Sunday July 23rd saw the initiation of the new children’s playset behind the Hayden Building…

Sunday August 6th we will celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration with special music and elevated liturgy. What is special about this feast?

As Jane and I came back from vacation, we were delighted to see the work on the Rectory foundation proceeding so well. The crew had already backfilled the ditches that surrounded the rectory (Sebastian thought they were building a moat) and had begun working on the back patio

The rector, the Rev. Robert Fruehwirth, previews the fall’s coming emphasis on the Eucharist, and how it ties into our work also with our parish history.

The St. Matthew’s Women’s Singing Circle invites you to celebrate Old Christmas with them on Friday, January 6, at 7:30pm for a Faith & Arts Concert at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church. Old Christmas is when we hold our breath as the Twelve Days of Christmastide end and the Season of Epiphany begins.

Three Vignettes from Norwich: A December message from the Rev. Robert Fruehwirth.

Keep My Commandments was the signed work of Ernest Lakeman, installed in 1942 as a Ruffin family memorial. Lakeman’s most famous work was his window in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, memorializing John Jacob Astor’s death on the Titanic in 1912.

The most widely recognized window is the Angel of Praise Window, installed in 1899. It was listed as the “Ruffin Memorial Window” in a 1910 publication of Tiffany Glass. Joseph Lauber designed the Angel in 1894, and most likely Agnes Northrop designed the cluster of Iris at the Angel’s feet. It is signed Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company and dated 1896.

This ‘patron’ window of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church is by Lawrence Saint, who is well known for windows done for the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York, and the National Cathedral, Washington, D.C. The names of James Webb and Sarah Frances Cheshire and their children are laced throughout the window.

This window has one major panel. The theme of the window is labor and is based on Matthew 11 :28: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”

This contemporary window consists of two panels of popular events involving Jesus and children. The upper panel depicts a scene in the earthly life of Jesus.

The Magi Window by Charles Booth was a gift to St. Matthew’s by descendants of the Cameron family, installed in 1975. It was originally bought in 1884 for Salem Chapel, the family’s chapel on the Cameron plantation, Fairntosh, in what is now Durham County.

The Madonna and Child Window (1895) was a memorial to Paul Cameron, a 3-year old child of the Cameron family, designed by Charles Booth.

To the right of the altar, is the Good Shepherd Window (1872), portiaying Jesus with an unusual hat crowned with thorns. The Ladies Sewing Society sold their needlework in order to purchase the window as a memorial for the Rev. Moses Ashley Curtis, who was also a renowned botanist and composer of church music.

The first addition of stained glass to St. Matthew’s was the set of three lancet windows, the Altar Windows, in 1868, the “gift of a lady of the parish.” These were set into to the newly built recessed chancel.

Our Annual Stewardship Campaign begins this year on October 2nd and concludes on October 31st. Your responses are vital to financial planning for the many church programs, staffing needs, and outreach that enable the gifts St. Matthew’s brings to us and to the community around us.