All Saints Parish Newsletter
Dear Friends,
We enter All Saints through a courtyard which, thanks to the imagination and initiative of Canon David Hutt, was transformed into a garden.
When we enter the church, we see on the chancel arch, one of the most striking features revealed fully by the recent restoration: the cross flanked by the Alpha and Omega. Those first and last letters of the Greek alphabet appear in this Sunday’s reading from Revelation:
"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end."
They are spoken by the one who sits on the throne of heaven in the vision of the new Jerusalem.
At the end of the Bible and speaking of the end of all things, Revelation looks back to the beginning, to Genesis and creation.
In Genesis the sea is the place of conflict between God and chaos. Now tamed, it has become the "sea of glass" – represented by the ornate floor of the sanctuary.
Revelation’s looking to creation shows God’s continued concern with the world he has made.
God intends the reconciliation and restoration brought about through the cross to flow through a restored humanity to all creation.
As John’s vision of the new creation unfolds, the distinction between heaven and earth falls away. Heaven descends to earth, radically renewing it: all life on earth is restored to God’s purpose for it.
So, our courtyard garden, our little Eden, lovingly tended by those who have inherited Canon Hutt’s gardening gloves, is a theological statement as well as a thing of beauty. It stands against those who see Revelation justifying the ruthless exploitation of the environment because it is all going to be destroyed anyway.
It fits with Butterfield’s theological statement: building a city church which mirrored the heavenly city, to show the earthly city we inhabit its proper nature and end.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Alan Moses
Please pray for: Harry Allan, Eleanor Chapman, Rachel Clayton, Richard Evans, Rosie Flack, Charles Forker, Cecil Garrett, Timothy Harding, David Hutt, Mason Jacobsen, Katherine Lee, Joshua Levy, Sheila Lewis, Nick Luff, Tim Montgomery, Tony Pulleyn, Martin Sargeant, Celia Shore, Stephen Short, Jan Smith, Brian Sparkes, Ian Stevens, Andrew Tillyard, Melanie Toogood, Heather Walker, Wendy Wall
THIS WEEK – Events
Monday 29 April, 7pm – PCC Meeting – There will be a meeting of the All Saints PCC in the Parish Room.
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Ian Miller’s funeral (Requiem Mass) – Friday 3 May 1.45pm will be at St Michael and All Angels, Sycamore Road, Amersham on the Hill, HP6 5DR. Everyone is welcome to attend the Mass and Hazel and Nicola invite you to stay for refreshments in the Lady Chapel afterwards. |
Future Events at All Saints and Elsewhere
Thursday 9 May, 6.30pm – ASCENSION DAY
PROCESSION AND HIGH MASS
Preacher: The Vicar, Prebendary Alan Moses.
Missa Brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo – Hadyn. Ascendit Deus – Philips.
Bite back at hunger this Christian Aid Week. Today 870 million people in the world are in desperate need of food.Together, this Christian Aid Week, we can help some of the world’s poorest families get enough to eat. Help to end poverty and hunger – for good.
Tuesday 14 May, 7pm – Anglican Catholic Future Talk
Travels with my Aunt: Companions in Catholic Mission
Speaker: The Revd Chris Chivers, Vicar of John Keble Church, Mill Hill and Chair of US (formerly USPG).
PROCESSION AND HIGH MASS
Missa Brevis in B flat – Mozart. The Spirit of the Lord – Elgar.
Sunday 26 May – ORGAN RECITAL
7.30pm (after Evensong and Benediction)
Tim Byram-Wigfield (Director of Music Designate, All Saints).
Programme includes works by Bach, Bohm, Mendelssohn, Jongen and Widor.
The coach leaves All Saints at 7.30 am. Concelebrated Mass at 12 noon followed by Sermon, Procession and Benediction at 2.30 pm.
Preacher: Most Rev & Rt Hon Dr John Sentamu, Archbishop of York.
Please contact Ross Buchanan (Tel: 020 722 1312) for more information or to book a place.
Missa Brevis in G – Mozart. O sacrum convivium – Messiaen