Weekly Email – Trinity 20
Documents
Dear friends,
As we move through October, I am sure many of our parishioners’ minds will be turning to our annual celebration of the feasts and commemorations around All Saints’ Day. The calendar this year means most of those celebrations will take place over one weekend, and I look forward to it as a joyful celebration of our fellowship and communion with all God’s angels and saints.
Our keeping of the feast of All Saints will begin in the evening of Thursday 31st October. First Evensong and Benediction will take place at 6.30 pm. The music will include Dyson’s Evening Service in D and Glorious in heaven by Percy Whitlock. Our parish bar will be open after the liturgy to help get our celebrations under way!
The next day, Friday 1st November, will be the feast day itself and I am very pleased and grateful that the Bishop of Lincoln, the Rt Revd Stephen Conway, will be with us to preach at the High Mass. The music at that liturgy will include, Haydn’s Missa Sancti Nicolai, and O quam gloriosum by Tomas Luis de Victoria. There will also be the opportunity to sing the glorious hymns we all look forward to each year such as For all the saints. After the Mass, there will be a drinks party in church so we can welcome visitors and friends and continue our celebration of the feast.
The next day, the liturgical tone changes substantially as we keep the commemoration of All Souls on Saturday 2nd November with a High Mass of Requiem at 12 noon. The setting this year will be that of Maurice Duruflé. Our preacher at the All Souls Requiem will be Fr Reg Bushau, sometime Vicar of St Stephen’s, Gloucester Road, and a good friend of our parish who frequently says Mass for us during the week.
Our festival Sunday will be kept the very next day on Sunday 3rd November. I am very pleased that we will be joined by the new Archdeacon of Charing Cross, the Ven Katherine Hedderly. She is one of the two Archdeacons who have responsibility for the Two Cities Area of our diocese, in which we find ourselves. Katherine was appointed to this important role earlier on this year. Before that, she was Vicar of All Hallows by the Tower. This will be the first occasion that she will be with us as one of our archdeacons. We look forward to welcoming her and to working closely with her in the future.
After the High Mass on Sunday 3rd, there will be a parish lunch. We are appealing for food and are specifically asking for “finger food” – i.e. buffet food that can be eaten without a knife and fork (i.e. sandwiches, sausage rolls, cakes etc) so as to keep washing up to a minimum. This, of course, means there won’t be a trifle on this occasion!!! The parish lunch will be served and eaten in church as the courtyard will be pretty cold in November. Please be in touch with Kate Hodgetts to signal what food you are able to contribute.
The music at the Festival Sunday High Mass will include, as is our tradition, the Mass written by Norman Caplin, a former Director of Music, for the feast day. In addition to this, we will hear Justorum animae by William Byrd as the Offertory Anthem. Our Festival Sunday is, of course, the wonderful occasion when we sing the hymn In our day of thanksgiving each year, giving thanks after communion for parishioner gone before us.
The evening of Sunday 3rd November will bring our celebrations to a close with festal Evensong and Benediction. This is one of the three occasions in the year when Evensong includes a Te Deum sung in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. The office will be sung to Stanford’s setting in C; and The fair chivalry, by Robert Ashfield will be the anthem. The canticles at Benediction will include Caplin’s arrangement of Bortniarsky’s O salutaris and Harwood’s Tantum ergo. The Te Deum will be that in G – Herbert Sumsion.
Please make sure these dates are in your diary and join us as we celebrate the bond of love we share with all the saints in Jesus Christ. I look forward to a joyous festival, and ask you to keep all these efforts in your prayers, that many may be prompted by the Lord to join us over these blessed days of celebration.
Fr Peter
Visitors from Berlin – this Sunday
A group of visitors from Berlin will be visiting the Diocese of London this weekend as part of our biennial theological ecumenical conference. This forms part of our diocesan ecumenical partnership with the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg. The German delegation will join us for Evensong and Benediction on Sunday evening. There will be a parish drinks party after Evensong in their honour to which all are invited.
You can watch last week’s High Mass for Trinity 19 here. The preacher was Fr Julian, and the Mass setting was Howells’ Collegium regale. The Offertory Anthem was Expectans expectavi by Charles Wood.
Zoom Theology
Our next Zoom seminar will take place on Saturday 9th November at 7.00 pm and will focus on the theology of Soren Kierkegaard.
We’ll be joined from America by Fr Jeffrey Hanson who will introduce us to aspects of this compelling Danish philosopher’s thought. Fr Hanson is an academic philosopher and has researched and published widely on Kierkegaard.
We are pleased that this seminar is being advertised in both our parish and also in the parish of St Mary the Virgin Times Square. We are hoping it will be attended by parishioners of both churches as a shared teaching event.
In person formation: Pearl with Dr Charlotte Gauthier
Join us for the first of this Autumn’s in-person study opportunities next week on Wednesday 16th October at 7.00 pm. A light supper will be provided.
Pearl is one of the most important literary survivals of the 14th century: a beautiful meditation on love, loss, death, and grief that still possesses the power to move the modern reader. Together we’ll explore some of the major theological themes and images of Pearl – including grace, sanctification, and the Eucharist – which the anonymous author has drawn largely from the Gospel of Matthew.
Dr Charlotte Gauthier is an historian of church and state in late medieval/early modern England. She is also Assistant Director of Discipleship, overseeing lay training for the Diocese of Southwark.
She recommends the translation by Jane Beal, but this is not essential.
Please register for this event here.
Don’t forget that there is now an extra early Low Mass on s Sunday morning for those who might find that a more convenient time to make their Sunday communion.
Homeless shelter
All Saints’ will be collaborating this year in the running of the winter homelessness shelter at the American International Church on Tottenham Court Road, which is organised under the aegis of the homelessness charity C4WS.
A number of volunteers are needed to prepare beds, cook, serve and share a meal, staff the shelter over night and then prepare breakfast in the morning. The two dates on which All Saints’ staffs the shelter this winter are: Wednesday 6th-Thursday 7th of November 2024; and Wednesday 5th-Thursday 6th February, 2025.
If you wish to volunteer for this important work, please be in touch with our parish office (office@asms.uk).
‘Adoremus’ Young Adults Pilgrimage
We have one place remaining for our weekend pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our lady of Walsingham aimed at younger Christians who are 18-35 years old.
The weekend begins with supper at 6.30pm on Friday 22nd November and ends with Sprinkling, Benediction and Last Visit at 2.30pm on Sunday 24th November. The cost of the weekend is £95 per head. This covers the cost of accommodation, meals and travel from Kings Lynn. Pilgrims simply have to pay for their train ticket to Kings Lynn.
Please be in touch with the parish office if you wish to take up this last remaining place.
You can now donate to All Saints’ in US dollars and if you are an American tax payer, you can claim the tax back as a charitable exception in the US. You can make a donation to us via our account at the firm Chapel and York in dollars here.
Advent Silent Retreat
A silent pre-Christmas retreat will take place at the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham from Friday 6th – Sunday 8th December 2024. The weekend involves arriving on Friday afternoon, and then keeping silence from Friday evening until Sunday morning. The cost of this pilgrimage is £250. This covers the cost of accommodation, meals and travel from Kings Lynn. Pilgrims simply have to pay for their train ticket to Kings Lynn.
To reserve a place, sign up via Eventbrite here.
Attendance last Sunday
Prayer List
The Friends of All Saints’ Margaret Street:
13th – Roger Clark, Catharine Clarke, David and Mavis Cleggett, Graham Colville
14th – Karolyn Cooper, William Cooper Bailey, Peter Coulson, Steven Cox, Dr Yvonne Craig, Juliet Cridland
15th – Kirill Dashkovskiy, Christopher Davies, Peter Dennis, Laura Denton, Joshua Dolphin
16th – Linda Edwards, Pamela Edwards, Dr Terrence Ellsworth, Carolyn Farrar
17th – Sue Feakin, Adrian Felaar, Elizabeth Ferguson, Daniel Fielden, Janice Fielden, Nigel Fisher, Mark Fleming
18th – Stuart Fletcher, Christopher Forman, Antony Fox, Dr Ralph Donald Fram, Dr Jason Frost, Derrick French, Charlotte Gauthier, Dr Rebecca Gibbs, Margaret Goddard, Paul Golding, John Goldsmith
The sick:
Theresa & Augustina Baier, Stewart Buckingham, Fr John Burniston, Bishop Christopher Chessun, David Craig, Tony Hawkins, Fr Stephen Heard, Fr Harry Hodgetts, Arthur Johnson, Katherine Lee, Elizabeth Lyon, James Rodger, Jan Smith, Peter Strange, Christine Vaughn-Lillie.
The faithful departed:
John Brownsell Pr, John Donvan, Caroline Gibbons, Graham Morgan Pr, Bruce Ross-Smith, Andrew Wagstaff Pr, David Weller
Those whose anniversaries of death fall at this time:
13th – David Heffer, Elizabeth Hoare
14th – Vera Dyer
15th – Godfrey Dick
16th – Florence Kelly, Raymond McGrath, Jack Ridley, Richard O’Connor, Gelda James
17th – Robert Hanvey, Evelyn Vandy, Margaret McKenzie-Edwards
18th – Lilian Geddes, John Williams, Christopher Rawll, Wilfred Bevan
19th – John Hillaby, Colin Wesley
Service times this week
Saturday 12th October – Our Lady on Saturday
11.30 am Rosary
12.00 noon Low Mass
6.00 pm Confessions
6.30 pm Vigil Mass
Sunday 13th October – TRINITY XX
8.30 am Low Mass
11.00 am High Mass
5.15 pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Evensong and Benediction
Monday 14th October – Feria
12.00 noon Mass
6.30 pm Mass
Tuesday 15th October – S. Teresa of Jesus, V and Dr
12.00 noon Mass
6.30 pm Mass
Wednesday 16th October – Feria
12.00 noon Mass
5.30 pm Holy Hour
6.30 pm Mass
Thursday 17th October – S. Ignatius of Antioch
12.00 noon Mass
6.30 pm Mass
Friday 18th October – S. Luke the Evangelist
12.00 noon Mass
6.30 pm Mass
Saturday 19th October – of Requiem
12.00 noon Requiem Mass
6.00 pm Confessions
6.30 pm Vigil Mass
Sunday 20th October – TRINITY XXI
8.30 am Low Mass
11.00 am High Mass
5.15 pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Evensong and Benediction