All Saints Margaret Street.

Dear Friends

Yesterday’s feast of the Ascension is a turning point: we turn to await the coming of the Spirit in the realisation that our Lord could no longer be confined by space and time: the resurrection could not be just a going back to how things were. The exaltation of Jesus in glory after his rising had to lead somewhere new, the presence of the promised Spirit with us.

At this point it first becomes clear where the story of which we are now part is headed. It is not to be a museum record, a nostalgia cult. Just as Jesus repeatedly challenged and often upset the sensibilities and expectations of his friends and contemporaries during his life and ministry so now he gives a clear signal that the resurrection is not to prompt a sigh of relief and a relaxation into old ways. Nor it is it to herald or support a faith which is devoted to holding to or preserving the past. The logic of his being raised from the dead requires his leaving his disciples to wait for the coming of the Spirit: otherwise, what? Would he live to a great age, avoid further conflict with the Romans, and die again, this time peacefully as the revered founder of a new Jewish sect?  

Everything that did follow, including the startling transformation of this sectarian Jewish faith into good news for all people at the hands of the firebrand convert St Paul, required Jesus’ departure. As the gospel wording puts it,  ‘he withdrew from  them’, having left them a commission:

‘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. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised;  so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’ 

God entrusting us with his good news requires us to understand that, in his love, he also trusts us with what will happen to it. We have often failed him. But we know that the glimpses of glory that the Christian Church can provide, the discipleship which, on her good days, she can instil, have been enabled by God trusting us with the future.

As we look forward to welcoming Fr Peter as Parish Priest next week, let us pray earnestly for him and for one another, but with faith and trust in God who shares the enterprise with us and blesses us in our endeavours together.

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 7 is at the top of this email.

And click here for the YouTube live stream.

Flowers

The flowers on Sunday have been given by Robin Clutterham in memory of his mother Flora, who died on 18 May 2012.

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.

Seats at the Collation and Induction of Fr Peter Anthony – Thursday 20th May at 7 pm

Thank you to all those who applied by Ascension Day for seats at the Induction and Collation. The churchwardens are reviewing the requests for places. Tickets will be distributed on Sunday to those present at Mass and other applicants will then be advised as to whether or not they have been successful.

Fr Anthony will be Collated by the Bishop of Fulham, who will also preach, and Inducted by the Archdeacon of Charing Cross in the presence of the Bishop of London. This will be preceded by Evensong at which Fr Bowie will be the officiant and followed by Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament at which the celebrant will be our new Vicar.

The service will be live streamed for those unable to attend. There will not be a reception afterwards.

Annual Reports for 2020 and Annual Meetings 2021

The various reports from the PCC, All Saints Foundation, the Choir & Music Trust and All Saints Club are available here. If you would like a paper copy, then please speak to one of the Churchwardens.

The Meeting of Parishioners and the Annual Parochial Church Meeting will take place on Trinity Sunday 30th May 2020 in the church at about 12.15 pm immediately after the Sung Mass. The meetings will be held in the same form as last October. The statutory notices of these meetings are displayed in Church. The meetings will appoint the churchwardens for the ensuing year and a third of the elected lay members of the PCC. The full agendas, minutes of last year’s meetings and the report on the electoral roll will be published with the next weekly email on 21st May.

The newly revised electoral roll may be inspected on the notice board in church.

Covid-19 vaccine webinar

A COVID-19 vaccine confidence webinar has been organised for the Catholic Dioceses of Brentwood, Southwark and Westminster, with the cooperation of Hertfordshire County Council and Hammersmith and Fulham Council, and other local authorities. It will take place tomorrow, Saturday 15th May 2021, from 10:00am to 11:30am and will feature a panel led by Professor Kevin Fenton, Regional Director of Public Health London. The panel will share the latest information on Covid-19 vaccination and there will be an opportunity for participants to ask questions anonymously.

You can join the webinar through Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/99627319556 by entering the passcode: 546617. Participation is completely anonymous and registration is not required.

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 Roger, Martin Berka, Barbara Schiefer, Sybil Priestnall, Joan Anna SLG, Phil Gibbs, Poppy Harris, Sheila Wood, Jennifer Spreckley, Sue Yesnick, Elizabeth Lyon, Rosina Sargon Eskrya, Fr Charles Cloughen, Malcolm Brown, Fr Pip Bevan, Tim Knight, Alixe Bainbridge-Spring

Those known to us recently departed

Benita Bray, Diane Roberts, Sheila Whittle Pr, Claire Dittmar, Philip Oswald, John Mather, Beverley Ward

Anniversaries of death

16th – Elsie Scott, Charles Simon, Richard Britten

17th – Lucy Heath, Wilhelmina Ward

18th – Michael White-Cooper Pr, William Crane, Thomas O’Neil Pr, Flora Clutterham, Charles Oram

19th – Frank Biggart, Mary Cottell, Betty Johnson

20th – Eliza Pountney, Eric Arnold

21st – Alan James, Wendy Johnson

22nd –

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).