Weekly Email – Advent 1
Documents
Dear friends,
As we begin the season of Advent it is good to ponder how we prepare for Christmas. Along with the excitement of present shopping, festive cooking, party going, and tree decorating, it is important to prepare our inner selves for the birth of Christ.
It has long been a Christian tradition to undertake a careful examination of our consciences before the great feasts of the church, and to seek God’s forgiveness for our sins. This begins as a personal and individual journey of reflection and self-discovery which leads us to realise where our lives could have been better, where they have lacked love, and where we have been negligent in our duty to God and neighbour.
Many people give this inner, personal conviction an outer, sacramental character by confessing those sins to a priest. The priest is then able to give counsel, advice, encouragement and absolution. The words of absolution which the priest pronounces assure you categorically that your sins are forgiven and that Christmas brings a new beginning for you.
In order to allow this important ministry to take place, there will be a number of occasions when priests will be available in All Saints’ to hear confessions in the run up to Christmas:
Monday 16th December 5-6 pm:
Fr Graeme Rowlands & Fr Alan Rimmer
Wednesday 18th December 5-6 pm:
Fr Graeme Rowlands & Fr Peter Anthony
Friday 20th December 5-6 pm:
Fr David Houlding & Fr Peter Anthony
Saturday 21st December 5-6 pm:
Fr Peter Anthony & Fr Alan Rimmer
Monday 23rd December 5-6 pm:
Fr Peter Anthony & Fr Alan Rimmer
These priests will be available to hear confessions or discuss in confidence any matter you may be troubled by. The parish clergy of All Saints’ remain available to hear confessions at other times by appointment, before or after any Low Mass, and on Saturdays at 6.00 pm each week.
I pray that however we choose to do it, we all put time aside this Advent to prepare our hearts to welcome afresh the Christ Child, and to make this love a reality in our lives.
Fr Peter
Volunteers for Carol Services
We still need more volunteers to help with welcome and staffing of the many carol services which take place in December each year at All Saints’. These are services in which an external body uses our church for a carol service, at which refreshments often need serving. This is an important ministry which welcomes hundreds of people into our church building each year and which also raises crucial revenue.
Please be in touch with Kate via the parish office (office@asms.uk) if you can offer time to help with this important work. The dates we need help on this year are: 4th; 5th; 6th; 11th; 12th; 17th; & 22nd December. We are particularly short for 4th, 5th, 6th, 11th & 22nd (our own Parish Nine Lessons service).
We would like assistance with preparation from 4.30pm, but if people can only come later, that’s fine: they can help with serving and clearing up.
A group of 8 pilgrims from All Saints’ took part in the Adoremus Pilgrimage for young adults at Walsingham last weekend. Here is the group photo from the pilgrimage taken on the Sunday morning.
British Library: Medieval Women
A parish trip will take place in the New Year on Tuesday 28th January 2025 at 6.30 pm to the British Library to see a new exhibition called, “Medieval Women: in their own words.” The exhibition seeks to help us discover more about “the rich and complex lives of women in the Middle Ages, with over 140 extraordinary items that reveal their artistry, resourcefulness, courage and struggles.”
The lives of many of the figures which the exhibition explores reveal some of the most significant theological debates of the Medieval period and important developments in spirituality, worship, literature, music, and the religious life. Books, precious objects, historical documents, and rare texts reveal the daily experience of women as they negotiate the complexities of life, faith, influence, power and gender roles in the Medieval world.
We are very fortunate indeed that the exhibition’s lead curator, Julian Harrison, has agreed to speak with us before we enter the exhibition to introduce its key themes to us.
Our visit to “Medieval Women” will then be followed by supper together at Pizza Express on the Euston Road, opposite the Library. The exhibition costs £15 and the two course dinner at Pizza Express is £30. You can book your tickets and places for the dinner via Eventbrite here.
I am particularly pleased that a week after our visit to the exhibition, there will be the opportunity to discuss, analyse and debate what we saw further through one of our Zoom Theology seminars on Tuesday 4th February at 7.00 pm.
Our online seminar will be led by two significant academics in the realm of Medieval history and theology: we’ll be joined by Dr Mark Philpott, a medievalist and historiographer at Keble College, Oxford; and Dr Charlotte Gauthier, a historian of Church and State in the Medieval and Early Modern period (who also spoke earlier in the autumn at our in person formation session on the C14th Poem “Pearl”). They will help us reflect on the exhibition, and understand more about how theology, religious life, and Christian faith affected the role of women in Medieval Europe.
New Parish Paper out now
A new edition of the Parish Paper is out now. This is the bi-annual journal of the Friends of All Saints’ and contains a wealth of interesting articles about the life of our parish, along with the latest news of forthcoming events. In order to receive a copy, you can join the Friends of All Saints’ here. If you live in the United States and wish to pay in US dollars, you can join the American Friends here.
Our group of pilgrims at the Adoremus Pilgrimage last weekend at Walsingham, enjoying a drink in the Shrine bar on their first night.
British Museum: Silk Roads
There will be a parish trip on 7th February 2025, to see the splendid new exhibition at the British Museum entitled, “Silk Roads.” The exhibition examines the network of trade, travel and intellectual connections that linked East and West through the first Millennium.
I am particularly grateful that we have been able to obtain from the British Museum 15 free tickets for this exhibition. They will be apportioned on a “first come; first served” basis. We will meet at the British Museum at 6.00 pm and you can book your place on this trip here on our Eventbrite account. Our visit to the British Museum will finish with the option of dinner at Le Beaujolais restaurant in Soho. The 3 course dinner at Le Beaujolais is £55 per head with parishioners paying for their own drinks.
The exhibition itself is a breathtaking conspectus of the cultural and economic links between a range of regions and periods: early connections between China, Korea and Japan; the nomadic cultures of the Eurasian Steppe; artistic creativity prompting trade between Eastern Africa and the Mediterranean world; right through to archeological discoveries in a far flung island at the very Western reaches of civilisation called Britain. Amongst this glittering treasure house of artefacts, the influence of Christian culture and the theological debates that characterise its life is complex and fascinating.
Christmas Services 2024
Sunday 22nd December 2024
8.30 am Low Mass for Advent 4
11.00 am High Mass for Advent 4
5.15 pm Low Mass for Advent 4
6.00 pm Christmas Carol Service: Service of 9 Lessons and Carols
Tuesday 24th December 2024
6.30 pm First High Mass of Christmas
11.00 pm Midnight High Mass
Wednesday 25th December 2024
8.30 am Low Mass
11.00 am High Mass
Sunday 29th December 2024
11.00 am High Mass
N.B. No evening Mass or Evensong on 29th December
Our pilgrim group on the Adoremus Pilgrimage at Walsingham last weekend enjoy a blustery afternoon’s walk by the seaside at Wells.
Flowers
The flowers are given by Fr Julian Browning.
If you would like to have flowers put in church to mark a special occasion or if you would like to make a contribution to the flowers for Christmas, please contact Shawn directly or via the office.
Attendance last Sunday
For your prayers
The Friends of All Saints’ Margaret Street:
1st – Carlos Remotti-Breton, Dr Steve Rice, John Rick, Fr. Peter Roberts, Hilary Rodger
2nd – Greg Round, Jamie Rundle, Mary Sherred, James Shrimpton
3rd – Ingrid Slaughter, Naomi Slippe, Vaughan Snook, Harvey Solomon-Brady
4th – Richard and Louise Stallwood, Iain Stewart, Madeleine Storer, Ian and Veronica Summers, Colin Symes, Ann Tacchi
5th – Sebastian Taite-Ellis, Michael Taylor, Kitty Thompson, Charles Thomson, Dr James Thomson, Jeremy Thorp, Jane Turner, The Rev’d Roger Turner, Dr Christine Vaughn Lillie
6th – Christopher Walsh, Philip Wayne, Fr. Benjamin Weitzmann, Fr. Mats Wendt, Michael Westcott
7th – Matthew Whittaker, Tim Widdowfield, David Wilcox, T. Bradford Willis, Ian A. Wilson, Fr Michael Witcombe
The sick:
Bishop Christopher Chessun, David Craig, Tony Hawkins, Fr Harry Hodgetts, Arthur Johnson, Katherine Lee, Elizabeth Lyon, James Rodger, Fr James Rosenthal, Jan Smith, Fr Peter Strange, Christine Vaughn-Lillie.
The faithful departed:
Graham Norman, David Weller, Elizabeth Rankin, Pauline Ellis, Michael Parslew, Lee Nyuk Chin.
Those whose anniversaries of death fall at this time:
1st – Sarah Eynstone, James Mason
2nd – David Prior
3rd – Margaret Rodger, Douglas Lawson, Kenneth Armstrong
4th – Pamela Freer, Robert Fletcher
5th – Mary Skelton, Mary Burton, Florence Duggan, Frances O’Neil
6th – William Gelson, Thomas Vaughan, Rita Mather
7th – Morgan Griffiths Pr, John Slater, Frances Lloyd, Zena Monk
8th – Maude Bull, Christine Bramma, Ines Baxter
Service times this week
Saturday 30th November – St Andrew, Apostle
12 noon Mass
6.30 pm Vigil Mass of Sunday
Sunday 1st December – ADVENT SUNDAY
8.30 am Low Mass
11.00 am High Mass
5.15 pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Advent Lessons and Carols
Monday 2nd December – Advent Feria
12 noon Mass
6.30 pm Mass
Tuesday 3rd December – S. Francis Xavier
12 noon Mass
6.30 pm Mass
Wednesday 4th December – Advent Feria
12 noon Mass
6.00 pm Carol Service – Rugby School
Thursday 5th December – Advent Feria
12 noon Mass
6.00 pm Carol Service – St Mary’s Calne
Friday 6th December– Feria
12 noon Mass
6.00 pm Carol Service – Old Diocesans, Cape Town
Saturday 7th December – St. Ambrose of Milan
12 noon Mass
6.30 pm Vigil Mass of Sunday
Sunday 8th December – ADVENT II
8.30 am Low Mass
11 am High Mass
5.15 pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Evensong and Benediction