October 8th: Ye Thankful People
St. Matthias’ was officially founded as a mission of St. George’s, Place du Canada, in 1873, which means our community is 150 this year! For the next 12 months, we’ll be diving into the archives to shine the spotlight on particularly interesting parts of our history.
A Thanksgiving letter from Rev. Jim McDermott, the interim priest between Rev. Blizzard and Rev. Near. Although Rev. McDermott’s time at St. Mathias’ was not without controversy, his words on Thanksgiving ring true.
There’s a lot for St. Matthias’ to be thankful for, 150 years on – from the initial commitment of the Young Men’s Association of St. George’s to the work put into this week’s Thanksgiving service by the chancel guild, readers and greeters, Zoom vergers, communion servers, choir and organist, Fellowship, Sunday School, building committee, administrative and cleaning staff, and, of course, Fr. Patrick. And by and large we’ve been a thankful community!
A part of stewardship that is often forgotten is how important it is to give thanks for gifts of time, talent, and treasure received. But the Wardens of 1958 remembered!
During a difficult time in the parish history, with the sudden departure of a priest, Matthians banded together to support each other. The Wardens of 1987 thought it worth, at the end of a long report naming the many targets of their gratitude, specifically also thanking by name the members of the wider diocesan community who had helped keep the church afloat.
Whether donations to the church were made once, as in this 1963 letter thanking Mrs. Ewing for her gift of a pair of candlesticks, or were part of the maintenance of a larger donation, as in this 1993 letter to Mr. Smith thanking him for contributing to the repairs on the Rose Window, official letters have been important parts of our thankful practice.
Rectors have not been the only ones to offer thanks in written form! The Chancel Guild has, among its slate of officers, one responsible for writing thank-you notes, and the Guild is very liberal with their thanks. As we saw in a previous post, they also receive notes of thanks themselves!
Sometimes, a blanket thank-you has to suffice, as when there are simply too many contributors to thank. The Association of Women had to do this many years; their 1970 Vestry report is a model of the kind of “all-embracing” gratitude that most Association reports express.
Members of the parish thanking each other thrums through our archives, as formal letters and notes suggest a larger mass of informal thanks – a great iceberg of gratitude! Whether welcoming a new priest, as Rev. Ken Near’s 2009 letter recalls, or saying goodbye to one, as in Rev. Robert Camara’s 2012 note, Matthians have shown their gratitude for ministry in ways that provoke gratitude in return.
When it comes to formal thanks, Vestry documents are rich sources. This list from Rev. Gilbert Oliver’s preparatory notes for his address to Vestry 1949 shows just how much thought and care go into reflecting on a past year with a thankful heart. The terser thanks of Vestry 1971’s minutes is no less poignant for its brevity, speaking as it does to the way that gratitude for a job well done often goes hand in hand with that job coming to an end.
As Rev. McDermott’s letter at the top of this post reminds us, St. Matthias’ expresses thanks to God as well, each Sunday that we gather together. On this Thanksgiving Sunday, what thanks will you give to God? And, following in the footsteps of Matthians past and present, whose work or gifts or time or presence will you express your gratitude for?