All Saints Margaret Street.

Easter 6

This Sunday, as on the last two Sundays, we hear from John about what Jesus has done for us and our relationship with him:

‘I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep’

‘I am the vine and you are the branches… Abide in me as I abide in you.’

This week Jesus says to us, ‘God’s love was revealed in this way, that he sent his only Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins’

‘No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends’

By the time you read this the result, or non-result, of the General Election will be emerging. New alliances may be attempted and old arguments will certainly be rehearsed. Loyalties will be tested, and questions will be asked with increasing shrillness, as the will to power is balanced against the public good. The media has set up the argument in advance as being between an incumbent clinging to power and a would-be replacement grasping at all opportunities to grab it, with the slippery possibilities of an unwritten constitution providing useful wriggle-room for both. But whatever the outcome we know that relationships will be renegotiated in an essentially pragmatic way.

I recall this morning’s gospel being applied by a newspaper to a previous cabinet reshuffle: Blair’s tactics in the reshuffle were compared to Harold Macmillan’s so-called ‘night of the long knives’ towards the end of his administration, quoting the then Liberal Leader, Jeremy Thorpe’s quip,

‘Greater love hath no man than this, to lay down his friends for his life’. The newspaper then went on to say that, while few people might now understand the reference, Thorpe’s joke could aptly be applied to Blair. 

The assumption that most people wouldn’t know the verse from Sunday’s Gospel may well be true. 

I thought Remembrance Sunday might have kept this one live: as a child I saw it several times a week in my (war memorial) school chapel. But, like other purple passages of John such as ‘God so loved the world…’ we should probably assume that they aren’t well known or, perhaps more importantly, understood.

‘No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends’ 

‘God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.’

People may suspect politicians, dislike spin and be fascinated by conspiracy theories. But they also need to be loved, to know friendship and trust. We need relationships which transcend the merely pragmatic and transactional. The institutional Church may fail us, or feel irrelevant, but we can all be personal ambassadors for the good news of Jesus Christ even if, on some days, we are lukewarm about the Church. Sunday’s gospel tells us, as did last week’s, to love and to be fruitful. It is said that at the end of his long life St John had only one sermon left: he is alleged to have just repeated over and over again, ‘Love one another’. As we continue to celebrate and give thanks for the Resurrection, whoever is in charge of the country by next Sunday, let us rejoice and be fruitful in that.

Yours in Christ,

Father Michael Bowie, 
Assistant Priest, 
All Saints Margaret Street

Please pray for those who have asked for our prayers: Asia Bibi. Fr. Bruce Barnett- Cowan, Ella Carroll, James Cary-Elwes, Ian Coull, Paul Curno, Hugo Gralka, Tim Harding, Yvonne & Philip Harland, Elspeth Harley, Lewis Harvey, Maxwell Hutchinson, Alice Jullien, Molly Leng, Peggy Leeman, Anthea Lepper, Joshua Levy, Christine Loffty, Hilary Morgan, David Pearce, Pat Phillips, Jock Scott, Fr. Nicholas Stacey, Buzz Stokes, Celia Swan, Henrietta Vaizey, Joy Wright, Marc Young and Revd. Mary Spredbury.

For the recently departed: Jean Bray, Mike McKenna, Hilary Mary Waters, Jim Holden, Jane Allen and Patrick Lepper, Sheila Kenyon, Jack Symes and Malcolm Richards (whose Funeral Mass takes place at All Saints on Monday 18 May at 2.30pm).

Remember past priests, benefactors, friends, and all whose year’s mind occurs this week: Gertrude Thorpe, Barbara Watson, George Corbett (sometime Bursar of the All Saints’ Choir School), Norman Williams (Priest), Ellen Markey, John Finnie, Edith Cooke, Douglas Laing, Patrick Spencer (PCC Member & Server), Elsie Rybczk, Peggy Beavan, Muriel Burling, John Carter (Server), Elsie Scott, Charles Simon and Richard Britten

WORSHIP THIS SUNDAY 10 MAY – Sixth Sunday of Easter
HIGH MASS, 11am
Preacher: The Vicar, Prebendary Alan Moses 
Missa Choralis – Bruckner
Regina cÓ•li – Mascagni

Ten to One Talk in Church after Mass: Theme: Anamnesis (Memorial) & Acclamation. The bell will ring beforehand.

Sunday Lunch is being cooked by Paul Weston and John McWhinney. Tickets on sale in the Parish Room before and after Mass – £5.

CHORAL EVENSONG & BENEDICTION, 6pm 
Preacher: Fr Michael Bowie 
Service in B flat – Stanford 
Praise our Lord, all ye gentiles – Byrd 

7.15pm (after Benediction)
ORGAN RECITAL – ROGER SAYER, Organist and Director of Music, The Temple Church. 

Programme includes:   
Fantasia and Toccata op. 57 – C. V. Stanford (1852-1924)
Melodia op. 59 – M. Reger (1873-1916)
Phantasie über den Choral “Hallelujah! Gott zu loben, bleibe meine Seelenfreud’!” op. 52 – M. Reger

Admission free – retiring collection in aid of the Music at All Saints (suggested donation £4).
For more organ recitals, visit www.organrecitals.com. 

WORSHIP NEXT SUNDAY 17 MAY – Seventh Sunday of Easter
HIGH MASS, 11am

Preacher: Prebendary Alan Moses
Missa Christi – Leighton
Ascendens Christus in altum – Andrew Gant

Ten to One Talk after Mass: Theme: Intercession & Doxology. The bell will ring beforehand.

Sunday Lunch is being cooked by Chris Self. Tickets on sale in the Parish Room before and after Mass – £5.

CHORAL EVENSONG & BENEDICTION, 6pm 
Preacher: Fr Michael Bowie 
Service in A – Naylor 
O clap your hands together – Gibbons
 

NOTICES

The ALL SAINTS’ LENT APPEAL 2015 raised an initial sum of £3,161 (before Gift Aid). Gift Aid claims are in train (and should push this figure well towards £4000). Our Lent Appeal will be shared equally three ways:

1. Bishop of London’s Appeal, concentrating on supporting Youth, Children and Family projects across the Diocese,
2. Us (formerly USPG) and their support of the church in Zimbabwe in working with those affected by HIV and AIDS and providing local clergy and lay leaders with skills and training to undertake the work, and
3. The Marylebone Project, where our money goes towards providing one of the emergency beds in the Homeless Women’s Centre.

Many thanks to everyone who contributed so generously!

Sunday 10 – Saturday 16 May – CHRISTIAN AID WEEK – collection envelopes will be available on Sunday 10 and ideally should be returned on Sunday 17 May (or to the Parish Office as soon as possible afterwards).

 Monday 18 – Saturday 23 May – BISHOP OF LONDON’S THIRD DIOCESAN WEEK OF PRAYER – this year for the Great Feast of Pentecost, praying that we may be strengthened in our inner being with power through his Spirit (Ephesians III. 16). In his invitation to take part in the Week of Prayer Bishop Richard says:

I hope that once again many of you will come to St Paul’s Cathedral to pray during this week. As well as the Cathedral’s regular pattern of worship there will be dedicated space in the Chapel of St Michael and St George to support your prayer journey over the week in creative and different ways…..In whatever ways you are able, join us in prayer between Ascension and Pentecost, for I am convinced that there is nothing that is impossible for a Church that is confident, compassionate and creative in the power of the Spirit and in union with Jesus Christ our Lord. With thanks for our partnership in the Gospel, Richard London +

HELP NEEDED with CORPUS CHRISTI Procession – Thursday 4 June – evening. Stewards and leafleters to assist with the Procession from Church around Oxford Street – training will be given. We want to make this an even bigger act of witness this year and need additional helpers. If you can assist, please contact Cedric Stephens on 020 7 637 7468 or see him after Mass one Sunday before then.

EVENTS AT ALL SAINTS IN MAY

Thursday 14 May, 6.30pm – ASCENSION DAY – PROCESSION & HIGH MASS, Preacher: Fr Sean Mullin, Rector of St Mark’s Philadelphia
Missa ‘Ascendo ad Patrem’ – Palestrina 
Cœlos ascendit hodie – Stanford

EVENTS ELSEWHERE
 

Saturday 16 May, 7pm – St Cyprian’s Church – ST CYPRIAN’S SINGERS – NEW YORK TOUR FUNDRAISING CONCERT
Programme includes: Frank Martin Mass for double choir and works by Tallis, Shepphard, Bairstow, Howells, MacMillan and Whitacre. Tickets £15 including Buffet.

Thursday 21 May 2015, 6:15pm at Westminster Abbey – 30TH ERIC SYMES ABBOTT MEMORIAL LECTURE entitled “Blessed are the Hypocrites? Saying sorry in a tell-all age”. This will be given by The Reverend Lucy Winkett, Rector of St James’s Piccadilly. The lecture is free, and all are welcome, but prior booking is requested. 
For further details please see: http://westminster-abbey.org/events/events/30th-eric-symes-abbott-memorial-lecture-blessed-are-the-hypocrites

Sunday 24 May – THE CHURCHES TOGETHER IN WESTMINSTER 2015 PENTECOST CELEBRATION will be held at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, 235 Shaftesbury Avenue, WC2H 8EP.  It will take the form of Informal Church and will commence at 5.15pm with cold buffet, followed by worship, reflection and response. Organisers advise that this is an ecumenical service, and all are very welcome to join. They look forward to meeting you there!

Monday 25 May – THE NATIONAL PILGRIMAGE, WALSINGHAM – a day excursion by coach from All Saints to Walsingham. To find out more/book a place on the coach, please contact: Ross Buchanan (020 7 221 1312).

Saturday 30 May, 6.30 – 7.30pm – St Cuthbert’s, Philbeach Gardens, Earl’s Court (nearest tube: Earl’s Court) – RECITAL BY THE AMERICAN CONCERT ORGANIST, CHRISTIAN SCHOEN 
Repertoire: JS Bach, Buxtehude, Vierne and several 20th century American composers. Free admission, collection in support of Organ Restoration Fund.

Sunday 31 May, 3pm – POETRY TEA AT PAMELA’S – Theme of ‘Light’. Please see Pamela or Sandra Wheen for directions to the house. Tickets £6 in aid of All Saints’ Restoration Appeal. 

ALL SAINTS RESTORATION PROJECT UPDATE – NEAR COMPLETE BUT 
FURTHER DONATIONS NEEDED to cover final invoices

New wiring and lighting, essential CCTV security and fire detection systems cost £372,000. Fire alarm commissioning now completed and the new system in use. We await the arrival and fitting of the glass shades for the chandeliers (hopefully before the end of May). As the project reaches its conclusion, and the final invoices are received, we have recently had a number of generous gifts that have greatly helped complete the fundraising for the project. Loans have been successfully eliminated (from an initial level of £35,000) so any more gifts will allow us a small reserve against the final cost of the works. If there are any surplus funds when all bills are paid, these will go towards the next restoration projects.

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!

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.

Seasonal Appeals – The grand total collected in 2014 was £3,463 (up significantly on 2013’s support of £2,790) to this Mission Project through the All Saints Festival and Lent Appeals. The Project (in acknowledging our support) said: ‘Such a wonderful amount to have raised, thank you so very much for your valued support’.

A further £3,000 raised in 2014 for Us (formerly USPG) was acknowledged to be a ‘very generous gift’ which will be used to feed communities and generate income to support AIDS orphans in child-headed families in Zimbabwe.

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. 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 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
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 (NOTE REVISED TIME for Saturdays and Bank Holidays) 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.