All Saints Parish Newsletter 16th June 2017
Dear Friend,
The familiar images of our city – the Palace of Westminster and the Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral and Tower Bridge – have been replaced in recent weeks by scenes of horror on Westminster Bridge and at Borough Market. To these icons of terror has now been added the horrific sight of the Grenfell House tower block ablaze from top to bottom.
The first two of these scenes were the product of a toxic mixture of religious fanaticism, terrorist ideology and alienation from society; although in both we witnessed people of different faiths coming together – not driven apart – as the terrorists hope.
We do not know what caused the fire at Grenfell House, but what was evident from the news reports was how people from churches and mosques, alongside those of other faiths and of none, rallied to help people whose lives had been devastated.
All three incidents also saw people, whose calling is public service, risking, and in some cases, losing, their lives to protect and aid others.
In the first reading at mass this Sunday (Exodus 19.2-8a), we hear of the people of Israel gathered at Mount Sinai. Through Moses, God says to them: “…if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.”
The idea of some being called by God can be distorted to mean a sense of privilege: We are God’s people and those others are not. But in the scriptures of both Old and New Covenants, it is clear that the calling of God’s people is for service not privilege; for the sake of the world and not just for our own benefit.
In Sunday’s gospel (Matthew 9.35-10.8), we hear of that, “Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” We have seen Christian communities responding with compassion for the harassed and helpless.
Jesus then goes on to call the twelve disciples and send them out to do what he has been doing among the towns and villages.
Last Friday evening we had a wonderful celebration at All Saints to mark the 40th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood. In a few weeks’ time, we will be marking Father Michael’s silver jubilee.
At this time of year, men and women, young and not so young, are being ordained up and down the country. They too have been called, not to privilege but to service. Their service, like that of Moses, is to “set before the people all the words which the Lord has commanded,” so that they might be the priestly kingdom and holy nation which God calls them to be.
In the gospel, Jesus says, “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.” Over the next decade, something like 40% of those presently serving in the parish ministry of the Church of England will retire. That does not mean they will cease to be priests and to minister, but it explains why the Church, and our diocese in particular, is seeking to increase the number of ordinands by 50%. That figure will not mean an expansion of the ordained ministry; merely the maintenance of its present strength. Here in London, we are also looking towards a priesthood which reflects the diversity of our city more than it does at the moment.
All Saints has long been a parish which has nurtured vocations to the priesthood and we must hope that it will continue to do so. At the heart of that must be prayer for vocations; that the Lord will send labourers into his harvest. That prayer is particularly prominent on occasions like Good Shepherd Sunday in Eastertide and at the Ember Seasons, but it should not be limited to them.
Looking back on my ministry, my sense is that God calls people to the priesthood by two principal means. Vocations spring first from vibrant Christian communities which celebrate what St. Paul speaks of in Sunday’s epistle (Romans 5.1-8): “God proves his love for us in that while there were still sinners Christ died for us.” They are encouraged, too, by the living example of priests who are in Austin Farrer’s phrase, “Walking Sacraments” of the self-giving and joy of which Paul writes.
Even if it does not involve the sufferings of which Paul speaks, the priesthood is a sacrificial life; that is, one given to others. But it is, too, a joyful calling because that “suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Alan Moses
Vicar, All Saints Margaret Street
Please pray for those who have asked for our prayers: Asia Bibi, Vicky Wilmott, Fr Giles Fraser, Gulzari Babber, John Hughes, Ron Capon, Patricia Capon, Emma and Colin, Fr John Rick III, Nancy Gardner, Andy O’Connor, Katie Marko, Andrew Evans, Sarah Payne, Rodney Bickerstaffe and Tony Hawkins.
Pray for the recently departed: All those killed in terrorist attacks, especially in London on 3 June and in Manchester on 22 May. All those affected by the Grenfell Tower fire of 14 June, Russell Ingham (Priest), James Roach, Roy Jenkins, Teyah, Jeff Ezell , Bill Cullinan, Sue Hawes, Roger Goff, Stephen Goff , Carole Capel-Bradford, Sister Margaret Dewey SSM, Stewart Laing, Geoffrey Rowell (Priest), Ken Hales, Iris Podmore and Leeroy Barrow.
Remember past priests, benefactors, friends, and all whose year’s mind occurs this week including: Susanne Coles, Eric Griffin, Gwendolen Coldham, Patricia Cudmore, DOM Michael Warner OSB, Hugh Douglas-Hamilton, Beverley Brentnall, Philip Bennett, Francis Swanton, Stanley Harland, Percy Mortimer-Smith, Mary tilley, Alfred Webb (Priest), Henry Ewer (former Churchwarden), Andrew O’Connor (Deacon), John Allcock, Baby Jean-Paul Myers and Friedemann Golka.
For full service information: www.allsaintsmargaretstreet.org.uk.
WORSHIP THIS WEEK:
SUNDAY 18 JUNE – Trinity 1
HIGH MASS, 11am
Preacher: Fr Michael Bowie
Lassus Missa Ecce nunc benedicite
Sweelinck Laudate Dominum
Sunday Lunch is being cooked by Stuart Voy. The menu is: Roast Beef, roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings followed by Apple Strudel with vanilla cream and coffee. Tickets: £5 each from the Church Shop before and after Mass. Please join us.
EVENSONG & BENEDICTION, 6pm
Preacher: The Vicar, Fr Alan Moses
Wood Canticles in E flat, No 2
Mendelssohn Verlieh uns frieden
WORSHIP NEXT SUNDAY
SUNDAY 25 JUNE – Trinity 2
HIGH MASS, 11am
Preacher: The Vicar, Fr Alan Moses
Morales Missa L’homme armé
Tallis If ye love me
Sunday Lunch is being cooked by John Forde. Tickets: £5 each from the Church Shop before and after Mass. Please join us.
EVENSONG & BENEDICTION, 6pm
Preacher: Fr Michael Bowie
Sumsion Setting in G for lower voices
Wood Great Lord of Lords
PARISH NOTICES & NEWS
CORPUS CHRISTI – thank you to all volunteers who contributed in any way to the success of our Corpus Christi celebrations and act of witness in processing along Oxford Street on a warm evening this week. We appreciate all the help provided with bar & catering; banner carrying; stewarding; serving; sidespeople sorting several orders of service and gathering in a large collection; leaflet distribution on the street, as well as all the advance preparations – shopping, preparing the courtyard garden and so on and the essential clearing up after the event. Another special All Saints’ occasion visible to and shared out in the Parish. We look forward to processing outdoors once again on the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Tuesday 15 August, High Mass 6.30pm Preacher: Fr Richard Peers, Director of Education, Diocese of Liverpool.
FRIDAY 30 JUNE, 8pm – JAZZ CONCERT – DIGBY FAIRWEATHER’S HALF DOZEN in an evening of traditional jazz at All Saints. Everyone is invited to join Fr Michael in celebrating his Silver Jubilee of priesting – entry free but donations (with Gift Aid if appropriate please!) requested for the All Saints Foundation (which takes care of the All Saints’ heritage buildings). Interval drinks will be available for a donation. Please join us for this special concert.
SUNDAY 2 JULY, 7.15pm after Benediction – LAURENCE LONG, All Saints’ Dr John Birch Organ Scholar will give his last recital as Organ Scholar. The programme will be: J S Bach’s Trio Sonata No. 4 in E minor, BWV 528 (Adagio – Vivace, Andante, Un poco allegro); J. Alain’s Deux danses à Agni Yavishta, AWV 61 and J. Rheinberger’s Organ Sonata No. 16 in G# minor, Op. 175 (Allegro moderato, Skandinavisch, Introduction – Fuge). Entry is free, but we invite you to make a retiring donation (recommended £5) to support the Choir and Music at All Saints. The All Saints Licensed Club/Bar below the Church will be open after this recital.
SATURDAY 8 JULY
11.30am Rosary and Walsingham Devotions, 12 noon Low Mass of Our Lady of Walsingham.
The ALL SAINTS PARISH PILGRIMAGE TO WALSINGHAM will take place from Friday 21 – Monday 24 July. Places are limited. So if you would like to book place and have not already done so or would like to know more, please also contact Ross Buchanan (Mob: 07905 863578 or email: ross.r.buchanan@btinternet.com) as soon as possible.
BEYOND ALL SAINTS and of interest…
ST CYPRIAN’S SINGERS, ST CYPRIAN’S CHURCH CLARENCE GATE, Glentworth Street, NW1 6AX. The famed choir will be giving a concert on Saturday 17 June at 7pm in the church. Tickets £15 in advance or £17 on the door. Please sign up at the back of church, contact a member of the choir or go to www.eventbrite.com and search “st cyprian”. This year’s music features Walton’s ‘The Twelve’ as well as works by Part, Purcell, Gibbons and Sumsion. A buffet will be provided in the interval.
CHURCHES TOGETHER IN WESTMINSTER have asked us to circulate this item. If you pray the Rosary, you may be interested in taking part in the following:
ANNUAL GLOBAL ROSARY RELAY
For the second year, the Rosary Shrine at St Dominic’s, Haverstock Hill, has been invited to participate in the annual Global Rosary Relay for the Sanctification of Priests. The idea of the relay is a simple one. Each of the 120 participating shrines in 50+ countries prays a particular mystery of the Rosary at a particular half hour on the day in thanksgiving to God for our priests and to implore the protection and loving care of Our Lady, Mother of all priests, for all her priestly sons. With the coming of midnight on the Feast of the Sacred Heart, 23 June 2017, the entire world will have been encircled in prayer for our priests on this The Annual Rosary Relay Day. The Rosary Shrine has been allocated the half hour from 16:30-17:00 (BST) to pray the Sorrowful Mysteries. You are invited to join us at that time, whether in the church or wherever you are in the world, to join us in this great relay of prayer.
Both the Anglican and Roman Catholic Shrines at Walsingham are also taking part. For further information please see http://www.worldpriest.com/participating-shrine-list/.
ST CYPRIAN’S CLARENCE GATE, Glentworth Street, NW1 6AX – Saturday 1 July 2017 CELEBRATION OF THE 90TH ANNIVERSARY OF T S ELIOT’S BAPTISM (29 June 1927) with Bishop Rowan Williams & Bishop Richard Harries. Tickets going fast so get in touch ASAP!
T S Eliot was baptized at Finstock, Oxfordshire. At the time and from 1920 – 1932 he lived successively at flats 9, 98, 177 and 68 Clarence Gate Gardens. St Cyprian’s was his parish church where he became a daily worshipper and where Viv, his first wife continued to worship after the marriage ended.
Programme for the Day:
10.30am Arrivals and Coffee. 11am Welcome and Introductions.
11.10am Poems read by Pupils of the Francis Holland School, Regent’s Park
11.40am +Rowan William: The Fire and the Rose: Eliot and the Incarnation
12.20pm +Richard Harries: T. S. Eliot’s Conversion and in Conversation with +Rowan
1pm Cold Buffet Lebanese Lunch with Wine
Church open to the public from 2.40pm. Donations are invited for tea & cake after:
3pm Evensong & Benediction with the Francis Holland School Choir
4pm Tea
The morning and lunch is by ticket only (limited to 150). Price £40 – available from Fr Gerald Beauchamp gerald.beauch@btconnect.com. Tickets will be sent by post so please include your mailing address. Cheques to be made payable to ‘St Cyprian’s PCC’ or payment by BACS to 56-00-14/12138126 Ref ’T S Eliot’. Profits from the day will be shared equally between St Cyprian’s Church and Christian Aid. With regret, the church has no sound system or loop and neither are there toilets available for disabled people.
ST CYPRIAN’S CLARENCE GATE, Glentworth Street, NW1 6AX – Sunday 2 July 2017 DEDICATION FESTIVAL combined with the licensing of Fr Michael Fuller to the Parish. Guest Preacher: Archdeacon of London, Fr Luke Miller.
ALL SAINTS MISSION PROJECTS
We have received warm thanks from all three of the subjects of our Lent Appeal 2017:
Firstly a letter from the Bishop of Edmonton for our generous support to the Bishop’s Diocesan Lent Appeal 2017 – £1,622.50 to help extend church schools in Angola; help to build a new Seminary in Lebombo and a regional training hub with accommodation in Nampula.
Secondly a letter of thanks from the Soup Kitchen which also received £1,622.50 saying: ‘At the Soup Kitchen, we feed and clothe approximately 80 people each day. Your donation will go directly to our guests and we really, genuinely appreciate it. It means a lot for us.’
Thirdly a letter from USPG thanking us for ‘our very generous gift of £1,622.50 towards our community engagement and health work (UMOJA) with the Church of Zimbabwe’.
Our year-round fundraising efforts go to support three charities:
The Church Army hostels and programmes in Marylebone empowering homeless women into independent living.
The USPG-led UMOJA, HIV Project in Zimbabwe, enabling people living with HIV and Aids to have positive lives, and
The Soup Kitchen (American International Church, Tottenham Court Road) feeding up to 80 vulnerable people daily in central London.
Men’s clothing especially is needed by the Jesus Centre in Margaret Street and also by the Soup Kitchen at the American International Church, both of whom provide a daily range of services to homeless people. If you have women’s or men’s clothes to give away, please bring to Church and leave at the Parish Office so we can continue to help support our neighbours’ efforts. The Church Army is now also collecting women’s clothes for their Homeless Hostel so all donations can be found a good new home!
The Soup Kitchen specifically calls for: men’s trousers (sizes 32-36) and men’s sturdy/athletic shoes (sizes 9-12 especially) and say ‘we also need men’s outerwear of all varieties and rucksacks and duffle-bags to help our guests carry their belongings!’
The Soup Kitchen team (only part-time cover) asks: ‘Please drop me a line if you are planning to drop things off here. As always, many thanks for your support.’ Soup Kitchen at the American International Church, 79a Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4TD T: 020 7580 2791 www.amchurch.co.uk/soup-kitchen/
FURTHER COMMUNICATIONS OR ASSISTANCE FROM ALL SAINTS MARGARET STREET:-
* If you would like to encourage others to take an interest in All Saints/keep up with what is happening here, please forward this email on to them, or to people you would like to invite to services or tell them about our websitewww.allsaintsmargaretstreet.org.uk, which has a full colour 360 virtual tour for viewing the wonderfully restored interior of the Church – seewww.allsaintsmargaretstreet.org.uk/history/virtual tour – before a visit or if unable to travel.
* If you know of others (near or far) who would like to receive this regular update on what’s happening at All Saints please encourage them to sign up for the email on the All Saints website – see the tab News & Events> Weekly Newsletter.
* If you would like prayers offered at All Saints, please email the Parish Administrator Mrs Dee Prior at: astsmgtst@aol.com. Or make use of the prayer request facility on the website at: www.allsaintsmargaretstreet.org.uk/prayer.
* If you would like any pastoral assistance, please do not hesitate to contact:
The Vicar, Prebendary Alan Moses: alanmoses111@gmail.com.
Or Assistant Priest Fr Michael Bowie: mnrbowie@gmail.com.
DAILY SERVICES AT ALL SAINTS
On major weekday feasts, High Mass is sung at 6.30pm
SUNDAYS in Church
Low Mass 6.30pm (Saturday), 8am and 5.15pm. Morning Prayer 10.20am
HIGH MASS and SERMON, 11am and
EVENSONG, SERMON and BENEDICTION, 6pm.
MONDAY – FRIDAY
Morning Prayer 7.30am
Low Mass – 8am, 1.10pm and 6.30pm
Evening Prayer 6pm
(Except Bank Holidays – 12 noon Mass only)
SATURDAY
Low Mass – 12 noon and 6.30pm (First Mass of Sunday)
Evening Prayer 6pm
Confessions
A priest is available for confessions/counsel Monday – Friday from 12.30-1pm and at 5.30pm Monday – Saturday, or by appointment. (Special arrangements apply in Lent and for Holy Week.)
www.allsaintsmargaretstreet.org.uk and e-mail: astsmgtst@aol.com