All Saints Margaret Street.

Dear Friends,

St Matthew, whom we celebrate on Sunday, holds a pivotal place in our bibles: with his name we turn from the Old to the New Testament. His account of the Gospel, from which we are hearing on most Sundays this year, is in pole position in the Christian Canon. It is salutary for us to remember that this is the result of human error. His work appears in our bibles as the first gospel because, for many centuries, and on the basis of one early church writer, it was believed to be the oldest account of Jesus.

Critical scrutiny of the New Testament has long since shown that Mark wrote before him. And of course Paul, though he only wrote letters (so far as we know), wrote those well before any of the canonical Evangelists, often mentioning something he calls ‘the’ (or sometimes ‘my’) gospel. In addition, there will have been other accounts of Jesus than the four we have, as well as the surviving so-called gospels (like those of Thomas, Barnabas, James or Mary) which the church did not include in the Canon.

And that’s the crucial point: the Church chose what is in the Bible. The Church is, as Michael Ramsey argued, ‘logically prior’ to the Christian Bible:

… the connection between the Bible and the Church is inherent in the existence of both, and the one cannot be explained without the other. Under both the Old Covenant and the New, the Church preceded the Bible.

So, while deep knowledge and understanding of scripture is vital for us, it is nonsense to suggest that Christianity comes out of the bible – it is in fact the (Christian) bible that comes out of Christianity. Otherwise, there would not be definable Christians until about 350 years after Jesus’ death: the first reference to our Canon of twenty-seven New Testament books is found in S. Athanasius’ Easter letter of 367. Before that, in the time of Jesus, in the time of Paul and while the New Testament was being written and collected, ‘Bible’ meant the Jewish Scriptures. Even they were not yet defined as a Canon in the final form which we know.

There is an important parallel flip which we need to make in considering our origins. We tend to look for the origins of the Eucharist by looking at the New Testament accounts (Paul, Mark, Matthew, Luke; John, usually in that order); we then try to determine what really happened, and when it happened. But just as the Church is logically prior to the bible, so the Eucharist is logically prior to the biblical accounts of it. Not only did Jesus institute the sacrament before the New Testament was written, but quite clearly Christians were doing it before any of these accounts were written. So, clearly, the New Testament recorded the Eucharist against the background of actual Christian practice: Christians didn’t wait for Paul or a gospel writer to write down the instructions and then realize they ought to be doing this instead of saying their prayers in a synagogue. Ramsey again:

From the earliest days the Christian Church possessed the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist, an oral tradition of teaching about Jesus Christ, and an apostolic ministry. By all of these the Gospel was mediated to the Church.

Things, as W.S. Gilbert wrote, are seldom what they seem. It is not too great a stretch to hypothesize that the gospels were actually written for the liturgy, as liturgical texts to rehearse our origins before meeting the Lord in the present moment. Their true home is in the Mass (which ‘makes’ the Church), before it is in the bible study or the academy.

As we thank God for Matthew we should also be thanking him for the gift of the Church for which he wrote (and which he is the first to mention), and making our best efforts, as faithful members of the Church, to understand scripture for what it is: Jesus, communicated to us as ‘The Word of God in human words.’

Yours in Christ,

Father Michael Bowie
Assistant Priest,
All Saints Margaret Street 

Please pray for those who have asked for our prayers: Stephanie Aziz, Alan Bishton, Susan Beauchamp, Michael Beauchamp, Martin Bluhm, Rachel Clayton, Rosamond Clayton, Kate Down, Jean East, Tim Harding, Yvonne & Philip Harland, Elspeth Harley, Lewis Harvey, Myrtle Hughes, Molly Leng, Joshua Levy, Christine Loffty, Jonathan Mani-Weoki, Lisa McCaulay and Baby Angel Maguire, Hilary Morgan, Norman Newby, Geraldine Newman, Maureen Pride, Malcolm Richards, Peter Royle, Jock Scott, Dilys Thomas, Mary Thomas and Joy Wright.

For the recently departed: Harry Allan, Piia Huhtanen and John Edwards.  

Remember past priests, benefactors, friends, and all whose year’s mind occurs this week:

James Wright, Mary Baddeley (former Matron of the All Saints’ Choir School), Andrew Braybrooke, Jean Hobbs, David Shearer, Pamela Herbertson, Eric King, Evelyn Steele, Mickaël Charbonneau, Lilian Exten, Lynn Evans, Sister Mary.

WORSHIP AT ALL SAINTS THIS SUNDAY 21 SEPTEMBER – ST MATTHEW, APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST

HIGH MASS at 11am
Preacher: Father Michael Bowie
Cantus missÓ• – Rheinberger
Ave verum corpus – Elgar

Sunday lunch is being served this week and tickets are £5 from the Parish Shop (subject to availability). Christine Auton is ‘head cook and bottle-washer (her own choice of title!) and her menu is: Chicken fillets with stuffing (vegetarian option available) with roast potatoes, peas, green beans, carrots and cauliflower. Pudding is Summer Fruits Crumble and custard. Coffee and mints.

CHORAL EVENSONG & BENEDICTION at 6pm
Preacher: Prebendary Alan Moses
Service in C – Stanford 
Hail, gladdening light – Wood

WORSHIP NEXT SUNDAY 28 SEPTEMBER – FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

HIGH MASS at 11am
Preacher: Prebendary Alan Moses
Missa ‘O quam gloriosum’ – Victoria
Set me as a seal upon thine heart – Walton 

CHORAL EVENSONG & BENEDICTION at 6pm
First Evensong of St Michael and All Angels
Preacher: Father Michael Bowie
Service in F – Dyson
Factum est silentium – Dering

ALL SAINTS EVENTS in SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER:

ONLY UNTIL Sunday 21 September from 12 – 6pm – JOHN LEWIS PARTNERSHIP ARTS & CRAFTS CLUB 2014 EXHIBITION in the All Saints’ Parish Room. The show features original paintings/works of art and assorted crafts – including silk scarves, jewellery, boxes and hand-made cards (with new All Saints’ designs). The majority of work is for sale and would make ideal gifts. Free admission.

THIS EVENING – Friday 19 September, 6.30pm MONTHLY REQUIEM MASS – please print the names of anyone you would like to be remembered in the file to be found on the wooden lectern in the Baptistery at the back of Church.

THIS WEEKEND – Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 September – OPEN HOUSE LONDON 2014 – All Saints will take part in the capital’s largest annual festival of architecture and design once more, with John Forde offering talks at 2pm each day. Now in its  22nd year, this hugely successful event provides free and open access to more than 800 outstanding examples of historic and contemporary buildings, on-site projects and public spaces and remains the most powerful medium for engaging everyone in a better appreciation of their city. Please contact Chris Self if you can volunteer for a couple of hours on either day to welcome visitors. Email: chris_self@btinternet.com. Tel: 020 7723 2938.

Monday 22 September, 6.45pm, MEETING OF THE ALL SAINTS FOUNDATION and CHOIR & MUSIC TRUST, the Vicarage.

Sunday 28 September – a new series of TEN TO ONE TALKS (running from Autumn 2014 to Spring 2015) entitled ‘The Shape of the Liturgy’ starts today in Church. The topic is the Gathering, Entrance Hymn and Chant.

Sunday 28 September, 7.15pm – All Saints is host to a charity fundraising ORGAN RECITAL after Evensong & Benediction – in aid of IRAQI CHRISTIANS IN NEED. The recital is given by CARL BAHOSHY (Organist at St. Elizabeth’s of Portugal RC Church, Richmond and born in the UK to Iraqi Christian parents). Charity retiring collection – please be generous (suggested donation £5- £10). Programme includes works by Bach, Messiaen, Vierne & Widor. Please support this hugely worthwhile and topical cause.

Saturday 4 October at 3pm at Pamela’s – POETRY TEA. Please bring your own choice of Poetry or Prose and maybe tell us why you made that choice.  To accept or to find out Pamela’s address please speak to Pamela or Sandra in the courtyard or ring Sandra on 020 7637 8456 leaving your name and phone number.  Cost £6 towards the All Saints Restoration Appeal.

Sunday 5 October – TEN TO ONE TALK in the series ‘The Shape of the Liturgy’ in Church. The topic is the Invocation & Greeting.

Sunday 5 October – there is a Mission Committee meeting in the Parish Office after Mass.

 
Tuesday 7 October (feast of Our Lady of the Rosary) ALL SAINTS CELL OF OUR LADY OF WALSINGHAM – 6.30pm Mass and Rosary followed by refreshments.

Sunday 12 October – TEN TO ONE TALK in the series ‘The Shape of the Liturgy’ in Church. The topic is the Collect for Purity.

Sunday 12 October – there is a Buildings Committee meeting in the Parish Office after Mass.

Monday 13 October – there is a Standing Committee meeting of the All Saints PCC after the 6.30pm Low Mass. 

REQUIEM MASS on Tuesday 14 October, am– please print the names of anyone you would like remembered in the file at the back of Church, to be found on the wooden lectern in the Baptistery.

Friday 17 October, 11am – READING GROUP (second meeting of three in 2014, meeting the third Friday of each month. The last date is Friday 21 November). The text for the Group is: Marilynne Robinson’s novel Gilead, available in paperback from Virago at £7.99.

EVENTS BEYOND ALL SAINTS IN SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

EYES OF FAITH by Professor Jack Mahoney SJ – Christianity as viewed by five great theologians (Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Calvin and Karl Rahner) A five week course on Mondays from 7 – 8.30pm from 22 September to 20 October 2014. MOUNT STREET JESUIT CENTRE, 114 Mount Street, London W1K 3AH.  Please book in advance via website: www.mountstreet.info or phone: 020 7495 1673.Professor Mahoney is a Jesuit priest and Emeritus Professor of Moral and Social Theology in the University of London, where he taught in several colleges for thirty years. These included Heythrop College, where he also served for a period as Principal. He is the author of several books and many articles, and has lectured widely at home and abroad, on theology and various branches of ethics.

CHURCHES TOGETHER IN WESTMINSTER “MEET THE NEIGHBOURS”
Hosted by The Annunciation, Marble Arch – Tuesday 30 September 7 – 9pm
The evening includes a welcome and talk by Fr Gerald Beauchamp (Priest in Charge) about the church’s history and architecture, including relics and statues, as well as the tradition behind its worship style. There will be an opportunity to look around the Church. Refreshments will be offered afterwards. Pevsner notes that to enter The Annunciation is to have stumbled upon: ‘a fragment of a major medieval church’. All are welcome to join this visit to a dramatic building in a fascinating and fast-changing part of London.

Saturday 4 October at 3pm – ST CYPRIAN’S, Clarence Gate – EVENSONG & BENEDICTION

Saturday 11 October – ALL SAINTS CELL OF OUR LADY OF WALSINGHAM – Pilgrimage to Oxford.  Gathering at St Mary Magdalen’s church at 11am, Mass and sermon by Vicar, Fr Peter Groves. Fr Peter will talk to us about the church and its strong connections to the Shrine (the second Administrator of the Shrine, Fr Colin Stephenson, was also Vicar of Mary Mags). Fr Peter is kindly also arranging for us to lunch together nearby and will then take us on a short guided tour of Marian paintings in the Ashmolean Museum (across the street from the church). Pilgrims may wish to stay for Evensong at Christ Church at 6pm. Suggested train times to follow.

Saturday 18 October – NATIONAL PILGRIMAGE TO THE SHRINE  OF ST EDWARD THE CONFESSOR
9am Abbey opens for Pilgrims, 11.30am Festival Eucharist Preacher : The Right Reverend John Pritchard, Bishop of Oxford  3pm Evensong with Procession
Walking pilgrims will be welcomed with a rite of foot washing. Throughout the day pilgrims will be able to pray at the Shrine, priests will be on duty for individual spiritual counselling and the Sacrament of Reconciliation and prayer tours around the Abbey will be available. For more details about the day, contact T: 020 7654 4805 or E: press@westminster-abbey.org.

Thursday 23 October – 6.30pm for 7.30pm – The Annunciation, Marble Arch W1H 7AH  – ANNUNCIATION CENTENARY FUNDRAISING CONCERT – ‘Jamie Lonsdale & Friends’ present an evening of arias and songs from your favourite operas and shows. Jamie will be joined by soprano Alexandra Kennedy, Chinese X-factor winner Mary-Jess and mezzo soprano Flora McIntosh. MD – Robert Emery. Please come and support this wonderful event. Tickets strictly limited, so please book in advance at www.jamie-lonsdale.com or T: 01367 820599 or email: lroyde@gmail.com. Tickets £25 per person or 4 for £60, including a glass of Prosecco.

NOTICES

ALL SAINTS RESTORATION APPEAL UPDATE – WORK’S ABOUT TO BEGIN!

FUNDRAISING
Following the testing of the market the budget for the work has been revised to £350,000 with over £340,100 now given or firmly pledged (including loans of £35,000), some £9,900 is yet to be secured with any surplus reducing the PCC’s reliance on the two loans. We still await the result of applications to charitable trusts.

THE WORKS
The good news is that work is about to get underway! The cabling strip out phase will begin on 29 September. Church will be closed during weekdays for most of the period until 30 October to allow the use of cherry pickers and other access equipment. Weekday worship will take place in the Parish Room, with the Church open at the weekends. Weekday confessions will take place in the Oratory. Please ring the bell at the Vicarage or Parish Office to gain admittance at the usual times. The main works on infra-structure cabling in the basement take place at the same time as the strip-out. Work in the Church itself is planned from Tuesday 4 November after the Festival – for completion (allowing for a Christmas break) in January, subject to the supply of specialist items.

HOW YOU CAN HELP……….With some £9,900 to find – further donations are needed!
Cheques should be made payable to:
All Saints Church Restoration Appeal and be sent to: Dee Prior, Parish Administrator ,7 Margaret Street, London W1W 8JG.
Please indicate where Gift Aid may be applied as it increases the value of your contribution by 25%. Thank you!

RESEARCH VOLUNTEERS REQUIRED
Healthy volunteers aged 65 or over are required for a project on the effects of ageing on the immune system. The aim of the study is to investigate why the immune system declines as people age. Volunteers must have had chickenpox in the past. The study involves taking a blood sample and a sample from the skin. If you are interested in taking part, please contact Dr. Neil Patel (Dept. of Immunology, University College London) to discuss the study. Email: neil.patel@ucl.ac.uk or Tel: 0203 108 2158.

ALL SAINTS SUPPORT FOR HOMELESS PEOPLE – MARYLEBONE PROJECT 
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 provided the funds for one of the 4 beds – provides a safe haven and refuge for women escaping domestic violence, financial crisis, sexual exploitation and mental health issues.

Seasonal Appeals – Last year we donated £2,790 to this Mission Project, collected through the All Saints Festival and Lent Appeals. The PCC approved support of £3,000 for 2014.  

Year Round Support – we also support the Resettlement Project with non-perishable food and toiletries or household necessities like cutlery or bed linen/blankets. Please contribute to this effort, bringing donations to the Parish Office or leaving them in Church in the basket in the Baptistery.

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 project.

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.

* 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.

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 during Refurbishment – Sept – Oct 2014
(Church only open Saturday & Sunday 7am to 7pm)

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 in the Parish Room
Morning Prayer 7.30am
Low Mass – 8am, 1.10pm and 6.30pm
Evening Prayer 6pm
(Except Bank Holiday – 1.10pm Mass only)

SATURDAYS  in Church
Morning Prayer 7.30am
Low Mass 8am 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. During the refurbishment works, confessions will be heard Monday – Friday in the Oratory at 7 Margaret Street. Please ring the bell
at the Vicarage or Parish Office doors for admittance.

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