All Saints Margaret Street.

From The Vicar:  Dear friends,

The efforts by the Mayor and others to persuade people not to travel into London during the Olympics seem to have been more effective than anyone expected. Those who have remained in the city have found that coming to the temple of pray on Sunday was not too difficult, unless you lived on the wrong side of an event.

 

The effect on the West End has been to produce an almost eerie calm, with nothing like the boom in visitors shopping and eating which some expected. However, whatever the numbers, we are still in business and on Monday we have the feast of the Transfiguration: that mysterious event in which the disciples are given a glimpse of the glory of Christ; his divine being and his glorified humanity shining out.

 

In her book “Light of Christ”, Evelyn Underhill speaks of the “experience of standing for the first time in Chartres Cathedral; the solemn, coloured majesty that enfolds and silences us when we come into the place of adoration and sacrifice; and how gradually we become aware of the light that strikes us through those great coloured windows….But the absolute Light only dazzles us; in its wholeness it is more than we can bear. It needs breaking up before our small hearts can deal with it. The windows of Christ’s mysteries split it up into many-coloured loveliness, disclose all its hidden richness and colour, make its beauty more accessible to us; convince us of the reality of beauty and holiness and of the messy unreality of most of our own lives. And within this place we too are bathed in the light transmitted by the windows, a light which is yet the very radiance of Eternity. It fills the place where we are, it drowns us in its solemn beauty and glows in the Figure and acts which we see. The universal light of the father, the interior radiance of the Holy Spirit, linked in this vision of the Son, so far above us and yet so divinely near.

All Saints may not quite be in the same league as Chartres, but what Underhill says rings true to one who sits in church amidst the light that streams through glass colours restored to freshness and clarity, onto surfaces and figures freed from grime.

Underhill speaks of the “Figure and the acts” which we see. The figure is of course, Christ in whom we see the glory of God. By “acts,” Underhill means the Church’s liturgy, and above all the Eucharist. At the Transfiguration, the disciples hear God saying: “This is my beloved Son, Listen to him.” We listen primarily when we gather to worship. At Mass this Sunday, we continue reading the 6th Chapter of St. John in which the Feeding of the 5,000 is followed by Jesus’ teaching on the Bread of Life. As we listen to his word, and share in the bread of life, the mystery of Christ is broken down so that “our small hearts can deal with it.”

 

If Christ is the “Figure” to whom we look first and last, we are also pointed to those whose lives he has transfigured. At Sunday Evensong, we will hear from the Letter to the Hebrews of Abraham and Moses and other great examples of enduring faith in God’s promises. Then during the week we will celebrate a number of saints, Dominic and Mary Sumner, Laurence and Clare, John Mason Neale and John Henry Newman, in whose lives we see something of the mystery of God’s power to transfigure human lives; who “convince us of the reality of beauty and holiness.”

Fr. Alan Moses

Please pray for Tony Pulleyn, Farishna, Javier Samblas, Mary Barnet, Stephen Collingwood, Sian Evans, Jackie Ferriter, Joshua Levy, Audrey Patterson, Marion Pidgeon, Cecila Shore, Michael Sullivan, Rachel Clayton, Heather Walker, Graham Hawkes, Richard Tann, Brian Sparkes, Ron Cayless, Sr. Jean Margaret, John Rogers, Mason Jacobsen, Dolores King, Barbara Laws, Peter Vickers, Ondina Brash, Carol Blake, Barbara Davis, Anne Hamburger, Jonathan Welby-Cooke, David Day, Susan Parker, Zoe Emerton

 

The Recently Departed: Russell Aitken, Ken Wah Yew, Olive Buttler, Georg Epperlein, Robert Scotchmer, Teresa Butler, John Welch, Christopher Evans. At the anniversary of their death: Harriet Brownlow Byron, Donald Scott, Annie Morgan, Julian Davies, Jessie Graves, David Archer, Harriet Gray, Sidney Browne, Gay Cardew, Lesilie York, Andrew Heley, David Johnstone, Charles Oram, Marie-Oliver Mercy, David Welch.

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary High Mass – Wednesday 15th August 6:30pm Preacher: The Reverend Dr. James Hawkey, Minor Canon & Sacrist, Westminster Abbey Missa Brevis in G – Mozart, Ave Maria – Mendelssohn

Low Masses 8:00am & 1:10pm.

 

The Diocese has produced a booklet, especially but not exclusively aimed at visitors to London for the Game. It contains six walking tours of historic places of worship within easy reach of Olympic venues in central and east London. Many belong to the Church of England, but by no means all.   Over forty churches are participating from 27th July to 9 September.   All Saints features in the Oxford Circus and Mayfair from Hyde Park walk.  The booklet will be available in church or can be downloaded at: www.london.anglican.org/walking-routes

 

The Cell of OLW invites you to join us for a visit to Winchester, Saturday 1st September 2012. We will catch the 9:35am train from London Waterloo and return after Evensong from Winchester. The day will include a visit to Winchester Cathedral, Mass at 12noon, we can picnic (please bring one) around the Cathedral Grounds. At 2:30pm we are expected at St Cross where the Master of St Cross will welcome us and offer us the Dole. This is followed by a Tour of St Cross and 3:30pm Tea and Cakes. At 4:30pm we leave for the Cathedral and Evensong at 5:30pm. Please write to or email johnapritchard@hotmail.co.uk to register a place. Please book Train Tickets in Advance.

 

Exploring Priestly Ministry – a day for men and women to explore their future. St Albans Cathedral 6 October 2012. To register, or for more information, email Fr. Bernard Minton: bernardminton@aol.com Timetable: 10:30am Registration in the Lady Chapel, St Albans Abbey. 11:00am Keynote address by The Dean, Fr. Jeffrey John. 12:30pm High Mass celebrated by the Bishop of Hertford (Preacher: Fr. Andrew Nunn, Dean of Southwark) 1:30pm Lunch, 2:30pm Panel Discussion, 4:00pm Evensong and Benediction.

 

A series of evenings celebrating our Catholic inheritance in the Church of England .

Wednesday October 17th ‘Our Lady’ – Speaker, The Revd Cally Hammond Dean of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge 6:30pm Mass ALL SAINTS MARGARET STREET – ALL WELCOME for further details please contact All Saints Margaret Street.

 

 

Penny Mordaunt MP, (Portsmouth North) and friend to All Saints Margaret Street is arranging for the Parish a Tour of Parliament on 16th November 2012. A maximum number of 60 people can attend, so please book your place with Fr. John Pritchard as soon as possible. johnapritchard@hotmail.co.uk   The Tour Starts at 9:55am and will last 75mins. The Tours are free, but I am suggesting that we all make a £10 donation towards Phase IV – Restoration Appeal for All Saints Margaret Street. Please send Cheques to All Saints c/o Dennis Davis or Fr John Pritchard made payable to "All Saints PCC Restoration Appeal". Details of where to meet will follow.