All Saints Margaret Street.

Dear Friend,

‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us’ from Sunday’s Gospel (The Road to Emmaus, Luke 24) 

There is a story about a dying Buddhist monk who asked a Christian priest to instruct him in the truths of the Faith. The priest did his best. Afterwards the monk thanked him but added, ‘you filled my mind with beautiful thoughts, but you left my heart empty.’ This story resonates with me because my Father, who began his priestly ministry as a CMS missionary in West China, often remarked on a revelatory encounter he had with a Buddhist there. The Buddhist politely asked him to explain the Faith and he responded with his carefully-learned and evangelically-orthodox account of the atonement and how it ‘saves’ us. The man responded, ‘why do I need that?’ He explained that he felt no need to be saved from something he hadn’t seen as a problem. This account of the Faith did not resonate with his experience of life. Such failure to connect with people at the point where life touches them has accelerated the marginalisation of traditional forms of Christianity in our society. We seem to be leaving people’s hearts empty. We may bewail the success of simplistic and more emotive strategies, but there is no secret to that success. These approaches connect with people’s daily lives and concerns, without demanding that they make a difficult intellectual journey to membership. If what’s on offer is less than our understanding of the gospel, it won’t help to complain from the sidelines. We need to make ourselves better known and more accessible, which can be done without compromising our dearly-held traditions. I have noticed countless times during my three years at All Saints that once we get people into the building and, still better, into a liturgy, they invariably find it enthralling. We just aren’t sufficiently well-known. 

Christian faith is rightly concerned with the mind when grappling with its doctrinal outworking, but these doctrines are not means of conversion. What brings people to Christ and membership of his Church is personal relationships and encounters, ‘warmed hearts’. The Faith is essentially a relationship of love with God who first loved us. That is the pattern that all evangelism must learn and follow: we have to demonstrate by our enthusiasm and love for others and God’s world that we are part of something worth joining. Cold logic will convince no-one and inviting deference to institutional authority will repel people, especially when the institution has an increasingly, sometimes deservedly, bad press. 

‘Why do I need this’ might be a good question for us to examine and pose to ourselves if we want to convince others. We will be more likely to do that if our hearts burn within us about our encounters with the Lord, as did the hearts of those two disciples in their Eucharistic meeting Jesus on the road to Emmaus. 

Yours in Christ,

Fr Michael Bowie 
Assistant Priest, All Saints Margaret Street  

Please pray for those who have asked for our prayers:  Asia Bibi, Tyrell, Andy O’Connor, Colin White, Pearl Baker, Rachel Boulding, Katie Marko, Andrew Evans, Joan Cook, Rose Stevens, Rebekka Norvik-Smith, Neli Dias, Sarah Payne, Rodney Bickerstaffe, Sally Bower, Tony Hawkins and Jan Williams. 

Please pray for Hannah Hewetson and Christian Adams, being married at All Saints on Saturday 29 April at a Nuptial Mass at 2.30pm.

For the recently departed:  Bishop Michael Perham and Rachel Boulding.   

Remember past priests, benefactors, friends, and all whose year’s mind occurs this week including: Douglas Robertson, Jane Mather, John Beard, Trevor Stevens (Priest), Mary Forsyth, Dolly Powell, Cecil Meyer, Phyllis Matthews, Catherine Towers, Douglas Brough, Alfred Adams, Kathleen Wolfenden, Melinda Powell, John Norman and Jack Symes.

For full service information: www.allsaintsmargaretstreet.org.uk. 

WORSHIP THIS WEEK:

SUNDAY 30 APRIL – THIRD OF EASTER 
HIGH MASS, 11am 
Preacher: Fr Michael Bowie 
Missa Brevis – Jonathan Dove
Easter – Vaughan Williams 

Drinks will be served in the Courtyard after Mass to mark the 80^th birthday of Jack de Gruiter, which fell on the Wednesday of Holy Week. Please join Jack for a glass of wine in thanksgiving.  

Sunday Lunch is being cooked by Stuart Voy and Quentin Williams. The menu is: Roast Gammon  with vegetables, followed by dessert and coffee – £5/ticket, on sale at the Church shop before and after Mass (subject to availability). Please join us.  

EVENSONG & BENEDICTION, 6pm
Preacher: The Vicar, Prebendary Alan Moses
Naylor in A
O filii et filiae – Anon, arr. Timothy Byram-Wigfield

WORSHIP NEXT WEEK:
Bank Holiday Monday 1 May – 12 noon Mass only

SUNDAY 7 MAY – FOURTH OF EASTER 
HIGH MASS, 11am 
Preacher: Fr Julian Browning 
Darke in E 
Resurexxi – Byrd  

EVENSONG & BENEDICTION, 6pm
Preacher: The Vicar, Prebendary Alan Moses
Collegium Regale – Howells
Christus Resurgens – Lassus  

Organ Recital follows Benediction at 7.15pm 
TIMOTHY BYRAM-WIGFIELD, Director of Music 
Programme: 

Coronation March from ‘Le Prophète’ – Meyerbeer
Overture: The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte) – Mozart
Spozalizio (Betrothal) – Liszt
Etude Symphonique – Bossi
Entry is free, with a retiring collection (recommended donation £5) to support the Choir and Music at All Saints. The All Saints Licensed Club/Bar below the Church will be open after this recital. Please find more organ recitals at www.organrecitals.com.

PARISH NOTICES & NEWS 
The Vicar has announced that Deacon Philip Sanneh is to be ordained to the Priesthood by the Bishop of Gambia at an Ordination Service at All Saints Margaret Street on Sunday 21 May, 3pm. All welcome – please come and support Philip and his family on this very special occasion. 

PILGRIMAGE TO ITALY, 10- 18 MAY 2018

Following the success of the Parish Pilgrimage to the Isle of Iona a couple of years ago, Fr Gerald Beauchamp and Fr Michael Bowie are planning a pilgrimage to Italy next year. The itinerary includes San Giovanni Rotondo, Loreto, Ravenna & Assisi. Cost £1,400 (approx). If you are interested in joining the party please contact Fr Gerald (gerald.beauch@btconnect.com) or Fr Michael (mnrbowie@gmail.com). Thank you. 

ALL SAINTS LENT APPEAL 2017 – a last call for your donations to our Lenten almsgiving – directed to support our regular Mission Projects (USPG and the Marylebone Project), the Bishop of London’s Lent Appeal 2017 and the Soup Kitchen at the American Church.  The All Saints’ Lent Appeal in 2016 raised over £8,000. Cheques should be made payable to: Parochial Church All Saints. Please use a Gift Aid envelope wherever possible since it increases the value of your gift by 25% at no cost to you. Please try to return your donation to the Parish Office by Sunday 30 April for prompt counting and claiming of Gift Aid so that we can announce the total raised.  

PARISH RETREAT, 19 – 21 MAY 2017
This year the Retreat will be from May 19-21 at Bishop Woodford House in Ely. It will be conducted by Fr Michael Bowie. There are still places if you want to come, and if you would like further information, please contact Martin Woolley on 07976275383 or at m.g.woolley@btinternet.com. Rooms will be allocated in the order in which bookings are received.

The WALSINGHAM NATIONAL PILGRIMAGE takes place on Monday 29 May. The preacher will be Padre Raniero Cantalamessa OFM Cap, Preacher to the Papal Household. As in previous years, a coach will leave All Saints at 7.30 am. Please contact Ross Buchanan, Assistant Secretary to the Cell of Our Lady of Walsingham, ASMS Mob: 07905 863578 or email: ross.r.buchanan@btinternet.com. if you would like to book a place.

The ALL SAINTS PARISH PILGRIMAGE TO WALSINGHAM will take place from Friday 21 – Monday 24 July. Places are limited. So if you would like to book place and have not already done so or would like to know more, please also contact Ross Buchanan (details above) as soon as possible.

BEYOND ALL SAINTS and of interest…

ST CYPRIAN’S Choral Evensong & Benediction – Saturday 6 May at 3pm 
Officiant: Fr Gerald Beauchamp, Director of Music: Julian Collings 
Responses: Smith      Canticles: Noble in b minor    Motet: Haec Dies –Byrd 
Refreshments follow – all welcome. 

HUGH PRICE HUGHES 2017 LECTURES – “Speaking of God in Public”
All lectures at Hinde St Methodist Church, London W1. Admission free. All welcome.
Tuesday 9 May at 7.30pm 
Which God? Which public?
Revd Gareth Powell [Secretary of the Methodist Conference]
Gareth will begin to explore these questions in the context of the Methodist Church in Britain today. What is our experience of God? Which “God” are we speaking about? In what context are we speaking, and to whom? What are the ‘points of contact’? And how, in the light of this, do we speak of God in public with confidence and imagination?

ST MATTHEW’S WESTMINSTER – Solemn Mass on Wednesday 10 May, 6.30pm
Forty years ago on 10 May 1977, the church was almost totally destroyed by fire, caused by arson. It was subsequently rebuilt on a smaller scale to a design by the aptly named Donald Buttress, and dedicated in 1984. To mark the anniversary St Matthew’s are having a Solemn Mass with special music and hope may will join them for this historic occasion.   
Preacher: Fr Jim Rosenthal, former churchwarden at St Matthew’s and good friend of All Saints.
Exhibition of photographs and other material from the time of the fire. You are invited to wear something red!  After the service there will be a reception to which all are invited.  

ST CYPRIAN’S CLARENCE GATE, Glentworth Street, NW1 6AX –
Saturday 1 July 2017
CELEBRATION OF THE 90^TH ANNIVERSARY OF T S ELIOT’S BAPTISM
(29 June 1927) with Bishop Rowan Williams & Bishop Richard Harries. Tickets going fast so get in touch ASAP!

T S Eliot was baptized at Finstock, Oxfordshire. At the time and from 1920 – 1932 he lived successively at flats 9, 98, 177 and 68 Clarence Gate Gardens. St Cyprian’s was his parish church where he became a daily worshipper and where Viv, his first wife continued to worship after the marriage ended.

Programme for the Day:
10.30am Arrivals and Coffee. 11am Welcome and Introductions.
11.10am Poems read by Pupils of the Francis Holland School, Regent’s Park 
11.40am +Rowan William: The Fire and the Rose: Eliot and the Incarnation 
12.20pm +Richard Harries: T. S. Eliot’s Conversion and in Conversation with +Rowan  
1pm Cold Buffet Lebanese Lunch with Wine 
Church open to the public from 2.40pm. Donations are invited for tea & cake after: 
3pm Evensong & Benediction with the Francis Holland School Choir 
4pm Tea

The morning and lunch is by ticket only (limited to 150). Price £40 – available from Fr Gerald Beauchamp Gerald.bbeacuch@btconnect.com. Tickets will be sent by post so please include your mailing address. Cheques to e made payable to ‘St Cyprian’s PCC’ or payment by BACS to 56-00-14/12138126 Ref’T S Eliot’. Profits from the day will be shared equally between St Cyprian’s Church and Christian Aid. With regret, the church has no sound system or loop and neither are there toilets available for disabled people. 

** MISSION NEWS**
Men’s clothing especially is needed by the Jesus Centre in Margaret Street and also by the Soup Kitchen at the American International Church, both of whom provide a daily range of services to homeless people. If you have women’s or men’s clothes to give away, please bring to Church and leave at the Parish Office so we can continue to help support our neighbours’ efforts. The Church Army is now also collecting women’s clothes for their Homeless Hostel so all donations can be found a good new home!

The Soup Kitchen specifically calls for: men’s trousers (sizes 32-36) and men’s sturdy/athletic shoes (sizes 9-12 especially) and say ‘we are also beginning to need men’s outerwear of all varieties and we always need rucksacks and duffle-bags to help our guests carry their belongings!’

The Soup Kitchen team (only part-time) asks: ‘Please drop me a line if you are planning to drop things off here. As always, many thanks for your support.’ Soup Kitchen at the American International Church, 79a Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4TD T: 020 7580 2791    www.amchurch.co.uk/soup-kitchen/

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 websitewww.allsaintsmargaretstreet.org.uk, which has a full colour 360 virtual tour for viewing the wonderfully restored interior of the Church – seewww.allsaintsmargaretstreet.org.uk/history/virtual tour – before a visit or if unable to travel. 

* If you know of others (near or far) who would like to receive this regular update on what’s happening at All Saints 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@gmail.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   
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 
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