All Saints Margaret Street.

Dear Friend,

One of the less controversial decisions of the Anglican Primates’ recent meeting was to join ecumenical discussions on fixing the date of Easter. At present, the date of Easter is related to that of Passover and calculated by the lunar calendar. This all seems very practical and reasonable but I for one would be sad to lose the connection between Christian Pasch and Jewish Passover for the sake of convenience and conforming to a secular timetable.

Archbishop Justin hopes this will be achieved before he retires. I hope he is not holding his breath.

Christians have been arguing about the date of Easter since the 2^nd century. The Celtic and Roman traditions in British Christianity celebrated Easter on different days. One of the decisions made at the Synod of Whitby in 664 which reconciled them was to accept the Roman dating. 

Well, whatever the outcome of these negotiations, Easter is early this year and the pre-Lent season between Candlemas and Ash Wednesday is reduced to one Sunday.

In the space of eight days we move from the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, with Simeon’s prophecy about the division which Christ will bring, to the Transfiguration and its glimpse of his heavenly glory, after which he sets his face to go to Jerusalem and his passion, and Ash Wednesday which begins the season of Lent with its call to repentance and conversion, to the disciplines of prayer, fasting, almsgiving and meditation on scripture.  So, if we haven’t yet decided on our Lenten rule, we don’t have much time.

Some say that we should take up things for Lent rather than giving them up; as if these are mutually exclusive.  It is perfectly possible to respond to the Church’s call to a holy Lent by reducing or eliminating our consumption of food and alcohol, time spent watching television or on the internet, while also committing ourselves to spending more time in prayer each day, sacred reading and taking part in worship.

Whatever, we decide to give up or take up in our Lenten rule, it is important to remember that a rule is not law.  Failure to keep our rule one day, or even more than once, is not a disaster which means that we have to give it up altogether.   The rule is there to call us back, to get us back on track, not to condemn us as abject failures. It is a means of grace which calls us to take it up again the next day.

Have a good Lent.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Alan Moses
Prebendary Alan Moses
Vicar of All Saints Margaret Street
Area Dean of Westminster – St Marylebone 

Please pray for those who have asked for our prayers: Asia Bibi, John Bailey, Fr Allan Buick, Vivien Caplowe, James Cary-Elwes, Dennis Davis, Elizabeth Day, Mark Dougly, Kate Down, Alban Fellows, David Fettke, Jonty Gordon, Adrian Gunning, Ghislain Hamelin, Lewis Harvey, Minnie Hodgetts, Julia Holland and family, Myrtle Hughes, Pat Hunt, David Jewkes, Alice Jullien,  Julie Knight, Andrew Laird, Tom Leader, Christine Loffty, Miriam Nelson, David Pearce, Canon John Rees, Jock Scott, Patricia Searle, Stella and Helen Skinner, Rose Stephens, Christine van Dyck and Joy Wright.   

For the recently departed:  Peter Burbidge, Edwin Meek, Robert McWatt, Roger Radford, Hilary Morgan, Kate Thomas, Frederick Porter, Brother Damian SSF, Norman Newby, Ian Coull and David Garlick (Priest).

Remember past priests, benefactors, friends, and all whose year’s mind occurs this week including: Beatrice Reed, Jane Finch, Dorothy Dent, Grahame James, Bernard Anslow, Armorel Griffiths (Friend of All Saints), Robert Streit, Joan Adams, Pamela Brett (one-time Friends’ Secretary), Hazel Otway, Eileen Mann, Margaret Booker, Diana Juniper, Phyllis Woodcock, Winifred Bloomer, Charlotte Druit, Helen Buck, Sister Barbara of All Saints, Charles Lethbridge and Nellie Chapman.                                    

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

WORSHIP THIS SUNDAY 7 FEBRUARY – SUNDAY NEXT BEFORE LENT
HIGH MASS, 11am
Preacher: The Vicar, Prebendary Alan Moses
Mass in G – Schubert
Nunc Dimittis – Holst

Lent Collection boxes will be available at this Mass for those who would like them. If you intend to pay your Lenten collection by cheque, perhaps you would save the expense and not take a box. Cheques payable to: Parochial Church All Saints (Lent Appeal). Please Gift Aid your contribution wherever possible (if you are a UK taxpayer) as it increases the value by 25%. 

There is Sunday Lunch service – the chefs are Paul Weston and John McWhinney.  Tickets £5 on sale in the Parish Shop in the Parish Room before and after Mass (subject to availability).

CHORAL EVENSONG & BENEDICTION, 6pm
Preacher: Fr Julian Browning
Service in G – Howells
Bring us, O Lord God – Harris

CONFESSIONS at the beginning of Lent:
Monday 8 February – 12 – 1pm and 5 – 6pm
Tuesday 9 February – 12 – 1pm and 5 – 6pm

ASH WEDNESDAY, 10 February 
Low Mass with Ashing – 8am 
Confessions 12 – 1pm 
Low Mass with Ashing – 1.10pm 
Confessions 5 – 5.45pm 

ASH WEDNESDAY HIGH MASS and Imposition of Ashes, 6.30pm
Preacher: Fr Michael Bowie
Missa ‘Emendemus in melius’ – Palestrina
Libera nos, salva nos – Sheppard

WORSHIP NEXT SUNDAY – FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT
LITANY IN PROCESSION & HIGH MASS, 11am
Preacher: The Vicar, Prebendary Alan Moses
Mass for five voices – Byrd
Salvator mundi I – Tallis  

There is Sunday Lunch service – the chef is Robin Clutterham.

CHORAL EVENSONG & BENEDICTION, 6pm
Preacher: Father Michael Bowie
The Short Service – Byrd 
Salvator mundi II – Tallis

PARISH NOTICES
ALL SAINTS LENT APPEAL 2016
As part of Lenten almsgiving, collections for our Appeal will be shared equally between the following three charities:  

1. Bishop of London’s Lent Appeal 2016
   Fundraising for two reputable charities active among the beleaguered Christian communities in Iraq and Syria:
   Open Doors – providing emergency food supplies and hygiene kits to 10,000 families every month in Syria and
   Aid to the Church in Need – focusing in Iraq on urgent needs for housing, medicine and education to allow the Church to maintain its Christian presence and witness Jesus Christ.
2. Us (formerly USPG)
   Supporting the church in Zimbabwe working with those affected by HIV and AIDS and providing local clergy and lay leaders with skills and training to undertake that work.
3. The Marylebone Project – our regular year-round mission project, run by the Church Army – empowering homeless women into independent living. Our money goes towards the emergency bed unit, providing urgent accommodation for women escaping domestic violence, financial crisis, sexual exploitation and mental health issues.

In 2015 we raised a total of £3,900 (including applicable Gift Aid).  Please give generously this year (gift aiding when you are a UK tax payer) so we can try and raise over £4,000 in 2016. Cheques should be made payable to: Parochial Church All Saints (Lent Appeal).

Please see the noticeboard in Church where other events may be advertised as space is limited in the Newsletter.

UPCOMING SERVICES & EVENTS – at ALL SAINTS

SMALL CHOIRS FESTIVAL 2016 – THIS SATURDAY
Saturday 6 February, 2 – 6pm 
Small Choirs was set up in 2004 to support church choirs with few or no men by organising choral festivals with a repertoire that such choirs could manage in their own churches without further support, and also by providing suitable music for such choirs in downloadable form on the internet. The website now has over 700 pieces of music suitable for such choirs and hundreds of choirs around the globe (from every continent except Antarctica) are using the site and receiving the regular newsletter and updates.

The 2016 festival is being held in All Saints. After an afternoon of rehearsing, a Festival Service will be held at 5pm, with Fr. John Pritchard presiding, at which the festival pieces will be sung within a framework of well-known hymns and readings.

The Small Choirs Festivals are ecumenical in nature and, in previous years, church choirs from all the major denominations have been represented. One of the special features of the festivals is that participation is not restricted to small choirs only. Anyone who supports the ideals of the organisation is welcome to join in, whether from a large choir themselves or just a member of the congregation of the host church. So, if anyone from All Saints would like to be part of the festival, just access the website (www.small-choirs.org.uk/feb2016), see what is being sung, and fill in the online form. Alternatively, ring Philip Norman, on 020 8519 6491.

LENT at ALL SAINTS – Reading and Meditating on God’s Holy Word 
In addition to our normal reading and preaching on scripture in the liturgy at All Saints, we are providing some opportunities for study:

FEBRUARY/MARCH FILM NIGHTS – A series of films will be shown in church on Thursdays after the Evening Mass.

18 February – Romero 
The story of the martyred Archbishop of San Salvador.

25 February – Calvary
The personal calvary of an Irish priest threatened by death.

3 March – The Gospel According to St. Matthew 
Pier Paolo Pasolini’s masterpiece

10 March – Of Gods and Men Xavier Beauvois’ film of the life and death of Trappist monks in Algeria amidst Islamist violence.

READING GROUP – Fridays at 11am from 5 February, the Vicarage.

We are reading the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book: I Am With You, written by the Revd. Dr. Kathryn Greene-McCreight who is a chaplain at Yale University and is an assistant priest at the Christ Church, New Haven.  In I Am With You she explores the scriptural portrayal of God’s presence among us as light in darkness. Readings of Scripture are woven into a framework patterned on the seven monastic hours of prayer and the seven days of creation.  

The devotion of STATIONS OF THE CROSS will take place after the Evening Mass at 7.05pm on Fridays during Lent (starting Fri 12 February).

PARISH RETREAT, 6 – 8 May 2016 
The 2016 All Saints Parish Retreat will be from 6 – 8 May at Bishop Woodford House in Ely. It will be conducted by Fr Barry Orford. If you want to come, or 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.  

EVENTS FOR FEBRUARY 2016 BEYOND ALL SAINTS

PANCAKE PARTY AT ST CYPRIAN’S – Tuesday 9 February, 7.30pm 
Fr Gerald Beauchamp writes: ‘All being well the new kitchen and toilets at St Cyprian’s should be finished by the end of January. To celebrate and to test them out informally St Cyprian’s is planning to have a pancake party on Tuesday 9 February starting at 7.30pm. I realise that you may already have plans that evening but you are very welcome to come if you are free. We will do something more official by way of thanksgiving on St Cyprian’s Day (Thursday 15 September) but that’s a bit long to wait.’ Please let Fr Gerald Beauchamp know if you can come on 9 February. E: Gerald.beauchamp@btconnect.com. Thank you.

LENT LECTURE – John Keble Church, Mill Hill, Dean’s Lane HA8 9NT, 11am – 2.30pm, Saturday 20 February

‘No Abiding City: Christian presence, problems and possibilities in the Middle East’. Lecture to be given by: The Rt Revd Michael Lewis, Bishop of Cyprus and Gulf in the Episcopal Province of Jerusalem and the East.

This is a free event, but a small contribution of £3 on the day would be appreciated to cover the cost of lunch. For further information please contact: revrana@hotmail.com.

JESUIT REFUGEE SERVICE INFORMATION EVENING, Tuesday 23 February, 6.45pm at Farm St Jesuit Church Hall, 114 Mount St, London W1K 3AH. Come and hear about how JRS is supporting refugees in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon as well as here in the UK and find out what you can do to help.  Speakers: Fr Michael Zammit SJ, Regional Director JRS Middle East and Sarah Teather, Director JRS UK.   Free with a retiring collection for the work of JRS.

POETRY TEA PARTY, Saturday 27 February 3pm, at Pamela’s.  All welcome.  Please bring Poetry and Prose for ST DAVID’S DAY (coming up soon).  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.

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.

When science exceeds faith, and vice-versa:
reflections on belief by an evolutionary biologist
9 February – Dr Robert Asher
Curator of Vertebrates in the University of Cambridge & Paleobiologist

Thinking globally, act locally
8 March – Polly March
Head of Campaigns & Policy at Global Justice

12 April – Rev Ric Stott
Artist & Methodist Pioneer minister

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

From 6.30pm, Tuesday 1 March 2016
Churches Together in Westminster MEET THE NEIGHBOURS hosted by The Salvation Army, Regent Hall, 275 Oxford Street (opposite BHS)

The visit will include: an act of worship together, a short talk about the history of Regent Hall and the Salvation Army including its activities and outreach, music (a chance to hear the Regent Hall Band playing) and refreshments. All are very welcome to join.

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 during the cold weather.  

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 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