All Saints Margaret Street.

Dear friends,

It was great fun to take part last night in our parish Lenten theatre trip to see the latest production of Shadowlands. This will be followed on Tuesday by an in person study evening at All Saints’ beginning at 7.00 pm focussed on the life and work of C.S.Lewis, and particularly on his work, Mere Christianity.

Shadowlands is about the Oxford don, academic, theologian, novelist, and Christian apologist C.S. Lewis. It recounts the surprising love affair he had in later life with the woman he would eventually marry – and then tragically lose to cancer – Joy Gresham.

This surface narrative is moving enough in itself, but the play also explores the broader themes of faith in the face of loss, the redemptive power of love, along with the intellectual reasonableness of belief and its interaction with emotion, experience, and the imagination.

Certain paradoxes characterise Lewis’ life that make him fascinating. He was in many ways quite an emotionally inhibited man typical of his era, entirely inexperienced in the raising of children; yet he was able to write fiction for children that was immensely popular and made him world famous. He inhabited the ivory tower of privileged Oxbridge academia; yet had a capacity to write for ordinary men and women in a way that was entirely convincing. He prided himself on embodying a certain sort of fusty bachelordom for most of his life; yet had his life turned upside down by a deep love affair with Joy in later life.

A certain suspension of belief in historical accuracy is required to watch the play. Most of the events it depicts actually took place when Lewis was a Professor in Cambridge not Oxford, and the number of sons Joy Gresham had in real life is cut in half (i.e. she had two not one!). That said, the play is widely seen as a powerful and moving depiction of Lewis’ life – especially since it was popularised as a film starring Anthony Hopkins in 1993.

Hugh Bonneville and Maggie Siff were splendid in the lead roles. Bonneville gave us a more human and lovable Lewis than Hopkins did in the 1993 film, and brought a warmth and humour to his personality that I sense is more true to life than Hopkins’ version.

The play draws us into the interaction between two people who gradually become more themselves as they learn to love and trust one another. Each needs the other. Lewis, who has hidden his emotions away in a life of academia is drawn out of his shell by Joy; but she herself, constantly fleeing her problems and never quite finding a harbour learns how to quiet her restlessness and find a home in him.

Next Tuesday, we will explore Lewis’ works of Christian apologetics. The principal amongst them which we will be focussing on is his short book, Mere Christianity.

What started out as a series of war time radio broadcasts was eventually collected together by Lewis as a short apologetic work designed to present the basics of the Christian faith and to argue for their fundamental reasonableness. It makes no claim to be an exhaustive account of Christian life and faith, but rather presents the Gospel as an entirely credible and belief-worthy account of human existence.

This slim volume has, over the decades, grown into an international best seller and taken on a life of its own – often quite divorced from the actual theological instincts and ethic of its writer.

Some parts of it can sound a little twee or dated now, as does the uncompromisingly authoritative character of the narrative voice. Nonetheless, its longevity and popularity clearly reveal its power to speak meaningfully about the processes that move people deeper towards faith in Jesus Christ, and the questions they ask on that journey.

It isn’t necessary to have read Mere Christianity in order to come to Tuesday’s study evening, but it will certainly help. Equally, you don’t need to have seen Shadowlands but it helps – and if you haven’t seen the play, you can easily watch the film version starring Anthony Hopkins before Tuesday.

I look forward to Tuesday’s evening of Lenten study and the opportunity to explore at greater depth the questions and pot holes that line the road to belief in the company of one of the Church of England’s best-known apologists and most persuasive spokesmen.

Fr Peter

U.S. Friends of All Saints’ – just two weeks away!

There will be a drinks party held on Friday 20th March 2026 at the House of the Redeemer, New York City at 6.30 pm to celebrate the contribution to our parish’s life made by the American Friends of All Saints’, Margaret Street.

We hope this special occasion will be an opportunity for American Friends who live in or near New York to re-connect with All Saints’ and for us to thank our American benefactors for their support. Both Fr Alan and Fr Peter will be present.

This drinks party will be proceeded by a Mass celebrated by Fr in the Chapel of the House of the Redeemer at 6.00 pm, giving thanks for the life of All Saints’, for any who wish to attend.

If you live anywhere near New York City, do put this event on Friday 20th March in your diaries and come and see us. It will be wonderful to see new friends and old. You can book a free ticket for the event via Eventbrite here.

Lent Giving

We are asked to consider two focusses for our Lent giving this year.

The first is to encourage those of you who have not yet done so to join the new scheme for supporting our Music Trust with regular giving which we launched in November. Joining the “Music Patrons of All Saints’” this Lent would be a wonderful way to ensure the musical tradition of our parish continues to flourish.

To join the Music Patrons of All Saints’, simply set up a regular gift of at least £10 a month to our Choir and Music Trust via this link. If you are an American tax payer, you can become a Music Patron by making a regular gift of at least $15 a month via our U.S. account here, and receive the tax relief in U.S.

A second recommendation is our annual Lent Appeal, which focusses our outward giving on the charity C4WS. This is the body that runs the homeless shelter we help staff at the American International Church on Tottenham Court Road.

You can read more about the wonderful work C4WS does here. We will no longer be accepting cheques or cash for our Lent Appeal. Instead, you are invited to make a donation to C4WS through the following link here.

Night Shelter Volunteers

Many thanks indeed to all who have volunteered to staff the cold weather night shelter this season at the American International Church on Tottenham Court Road.

We are still looking for volunteers for the night of Wednesday 18th/Thursday 19th March, which will be the last shelter of the current winter season for which we are responsible. Please be in touch with Fr Alan if you would like to volunteer.

Joint dinner with St Timothy’s, Winston-Salem – only 7 tickets left!

We look forward to welcoming a group of pilgrims from St Timothy’s, Winton-Salem, North Carolina, over the weekend of 9th-10th May 2026. Their Rector, Fr Steve Rice, will be our preacher on the Sunday morning at our parish High Mass.

There will be a special joint parish dinner at Le Beaujolais restaurant on Saturday 9th May 2026. There will be a drinks reception in the Vicarage from 6.00 pm, and we will then make our way to Le Beaujolais in time for dinner at 7.30 pm. The cost of the dinner, which includes three courses, coffee, tip and wine is £65.

There are now 7 tickets available for parishioners of All Saints’. To book your place, simply sign up and pay via this eventbrite link here.

Attendance last Sunday

For your prayers

The Friends and Music Patrons of All Saints, Margaret Street

10th – Mark Fleming, Stuart Fletcher, Christopher Forman, Daniel Formston, Derrick French, Jason Frost, Carole and Christopher Gabriel

11th – Derek and Cecilia Gatherer, Dr Rebecca Gibbs, Pamela Goddard, Paul Golding, John Goldsmith, Genevieve Gomi, Fr Michael Gudgeon, Sheelagh Gudgeon

12th – Monica Joan Hall, Paul Hannah, Jillian Hargreaves, Julie Harland, Christopher Harlow-Jennings, Patrick Hartley, Fr Jeremy Haselock, Martin Hime

13th – Rebecca Hirst, Fr David Hobden, Edwin Holmes, Rosy Holt, Elizabeth Hunter, Fr David Hutt, Andrew Jervis, Powell Johann

14th – Stephen Jury, Stanislav Kudryashov, Christopher Laws, Katherine Lee, Margaret Leggett, Cornelius Logue, Nigel Lynn, Henry Macey

The sick

Jean Castledine, David Craig, Asuncion Gines, Fr Harry Hodgetts, Helen Hughes, Canon David Hutt, Daniel Oliver, Carol Simmons, Ingrid Slaughter, Sebastian Taite-Ellis, Juliet Windham

Recently departed

Elizabeth Lyon, Berty Rice

Anniversaries of death