All Saints Parish Newsletter 29th April 2016
Dear Friend,
Easter 6
In the spirit, one of the seven angels carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. (Rev. 21.10)
Our second reading on Sunday takes us to the very end of the Bible, to the vision of the Holy City, new Jerusalem. The city is an ambiguous image for Christians: Jesus died on ‘a green hill far away, without a city wall’ and according to Hebrews 13 we must flee the city to join him:
For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go forth to him outside the camp, and bear the abuse he endured.
For the writer to the Hebrews the city of Jerusalem represents the old order, religion rather than relationship. But now, in the Eucharistic community of the Church, as we sing at Benediction,
‘types and shadows have their ending, for the newer rite is here’. As Hebrews 13 continues,
For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city which is to come.
(Again, in hymnic paraphrase, ‘Yet here they confessed they were strangers and pilgrims, but still they were seeking the city of God’).
But the ‘new Jerusalem’ encourages some imaginative reaching-out beyond our finite urban context. Commenting on today’s second reading John Pridmore refers us to the Anglican priest-poet-novelist Charles Williams (recently the subject of a new biography, subtitled The Third Inkling):
Charles Williams saw in the City of God the primary image of the Christian community, for it is in that city that we learn to practise ‘co-inherence’ or ‘the way of exchange’, that bearing of each other’s burdens which is the fulfilment of the law of Christ (Galatians 6.2). Williams insisted that, even in heaven, we can’t select our neighbours. ‘The infamy with which the City cannot compromise is born precisely in the thought that we can choose by whom we shall be nourished’ (The Image of the City and Other Essays, OUP 1958).
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Michael Bowie
Assistant Priest,
All Saints Margaret Street
Please pray for those who have asked for our prayers: John Adams, Asia Bibi, John Bailey, Alixe Bainbridge-Spring, Fr Allan Buick, Vivien Caplowe, James Cary-Elwes, Dennis Davis, Mark Dougly, Kate Down, David Fettke, Ghislain Hamelin, Lewis Harvey, Valerie Hawkins, Gwyneth Hopkins, Julia Holland and family, Myrtle Hughes, Maria Keen, Julie Knight, Andrew Laird, Tom Leader, Miriam Nelson, Fr. Robert Norwood, Oliver Orr, David Pearce, Canon John Rees, Stella and Helen Skinner, Margaret Spencer, Rose Stephens, Madeleine Storer, Christine van Dyck, Robert Walmsley and Joy Wright.
For the recently departed: Peter McCrory (Priest), David Jewkes, Barbara Potts, John Wilmington (Priest), Robert Middleton , Jock Scott, David Crawley, Sylvia Smith, James Winters (Priest), Debbie Peatman, Jonty Gordon, Laura Bannerman, Sister Katherine Maryel SSB, Mary Collins and Peter Hirst.
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, Katherine Wolfenden, Melinda Powell, John Norman, Jack Symes, Odo Hunt, Norman Sandwith, William Faithful, Phyllis Mackenow and Dorothy Faithful.
For full service information: www.allsaintsmargaretstreet.org.uk.
WORSHIP THIS WEEK:
SUNDAY 1 MAY – SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
HIGH MASS, 11am
Preacher: Fr Michael Bowie
Darke in E
Love bade me welcome – Vaughan Williams
The Vicar is preaching at Pusey House this morning.
There is no Sunday Lunch service.
CHORAL EVENSONG & BENEDICTION, 6pm
Preacher: The Vicar, Prebendary Alan Moses
Canticles in B minor – Noble
Christus resurgens – de Monte
WORSHIP NEXT WEEK:
Please Note: Bank Holiday Masses are 12 noon only.
ASCENSION DAY, Thursday 5 May – PROCESSION &
HIGH MASS at 6.30pm
Preacher: The Vicar, Prebendary Alan Moses
Mass Setting: Spatzenmesse KV220 – Mozart
Anthem: Ascendo ad Patrem – Palestrina
PARISH RETREAT, Friday 6 – Sunday 8 May 2016, conducted by Fr Barry Orford at Bishop Woodford House in Ely.
SUNDAY 8 MAY – SEVENTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
(Sunday after Ascension Day)
HIGH MASS with BAPTISM (Alexander John Green), 11am
Preacher: Revd Canon Carl Turner, Rector of St Thomas’ Church, Fifth Avenue, New York
Missa Omnium Sancorum – Caplin
Cœlos ascendit hodie – Stanford
There is no Sunday Lunch service.
CHORAL EVENSONG & BENEDICTION, 6pm
Preacher: The Vicar, Prebendary Alan Moses
The Magdalen Service – Leighton
God is gone up – Finzi
PARISH NOTICES
SUCCESS OF THE ALL SAINTS LENT APPEAL 2016
THE APPEAL received a last-minute donation from the All Saints’ Club, taking the total to a round £8,000, up 105% on the total for 2015. This will be shared between three charities:
Bishop of London’s Lent Appeal for beleaguered Christian communities in Iraq and Syria:
OPEN DOORS, providing emergency food supplies & hygiene kits in Syria and
AID TO THE CHURCH IN NEED, for urgently needed housing, medicine & education in Iraq.
Us (formerly USPG) – supporting the church in Zimbabwe working with those affected by HIV and AIDS; providing local clergy & lay leaders with skills & training for this vital work.
The Marylebone Project – providing an emergency bed in the Homeless Women’s Centre, NW1.
Thank you everyone for so generously contributing to make this year’s Appeal an especially big success.
We have this week received a warm letter of appreciation for another Mission initiative that has happened recently. With the agreement of the PCC, All Saints has donated £1,000 to keep open the SOUP KITCHEN at the American International Church on Tottenham Court Road. This invaluable facility, which had launched an appeal as it found its limited resources very pressed with the increased numbers of homeless people in London, is within reasonable walking distance of All Saints, so that homeless visitors to the church can now be encouraged to get hot food there. A copy of the letter of thanks from the Soup Kitchen Director is on the Church noticeboard.
THY KINGDOM COME – The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have called on the Church of England to take part in prayer for mission on the days between Ascension and Pentecost. As well as prayers at our daily services, we will have a Vigil of Prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, after the evening mass on Thursday 12 May. The Vigil will end at 9pm with Compline. Prayers and Readings for use during the Novena will be available in church.
CHRISTIAN AID WEEK 15 – 21 May
Please collect envelopes from Church & return by 29 May.
ORGAN RECITAL, Sunday 22 May, 7.15pm following Evensong & Benediction – David Graham, Director of Music, Farm Street.
Programme: Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in C minor (BWV 546), Vierne’s Clair de Lune (Pièces de Fantaisie Op 53) and Liszt’s Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen (Variations on a theme of Bach).
Free entry with retiring collection (donation of £5 suggested) to support the choir and music at All Saints. The All Saints Licensed Club/Bar will be open afterwards.
CORPUS CHRISTI, Thursday 26 May, 6.30pm,
High Mass with Street Procession of the Blessed Sacrament.
Preacher: The Revd. Kevin Scully, Rector, St Matthew’s Bethnal Green.
Missa Brevis in G – Mozart, Jesu dulcis memoria – Victoria
If anyone would like to assist with stewarding the procession or carrying the canopy, please get in touch with Cedric Stephens, Head Server or Dee Prior, Parish Administrator Tel: 020 7 636 1788.
WALSINGHAM NATIONAL PILGRIMAGE
All Saints will again be running a coach to the Walsingham National Pilgrimage on Monday 30 May. The coach will leave All Saints at 7.30am prompt. Mass at 12 noon in the Abbey Grounds; Preacher: The Revd Andrew Mitcham, Vicar of Walsingham and Guardian of the Shrine. Cost will be approximately £20 for adults. Please get in touch with Ross Buchanan (Tel: 020 7221 1312) if you would like to book a seat or know more.
SPONSOR THE VICAR ON PILGRIMAGE
Fr. Alan will begin his 1000 km walking pilgrimage from Seville to Santiago de Compostela on Tuesday 31 May. If you would like to sponsor him in support of the Diocese of London’s projects for persecuted Christians and for refugees from the conflicts in Iraq and Syria, sponsorship forms will be available in church and the parish office. You can also donate online through www.give.net, account number 20197723.
You are invited to a POETRY TEA PARTY on Saturday 4 June at 3pm, at Pamela’s. All welcome. Please bring Poetry and Prose relating to the subject of ‘Europe’. To accept, or to ask for 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.
SERVICES & EVENTS FOR MAY 2016 BEYOND ALL SAINTS
St. CYPRIANS CHURCH, CLARENCE GATE, NW1 6AX
CHORAL EVENING PRAYER & BENEDICTION
Saturday 7 May at 3pm
Introit Bruckner ‘Locus Iste’
Responses Rose
Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis Howells in B minor
Anthem Finzi ‘God is gone up’
With the St. Cyprian’s Singers directed by: Julian Collings
HUGH PRICE HUGHES LECTURES 2016
All lectures will be held at Hinde St Methodist Church at 7.30pm. Admission is free & all are welcome!
www.hindestreet.org.uk/hph
This series will invite you to reflect on how other ways of knowing and seeing – “faith” commitments for some – relate to their Christian faith. These alternative and complementary ways of knowing and seeing, sometimes portrayed negatively by people of faith, have the potential to deepen our understanding of our faith commitments and enable us to engage more constructively with the wider world.
Identity, Modernity and Faith
10 May – Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Journalist
Living as Christians in Multi-faith Britain and
the Importance of Religious Literacy
14 June – Michael Wakelin, Religion & Media Consultant
Churches Together in Westminster “Meet the Neighbours”
There are two “Meet the Neighbours” events happening in May. Westminster is blessed with a large number of churches of all shapes and sizes, but each church is unique. One of the aims of “Meet the Neighbours” visits is to give everyone the opportunity to both respect and be open to experiencing and learning a little more about the worship traditions and ministries of the host churches.
7pm, Thursday, 19 May 2016 at NOTRE DAME DE FRANCE, (The French Church), 5 Leicester Place, WC2H 7BX
This visit, which is to a Roman Catholic church, includes an act of worship, talk and refreshments. (For those wishing to attend beforehand at Notre Dame there is Evening Prayer at 5.45 pm, (R.C) Mass at 6pm, followed by silent Eucharistic Adoration 6.30-7pm. The “Meet the Neighbours” will start afterwards at 7pm.) All are most welcome to attend. For further information see:
11 am on Wednesday, 1 June (PLEASE NOTE DATE CHANGE from 4 May) 2016. Our hosts will be THE ROYAL MILITARY CHAPEL, The Guards’ Chapel, Wellington Barracks, Birdcage Walk, SW1E 6HQ. All welcome. The visit includes: Weekday Holy Communion (Anglican) Celebrant: The Senior Chaplain (please advise if you need a gluten free wafer) followed by a talk about the Guards Chapel Silver and coffee. Please see: http://www.westendatwar.org.uk/page/guards_chapel_wellington_barracks?path=0p28p
ALL SAINTS MISSION ACTIVITIES:-
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.
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 just recently in 2016 donating £1,000 towards the Soup Kitchen at the American International Church in Tottenham Court Road) 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 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/virtualtour – 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
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