our LEM. We had 39 folks in attendance. We had 2 of St. Matthias’s founders as well as past and present parishioners. There was a celebratory luncheon after the service. Thank you to everyone who put in long hours to get everything ready.

What a glorious April we had, celebrating the Risen Christ on Easter. The children flowered the cross before the service and collected many Easter eggs afterwards. The highlight for this month will be the St. Matthias 50th Anniversary celebration. The Rt. Rev. Rayford High, Assistant Bishop of West Texas and dear friend of St. Matthias will lead our Holy Eucharist and Receive JoAnn, Jon, and Pat into our Episcopal faith. Yes, Pat Leece, our Wednesday and Sunday Psalmist in New York will be here in person! We will have an anniversary celebratory luncheon honoring our 3 newest Episcopal members, after the service.

We have an action-packed April planned. Holy Week begins with:

Palm Sunday, April 2nd, 10:30am

Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and Jesus’ Passion on the cross. Palm branches will be distributed and waved during the procession. The liturgy of the palms will start outside the church then we’ll process into the church. For the Passion gospel, some folks in the congregation will have specific roles to read with the congregation taking the part of the crowd. 

I pray everyone is well at the start of this Lenten season, a time for reflection, penitence, and fasting. The journey through Lent into Easter is a journey with Jesus. We are baptized into his life, self-giving, and death; then, we rise in hope to life transformed. This Lent, everyone is invited to walk with Jesus in his Way of Love and into the experience of transformed life. Together, we will walk through the depths of salvation history into the fullness of redemption.

I pray everyone is having a joyous Epiphany! Fr. Dexter provided blessed chalk and a prayer card for parishioners to Chalk their front door, invoking Christ’s blessing not only on the physical house but on the people who live there and those who visit.

 We had our annual meeting which was also on zoom for out-of-town parishioners. We went over all of our many community activities for last year, passed a budget, announced Karen and Joe as our delegates for the annual Diocesan Council Feb 16-18, and introduced our New Bishop’s Committee for 2023: Harry as our Bishop’s Warden, Erika as our Jr. Warden, with members Joe and Allison. Cassandra is our treasurer and Meg is our clerk

I pray everyone had a Merry Christmas. We had wonderful Lessons & Carols Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services. Thank you everyone who donated for the purchase of the beautiful Poinsettias. Folks were able to make their own Advent wreaths for our December POSM event. We held our Consecration Sunday on December 4th. We still are waiting on a few pledge cards. If you need a pledge card, (or just send Meg the information) please let us know so we can work on next year’s budget.

Busy, busy, busy! November at St. Matthias was exciting! After an absence of over 25 years, we had an entry in Devine Cactus Festival parade. Allison, John, Esme, Kaylynn, Olive, Meg, Amber, Rob, Erika Ryska and Luna either drove, waved, or tossed goodies to the spectators. We had lots of positive comments showcasing how St. Matthias is a thriving and exciting church in the service of Jesus Christ! I served as Chaplain for the 3-day Veterans Day weekend Wounded Warrior and Veteran Family Camp at Mustang Island. Harry, JoAnn, Karen, and Joe were also in attendance. We had a wonderful POSM event making family Advent wreaths. We did experience our Sanctuary heating system go down and held one service in the Parish Hall.

The Holy Spirit is really moving at St. Matthias! We had an incredible October and are looking forward what surprises are in store for November. We had a great Blessing of the Animals, fun filled Halloween Murder Mystery, and our Halloween Trunk or Treat. We’re excited to participate in the Devine Cactus Festival parade, November 5th. After an absence for over 25 years, we’re looking forward to showcasing how St. Matthias is a thriving and exciting church in the service of our Lord, Jesus Christ! I’ll be serving as Chaplain for the 3-day Veterans Day weekend Wounded Warrior and Veteran Family Camp at Mustang Island. Harry, JoAnn, Karen, and Joe will also attend. We’ll have our next POSM event November 20th with Advent wreath making and the hanging of the greens.

Wow! We have an action-packed October to get excited about! We’ll have our Annual Blessing of the Animals, October 4th, Halloween Murder Mystery October 8th, and our Annual Trunk or Treat October 31st. We’re also preparing to enter a float in the Devine Cactus Festival November 5th.

Fr. Dexter attended a Gathering of Leaders conference for Bi-Vocational priests from across the country. He was asked to share the concept and what how our St. Matthias digital vergers (Rob and Amber) engage our online community.

Worship God, Be Transformed in Christ, Change the World

We’re excited! We’ve going through a resurrection! St. Matthias is blessed to have been part of The Episcopal Church Foundation’s Pivot Pilot Program. Our Pivot team has been hard at work for the last few months, and they’ve compiled an incredible amount of ideas for St. Matthias and our community of faith. One of the highlights was St. Matthias being interviewed and recorded to show future teams how we accessed and discussed our neighborhood data.

We presented many of the ideas at our ice cream social after the Blessing of the Back Packs service. Some of these items we’ll begin implementing immediately and others will be presented to our Bishop’s Committee and parishioners for feedback. Folks have already seen some of our ideas taking root. When you get a chance, please give a special thank you to Pat, Karen, Erika, Rob, and Meg for all of their hard work and continuing efforts.