All Saints Margaret Street.

Dear Friends

The Gospel for this Sunday (Luke 24:36–48) relates an appearance of the risen Jesus to the disciples, one that will help transform their startled incredulity into worship and evangelism. 

The meaning of the resurrection of Jesus is inextricably linked not only to the study of scripture but also to engagement in mission:

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”  (24.47-48).

We hear a lot about mission and mission strategies, usually requiring us to change what we do together in church and trying to convince us that we need training in marketing and PR, without which the church is, apparently, useless. Most of this is bunk. Mission is clearly described above: the proclamation of something, repentance and forgiveness of sins, to which we are witnesses. Already.

We all know that ‘witness’ translates the Greek word ‘martyr’, a word which we now use more narrowly of those whose ‘witness’ involves the loss of their earthly life. But ‘witness’ means what it says: a witness has experience of what he or she proclaims. 

Mission, the proclamation of ‘repentance and forgiveness’ (which means unconditional acceptance by God when we approach him honestly and truthfully), is something we experience by growth in our Christian life. This is not doctrine to be taught or learned, but a joyous example to be shared. 

Fr Michael

Monthly Requiem

Tomorrow our monthly Requiem Mass will be celebrated: please let Fr Michael have names of those you’d like remembered at that Mass.

Links for Sunday

The link for the Propers for Easter 3 is at the top of this email.

And click here for the YouTube live stream.

Flowers

The flowers today have been given by the Wright family in memory of Joy Wright whose anniversary of death fell on 18 March, during Lent.

If you would like to make a donation for flowers, please contact Shawn on 07988 287 663 or shawnwilbe@outlook.com or speak to Chris Self.

Prayer list

Prisoners and captives

Nazanin Zhagari-Ratcliffe, Ismaeil Maghrebinejad, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Maira Shabhaz

Rohingya Christians in Pakistan and Karen Christians in Burma

The sick

David Fettke, Joan Cooper, Vallery Tchukov, Sara Vice, Katherine Lee, Lorna Smith, Beth Klausing, Hilary Porter, Bruce Ross-Smith, Benjamin Woolf, James Shrimpton, Tony Rodger, Rachel Pereira, Fr Michael Gudgeon, Chris and Carole Radley, Fr Harry Hodgetts, Rosemary Orr, Andrew Rodger, Martin Berka, Barbara Schiefer, Sybil Priestnall, John Mather, Joan Anna SLG, Elizabeth Dennis, Phil Gibbs, Poppy Harris, Sheila Wood, Jennifer Spreckley, Sue Yesnick, Beverley Ward, Elizabeth Lyon, Benita Bray

Those known to us recently departed

Stewart Lyon, Anne Grew, Benedict Reid OSB Pr , Keith Peers, Hisami Kanno, Polly, Ken Nicola, Bob Birbeck, Philip Duke of Edinburgh, Thomas Schultz OHC Pr, Tom & Jean Boddey, Ashur Sargon Eskrya, Michael Bordeaux Pr.

Anniversaries of death

18^th – Judith Barrett, Sadie Campbell, Tim Hewlett

19^th – Hugh Whittow, Rex Halliwell, Irene Vile, Kathleen Bates, Hilary Waters

20^th – Henry Mackay Pr (fifth vicar of All Saints), Margaret Forsyth, Constance Cavan, Alicia Bolton, Priscilla Black

21^st – Constance Briscoe, David Mason Pr

22^nd – Charles Messenger, Elenor Stanton, Arthur Sandeman Pr

23^rd – Hannah Ebbs, John Burton-White

24^th – Beatrice Atkins, Ada Brookes, Letitia Nettey, Ambrose Weekes Bp

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).