All Saints Margaret Street.

Dear Friends,

Wisdom has “set her table,” and sends out the invitation we will hear in the reading from Proverbs (9.1-6) at the Eucharist this Sunday:

“Come eat of my bread 
     and drink of the wine I have mixed.
Lay aside immaturity, and live,
    and walk in the way of insight.”

This passage is chosen to fit with the Gospel reading from the discourse on the Bread of Life in John (6: 51-58).

But it also ties in with the Epistle from Ephesians (5: 15-20):

“Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise….do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

The Jewish wisdom tradition, which Ephesians and early Christian moral theology drew on, is about more than acquiring information about God.  It aims at the formation of people who live in keeping with God’s commandments; the cultivation of those virtues which make for peace and harmony.

Paul gives some practical and very down-to-earth advice: “Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves.”

There were those in Paul’s time who used alcohol to induce religious ecstasy. In our day, people are more likely to use alcohol or other drugs for secular stimulation. 

We know that alcohol taken to excess lowers inhibitions and can lead us into saying and doing foolish and hurtful things.  In the long term, it destroys health, personalities and relationships.  It does not make us wise. Under its influence we waste time rather than making the most of it to do God’s work. When our senses are dulled by it, we fail to discern opportunities and lack the energy or will to respond.

All Saints has a licensed bar and we serve wine at celebratory occasions like my twentieth anniversary a couple of Sundays ago and at our farewell to Mhairi Ellis who is retiring on Sunday from the choir after over 30 years’ devoted service.

At a wedding mass on Saturday afternoon, we will hear in the gospel of the Jesus supplying an abundance of good wine at the Marriage at Cana.  At the offertory, when the wine for the sacrament is placed on the altar, the priest will say: “Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, through your goodness we have this wine to offer, fruit of the vine and work of human hands, it will become the cup of our salvation.”

All Saints is not a teetotal church, but the very fact that we accept wine as a gift from God in celebration, to gladden our hearts, means that we have to exercise care and responsibility in our use of it. We have to recognize that for some people it is an addictive poison. For others it is something which, taken in excess, can make us behave badly or make us incapable of behaving well.  

Ephesians contrasts alcohol-induced ecstasy with that of the Holy Spirit: “…be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

There is spiritual wisdom in knowing that when we seek to fight any temptation or besetting sin, it helps not only to avoid and resist at the time, but to develop a lifestyle which strengthens and protects us. 

The heart of such spiritual discipline is to be found in our worship. It is there, at the table of word and sacrament that Wisdom instructs and forms us in Christ. So worship is not an optional extra which we can afford to neglect. It is vital to our Christian life.

The divine Wisdom in Proverbs invites those who would be wise to her table. Christ invites us to his table, to eat of the bread of eternal life, so that we might share his life given for the world. 

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Alan Moses

Prebendary Alan Moses 
Vicar, All Saints Margaret Street
Area Dean of Westminster and St Marylebone 

Please pray for those who have asked for our prayers: Asia Bibi. Tore Bergquist, Ella Carroll, James Cary-Elwes, Coretta Quarty, Ian Coull, Paul Curno, Elizabeth Day, Mark Dougly, Michael Duggan, Helen Everett, Jonty Gordon, Yvonne Harland, Lewis Harvey, Alice Jullien, Andrew Laird, Tom Leader, Anthea Lepper, William Lightening, Christine Loffty, Simon MacGregor, Sister Martha (SMNC Tanzania), Hilary Morgan, David Pearce, Prebendary Tunde Roberts, Nick Russell, Jock Scott, Stella Skinner, Judy Stewart, Buzz Stokes, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Christine van Dyck, Debbie Wheeler and Joy Wright.

For the recently departed: Owen Chadwick (Priest), Sister Jane Frances, Charles Hamilton, Estelle Lovell and John Scott. 

Remember past priests, benefactors, friends, and all whose year’s mind occurs this week including: Veronica Katherine Lee, Alexander John Lee, Dorothy Lane, David Russell, William Cargill (Priest), Harry Allan (Benefactor and trustee of the All Saints Foundation and All Saints Choir & Music Trust), George Jeynes, Leroy Lawes and Marion Ginger.

Saturday 15 August, 3.30pm – NUPTIAL MASS for Benedict and Rolari. Please pray for this couple as they are married at All Saints. 

Saturday 15 August, 12 noon
HIGH MASS OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY (with a circular outdoor procession of the statue of Our Lady of Walsingham from Church along Oxford Street and back to Church for the first time at All Saints).

Preacher: Revd Canon Dr Simon Jones, Chaplain Merton College, Oxford
Missa Solemnis in C, K337 – Mozart 
Salve Regina – Poulenc 

Please consider offering your services as a steward as well as attending. 

If you can assist as a procession steward (essential for safety reasons) or by playing a role in the procession itself, contact Dee Prior in the Parish Office on 020 7636 1788 or see Dee or Cedric Stephens, Head Server, after High Mass. The Corpus Christi procession this year (see photos on the All Saints website) was particularly successful with choir and small marching band (with drummer) accompaniment. It attracted a goodly number of friends of All Saints from a broad range of other parishes. We should like to establish in the annual calendar a similar profile for the Feast of the Assumption – so do encourage friends to attend. The opportunity for All Saints to be visible in Oxford Street at lunchtime during the summer is especially welcome.

WORSHIP THIS SUNDAY 16 AUGUST – ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY – The music for these services has been chosen by Mhairi Ellis, whose last day this is as a member of the Choir of All Saints.

HIGH MASS, 11am

Preacher: Father Michael Bowie
Missa ‘Bell’ Amfitrit’ altera’ – Lassus 
Ave verum – Martin Bruce

During the month of August we are highlighting the musicians of All Saints and music written for this church. The motet this morning is by Martin Bruce, who sang in All Saints Choir first as one of the last boy choristers in the 1960s and later as a tenor. Michael Fleming (Director of Music 1958–68) is represented by his splendid hymn tune ‘Palace Green’ which closes the service, and for which the late Norman Caplin (Honorary Assistant Organist 1968–2011) wrote the descant for Mhairi’s wedding to Michael Adam in 2008.

Much of the music written for the Choir has been recorded. CDs will be on sale at the back of Church after the service at a special price of £6 or two for £10.

Mhairi and Michael would be delighted if you would join them for a glass of wine after the service.

There are no Sunday lunches during the month of August. Sunday lunch service will resume in September.

CHORAL EVENSONG & BENEDICTION, 6pm
Preacher: Father Barry Orford 
Service in E – Wesley 
Blest pair of sirens – Parry

This evening, as former choristers and friends join the Choir to sing farewell to Mhairi, the final choral music is Norman Caplin’s first setting of O salutaris and Tantum ergo, written for All Saints. There is another reminder of his harmonic genius in the descant to the Howells hymn tune ‘Michael’.

Much of the music written for the Choir has been recorded. CDs will be on sale at the back of Church after the service at a special price of £6 or two for £10.

Mhairi and Michael would be delighted if you would join them for refreshments after the service. The licensed Club bar will not open this evening.

WORSHIP NEXT SUNDAY 23 AUGUST – TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY – We conclude our series of services in August highlighting the musicians of All Saints with the Missa Brevior for lower voices composed by James Sherwood, a current member of the All Saints Choir.

HIGH MASS, 11am 
Preacher: Father Barry Orford
Missa Brevior – James Sherwood
Blessed is he – Tomkins

There are no Sunday lunches during the month of August. Sunday lunch service will resume in September.

CHORAL EVENSONG & BENEDICTION, 6pm
Preacher: Father Michael Bowie 
Service in G (lower voices) – Sumsion 
Laudem dicite Deo – Sheppard

PARISH NOTICES

Wednesday 26 August, 6.30pm – MONTHLY REQUIEM MASS. Please add names of those you wish to be remembered at this Mass to the folder on the lectern in the Baptistery. 

Wednesday 26 August – Sunday 6 September 2015
The Parish Office will be closed during this holiday period. Voicemails and emails will be checked from time to time and dealt with.

EVENTS AT ALL SAINTS in AUGUST and SEPTEMBER 

Saturday 22 August – ALL DAY, either side of 12 noon Mass, there will be filming by a Christian film-maker inside All Saints. The film crew will be using the Church and the Parish Room throughout the day. Fr Michael Bowie will be overseeing the arrangements.

Sunday 30 August, 3pm – HIGH MASS – BLESSING of THE MARRIAGE of Patrick and Rebecca. Please pray for this couple as their marriage is blessed at All Saints.

Sunday 30 August – this is the Dr John Birch Organ Scholar Nicholas Mannoukas’s last day at All Saints. We wish him well with his continued studies.

Saturday 5 September – 9-11am and 2 – 4pm BLUE BADGE GUIDE TRAINING inside All Saints.

Saturday 12 September – 1pm – AGM OF THE CHURCH MUSIC SOCIETY followed by a talk and tea for Society Members only. 3.30pm EVENSONG – to which all are welcome. Setting: Brewer in D. Anthem: Blessing, glory, wisdom and thanks – Brewer.

Sunday 13 September, 7.15pm (after Benediction)
ORGAN RECITAL – Charles Andrews, Associate Director of Music. 

Programme: Concerto in C after J. E. Prinz von Sachsen-Weimar BWV595 – J. S. Bach
An Wasserflüssen Babylon – J. Pachelbel
Miserere (four parts) – W. Byrd
Minuet – W. Lloyd Webber
From Zwölf Orgelvorträge op. 174 – J. Rheinberger
Scherzoso – Abendruhe – Romanze – Aufschwung – Improvisation – Finale

Retiring collection to support the Choir and Music at All Saints (suggested donation £4)
The All Saints Licensed Club/Bar below the Church will be open after this recital.

Saturday 19 September, 4pm– DEDICATION & BLESSING of THE MARRIAGE of Valerie and Richard Steward. Please pray for this couple as their marriage is blessed at All Saints.

ALL SAINTS RESTORATION PROJECT UPDATE

All five pendant lights are fully illuminated. The fitting of the specially made light fittings for the choir stalls (to be attached to the wrought iron grilles) is scheduled for 18 August. When all are in place we will be able to fine-tune the settings of the overall lighting scheme, although some of this work will have to wait until the darker days of autumn.

Funds for the project continue to be raised and the total received at the time of writing is now a splendid £411,500. Any more gifts will allow us a small reserve against the final cost of the works. If there are any surplus funds when all bills are paid, these will go towards future restoration projects at All Saints.

We are indebted to all those donors who have helped us replace the out-dated electrics and relight the church so that all the achievements of earlier phases of restoration work over the last twenty years are now revealed. Thank you! 

HOW YOU CAN HELP………. please make cheques payable to: 

All Saints Church Restoration Appeal and send them to:  
The Parish Administrator, 7 Margaret Street, London W1W 8JG.
Please indicate where Gift Aid may be applied or send in a completed Gift Aid envelope from in church, as it increases the value of your contribution by 25% at no cost to yourself. Thank you!

ONGOING SUPPORT for HOMELESS PEOPLE through:
MARYLEBONE PROJECT run by the CHURCH ARMY – A Day Centre, Residential and Transitional accommodation provider, re-settlement project and Educational and Training Unit for women. The Emergency Bed Unit – for which we have for some years helped to provide the funds for one of the 4 beds – offers a safe haven and refuge for women escaping domestic violence, financial crisis, sexual exploitation and mental health issues.

Seasonal Appeals – The grand total collected at All Saints for mission activities in 2014 was £6,463 through the All Saints Festival and Lent Appeals. £3,463 went to the Marylebone Project and a further £3,000 to Us (formerly USPG).

Year Round Support – we also support the Marylebone Resettlement Project with non-perishable food and toiletries or household necessities like cutlery or bed linen/blankets.
Thank you to everyone who contributes food and household essentials via the basket in Church or handed in to the Parish Office Please continue to donate these so we can help more people in need.

Day-to-day Support – we respond to the needs of homeless people who visit the church, providing luncheon vouchers for the West London Day Centre for rough sleepers who apply to the office and allowing a few individuals, who need a place to shelter or sleep during the day, to rest in the back of the church. We have created an information resource for Church Watchers, giving useful advice to homeless and vulnerable people seeking particular support or services. In the face of a rising tide of homelessness in London, please help us fund and support people in need through our Mission activities.

Want to help someone sleeping rough but don’t know how?
Call Streetlink on 0300 500 0914 and they will get a visit from the local Street Team who can put them in contact with the services they may need.

FURTHER COMMUNICATIONS OR ASSISTANCE FROM ALL SAINTS MARGARET STREET:-
* If you would like to encourage others to take an interest in All Saints/keep up with what is happening here, please forward this email on to them, or to people you would like to invite to services or tell them about our website www.allsaintsmargaretstreet.org.uk, which has a full colour 360 virtual tour for viewing the wonderfully restored interior of the Church – see www.allsaintsmargaretstreet.org.uk/history/virtualtour – before a visit or if unable to travel.

* If you know of others who would like to receive this correspondence please encourage them to sign up for the email on the All Saints website – see the tab News & Events> Weekly Newsletter.

* If you would like prayers offered at All Saints, please email the Parish Administrator Mrs Dee Prior at: astsmgtst@aol.com. Or make use of the prayer request facility on the website at: www.allsaintsmargaretstreet.org.uk/prayer.

* If you would like any pastoral assistance, please do not hesitate to contact the Vicar, Prebendary Alan Moses: alanmoses111@gmail.com. Or Assistant Priest Fr Michael Bowie: mnrbowie@hotmail.com.

DAILY SERVICES AT ALL SAINTS
On major weekday feasts, High Mass is sung at 6.30pm

SUNDAYS in Church
Low Mass 6.30pm (Saturday), 8am and 5.15pm. Morning Prayer 10.20am
HIGH MASS AND SERMON, 11am and   CHORAL EVENSONG, SERMON and BENEDICTION, 6pm.

MONDAY – FRIDAY
Morning Prayer 7.30am
Low Mass – 8am, 1.10pm and 6.30pm
Evening Prayer 6pm
(Except Bank Holidays – 12 noon Mass only)

SATURDAY
Morning Prayer 7.30am
Low Mass – 12 noon and 6.30pm (First Mass of Sunday)
Evening Prayer 6pm

Confessions
A priest is available for confessions/counsel Monday – Friday from 12.30-1pm and at 5.30pm Monday – Saturday, or by appointment. (Special arrangements apply in Lent and for Holy Week.)

www.allsaintsmargaretstreet.org.uk and e-mail: astsmgtst@aol.com