All Saints Parish Newsletter 20th June 2014
Dear Friends,
It has been a week with two great celebrations.
The first, on Sunday, marked the centenary of the consecration of the Church of the Annunciation at Marble Arch. As Bishop Richard said, it was a celebration not just of the past but of the new life in the parish; something which All Saints has been privileged to help with. There was a particularly wonderful moment when the Bishop sat in front of the altar surrounded by singing children.
The second was our celebration of Corpus Christi yesterday evening. As I said in welcoming both congregation, friends from other churches, and our preacher, there was serious competition for the loyalties of worshippers from a quasi-religious event in Brazil. But even some of our most devoted fans of the beautiful game were in church rather than glued to a television screen. In the event, they were spared the emotional up and almost inevitable down of watching the England football team meet its fate.
The weather was kind, and after the mass we set off in procession around the parish; our singing supported by a small brass band. Our streets are something of an obstacle course, with scaffolding, holes in the pavement, late night shoppers and traffic all conspiring to hamper our progress.
That this was achieved successfully is a tribute to our head server Cedric Stephens. He had swapped cassock and cotta for a high visibility vest to marshall our “demonstration,” as the City Council call it, with his team of assistants. They shepherded us around corners and across streets, keeping both procession and traffic flowing in good-natured fashion. Rather like the Queen’s Birthday Parade last Saturday, our procession requires a huge amount of preparation beforehand and behind the scenes: in sacristy and kitchen, office and study, choir vestry and organ loft.
In the midst of the earthly city and the world in which we live, it was a great “demonstration” of faith in the God who both made it and bound himself to it for ever in Jesus Christ. Our faith, as our preacher suggested sees creation in a sacramental way; communicating something of its Creator. That world finds its fulfilment, not in the worship of material things, but in their transformation in Christ. The Eucharist is both the pledge, the “demonstration,” of that fulfilment in the future, in the heavenly city, and also the present means by which God works to achieve it.
Now, after all that splendour, we come to what the liturgists call “ordinary time.” The long Trinity season reminds us that the Christian life is about perseverance in small and everyday things too. All these, brought to the altar, can be transformed by God. At the altar, Sunday by Sunday, day by day, we who receive the body of Christ, become the Body of Christ.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Alan Moses
Vicar of All Saints Margaret Street
Area Dean of Westminster – St Marylebone
Please pray for those who have asked for our prayers: Harry Allan, Alan Bishton, Susan Beauchamp, Jean Brackston, Rachel Clayton, Rosamond Clayton, Kate Down, Jean East, Ursula Edwards, Geoff, Yvonne & Philip Harland, Lewis Harvey, Kate Hickman, Juliet Jefferson, Katherine Lee, Molly Leng, Joshua Levy, Christine Loffty, Santa Luca, Kerry Manuel, Jonathan Mani-Weoki, Megan and Chantal, Norman Newby, Andrew O’Connor, Frances O’Neil, Malcolm Richards, Prebendary Tunde Roberts, Peter Royle, Marilyn Stansfield, Dilys Thomas, Mary Thomas, James Wheen and Joy Wright.
For the recently departed: Filipp Gramatica di Bellagio, Tony Stock, Arthur Ferns, Gillean Russell, Ellen Aitken (Priest) and Stewart Marshall.
At the anniversary of their death (during the coming week): Francis Swanton, Stanley Harland, Percy Mortimer-Smith, Mary Tilley, Alfred Webb (Priest), Henry Ewer, former Churchwarden, Arthur Golightly (Priest), John Allcock, Baby Jean-Paul Myers, Friedemann Golka, Tony Mason (former Server All Saints), Ted McWhinney, Dorothy Jordan, Leslie Moses, Margaret Jervis, Sandra Allan, John Slater (Pries and Assistant Curate All Saints).
WORSHIP AT ALL SAINTS THIS SUNDAY 22 June – FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
HIGH MASS, 11am
Preacher: Prebendary Alan Moses
Jugendmesse – Haydn
O pray for the peace of Jerusalem – Howells
CHORAL EVENSONG & BENEDICTION at 6pm
Preacher: Fr Neil Bunker
Service in G (upper voices) – Sumsion
Ave Maria – Fauré
NOTICES THIS WEEK – The Parish Office will be closed 24 June – 2 July. Voice messages and emails will be collected and dealt with. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
EVENTS THIS COMING WEEK
THE ALBAN PILGRIMAGE – SATURDAY 21 JUNE 2014 at St. Alban’s Abbey – the Shrine of Britain’s First Martyr. Please aim to arrive by 10.30am, for procession set off 11am prompt.
PROGRAMME FOR THE DAY:
11am Pilgrimage Procession begins through the City Centre
Route begins from St Peter’s Church, St Albans, continues to the Town Hall and then will process to the West End of the Cathedral.
c. 12noon Festival Eucharist following the Procession) Preacher: The Most Reverend Dr Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop & Primate of the Episcopal Church in the United States. Service sung by the Abbey Girls’ Choir.
12noon Children’s Worship and Activities – in the Abbey Primary School.
2pm Orthodox Service and Veneration of the Relic at the Shrine of Saint Alban Organised by the Ecumenical Chaplaincy and the Fellowship of St Alban and St Sergius – all welcome.
3pm Anointing for Healing in the Lady Chapel.
4pm Festival Evensong and Procession to the Shrine Preacher: John Bell of the Iona Community. Service sung by the Cathedral Choir.
The Abbot’s Kitchen will be open 10-4.30 serving breakfasts, lunches, afternoon teas, and a range of snacks and drinks. The Cathedral Shop & Bookstall will be open 10-5 selling pilgrimage merchandise, books, greeting cards, CDs.
ALL SAINTS MARGARET STREET- BAPTISM & CONFIRMATION
FRIDAY 27 JUNE, 6.30pm Evening Mass – Bishop Michael Marshall will be with us for the celebration of Baptism and Confirmation at the Evening Mass. Please come and support those being baptised and confirmed.
DIOCESE OF LONDON, PETERTIDE ORDINATION OF DEACONS, St Paul’s Cathedral – SATURDAY 28 JUNE 2014 at 3pm (doors open at 2pm, please be seated by 2.40pm). We have an allocation of eight tickets to support All Saints’ Ordinand Michael Lynch. If anyone would like to attend the service, please contact the Parish Administrator Mrs Dee Prior on 020 7636 1788 to obtain a ticket. First come, first served!
WORSHIP NEXT SUNDAY – 29 June – SS PETER AND PAUL APOSTLES
HIGH MASS at 11am
Preacher: Prebendary Alan Moses
Missa Brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo – Haydn
How lovely are the messengers – Mendelssohn
There will be a special meeting of the PCC after Mass to consider the outcome of the Tender for the Lighting & Electrical Renewal Restoration Project and to approve a contractor for the works.
CHORAL EVENSONG & BENEDICTION at 6pm
Preacher: Prebendary Alan Moses
Service in F minor—Gray
Unser lieber Frauen Traum—Reger
SPECIAL EVENTS FROM JULY TO SEPTEMBER
ST CYPRIANS, CLARENCE GATE NW1 6AX – CHORAL EVENING PRAYER & BENEDICTION Saturday 5 July, 3pm Responses: Bernard Rose; Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis: George Dyson – Evening Service in F; Anthem: Henry Balfour Gardiner – Evening Hymn. With the St. Cyprian’s Singers, directed by: Julian Collings.
ALL SAINTS, Sunday 6 July after Benediction, at 7.15pm – ORGAN RECITAL by All Saints’ Dr John Birch Organ Scholar – NICHOLAS MANNOUKAS.
The programme includes: Psalm-Prelude Lento, poco appenato (ps. 34 v. 6) op. 32 – Howells; Plein jeu, Tierce en taille, Grand jeu – du Mage, Prelude & fugue in C BWV545 – Bach; Choral no. 3 in A minor (1890) – Franck. Retiring collection to support the Choir and Music at All Saints (suggested donation £3.50). The All Saints Licensed Club/Bar below the Church will be open afterwards.
ALL SAINTS PARISH PILGRIMAGE TO WALSINGHAM (Friday 18 – Sunday 20 July) will be led this year by Fr Michael Bowie. Please let Ross Buchanan (Assistant Secretary Cell of Our Lady of Walsingham, All Saints Margaret Street) know of your interest on Tel: 020 7221 1312.
THE ANNUNCIATION MARBLE ARCH – Centenary Feast of Celebration
Tuesday 16 September 2014, 7.30pm in The Annunciation
To celebrate the Annunciation’s 100th birthday and in the tradition of Dinners in the Community Ben Wegg-Prosser has put together a glittering event to raise funds for the restoration of the church. The speakers are Alain de Botton, Matthew Parris and Tessa Jowell with Fr Victor Stock (author and former Dean of Guildford) in the chair. The Churchill Hyatt Hotel has most generously donated the hospitality for the evening so all ticket money goes to church funds. Tickets are £50 or tables of 10 are £450. Please contact Fr Gerald (gerald.beauch@btconnect.com) if you would like to come.
NOTICES
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 has just agreed to a target 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.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO HOST TWO DUTCH CHRISTIAN GIRLS THIS SUMMER?
Carola Groenewold and Anne-Louise Dekker are Nijmegen University students in their first year, studying Business Administration and Communication, with English as a foreign language. They met through the same Christian student association. They want to improve their fluency in English, and are hoping to stay with a family – perhaps with children of their own age. Both have experience with babysitting children of different ages, and would like it to be of use in families. Their main goals are to improve their English and have contact with native speakers, and they say they ‘would consider all options! We would very much appreciate it if you would pass on our message to your church members’. The period they hope to stay is: 4th – 23rd August. If anyone is able to help them: please email carola@polygre.com and annetjed@live.nl.
ALL SAINTS RESTORATION APPEAL UPDATE
The Programme
The electrical scheme is progressing well. Preparations continue to advance each week, with the Butterfield designed lighting fittings now commissioned and in construction at the blacksmiths.
Tenders for the work are due back by Friday 20 June. After these have been reviewed a recommendation will be made to the PCC for approval on Sunday 29 June. Then the work of stripping out the existing installation can commence in July, subject to sufficient funds being available.
As in previous phases of the restoration programme, weekday worship, except on major feasts, will take place in the Parish Room. This will enable to contractors to have more uninterrupted working time, keep costs down and speed the whole process.
The Fundraising Appeal
Fund-raising continues. Applications are in to a small number of charitable trusts we hope may be sympathetic. So far the extended family of All Saints has donated or pledged a total of
£219, 470 towards our target of £250,000. This is over 88% of the sum required, an excellent result in a little over seven months. Our thanks to all who have so generously contributed to date. With some £31,000 still to find – further donations are of course welcome! Cheques should be made payable to: All Saints Church Restoration Appeal and be sent to the Parish Administrator. Please indicate where Gift Aid may be applied as it increases the value of your contribution by 25%. Thank you!
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 (the Church is open every day of the week from 7am to 7pm except on Bank Holidays, when it opens for the lunchtime Mass only)
SUNDAYS
Low Mass at 6.30pm (Saturday), 8am and 5.15pm
Morning Prayer at 10.20am
HIGH MASS AND SERMON at 11am
CHORAL EVENSONG, SERMON and BENEDICTION at 6pm
MONDAY TO FRIDAY
Morning Prayer at 7.30am
Low Mass at 8am, 1.10pm and 6.30pm
(Except bank holiday – 1.10pm Mass only)
Confessions from 12.30pm -1pm and 5.30pm
(No Confessions on bank holidays)
Evening Prayer at 6pm
SATURDAYS
Morning Prayer at 7.30am
Low Mass at 8.00am and 6.30pm (First Mass of Sunday)
Confessions at 5.30pm
Evening Prayer at 6pm
On major weekday feasts, High Mass is sung at 6.30pm with Evening Prayer at 5.45pm.
A priest is available in church for confessions or counsel every weekday from 12.30-1pm (except Saturdays) and at 5.30pm, or by appointment. The clergy are always happy to see anyone for whatever reason. Please enquire at the Parish Office (to the right as you enter the church courtyard).
www.allsaintsmargaretstreet.org.uk and e-mail: astsmgtst@aol.com.