All Saints Margaret Street.

Dear Friends

You’ll probably remember that shepherds feature in the Christmas story precisely to emphasise God’s egalitarian good news, his welcome to the poor and marginal; his love of people who have no bargaining power, not even the withdrawal of their labour; people whom we may not wish to know, but people of whose importance to God Pope Francis often forcefully reminds the church. 

The lengthy Good Shepherd discourse in John’s gospel, from which we hear on Sunday, is a deeper subversion of dismissive snobbery: here it is not just that good shepherds exist and are not to be despised; it is, positively, the close knowledge and personal connection of shepherd and flock which is emphasised. This is not class war but unity of all sorts and conditions, gathering all into safety and harmony.

Again, this good shepherd is not a typical hired man, but someone who will fight for, even die for, the sheep as his own beloved family; no one will steal them, as might happen under the careless eye of the itinerant shepherd. Elsewhere, we hear, he knows them by name; there is a relationship of love and trust between them. 

Fr Michael

From the Churchwardens:

The Collation and Induction of our new vicar, Fr Peter Anthony, will take place at 7.00pm on Thursday 20 May 2021 after Evening Prayer and before Benediction. In view of the current regulations to protect us from coronavirus the number of people able to attend in person will be severely limited due to social distancing requirements. There will, of course, be no reception or gathering afterwards either. The service will be live streamed. If you would like to be considered for an allocated seat please return a printed copy of this note by hand after any Mass to one of the Churchwardens or the Verger by Ascension Day. Alternatively, you may write or email the Parish Office indicating you would wish to attend should sufficient space remain available. In accordance with the duties laid down for churchwardens we will make the final allocations when all requests have been received.

Links for Sunday

The link for the Propers for Easter 4 is at the top of this email.

And click here for the YouTube live stream.

Flowers

The flowers for Sunday have been given by Robin Clutterham in memory of his father, Les Clutterham, and Denzil Freeth.

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, Phil Gibbs, Poppy Harris, Sheila Wood, Jennifer Spreckley, Sue Yesnick, Beverley Ward, Elizabeth Lyon, Rosina Sargon Eskrya, Fr Charles Cloughen, Malcolm Brown

Those known to us recently departed

Hisami Kanno, Polly, Julian Tan, Ken Nicola, Bob Birbeck, Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Thomas Schultz OHC Pr, Tom and Jean Boddey, Ashur Sargon Eskrya, Michael Bordeaux Pr, Benita Bray, Betty Dove.

Anniversaries of death

25th – 

26th – Sarah Edmonds, Sister Elizabeth Noel, Leslie Clutterham, Dorothy Coles, Ze Renato, Denzil Freeth

27th – Richard Dibley

28th – Isabel Sturges-Jones, Lilian Raven, John Birch

29th – John Simpson Bp, Beatrice Hudson

30th – 

MAY 1st – Douglas Robertson, Jane Mather

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 Gift Aid, 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).