All Saints Parish Newsletter
Dear Friends,
Sunday ‘s Collect reads:
Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; …
It comes from the American Prayer Book, which was where I first encountered it. When I was on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela some years ago, it was one of the prayers I would say as I began walking each morning, and often again when passing a wayside cross.
Pilgrimage reminds us that the Christian life is a journey with Christ. Our Lord’s way of the cross inspired earlier pilgrims to the Holy Land to follow his route from Pilate’s house to Calvary, pausing at various points to pray: “The Stations of the Cross.” They took this devotion home with them and pictorial stations began to appear in churches. The Franciscans, with their devotion to the humanity of Jesus, encouraged this as an imaginative, physical and prayerful way of entering into something of the mystery of God’s love for us revealed in the Lord’s passion and death. Contemplation of the suffering of Jesus, the cruelty and injustice inflicted on him, is not a glorification of suffering for its own sake, but a way which takes us into the heart of God and, at the same time, expands our compassion for those who still suffer in this way. It opens us to the life of the Trinity which is self-giving love, and the peace which is the fruit of that love.
Here at All Saints a couple of years ago, inspired by Fr. Gerald Beauchamp, we commissioned a new set of Stations to replace some temporary ones. They are by Susanna Rust who is an iconographer. The complete set includes both the traditional 14 and 7 others found in the Common Worship version of this devotion. These represent other incidents in the gospel accounts of the passion. During Lent, we are using the two sets on alternate Friday evenings.
Yours in Christ,
Alan Moses
Please pray for Christopher Ryan, Michael Harris, Linda Orme, Mary Barnet, Joshua Levy, Audrey Patterson, Celia Shore, Michael Sullivan, Rachel Clayton, Heather Walker, Brian Sparkes, John Rogers, Mason Jacobson, Barbara Laws, David Day, Timothy Montgomery, Timothy Harding, Andrew Tillyard, Jonathan Jennings, Melanie, Rosie Flack, Richard Turner, Isabelle Stoughton, Fred Mansfield, Martin Sergeant, Eleanor Chapman, Bishop Stephen Conway, Stephen Short, Daphne The Recently Departed: Sheila Miller, Gilbert Rodway, John Gilmour, Mark Dalby, Robert Milner At the anniversary of their death: Catherine Lucy Packer, Ernest Gittins, Walter Kingson Freeth, Bridget Wright, Marion Badger, Alfred William Gorse, George Frederick Holden, (Marguerite) Gwen(doline) Ogilvy, Alice Sutton, Phyllis Wickner, Brigid Mary Beattie-Moriarty. George Frederick Gorse, Hope Harris.
Friday 8th March at 6.30pm
Sunday 10th March Lent 4 Mothering Sunday Posies will be blessed at High Mass and distributed to the mothers in the congregation.
This Sunday is also called “Refreshment Sunday”, a short break halfway through Lent. The traditional Simnel Cake will be served after High Mass.
THE KING of INSTRUMENTS A series of short organ recitals at 7.15pm Charles Andrews, Associate Director of Music following Solemn Evensong and Benediction on our superb 1910 four-manual Harrison & Harrison organ. Sunday 10th March
Parish Retreat – the retreat this year will be at Bishop Woodford House, Ely, from Friday March 15th to Sunday March 17th, conducted by Fr Neil Bunker. There are still one or two places available. Please contact Martin Woolley on 020 7436 2858 or 07976275383.