All Saints Parish Newsletter 7th October 2016
Dear Friend,
In Sunday’s gospel we hear the story of the ten ‘lepers’ cured by Jesus and the gratitude of only one.
I write ‘lepers’ because this was not necessarily the disease we know as leprosy. That detail is unimportant: the crucial thing is that they suffered from a skin disease which was obvious to everyone they met and which rendered them ritually unclean in Judaism. They were innocent outsiders, marginalised by the religious code of their society, not by any choice they had made. And they bore the mark of their difference as clearly as a yellow or pink star worn in Nazi Germany.
As John Pridmore observes of this story, “The ten cried out to Jesus and so must we. Their prayer was the primal prayer – the one we know from Eastern Orthodox spirituality as the Jesus Prayer: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner’. No doubt they repeated it continually, as did the tax collector who also ‘stood far off’; (Luke 18.9-14) as all of us must.” This is a point well made: we should always ask ourselves with whom we identify when we are listening to gospel stories. We don’t want to end up in the Pharisee corner.
Luke chooses three words carefully. On their way to the priests the ten are ‘cleaned’. Yes, they are ‘cleansed’, made clean, as our familiar versions say: the reason for their ceremonial impurity is removed. That is what it meant for the Samaritan to be ‘healed’ (the second word), cured of his disease. But it is Jesus who, with Luke’s third word, tells the full story of what has been done for him. ‘Your faith has saved you’: God has made you all that you were meant to be. When I pray for the sick and suffering at Mass I try always to use an expanded version of this expression which we find in the letter of St James:
I pray that they may be ‘saved and raised up’. St James says this is the aim of prayer for healing with anointing (James 5.15, where forgiveness is also promised with this kind of prayer, though there is no suggestion there that sickness is a punishment for sin).
It does not belittle what was done to the nine to note that the miracle was only 10% successful. The miracles of Jesus do not reward faith. They invite faith. Ten plead with Jesus, the Samaritan no less desperately but no more confidently than the rest. Ten are cured. The sign of God’s coming Kingdom has been performed, the invitation extended. But only one of the ten reads the sign, hears the invitation and accepts it. Only the Samaritan responds in faith.
That is the repeated challenge of the gospel to all of us.
Yours in Christ,
Fr Michael Bowie
Assistant Priest
All Saints Margaret Street
Please pray for those who have asked for our prayers: Asia Bibi, Alixe Bainbridge-Spring, Br. Michael OSB, Fr Paul Berry, James Cary-Elwes, Betty Collins, Fr Andrew Davis, Canon Caroline Dick, Mark Dougly, Kate Down, Bill Edmunds, David Fettke, Lewis Harvey, Gwyneth Hopkins, Hisami Kanno, Maria Keen, David Kennett, Raymond King, Roger Knight, Laurence Long, Andrew Laird, Tom Leader, Colin Menzies, Ekundayo Newbury, Fr. Robert Norwood, José de Oliveira, David Pearce, Iris Podmore, Agnes Poitevin-Navarre, Canon John Rees, Bill Rodger, Bishop John Salt, Dorothy Skidmore, Stella and Helen Skinner, Rose Stephens, Judy Stewart, Tony Tomlin, Christine van Dyck, Lynn Van Keulen, Robert Walmsley, Jenny Ward & Baby Emily and Joy Wright.
For the recently departed: Sr Mary Margaret SLG, Marilyn Stansfield, George Elias (lay Reader at All Soul’s Clubhouse), Heather Prosser and Wendy Peryer.
Remember past priests, benefactors, friends, and all whose year’s mind occurs this week including: Ann Armstrong, Fred Edwards, Gwendolen Clementson, Suzette Shores, Mark Carpenter-Garnier (Bishop and former Assistant Priest), Guest Blofeld (Priest, sometime Curate All Saints), Lilian Ditcham, David Heffer, Elizabeth Hoare, Vera Dyer and Godfrey Dick.
For full service information: www.allsaintsmargaretstreet.org.uk.
WORSHIP THIS WEEK:
TONIGHT at ALL SAINTS – Cell of Our Lady of Walsingham Sung Mass & Rosary at 6.30 pm for the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. This will be followed by light refreshments. We hope to see many of you then.
Saturday 8 October – 11.30am
WALSINGHAM DEVOTIONS before the 12 noon Mass
SUNDAY 9 OCTOBER, TRINITY 20
HIGH MASS, 11am
Preacher: Fr Michael Bowie
Communion Service in E – Darke
Love divine, all loves excelling- Lloyd Webber
There is a Health & Safety Committee meeting in the Parish Office after Mass.
There is no Sunday lunch service today and until the new cookers can be fitted in the kitchen.
EVENSONG & BENEDICTION, 6pm
Preacher: The Vicar,
Prebendary Alan Moses
Setting in B flat – Stanford
Geistliches lied – Brahms
WORSHIP NEXT WEEK:
SUNDAY 16 OCTOBER, TRINITY 21
HIGH MASS, 11am
Preacher: The Vicar,
Prebendary Alan Moses
Missa Octo vocum – Hassler
A prayer of King Henry VI (2002) – Gabriel Jackson
There is no Sunday lunch service today and until the new cookers can be fitted in the kitchen.
EVENSONG & BENEDICTION, 6pm
Preacher: Fr Michael Bowie
Murrill in E
Hail, gladdening night – Wood
PARISH NOTICES
Monday 10 October at 7pm, there is a PCC Standing Committee meeting in the Vicarage.
DR. HARRY BRAMMA
Harry, our former Director of Music (1988 – 2002), will celebrate his 80th birthday on Friday 11 November. There will be a celebratory Evensong at All Saints to mark this occasion on Saturday 12 November at 3pm. We hope that friends old and new, from All Saints and further afield, will join us to help Harry to celebrate this milestone.
THE VICAR’S PILGRIMAGE
Thanks to all who sponsored the Vicar on his walking pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. This has raised the magnificent total of £20,000 towards the Bishop’s Lent Appeal for projects supporting persecuted Christians in the Middle East. Fr. Alan’s knee is now restored to health and he can both genuflect and walk at his normal speed again. At the beginning of this month he will be travelling to the Lebanon to visit some of the projects being supported by the two Bishop’s Lent Appeal charitable agents – OPEN DOORS (60 Years of serving persecuted Christians) and AID TO THE CHURCH IN NEED (supporting Christians where they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need).
THE BISHOP of LONDON’S LENT APPEAL 2016 RAISES £120,000
All Saints originally raised £3,002 towards the 2016 Lent Appeal (to which must be added the further £20,000 from the Vicar’s Pilgrimage) and received a letter of thanks from the Bishop which says:
With your help to date, the appeal has raised £120,000, all of which will go to support families in Iraq and Syria who are being persecuted for their faith. You will remember that I mentioned The Apostle Paul earlier this year as he reminds us that as the Body of Christ, spread now throughout the world: ’If one member suffers, all suffer together’ (1 Corinthians 12.26). We continue to pray for those whose witness is made in the face of hatred and terror. They are for us an inspiration and a challenge to use our freedoms for good. Bishop Angaelos of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the UK has said: “We need to be hope in an increasing hopelessness, and light in an increasing darkness. It is not enough for us to only lead in good times. Good leadership is especially required at the most difficult of times. Not only is it required, it is essential, because it is at those difficult times that people look to a beacon, and they look to someone to follow.” It is the Risen Christ whom we follow, and He leads us all in His service. With thanks for our partnership in the Gospel.
The Rt Revd & Rt Hon Richard Chartres KCVO DD FSA
NEW ALL SAINTS CARDS shortly to be for sale (in time for Christmas!) – Fridge Magnets now here!
With the assistance of Judith Mather of the National Gallery, we are producing three new greetings cards to sell in aid of All Saints. The images will be: the traditional Tile Nativity Scene; a new and dramatically lit shot of Our Lady of Margaret Street and a new and beautifully coloured image of the Sanctuary. Cards will be available to purchase from the Parish Shop on Sundays and from the Parish Office in packs of 6 cards (all one design in each pack) for £5 and are due to arrive in early October. Fridge magnets are now also available of the image of the Sanctuary, which we hope will particular prove a popular small memento for visitors to the Church. £3 each.
PILGRIMAGE TO ITALY IN 2018
Fr Gerald Beauchamp and Fr Michael Bowie are planning a pilgrimage to Italy in May 2018. Ideas so far include Assisi and Loreto. There will be a meeting on Tuesday 18 October, 7.15pm in the All Saints Margaret Street Parish Room (off the courtyard) to look at possibilities. All welcome. If you would like to come in 2018 but are unable to attend the meeting please register your interest with Fr Gerald (gerald.beauch@btconnect.com). Thank you.
ALL SAINTS FESTIVAL 2016
MONDAY 31 OCTOBER 6pm
EVE OF ALL SAINTS – LITANY OF THE SAINTS,
FESTAL EVENSONG & BENEDICTION
Preacher: Fr Kevin Mowbray, SM, Notre Dame de France
Collegium Regale – Tavener
Gaudeamus omnes – Joseph Phibbs
TUESDAY 1 NOVEMBER 6.30pm
ALL SAINTS’ DAY – PROCESSION & HIGH MASS
Preacher: The Very Reverend Dr David Ison, Dean of St Paul’s
Missa Brevis – Richard Rodney Bennett
Beati mundo corde – Byrd
WEDNESDAY 2 NOVEMBER 6.30pm
ALL SOULS’ DAY – HIGH MASS OF REQUIEM
Preacher: The Right Reverend Paul Bayes, Bishop of Liverpool
Requiem – Victoria
Iustorum animae – Byrd
The ALL SAINTS FESTIVAL APPEAL 2016 will run over the period of the Festival, collecting at each service and running a bottle raffle (to be drawn on Festival Sunday). It is raising funds for THREE important causes:
The Marylebone Project (run in London NW1 by the Church Army) –‘empowers homeless women into independent living’. Our money supports the emergency bed unit, providing emergency accommodation for women escaping domestic violence, financial crisis, sexual exploitation and mental health issues.
THE SOUP KITCHEN (run by the American International Church in Tottenham Court Road) ‘helping the homeless in central London’, providing 17,000 meals a year, to some 400 people, with an average of 70 people a day.
UMOJA HIV PROJECT, (run by USPG – the United Society Partners in the Gospel) working in the Anglican Diocese of Manicaland Zimbabwe.
This project ‘enables people living with HIV and Aids to live positive lives’ by reducing stigma and boosting HIV prevention. The programme mobilizes the local community, in partnership with local churches and HIV services, raising awareness of the lack of care and support for these people and their families.
Further information about the three charities will be displayed in the baptistery of Church.
Please give generously – gift-aiding your donations wherever you can (so that your generosity is increased 25%). If you can’t visit All Saints, please send cheques payable to: Parochial Church All Saints in an envelope marked FESTIVAL APPEAL to:
All Saints Church, 7 Margaret Street, London W1W 8JG.
** MISSION NEWS** Men’s clothing is badly needed by the Jesus Centre in Margaret Street and also (we have heard recently) by the Soup Kitchen at the American International Church, both of whom provide a daily range of services to homeless people. As you prepare for the winter season, if you have men’s clothes to give away, please bring to Church and leave at the Parish Office so we can continue to help support our neighbour’s efforts predominantly with homeless men.
The Soup Kitchen specifically calls for: men’s trousers (sizes 32-36) and men’s sturdy/athletic shoes (sizes 9-12 especially) and say ‘we are also beginning to need men’s outerwear of all varieties and we always need rucksacks and dufflebags to help our guests carry their belongings!’
Miranda Suit, Director
(Part-time, usually in the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays) says: Please drop me a line if you are planning to drop things off here. As always, many thanks for your support.
Soup Kitchen at the American International Church
79a Tottenham Court Road
London W1T 4TD
T: 020 7580 2791 www.amchurch.co.uk/soup-kitchen/
SERVICES & EVENTS FOR SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER & NOVEMBER BEYOND ALL SAINTS
THIS Sunday 9 October, 3pm – POETRY TEA at PAMELA’S Please bring poetry and prose relating to the topic of Autumn. If you would like to attend, please speak to Pamela or Sandra in the courtyard after Mass, or ring Sandra on 020 7 637 8456 and leave your name and phone number. Cost: £6 in aid of the All Saints Restoration Appeal.
Tuesday 11 October, Caritas Westminster & PACT – NATIONAL PRISONS WEEK EVENT VOLUNTEERING WORK WITH PRISONERS
We have been asked to circulate the following:
“Caritas Westminster and PACT are holding an event on the 11th of October to promote volunteering work with prisoners, ex-offenders and their families. Join us to meet with prison chaplains, hear about the work that goes on in prisons and how you can get involved. All welcome!
Date: Tuesday 11th of October Time: 6pm-8pm
Venue: Westminster Cathedral Hall, Ambrosden Avenue, London, SW1P 1QW. Transport: Victoria Station
Refreshments provided. Please do let us know of any dietary requirements.”
Please RSVP to caritaswestminster@rcdow.org.uk by Monday 3 October
ST MARY’S BOURNE STREET TALKS
One of London’s principal Anglo-Catholic churches, closely connected with the intellectual thought of the Catholic tradition in the Church of England, will be holding a number of lectures in memory of the distinguished personalities who were instrumental in the life of this church. On Thursday 27 October, 7pm the talk is by the Rev’d Canon Chris Chivers, Principal of Westcott House, Cambridge – Grace and Glory: in dialogue with EL Mascall (in memory of Professor Eric Mascall, former honorary curate of St Marys).
ALL SAINTS MISSION ACTIVITIES:-
The charities we had agreed to support through the Lent Appeal 2016 (and including applicable Gift Aid) received the following sums:-
Marylebone Project – £2,666.67 – emergency refuge and rehoming project for homeless women.
USPG – £2,666.67 – work with those experiencing Aids and HIV in Zimbabwe.
London Diocese Lent Appeal – £3,001.66– this year supporting Syrian and Iraqi refugees through charities Open Doors and Aid to the Church in Need. The certificate of appreciation is on the Church noticeboard. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this great achievement – a significantly enhanced total collected through the Lent Appeal compared with recent years – of £8,335 (including some late funds generated by the Queen’s 90th Birthday Raffle). To this sum must now be added the further £20k raised by the Vicar’s Pilgrimage of earlier this year.
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.
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 donating £1,000 towards the Soup Kitchen at the American International Church in Tottenham Court Road this year. We also allow 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 and as the cold weather starts to bite, 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/virtual tour – 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
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