All Saints Margaret Street.

Dear Friends,

Take up thy cross, the Saviour said if thou wouldest my disciple be.
Deny thyself, the world forsake, and humbly follow after me.

So we’ll sing on Sunday, echoing a saying we expect to hear in Lent but reprised in this Sunday’s Gospel. You’re receiving this on the Feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist, whose death is his last prophetic act. In his death, as in his birth, life and ministry, John is the forerunner of the Lord, fulfilling proleptically this saying about discipleship (he dies in chapter 14 of Matthew). He is the only saint other than Our Lady who is given feast-days of both birth and death.

Christmas is full of potential for the child Jesus (though even of him, of course, we used to sing ‘in stature grows the heavenly child with death before his eyes’: interestingly that hymn was ditched by the compilers of the New English Hymnal), but John’s birth signals a life which has as its sole purpose pointing to Jesus: once that is done, he is killed. He does not rise again. He is not the Messiah. So compelling a figure was he, and so hard was his stepping-aside to accept for his followers, that we know there was a rival sect of John-followers (one can’t exactly call them Baptists) which did not accept Jesus. It seems to have taken a long time for them to be convinced (or die out) which is why John the Baptist seems to be such a big figure to the gospel-writers, but a puzzling footnote to us.

John the Baptist is a salutary role-model for us. Like him, we must ‘decrease’ in order that Jesus Christ may be preached, known and praised. All of us, in our baptismal commissioning and vocation, are encouraged to be people who point away from ourselves and towards Christ. That’s a whole-of-life project, to be attempted in a manner appropriate to who we are (it is ‘our‘ cross we take up). In other words, while it is clearly intended by our loving Father that we should make the very best of who we are, it is also our calling to express who we are in such a way that Christ and God can be seen and heard by others. This may be by talking or it may be by being quiet (often more effective, in my opinion); it may be by doing, or by not doing, a number of things. But the message and meaning of John the Baptist was his whole life, which was purposefully committed to pointing away from himself and towards Jesus, as God’s saving Messiah and son. We often hear talk of what gives meaning or purpose to a life: properly understood the Christian faith gives us that purpose: not to be successful or good at things, but to be the best people we can be in order that God’s love can be better seen and understood.

Yours in Christ,

Father Michael Bowie, 
Assistant Priest, 
All Saints Margaret Street

PS. The eagle-eyed amongst you will have realized that you did not receive the All Saints E-Newsletter last week. This was because our website was down (under attack apparently from a vast influx of Russian spam!). All is well again this week…apologies for the communication gap!

Please pray for those who have asked for our prayers: Stephanie Aziz, Alan Bishton, Susan Beauchamp, Martin Bluhm, Lily Caplin, Rachel Clayton, Rosamond Clayton, Kate Down, Jean East, 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, Aubrey O’Brien, Maureen Pride, Malcolm Richards, Peter Royle, Jock Scott, Dilys Thomas, Mary Thomas and Joy Wright.

For the recently departed: Edward Henry Isaac (priest), Jean-Marie Charles-Roux (priest), Doreen Bamberger and Harry Allan, whose Funeral Requiem will take place at All Saints at 10.30am on Saturday 30 August.

Remember past priests, benefactors, friends, and all whose year’s mind occurs this week: Peter Davidson, Patricia Williams, Edward Tagoe, Vera Arde-Acquah, Sophie Garrett, Kathleen Heales, Betty Little, Francesca Morcom, Harold Matts (one-time All Saints’ Treasurer), Joanne, Guy & Alice Wace, Anne Adams, Sister Jean Margaret (All Saints Sisters of the Poor).

EVENTS THIS COMING WEEK 

WORSHIP AT ALL SAINTS THIS SUNDAY 31 AUGUST – ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY HIGH MASS at 11am
Preacher: Father Michael Bowie
Mass in G – Schubert 
Ave Maria – Stravinsky

There is no Church Sunday lunch this week. Lunches will resume on 21 September. 

CHORAL EVENSONG & BENEDICTION at 6pm
Preacher: Father Neil Bunker
Magnificat – Buxtehude
Nunc dimittis – Giorgi
A Prayer of King Henry V1 – Gabriel Jackson

WORSHIP NEXT SUNDAY 7 SEPTEMBER – TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY – 200^th Anniversary of the Birth of William Butterfield, architect of All Saints Church 

HIGH MASS at 11am
Preacher: Father Michael Bowie
Missa Brevis in D – Mozart
A new song – James MacMillan

CHORAL EVENSONG & BENEDICTION at 6pm
Preacher: Prebendary Alan Moses
In a joint celebration with Keble College, Oxford, the choir of All Saints Margaret Street and that of Keble College join forces to sing:
Service in A – Stanford
Blessed City, heavenly Salem – Bairstow
Refreshments will be served after the Service. All welcome.                                                    

SPECIAL EVENTS in AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER at ALL SAINTS & ELSEWHERE

Saturday 30 August at 4pm NAUTICAL POETRY TEA – All welcome.  Please bring poetry or prose on a Nautical Theme.  Please note different venue.  This tea will be held at Paul Weston & John McWhinney’s moorings in Wapping.  Cream tea (scones, cream & jam) will be served. To accept and to find out the address of the moorings please speak with Paul or John after Mass or email them at paul@hcmoorings.org.  A donation of £6 towards the Restoration Appeal would be appreciated.

Monday 8 September (Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary), 6.30pm – WALSINGHAM CELL TENTH ANNIVERSARY MASS WITH HYMNS – followed by refreshments. This service marks ten years since the All Saints’ Cell’s first ever event and will be an excellent opportunity for everyone to celebrate and give thanks for all its activity over the last decade.  

Saturday 13 September, 10 – 5pm – “LIFE ABUNDANT” Anglican Catholic Future Day takes place at Southwark Cathedral – Celebrating Catholic Witness in the Church of England. Main speakers: The Most Revd Roger Herft, Archbishop of Perth & Metropolitan, The Revd Dr Alison Milbank, Nottingham University & Priest Vicar at Southwell Minster, The Very Revd Jane Hedges, Dean of Norwich. All welcome. Cost of the day: £10. Full information about the programme, bookings and payment online at www.anglicancatholicfuture.org.

ST CYPRIAN’S FESTIVAL, Clarence Gate – Friday 12 – Monday 15 September:

Friday 12 September, 7.30pm THREE PARISHES ANNUAL QUIZ NIGHT, St Cyprian’s.
In order to manage the catering arrangements, it would be helpful if you could now start forming your teams (up to a maximum of SIX people). The charge is £10 per person, payable on the night, including refreshments.  Please let Chris Self know as soon as possible if you are intending to take part. Individuals who want to be slotted into a team on the night should also let him know beforehand. Email: chris_self@btinternet.com. Tel: 020 7723 2938.

Saturday 13 September at 7.30pm – St Cyprian’s – CONCERT given by the ST CYPRIAN’S SINGERS directed by Julian Collings – LUX AETERNA, Maurice Duruflé – Requiem. Plus works by Byrd, Tallis, Harris and Holst. Peter Jaekel – organ. Tickets £10, in aid of the St Cyprian’s Singers.

Monday 15 September, ST CYPRIAN’S DAY, Clarence Gate – 7pm Solemn High Mass.
Preacher: Fr George Bush, Rector of St Mary-le-Bow.

ALL SAINTS EVENTS:

Sunday 14 September – HOLY CROSS DAY – Visiting Preacher: Archbishop Roger Herft Archbishop of Perth and Metropolitan Province of Western Australia. 

Sunday 14 September, 7.15pm – ALL SAINTS – ORGAN RECITAL (follows Evensong & Benediction) given by Charles Andrews, Associate Director of Music at All Saints. The programme includes works by Howells, Mendelssohn and 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.

Tuesday 16 – 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.

Friday 19 September, 11am – READING GROUP (first meeting of three in 2014, meeting the third Friday of each month. The other two dates are Friday 17 October, Friday 21 November). The first text for the Group is: Marilynne Robinson’s novel Gilead, available in paperback from Virago at £7.99.

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.

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.

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 MOSUL CRISIS APPEAL. 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. Programme includes works by Bach, Messiaen, Vierne & Widor. Please support this hugely worthwhile and topical cause.

EVENTS BEYOND ALL SAINTS:

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.

NOTICES

ALL SAINTS RESTORATION APPEAL UPDATE

FUNDRAISING
Following the testing of the market the budget for the work has been revised to £350,000 with over £302,000 now given or firmly pledged and loan finance of £35,000 offered, some £12,700 is yet to be secured.

All Saints Foundation has made a grant of £120,000 together with a loan of £30,000. The All Saints Club has made a grant of £5,000 from bar and lunch profits with a loan of £5,000. We still await the result of applications to charitable trusts.

Our congregation and friends have so far individually contributed £177,000. We still need to raise at least £12,700, with any surplus reducing the PCC’s reliance on the two loans.

THE WORKS
Preparations are quietly advancing for works to commence on site. The recreated Butterfield’s hanging coronae have been made by Will Jones, the blacksmith. These will go to the workshop of the specialist lighting supplier to be fitted with the actual lights and be wired up ready to be hung in the nave aisles.

Sophisticated lighting controls have been specified to limit the amount of cabling but fitting this unobtrusively is a great challenge and does not allow the shortest routes! Discussions continue with the preferred contractor who has been instructed to prepare detailed cable route drawings to allow this to be agreed and define more precisely these actual costs within the contract.

In addition to the completely new lighting with emergency backup in the church, absolutely essential work in the basement will be undertaken. The induction loop system for hearing aid users will be renewed. Subject to available funds a new CCTV system and automatic smoke detection in the church are high priorities.
Once the finer details of the installation have been resolved more definitive costs will be known.

In the meantime if you would like more details or have questions, please speak to John Forde, Churchwarden.

Other desirable works – including renewed courtyard lighting, a sound reinforcement system and comprehensive rewiring of the basement – will all need to be deferred.

We hope works will commence on site later in September. Much of the cabling works will be unseen in the crypt but regular weekday worship may have to take place in the Parish Room to allow the works to be expedited inside the church.

HOW YOU CAN HELP……….With some £12,700 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!

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.

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.