All Saints Margaret Street.

Dear Friend.

Sunday’s epistle (1.Cor. 3.10-11; 16-23) at mass has inspired some of our tradition’s best-loved hymns:  “Christ is made the sure foundation” and “The Church’s One Foundation,” to name but two.  That tradition is one in which buildings have a special place as “the house of God and the gate of heaven.” They also, we must admit, absorb considerable resources of time, energy and money.  I make no complaint about this because I recognize the positive role buildings, sacred spaces, can play in communicating the faith and providing places which make prayer seem natural to us.

A new report by the Centre for Theology and Community, based at St. George’s in the East, looks to encourage churches to use their under-utilized space as a source of much-needed income.  We are doing something of this with the Parish Room but we have to accept that a church like All Saints is not readily adaptable to other uses. In any case, that would encroach on its real role, a much-appreciated one, as a house of prayer.

One of the features of All Saints for which we can bless William Butterfield is the solidity of its foundations. Our good friend and former curate, Fr. John Pritchard, and his people at St. John’s, Upper Norwood, are facing the challenge of their splendid building sliding down the hill on which it is set.  Fr. John, as all who know him can imagine, is leading the campaign to halt and reverse the slide with his characteristic energy and determination. Nearer to home, St. Cyprian’s has an ongoing problem with damp which seems to come from a watercourse beneath the church.  

But as we listen to Paul addressing the Corinthians and describing himself as a “skilled masterbuilder” and the church there as “God’s temple,” we have to remember that he is talking not of a building but a community.  The word church (ecclesia) meant a gathering of people.

A building requires a firm foundation. It may be hidden from sight but it is at least as important as the superstructure which would soon come tumbling down without it.  The same is true of a community.  Just as the construction of a building requires care and cooperative effort, so too does the building of a congregation. 

The life of a Christian community can only be built, says Paul, on the foundation of the crucified Christ. Just as the superstructure of a building follows its floor plan, so all aspects of its life are to be shaped by Christ and his self-offering love on the cross. Often it is not the showier aspects of our life, splendid liturgies and glorious music on great festivals, which are most important, but rather the solid, hard and unglamorous work of worship and prayer, preaching and teaching, of mutual care and companionship, which goes on day-in-day-out. That is where the bricks are knocked into shape and cemented together.

Caring for a building like All Saints requires constant attention and so does care of the community of All Saints. Neglect and inattention will soon lead to damage and decay. The same is true of a community. A building’s foundation properly laid will stand there indefinitely; supporting and shaping the building above it.  A community’s foundation needs to be re-laid constantly because the community being built on it is always changing.  It is the dynamic power of Christ’s word and sacraments which, alone, can renew the cruciform pattern for the building.  Ongoing attention to them bind us to the cross as the pattern of our life.

In the film “The Witness”, set in an Amish community in rural Pennsylvania, there is a scene of a barn-raising.  This is a corporate effort drawing in the whole community. Young and old, men and women, all have roles to play.  The building of a community like All Saints, while it requires a “skilled master builder,” to direct the work, must also be a communal effort in which we all have a role to play.

It would be easy, in a largely non-residential parish like ours, for us to slip into the mould of being simply a local service provider; a spiritual version of Tesco Metro or Sainsbury’s Local.   The staff lay on the services and everyone else is a consumer. But when we come to church, we belong to the Church, not as customers but as the workforce.  Before anyone else can be built into this temple in which God’s Spirit dwells, we must be.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Alan Moses

Prebendary Alan Moses
Vicar of All Saints Margaret Street
Area Dean of Westminster – St Marylebone

Please pray for those who have asked for our prayers:  Asia Bibi, Paul Curno, David Evans, Gwyneth Hopkins, Bishop Michael Perham, Andy Steenhoff, Roy Jenkins, Melanie Stimmler, Bill Rodger, Alix Bainbridge-Spring, Jenna Stanbrook and Carol Naismith.

For the recently departed:  Stephen Lawrence, Brenda Wheeler, Jon Vosper, Hans Ashbourne, Richard Buck (Priest) whose Funeral takes place on Thursday 23 February , Paula Sormani, Sr Anne Frances ASSSP (whose Funeral takes place on Friday 24 February) , Myrtle Hughes (whose Funeral takes place at St Nicholas, Harpenden on Monday 27 February and for whom a Requiem Mass is planned at noon at All Saints on Saturday 18 March), Stanley James Fish, John Salt OGS (Bishop) and Victoria Nettie.  

Remember past priests, benefactors, friends, and all whose year’s mind occurs this week including: Guida Crowley, Joan Williams, John Sanders Vickery (Priest at All Saints), William Butterfield (Church Architect), Thomas Skeffington-Lodge, James Lumsden Keen, Eleanor Alaway, Derek Beavan (MC, Server and member of the PCC) and Diana Stonebanks.

For full service information: www.allsaintsmargaretstreet.org.uk. 

WORSHIP THIS WEEK:
SUNDAY 19 FEBRUARY – 2^nd Sunday before Lent
HIGH MASS, 11am
Preacher: The Vicar, Prebendary Alan Moses
Mass in G – Schubert 
Faire is the heaven – Harris  

Sunday Lunch is served – John Forde will be cooking a main course and dessert with coffee to follow.  30 tickets at £5 on sale from the All Saints Shop in the Parish Room before and again after Mass

EVENSONG & BENEDICTION, 6pm
Preacher: Fr Julian Browning
Chichester Service – Walton 
Great and marvellous are thy works – Tomkins  

WORSHIP NEXT WEEK

SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY – Sunday next before Lent 
HIGH MASS, 11am 
Preacher: The Vicar, Prebendary Alan Moses 
Mass in G minor – Vaughan Williams 
Let all mortal flesh keep silence – Bairstow   

Sunday Lunch is served – The menu is Chicken Kiev with assorted vegetables followed by Chocolate Gateau with coffee. 30 tickets at £5 on sale from the All Saints Shop in the Parish Room before and again after Mass.  

EVENSONG & BENEDICTION, 6pm
Preacher: Fr Julian Browning
Stanford in G
Lord, thou hast been our refuge -Vaughan Williams

PARISH NOTICES & NEWS

‘THIS IS OUR FAITH’ Course – for those wishing to be prepared for adult Baptism and/or Confirmation/ Reception into the Church of England. Names to the Vicar, please.  

PARISH OFFICE CLOSURE – Friday 17 February and Tuesday 21 to Friday 24 February inclusive. Emails will be checked from time to time and phone messages reviewed, but the Parish Office will not be regularly attended on these dates due to annual leave. We apologise for any inconvenience.

POETRY TEA, Sunday 26 February 3pm at Pamela’s home.  Please bring “Your Favourite Poetry and Prose”.  If you would like to come to this event please speak to Pamela or Sandra in the courtyard, or ring Sandra on 020 7637 8456 leaving your name and phone number.  Charge £6 in aid of the All Saints’ Restoration Fund.

MYRTLE HUGHES RIP – for many decades a regular worshipper at and good friend of All Saints (and stalwart helper of Chris Auton in the Parish Shop) , Myrtle’s Funeral will be held at her request at her local church, where she worked in the Parish Office for many years – St Nicholas, Harpenden – at 11am on Monday 27 February. A Requiem Mass will be said for her at All Saints at 12 noon on Saturday 18 March.

RECYCLING FOOTNOTE – please give us your candle ends from home 
Some of you may have read in the Parish Paper of our recent initiative to recycle our church candle ends. Once All Saints’ cast off candle ends were weighed recently at the Candlemakers’ Factory, there was found to be 100kg of ‘waste’ candle wax, which is now to be melted down and made into fresh candles. In return for providing candle ends to go into the production process, we get a discount per kilo + 10% against orders for fresh candles. We have now established that – if members of the congregation wish to bring in their candle ends, from dining tables or other domestic use, and drop them off at the Parish Office – these can also be included in the Church collection for recycling and count towards our discount on candle purchase. Note: There is no need for these candles to be beeswax, and paraffin and beeswax ends do not need to be sorted separately, as that is all done at the factory.  

CONFESSIONS AT THE BEGINNING OF LENT and ASH WEDNESDAY SERVICES
Monday 27 February 12 – 1pm and 5 – 6pm

Tuesday 28 February 12 – 1pm and 5 – 6pm 

ASH WEDNESDAY, 1 MARCH 
Low Mass with Ashing           at 8am 
Confessions                             12 – 1pm
Low Mass with Ashing           at 1.10pm 
Confessions                             5 – 5.45pm

ASH WEDNESDAY HIGH MASS &
IMPOSITION OF ASHES 6.30pm 
Preacher:  The Vicar, Prebendary Alan Moses
Mass in Five Parts – Byrd 
Salvator mundi I – Tallis

BRIEFING SESSIONS FOR CHURCH WATCHERS & SIDESPEOPLE
If you have not yet responded to the Vicar’s invitation and let the Parish Office know which of Tuesday 7 March, 2.30pm or Sunday 12 March Post Mass briefings you can attend (or that you can’t make either in which case we will provide you a briefing note), please would you try and do that by the end of February – email: astsmgtst@aol.com or Tel: 020 7 636 1788. Thank you!  

LENT READING GROUP FRIDAY MORNINGS AND TUESDAY EVENINGS
Following the positive response at our occasional Friday morning reading group to Bishop Rowan Williams short books on Paul and Mark, we are going to use as our Lent book this year his Being Disciples. While not specifically designed as a Lent Book, it has a conveniently Lenten six chapters. They are entitled:

• Being Disciples
• Faith, Hope and Love
• Forgiveness
• Holiness
• Faith in Society
• Life in the Spirit.  

The reading group will meet in the Parish Room on Friday mornings, beginning on the 24 February at 11am. If there is sufficient interest from those who work during the day, there will also be a group on Tuesday evenings after Mass – on 28 February (with pancakes), 7 March, 14 March, 21 March, 28 March and 4 April. Please sign the list in church or contact the Parish Office to indicate your interest in either Friday mornings/Tuesday evenings. Sunday evening sermons in Lent will also be related to these themes.  

THE WAY OF THE CROSS
The devotion of Stations of the Cross will take place after the Evening Mass at 7pm on Fridays during Lent starting on Friday 3 March. Organist: Quentin Williams.

CELL OF OUR LADY OF WALSINGHAM EVENT
On Thursday, 16 March 2017 Fr Pascal Boisin S.M., Rector of Notre Dame de France R.C. Church in Leicester Square will be the visiting speaker, giving a Talk about the Marist Order. A Low Mass with Hymns at 6.30pm will be followed by the talk and light refreshments will be served. This is an ecumenical event and all are welcome.

ALL SAINTS LENT APPEAL 2017 
Our Lenten almsgiving is directed to support our regular Mission Projects (USPG and the Marylebone Project), the Bishop of London’s Lent Appeal 2017 and the Soup Kitchen at the American Church and is made up of collections gathered at the services of Tenebrae and Good Friday along with the contents of individual Lent boxes. The proceeds will be shared between the four charities:  

1. Bishop of London’s Lent Appeal 2017 – Sowing Seeds for Tomorrow – is on behalf of ALMA, the Diocesan Partnership with Angola and Mozambique.
   The economic situation in both Angola and Mozambique is severe with oil prices falling and currency devaluations. When coupled with the long-lasting drought that both countries are experiencing and also the political insecurity in Mozambique it is hard for our partners to find funds for their larger projects. We will be joining in with the three educational priorities that they have identified as critical for the future of the church:
   Angola: is increasing the number of classrooms in its church schools to meet the huge need for school places and to meet new government requirements, ensuring a continuing Christian presence.
   Lebombo (Southern Mozambique): is initiating a significant project to create a new accredited seminary outside Maputo to train the next generation of church leaders.
   Niassa (Northern Mozambique): is building a church training hub with accommodation in Nampula for the huge Lurio region – to be used for training locally ordained priests, lay leaders, Mothers’ Union, community development fieldworkers and teams.
   These are ‘church’ projects which would find it difficult to attract other funding.
2. USPG – supporting the church in Zimbabwe working with those affected by HIV and AIDS and the stigma associated with these conditions, providing local clergy and lay leaders with skills and training.
3. The Marylebone Project (Homeless Women’s Centre) in London NW1– where our money goes towards providing one of the emergency beds.
4. The Soup Kitchen run by the American Church, Tottenham Court Road – addressing food poverty – one of the most pressing issues in London and the UK today, assisting people from 25 to over 80; from all backgrounds, from several ethnic groups, and many struggling with a variety of physical and mental problems – but all united by their need for a safe and welcoming community to be fed, heard and helped. One recently summed up what the Soup Kitchen means to him: ‘An oasis in the middle of homeless chaos.’ £5 provides bread for 1 day, £10 covers tea and coffee, £20 covers soup for 1 day – OR fruit – OR vegetables, £25 covers meat for 1 day,  £100 covers all food and £300 covers all the Soup Kitchen’s (SK) running costs for 1 day.

The All Saints’ Lent Appeal in 2016 raised a total of £8,335 (including the funds generated by the Queen’s 90^th birthday Raffle and applicable Gift Aid). Please give generously this year so we can try and raise more than in 2017. Cheques should be made payable to: Parochial Church All Saints. Please use a Gift Aid envelope wherever possible since it increases the value of your gift by 25% at no cost to you. NB. Erratum – in the February edition of the Parish Paper the wrong figure (of £3,900) was shown for the Lent Appeal. Our apologies for that mistake.  

BEYOND ALL SAINTS and of interest…

Richard Chartres Fund for London Launch
To mark Bishop Richard’s retirement, the Diocese of London has launched this special fund to support work towards the 2020 Capital Vision goals in London, described by the Bishop as: ‘a city where we hold fast to that which is good; render to no one evil for evil but strengthen the fainthearted and afflicted, honouring everyone and rejoicing in the love of God and the energy of the Holy Spirit’.

To find out more about this new initiative, please go to: www.london.anglican.org/rcf4l  

HUGH PRICE HUGHES 2017 LECTURES – “Speaking of God in Public”
All lectures at Hinde St Methodist Church, London W1. Admission free. All welcome.
Tuesday 14 March, 7.30pm – God, Public Life and Privacy
Ruth Gledhill [who has been writing and sometimes speaking of God in public life for three decades. She started on The Times in 1987 and three years ago, moved to Christian Today].

Tuesday 4th April, 7.30pm 
Thought for the Day – Can God be broadcast in soundbites?
Revd Dr Jane Leach [regular contributor to Radio 4’s flagship Today programme].

** MISSION NEWS**
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 are also beginning to need men’s outerwear of all varieties and we always need rucksacks and duffle-bags to help our guests carry their belongings!’

Miranda Suit, Director of the Soup Kitchen (part-time, usually in the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays) says: ‘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/

ALL SAINTS REGULAR MISSION PROJECTS:- 

Marylebone Project – emergency refuge and rehoming project for homeless women. 
Between our Lent and Festival Appeals, we raised £5,120 for them in 2016
USPG –work with those experiencing Aids and HIV in Zimbabwe.  
Between our Lent and Festival Appeals, we raised £5,120 for them in 2016

ONGOING SUPPORT for HOMELESS PEOPLE through: 
MARYLEBONE PROJECT run by the CHURCH ARMY – A Day Centre, Residential and Transitional accommodation provider, re-settlement project and Educational and Training Unit for women. The Emergency Bed Unit – for which we have for some years helped to provide the funds for one of the 4 beds – offers a safe haven and refuge for women escaping domestic violence, financial crisis, sexual exploitation and mental health issues. 

Year Round Support – we also support the Marylebone Resettlement Project with non-perishable food and toiletries or household necessities like cutlery or bed linen/blankets. Thank you to everyone who contributes food and household essentials via the basket in Church or handed in to the Parish Office. Please continue to donate these so we can help more people in need. 

Day-to-day Support – we respond to the needs of homeless people who visit the church allowing them to sleep there in the daytime and signposting them to other agencies who can offer help and donating a total of £3,454 in 2016 (a one off £1,000 and part of our Festival Appeal collection) towards the Soup Kitchen at the American International Church in Tottenham Court Road. We also allow individuals, who need a place to shelter or sleep during the day, to rest in the back of the church. We have created an information resource for Church Watchers, giving useful advice to homeless and vulnerable people seeking particular support or services. In the face of a rising tide of homelessness in London and as the cold weather starts to bite, please help us fund and support people in need through our Mission activities. 

Want to help someone sleeping rough but don’t know how? 
Call Streetlink on 0300 500 0914 and they will get a visit from the local Street Team who can put them in contact with the services they may need.  

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 
Morning Prayer 7.30am
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