All Saints Margaret Street.

Dear Friend,

Our part of London is a study in contrasts at the moment.  Many of the offices around us are almost empty while the shops of Oxford Street are busy with what used to be called the January sales.  It is an unusual period in the life of central London parishes.  So many of our people are away, visiting their families, so congregations are made up of those who remain, augmented by visitors and occasional worshippers.

Work on our restoration programme has been suspended over the Christmas period, so the church has been open and we have held our weekday services there. (With the plunging temperatures of a winter which has suddenly arrived, some worshippers may already be missing the cosiness of the Parish Room.) It has been good to be able to return to something like “normal” for All Saints with people able to come into church, say their prayers, light a candle, or just look around.

New Year is not a big thing in the Church’s calendar.  January 1 is the Feast of the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus. It is not a day on which we expect large numbers at worship.  The gospel for the day (Luke 2.15-21) was also that for the First Sunday of Christmas this year. As well as recording the naming and circumcision of a child “born of a woman, born under the law,” (Galatians 4.4-7), signifying both his rootedness in the life of Israel and his identity as the one who will be the Saviour of his people, the gospel includes a brief but profound sentence about his mother. I took this as the text for my sermon and as a motto for disciples in the year to come:  “Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart,” (Luke 2. 19).

A New Year provides an occasion to look back of the year which has ended and forward to the one which is beginning. For all of us there will be mixed feelings as we look back and forward.  As we review the past, we may rejoice in the good and take satisfaction in achievements. We may sorrow over losses and regret failures and missed opportunities.  As we look forward, there will be both hope and anxiety. 

As Christians we look to the past and future in prayer. We look back, not in wistful nostalgia for some golden age, but to recall the foundation of our hope in Christ; who he is and what he has done.  We look forward because he is working still to restore a fallen humanity.  In one sense, time for Christians does involve a repeating cycle as we go through the year from beginning to end, and then, start all over again. We need to keep on hearing “all these words.” because there is so much to learn, and because, most of the time, we are slow learners. But we are not doomed to an endless repetition leading nowhere.  Christians look forward to God’s future, to God’s reign of peace, and we are called to our part in it.

Contemplation, the prayer which treasures these words and ponders them in our hearts, is vital in a world of so many distractions and voices competing for our attention.   This is not a retreat from reality. It is not just an aid in putting up with it, although it can be a great help in that. It is an active engagement which seeks to see in the events of life, both great and small, our relationships, the people we have to do with, the decisions we must make about work and the use of our resources, what God is asking of us – and then to do it.

The first reading at Mass on January 1 is God’s instruction to Moses on how Aaron and his sons, the priests, are to bless the people:

“The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you his peace.”    (Numbers 6.22-end)

May we all know the blessings of God’s peace in this New Year. 

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Alan Moses 
Vicar, All Saints Margaret Street
Area Dean of Westminster and St Marylebone

Please pray for those who have asked for our prayers: George Ashby, Rosemary Barratt, Asia Bibi. Heather Brown, Lily Caplin, James Cary-Elwes, Kate Down, Norman Greenfield (Priest), Tim Harding, Yvonne & Philip Harland, Elspeth Harley, Lewis Harvey, Myrtle Hughes, Sheila Kenyon, Molly Leng, Joshua Levy, Christine Loffty, Hilary Morgan, Norman Newby, Linda Orme, Malcolm Richards, Peter Royle, Jock Scott, Nicholas Stacey (Priest), Buzz Stokes, Robert Streit, Celia Swan, Dilys Thomas, Jane Wildash, Joy Wright and Mark Young.

For the recently departed: Ian Stevens (Friend of All Saints), Annie Moran, Michael Hare Duke (Bishop), Louis Lewis, Tony Marks (Priest), Peter Goldstein and Helen Turner. 

Remember past priests, benefactors, friends, and all whose year’s mind occurs this week: Henry Howell, John Wylde (Priest), Joan Banyard, John Auton, Ernest Waggett, Timothy Shaw, Emily Finnis, Tom Ryder (Priest, sometime Curate All Saints), Mary Park, Constance Tweed, Robert Routledge, Winifred Nash, Lilian Yorke, Fay Ireland, Jill Horley, Anthony Bullock, Kate Leahy, Sylvia Scott, Vera Freeth, Hermia Mills, Ann Ind, Jack Finnie, Katherine Humphries, Michael Fleming, Anthea Candlin and Richard Candlin.

WORSHIP THIS SUNDAY and NEXT WEEK

Weekday Masses remain in the Parish Room, while the scaffolding for the electrical works remains in Church. We are on schedule to complete by the end of January. 

WORSHIP THIS SUNDAY – 4 JANUARY 2015
HIGH MASS, 11am
Preacher: The Vicar, Prebendary Alan Moses 
Missa ‘Aeterna Christi munera’ – Palestrina
There is no rose of such virtue – anonymous, c 1420

There is no Sunday lunch service this week – it will recommence on Sunday 18 January 2015.

CHORAL EVENSONG & BENEDICTION, 6pm
Preacher: Father Gerald Beauchamp
Magnificat sexti toni – Victoria
Nunc dimittis tertii toni – Victoria
O magnum mysterium – Willaert

Tuesday 6 January – THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD – High Mass, 6.30pm Preacher: Very Revd Professor Dr Martyn Percy, Dean of Christ Church Oxford
Missa Brevis in F – Mozart
Ab oriente venerunt Magi – Händl

NEXT SATURDAY 10 JANUARY, 3.30pm – CHRIST CHURCH ST LAURENCE CHOIR will sing Evensong & Benediction for the Eve of The Baptism of the Lord

Canticles: Magnificat & Nunc dimittis on Plainsong Tones – Wills
Anthem: Sicut cervus – Palestrina
Responses: McEwan
Benediction: O salutaris – de la Rue
Tantum ergo – Duruflé

WORSHIP NEXT SUNDAY 11 JANUARY – BAPTISM OF CHRIST
First Sunday of Epiphany
HIGH MASS, 11am Preacher: Fr Julian Browning
Missa Brevis – Berkeley
Kindle a light – Fleming

EPIPHANY CAROL SERVICE, 6pm – A candle-lit service with Readings & Music for the Epiphany with the Choir of All Saints

NOTICES

Best wishes for the New Year 2015 from the Clergy and Churchwardens of All Saints – The Vicar, Prebendary Alan Moses, Assistant Priest Fr Michael Bowie, Fr Gerald Beauchamp,  Fr Julian Browning, John Forde and Chris Self.

Please Note: ALL SAINTS’ CLUB BAR PRICES GO UP ON 1^ST JANUARY 2015 for the first time since 2012. New Annual Membership cards are required from that time – price held at £3. Please purchase your new membership from the Bar.

ALL SAINTS RESTORATION PROJECT UPDATE – EXCELLENT PROGRESS but FURTHER DONATIONS NEEDED to complete works

New wiring and lighting cost £350,000. Essential CCTV security and fire detection systems cost £22,000. We have completed these latter essential works while scaffolding is in place, to minimise the cost. We now want to reduce our reliance on loans so any further gifts will help us to do that. We plan to celebrate the newly lit All Saints at Candlemas.

HOW YOU CAN HELP………. please be as generous as you can making cheques payable to: All Saints Church Restoration Appeal and sending them to:  
The 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% at no cost to yourself. Thank you!

WEEKDAY SERVICES – taking place in the Parish Room and Confessions heard in the Oratory (access via the Parish Office). Church will be open on Sunday throughout the project and at other times when safe to do so. 

ALL SAINTS’ DATES FOR YOUR DIARY IN JANUARY 2015

Saturday 10 January, 3.30pm – the visiting Choir of Christ Church St Laurence, Sydney sing Evensong & Benediction  for the Eve of The Baptism of the Lord at All Saints
Canticles: Magnificat & Nunc dimittis on Plainsong Tones – Wills
Anthem: Sicut cervus – Palestrina
Responses: McEwan
Benediction: O salutaris – de la Rue; Tantum ergo – Duruflé

The choir is touring various churches and other venues in the UK, Belgium and France, and will spend a week in residence at St Paul’s (past visits have often included residencies at Westminster Abbey); they will also sing in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Full details of the tour can be found online at www.ccsl.org.au/11-latest-news/256-frontispiece2-9.

Christ Church St Laurence, Sydney is a sister parish to All Saints (actually a slightly older sister, completed in 1845!) with shared roots in the early stages of the Oxford Movement (the first Bishop of Sydney, William Grant Broughton, was a Tractarian: the diocese did not embrace his ideals, but Christ Church still bears witness to his part in its foundation). It is now known as the most vibrant Anglo-Catholic Church in Australia, with a fine musical tradition which was part of the founding vision and, like All Saints, once included a choir school. All Saints Director of Music, Dr Neil McEwan, and Organist Peter Jewkes (a frequent visitor to All Saints) are former colleagues of Fr Michael Bowie, our Assistant Priest. Come and worship; conclude your Saturday shopping with a meditative and worshipful preparation for Sunday’s Feast!

Sunday 25 January, 7.15pm (after Benediction) ORGAN RECITAL – CHARLES ANDREWS (Associate Director of Music)
Programme:
By J. S. Bach (1685-1750):
Vom Himmel hoch, da komm’ ich her BWV 606
Mit Fried’ und Freud’ ich fahr’ dahin BWV 616
Herr Gott, nun schleuß den Himmel auf BWV 617       
Vom Himmel hoch, da komm’ ich her BWV 700
Prelude and fugue in A minor BWV 543
In dulci jubilo BWV 608

By M. Dupré (1886-1971):

Variations sur un Noël op. 20

Retiring collection to support the Choir and Music at All Saints (suggested donation £4)

The All Saints Licensed Club/Bar below the Church will be open after this recital.

EVENTS BEYOND ALL SAINTS
 Wednesday 14 January, 1.10pm – Organ Recital St Cyprian’s – NICHOLAS MANNOUKAS – Dr John Birch Organ Scholar.   The full programme is still to be finalised, but it will include Mendelssohn’s complete 6th Sonata. If you can, please come along and support Nicholas.
Entry is free with a retiring collection for St Cyprian’s

ALL SAINTS YEAR ROUND SUPPORT for HOMELESS PEOPLE
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.

Seasonal Appeals – With last monies in from Carol Singing, the grand total was £3,463 (up significantly on last year’s support of £2,790) to this Mission Project and a further £3,000 to Us collected through the All Saints Festival and Lent Appeals. Thank you for your generosity in supporting these Appeals.

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 until the end of January 2015
(Church guaranteed open Sunday only from 7am to 7pm and at other times when safe to do so). 
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 – SATURDAY 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)

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.