Weekly Email – 2nd Sunday before Lent
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The weeks before Lent are an important time to start thinking about how we are going to keep that holy season of preparation for the Lord’s Passover. Good Lenten resolutions are always better if realistically thought through. The worst kind are impulse resolutions made in haste the night of Shrove Tuesday, which usually tend to be overly ambitious and rarely do much good!
Whatever disciplines or changes of life we embrace this Lent, their heart should be an attempt to return to the Lord, and to deepen our relationship with him. There will be a number of extra liturgies and activities at All Saints throughout this Lent which we hope will be able to help that process and I urge you to consider supporting them:
Stations of the Cross.
Most Fridays in Lent, there will be a celebration of the Stations of the Cross at 7.00 pm after the 6.15 pm Mass. (Please note there will be no stations on Friday 25th March because it is the Annunciation, and on Friday 8th April because of our Lent Lecture).
This is a wonderful opportunity to enter into the mystery of the Lord’s Passion, and allows us time to contemplate Christ’s giving of himself for us as we walk with him the Way of the Cross.
Lent Lecture
Lent is a call to deepen our understanding of the Christian faith through reading and study.
There will be a Lent Lecture offered by Fr Dominic Keech, Vicar of St Nicholas’, Brighton on Friday 8th April at 7.00 pm. His lecture will be entitled, “The Infinite Vision: Augustine and the formation of the Western mind.” The evening will be an introduction to the life and thought of the great fourth century North African theologian, exploring his influence on Western Christianity’s understanding of the human person in time and eternity, and probing his continuing presence in contemporary crises of self and society.
Online Zoom Theology: “Looking East in Winter” by Rowan Williams
A further opportunity for study will be our next online Zoom Theology session which will take place on Tuesday 15th March at 7.00 pm, and will be led by Fr Peter. We will be reflecting on Rowan Williams’ latest book, “Looking East in Winter: Contemporary Thought and the Eastern Christian Tradition.”
This work explores and introduces a number of Eastern and Orthodox thinkers, and reflects on what can be learned from them in the increasingly secularised West. The seminar will last for no more than an hour and you are encouraged to have read the book before attending.
Zoom details here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86265920723?pwd=YklJYXpDWG1lcWFQUXdpMTAreVQwZz09
Guest Preachers
We look forward to a series of interesting guest preachers who will explore with us the Word of God during our Sunday morning liturgy.
On the Sunday before Lent, Sunday 27th February, the Revd Marjorie Brown, the vicar of St Mary’s Primrose Hill, will preach for us. The celebrant and preacher at the High Mass on Sunday 6th March will be Bishop Jonathan. On Sunday 27th March (Mothering Sunday), the Revd Tom Sander, vicar of our neighbouring parish St Giles-in-the-Fields will be our homilist, and on Sunday 3rd April, Sister Gemma Simmonds will be at the High Mass as our preacher.
During Holy Week itself, we are very pleased that Bishop Rowan Williams will be our preacher at all the major liturgies from Palm Sunday to Easter Day. It unquestionably looks like being one of the most homiletically interesting Holy Weeks we will have in a long while!
The Sunday Liturgy in Lent
The liturgy in Lent takes on a particular character of austerity and simplicity as we prepare for Easter. The organ is only used to accompany hymnody, for example, and the colour purple draws our minds to the need for repentance.
We will be restoring a Lenten tradition which used to take place at All Saints but which hasn’t been seen in recent years. This involves beginning the Mass in Lent with the Asperges. This is a beautiful rite in which we are reminded of the washing away of our sins in baptism as holy water is sprinkled on us.
The ancient antiphon sung during this rite draws on words from Psalm 51, and proclaims our need for repentance and God’s mercy: “Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow. Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy.” I hope this restoration of a parish tradition will help draw us into the mystery of Christ’s presence in the liturgy as the one who forgives our sins and calls us to new life in him.
Ecumenical Hospitality – “The Sunday of the Three Bishops”
God calls us to seek the unity of the whole Christian family, and Lent is a particularly appropriate time to focus on our need to heal the divisions in Christ’s Body.
The new Bishop of Berlin-Brandenburg will be with us in the evening of Sunday 6th March as part of an official visit to London. It will be a joy to offer ecumenical hospitality to him and his colleagues. Bishop Stäblein will be present at 6.00 pm at Evensong and Benediction in the company of the Bishops of London and Fulham.
Evensong will then be followed by a reception in church in honour of our German guests. I urge as many as are able to come to this important event and welcome our visitors.
I pray that the next fortnight may be a fruitful time of reflection as we prepare to begin Lent on Ash Wednesday. I hope the many opportunities for Lenten worship, study and fellowship on offer at All Saints, both in person and online, will be of use to you in your Lenten journey to Holy Week and Easter.
Fr Peter
We look forward to the Revd Dr Dominic Keech coming to All Saints’on Friday 8th April to deliver our Lent Lecture on St Augustine.
News from our online worshippers
We are running a series of short articles in our weekly email from members of the All Saints family who worship online. It is hoped this might put a few faces to names and allow all who receive our weekly email to know more about those who join us via our live-streaming.
If you are on online worshipper, and would like to write something for us about yourself and why you connect with All Saints’ online, please be in touch with Fr Peter.
This week, Obumneke Collins Ejezie introduces himself. He lives in Nigeria, and tunes in each week to our online services from his home in Africa:
I arrived in London from Nigeria shortly before the PM’s announcement of national lockdown on Jan. 4, 2021. I was part of the 6th cohort of the Community of St Anselm in Lambeth Palace, a new monastic movement if you like.
As an Anglo-Catholic in an Evangelical Province, I wanted a place I could make my spiritual home on Sundays outside our weekly quasi monastic activities at Lambeth Palace. I started experiencing the worship at All Saints via online streaming. Despite our tight schedules at Lambeth Palace, I was able to visit All Saints twice in person and finally met with Fr. Peter once the lockdowns eased.
In spite of the fact I have left London and returned to Nigeria, All Saints continues to help my spiritual and liturgical needs. The music repertoire and solemn celebration of the Mass is something I appreciate with my whole heart. Some of the chants and settings constantly remind me of my time in Mucknell Abbey singing the offices.
The architectural ingenuity, paintings, mosaics, choir and lovely worshipping space of this Church is something I want to be connected with all the days of my life. I am happy to report that I discovered the Angelus for the first time at All Saints after hearing it for the first time at the end of Sunday Mass.
Though I am now far away geographically, this parish continues to serve the purpose it did when I first encountered it; I’m very grateful for All Saints’ online provision.
Obum
Obum, in his monastic habit as a member of the Community of St Anselm at Lambeth Palace.
Dates for your diary
Sunday 27th February 2022 – Sunday Next before Lent
Guest Preacher at the 11.00 am High Mass: The Revd Marjorie Brown,
Vicar, St Mary’s, Primrose Hill, London.
Sunday 6th March 2022 – Lent 1: “Sunday of the Three Bishops”
Celebrant and Preacher at the 11.00 am High Mass: The Bishop of Fulham.
Ecumenical guest of honour at 6.00 pm Evensong & Benediction: The Bishop of Berlin-Brandenburg, accompanied by the Bishop of London.
Evensong to be followed by a reception on honour of the Bishop of Berlin.
Tuesday 15th March 2022 – 7.00 pm
Online Zoom Theology: “Looking East in Winter” by Rowan Williams.
Zoom link here.
Sunday 27th March 2022 – Fourth Sunday of Lent
Guest Preacher at the 11.00 am High Mass: the Revd Tom Sander,
Rector of St Giles-in-the-Fields
Sunday 3rd April 2022 – Fifth Sunday of Lent
Guest Preacher at the 11.00 am High Mass: Sister Gemma Simmonds,
Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology, Cambridge.
Friday 8th April 2022 – 7.00 pm
Lent Lecture given by the Revd Dr Dominic Keech: Augustine and the formation of the Western Mind
Sunday 10th April – Sunday 17th April: Holy Week 2022
Holy Week Preacher: The Most Revd and Rt Hon Rowan Williams.
Sunday 1st May 2022 – 3rd Sunday of Easter
Guest Preacher at the 11.00 am High Mass: The Revd Steve Rice,
Rector, St Timothy’s, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.
This is Hamish Wagstaff (left), our new organ scholar elect, who is visiting from Australia, and who will be succeeding William Forrest. We thank Will for his contribution to the musical life of our parish during what have been complex times with COVID, and look forward to welcoming Hamish in the autumn.
Links for Sunday
The link for the Propers for 2nd Sunday before Lent is at the end of this email. Click here for the YouTube live stream.
Evensong and Benediction at 6pm on Sunday. This week the music includes Leighton Canticles Collegium Magdalenae Oxoniense, Wood O thou sweetest source of gladness, and Caplin arrangements of Benediction hymns by Bortniansky and Harwood.
Flowers
The flowers this week have been given by Colin Menzies, in loving memory of his mother, Margaret, whose anniversary falls at this time.
We are looking for volunteers to help with the flowers in church. If you have a particular talent for flower arranging and would like to help from time to time or on a regular basis, please contact Shawn on 07988 287 663 or shawnwilbe@outlook.com.
If you would like to make a donation for flowers, please contact Shawn or speak to Chris Self.
Prayer list
Prisoners and captives
Nazanin Zhagari-Ratcliffe, Ismaeil Maghrebinejad, Nasrin Sotoudeh
Maira Shabhaz
Rohingya Christians in Pakistan, Karen Christians in Burma, Tigrayan Christians in Ethiopia
The sick
Fr Harry Hodgetts, Martin Berka, Elizabeth Lyon, James Shrimpton, David Robin, Stuart Bell, Anne-Marie Chartier, Bernard Holmes, Thelma Spill, Simeon Sanders, Bruce Ross-Smith
Those known to us recently departed
Sara Vice, Rosemary Nutt, Richard Vann, Corrado Monte, John Vine Pr
Anniversaries of death
20th –
21st – Guida Crowley, Joan Williams
22nd – John Sanders Vickery
23rd – William Butterfield, Thomas Skeffington-Lodge
24th – James Keen
25th – Eleanor Alaway, Derek Beavan, Diana Stonebanks, Yoskyl Brackley
26th – Ian Searle
Supporting All Saints
Parish Giving Scheme
You can set up a regular donation to All Saints here.
We use the Parish Giving Scheme, which allows contributions to be anonymous and deals with GiftAid, saving our office a lot of time. You can read about how the scheme works here.
Donations for general church purposes
To give by BACS please use the following details, advising the Administrator to collect Gift Aid:
PCC All Saints (Charity no. 1132895)
Sort Code 60-09-15
A/C 04559452
Parish Legacy Policy
We are always delighted to hear from anyone who wants to support us with a donation. Our PCC Legacy Policy encourages people to leave bequests specifically to one of our two related charities to be used for purposes of lasting value (rather than day to day costs):
All Saints Choir & Music Trust (Charity # 802994)
or The All Saints Foundation (Charity # 273390).