The Archbishop of Wales will join parishioners in Treharris this weekend at a festival to mark their patronal day and the completion of a £40,000 church refurbishment project.
Dr Barry Morgan will preach at a special service at St Matthias Church on Saturday (May 14), which is St Matthias Day, at 11am, and join parishioners afterwards for a garden party in the church grounds.
The service will be part of a four-day festival to celebrate St Matthias and the end of a year of upheaval as the church was repainted and refurbished with new chairs and layout. It will open today (Thursday) in stunning array on Thursday with a flower festival featuring 12 displays by local organisations and schools on the theme of musicals – The Show Must Go On! There will also be two concerts – Con Voce choir on Thursday evening and Treharris Male Choir on Friday evening, both at 7pm.
Priest-in-Charge of St Matthias, Father Matthew Gibbon, said, “This will be a great occasion for us and we are delighted the Archbishop is able to come. Everyone has worked hard over the past year to transform the church and we hope the whole community will celebrate with us as we mark the end of the project and begin a new era.”
The Archbishop said, “St Matthias was an ordinary person who simply followed Jesus and through his life and witness testified to his saving power. And that is of help to us because it is ordinary everyday Christians whose efforts of opening churches, making up rotas, providing the music – these are the things that keep the church alive in our land and which have kept this church going over the last 100 years and which symbolise a beacon of hope for so many people. And members of this congregation throughout the decades have tended each other, taken care of others, helped those in need and have been there at times of loss, bereavement and loneliness. That’s the essence and stuff of sainthood – those small acts performed with great love.
“So I am very much looking forward to joining in the celebrations and seeing the work which has been done on the church to make it a better resource not just for the congregation, but for the whole community.”
All are welcome to the service and to the flower festival.
