All Saints Margaret Street.

Dear friends,

We hear in our gospel this Sunday the story of Blind Bartimaeus and the way in which Jesus gave him back his sight. What does this story tell us about our own salvation?

The idea of seeing is quite a complicated one in the scriptures.  Nine times out of ten, when we hear a story about sight or vision, there’s usually more going on than appears at first glance.

When Bartimaeus asks for his sight back, he isn’t just asking for the restoration of a physical sense.  He’s asking to be reconnected to the world around him, and above all to be reconnected to Jesus.

All the way through the Christian scriptures, language to do with sight and vision is used of the way in which Jesus shows us what God is like.  Jesus is described as the Light of the World, for example, and John tells us that whoever has seen him has seen the Father.

So we discover that this story as well as being an extraordinary miracle is also an allegory – an allegory of our reconciliation with God in which Bartimaeus stands for us. It is a story that shows us that it’s only by Christ’s actions that our own blindness and inability to know God is overcome.

Clement of Alexandria, writing in the second century, also sees this allegorical dynamic in which Bartimaeus’ experience points to Clement’s own journey of faith. He says this of Bartimaeus: “Receive your sight, that you may plainly recognise both God and man, more delightful that gold, and precious stones, more desirable than honey and the honeycomb is the Word that has enlightened us…I have gone astray in my search for God; but now that you light my path, Lord, I find God through you, and receive the Father from you, I become co-heir with you, since you were not ashamed to own me as your friend.”

Let us pray this week that Christ helps us to know him better by overcoming our blindness and helping us to see and grasp the truth of the gospel more clearly.

Fr Peter

Pusey House comes to All Saints

All parishioners of All Saints are welcome to join the friends and former members of Pusey House tomorrow (Saturday 23rd October 2021) at All Saints for their London reunion and gathering. There will be a High Mass at 3.30 pm to celebrate the life of the House.

The Mass will be sung by former musicians and choral scholars and will be followed by refreshments. Bishop Jonathan will celebrate the Mass and the preacher will be Fr George Westhaver, the Principal of Pusey House.

We are so pleased Pusey House has chosen to hold this event at All Saints and look forward to working together more in the future.

All are welcome to attend.

Festival Flowers

We need donations for flowers for the various celebrations of the Festival Week. It is important that our beautiful church looks its best for the feast as a thank offering to God when so many visitors come to celebrate with us.

Please be in touch with Shawn Welby-Cooke if you wish to make a donation either for the feast or in memory of loved ones to cover the cost of flower arrangements. Any donation at all would be appreciated!

Ravenna Study Day

Friday 29th October 2021, 10.00 am – 4.00 pm

Join us this Friday for a study day led by Professor Judith Herrin on the history and theological heritage of the ancient city of Ravenna. Prof Herrin will explore the history of that remarkable city in the early Christian centuries and speak about its significance as one of the first truly “European” city that emerges in the early medieval period from the “Dark” Ages.

Our second speaker will be Fr Anders Bergquist, vicar of St Johns Wood. He will reflect on the interaction between theology, politics and history in the city’s life.

Fr Peter Anthony will offer a third lecture focussing on the mosaics to be found in a significant church in Ravenna, S. Apollinare in Classe.

The day will begin at 10.00 am and be finished by around 4.00 pm. There is no need to book a ticket for this – simply turn up.

Links for Sunday

The link for the Propers for the last Sunday after Trinity is at the end of this email.

And click here for the YouTube live stream.

Evensong and Benediction is at 6pm. This Sunday the music includes Weelkes canticles for five voices, Greene Lord, let me know mine end, and Byrd Benediction hymns.

Flowers

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

David Fettke, Vallery Tchukov, Sara Vice, Katherine Lee, Lorna Smith, Beth Klausing, Hilary Porter, Bruce Ross-Smith, Benjamin Woolf, James Shrimpton, Tony Rodger, Fr Michael Gudgeon, Chris and Carole Radley, Fr Harry Hodgetts, Rosemary Orr, Martin Berka, Joan Anna SLG, Sheila Wood, Jennifer Spreckley, Sue Yesnick, Elizabeth Lyon, Rosina Sargon Eskrya, Malcolm Brown, Geoff Vardy, Fr John O’Brien, Max Fernandes, Craig Williams, Ross Dixon, Bernard Holmes, Elaine Bishop, Kathleen McMorran, Sabria Systermans, Peter Hoyle, Bishop Andrew St John, Emily Borland, Hazel Duckett, Fr Bob Nind

Those known to us recently departed

Olive Robin, Muriel Woodhead, David Osborne, Elizabeth Lewis, Barbara Schiefer, Richard Wheeler Pr

Anniversaries of death

24th – Eva Dean, Ron Keating, Peter Laister Pr, Benedict Loidl
25th – Reginald Thompson
26th – Gwendoline Freeman, Joseph Harding
27th –
28th – Dorothy Gartside, William Lloyd Webber, Phyllis Richards, John Gaskell Pr
29th – Sister Dorothy Hilda, David Trendell
30th – Tharu Tharakan, John Todd

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).