All Saints Parish Newsletter 21st October 2016
Dear Friend,
Most people in the Church of England will never have heard of the Simplification Task Group. Its role is to clear away archaic legislation and procedures seen as obstacles to mission. It had its five minutes of fame this week when journalists spotted a proposal to drop the canonical requirements about Sunday worship in the case of rural churches with small congregations. As the Bishop of Willesden, who chairs the Task Group, said, the change would merely acknowledge what already happens. Canon Law allows incumbents and PCCs to make proposals to their bishop about how services should be organized when a priest is responsible for a number of churches: it can be half-a-dozen or more in country districts. I do wonder if changing canon law is really going to lift a great burden of guilt from the shoulders or consciences of country parsons or promote rural mission. Would not encouraging lay people to gather for Morning or Evening Prayer when there is no priest be more effective than a closed door?
In the same week, a priest wrote in the Catholic Herald about the decline of the daily mass in many Roman Catholic parishes. The dearth of priests has sounded the death knell for what used to be the norm in most parishes. The daily mass, even if only attended by a few, provides a firm foundation of prayer upon which the whole of the community’s life is built. It is, too, a sign that Christianity is more than a Sunday religion. It both forms and supports parish leadership and provides opportunities for people in crisis to come to church.
At All Saints we have three masses Monday to Friday and two on Saturday, as well as Morning and Evening Prayer. Congregations, if not huge, are faithful. Saturday’s has grown since we moved it from 8am to 12noon. Some who attend are members of the Sunday congregation; others are people who work locally. When people pop into All Saints, “just for a look,” they are sometimes surprised to find not just a beautiful building but a church which is a praying community: people gathered at the altar or in the choir, celebrating the Eucharist or reciting the office. They hear the church praying for the community in which it is set. Developing daily prayer and worship is probably not on the agenda of the Simplification Task Group, but I would suggest that it might in the long term be a more significant contribution to mission.
Clergy at All Saints see this weekday role as a significant part of our ministry. While there are occasions when meetings mean that one of us has to be somewhere else, our priority is to be in church for the offices and one or more of the masses. But this is an aspect of our church’s life which should not be left to the clergy alone. When people wonder how we might be more evangelistic, I sometimes suggest that they start coming to church during the week. It does not demand any special training or skills in communicating the gospel: simply being there and joining in is enough. If you find praying on your own hard work, it can help to come and pray with others.
A few days ago a lady I had not seen before came to the evening mass. When I spoke to her afterwards, she told me that she had just returned to the life of the church and had been so pleased to discover from our website that we have the eucharist every day.
We need to make sure that we go on doing so, not just for the good of our own souls but that of others and of our city too.
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, Dilys Thomas, David Pearce, Bishop Michael Perham, Iris Podmore, Paul Curno, Nick Russell, James Cary-Elwes, Tim Harding, Patricia Capon, Michael Sullivan, Mary Thomas and Vivien Caplowe.
For the recently departed: George Elias (lay Reader at All Soul’s Clubhouse), Heather Prosser, Wendy Peryer , Mark Sutton and William Petter (Director of Music, St Magnus the Martyr, Concordia Voices and Sine Nomine Singers), John Lippiatt (whose Funeral takes place on Tuesday 25 October), John Hudson (Priest) and Frank Owen.
Remember past priests, benefactors, friends, and all whose year’s mind occurs this week including: Roy Prince, Eva Dean, Ron Keating, Peter Laister, Reginald Thompson, Gwendoline Freeman, Joseph Harding, Dorothy Gartside, William Lloyd Webber (5th Organist at All Saints), Phyllis Richards, John Gaskell (Priest), Sr Dorothy Hilda ASSP (former Sacristan) and David Trendall.
For full service information: www.allsaintsmargaretstreet.org.uk.
WORSHIP THIS WEEK:
SUNDAY 23 OCTOBER, LAST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
HIGH MASS, 11am
Preacher: The Vicar,
Prebendary Alan Moses
Missa sæculorum Amen – Guerrero
Gaudent in cœlis – Victoria
There is no Sunday lunch service today and until the new cookers can be fitted in the kitchen.
EVENSONG & BENEDICTION, 6pm
Preacher: Fr Julian Browning
Service in E flat (No 2) – Wood
O gladsome light – Darke
WORSHIP NEXT WEEK:
SUNDAY 30 OCTOBER, 4th BEFORE ADVENT
(Please note: Clocks change back one hour!)
HIGH MASS, 11am
Preacher: Fr Michael Bowie
Mass – Rachmaninov
Hymn of the Cherubim – Rachmaninov
There is no Sunday lunch service today and until the new cookers can be fitted in the kitchen.
EVENSONG & BENEDICTION, 6pm
Preacher: The Vicar, Prebendary Alan Moses
Canticles – Rachmaninov
(from the Vespers)
Thou didst rise from the tomb (Troparion) – Rachmaninov
PARISH NOTICES & NEWS
ALL SOULS’ DAY – Wednesday 2 November 6.30pm SOLEMN REQUIEM
Please print the name of anyone you would like to have remembered at this Mass in the black folder in the Baptistery.
NEW ALL SAINTS CARDS SELLING WELL – £700 worth sold in the first week!
We have received the delivery of three new beautiful quality greetings cards to sell in aid of All Saints. The images are: the traditional Tile Nativity Scene; a new and dramatically lit shot of Our Lady of Margaret Street and a new and beautifully coloured image of the Sanctuary. Cards can be bought from the Parish Shop on Sundays and from the Parish Office in packs of 6 cards (all one design in each pack) for £5. Fridge magnets are also available of the image of the Sanctuary, which we hope will prove a popular small memento for visitors to the Church at £3 each. If you are with us this Sunday, they will be on sale in the courtyard after Mass.
DR. HARRY BRAMMA
Harry, our former Director of Music (1988 – 2002), will celebrate his 80th birthday on Friday 11 November. There will be a celebratory Evensong at All Saints to mark this occasion on Saturday 12 November at 3pm. We hope that friends old and new, from All Saints and further afield, will join us to help Harry to celebrate this milestone. The Very Revd. Nicholas Frayling, Dean Emeritus of Chichester, who has an unrivalled fund of Bramma anecdotes, will speak after the service.
DR JOHN BIRCH ORGAN SCHOLARSHIP from September 2017
Laurence Long continues as our current Organ Scholar, but the search for his successor has begun. Please see the advert on our website: http://www.allsaintsmargaretstreet.org.uk/news/403
THE VICAR’S PILGRIMAGE
Thanks to all who sponsored the Vicar on his walking pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. This raised the magnificent total of £20,000 towards the Bishop’s Lent Appeal for projects supporting persecuted Christians in the Middle East. At the beginning of this month Fr Alan travelled to the Lebanon to visit some of the projects supported by the two Bishop’s Lent Appeal charitable agents – OPEN DOORS (60 Years of serving persecuted Christians) and AID TO THE CHURCH IN NEED (supporting Christians where they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need).
You can read the Vicar’s sermon from the Sunday Evensong of a fortnight ago, in which he speaks about his experiences in Lebanon, on the All Saints’ website: http://www.allsaintsmargaretstreet.org.uk/worship/sermons/374
SUPPORT FOR CHRISTIANS IN THE HOLY LAND – PILGRIMAGE OCT/NOV 2017
Bishop Stephen Platten will be leading a pilgrimage from the City Deaneries to the Holy Land in the autumn of 2017 not only visiting the Holy Places, but also meeting with the Christian community who face daily difficulties in living their faith. Travelling from 30 October to 6 November the cost of the pilgrimage is £1400 per person sharing a twin room. For more details or to book, please contact Pilgrimage People on 0800 6123423 or email: info@pilgrimagepeople.org or join us on Monday 28 November at 6pm for an information evening at St Michael’s Cornhill ECV3 9DS.
ALL SAINTS FESTIVAL 2016
MONDAY 31 OCTOBER 6pm
EVE OF ALL SAINTS – LITANY OF THE SAINTS,
FESTAL EVENSONG & BENEDICTION
Preacher: Fr Kevin Mowbray, SM, Notre Dame de France
Collegium Regale – Tavener
Gaudeamus omnes – Joseph Phibbs
TUESDAY 1 NOVEMBER 6.30pm
ALL SAINTS’ DAY – PROCESSION & HIGH MASS
Preacher: The Very Reverend Dr David Ison,
Dean of St Paul’s
Missa Brevis – Richard Rodney Bennett
Beati mundo corde – Byrd
WEDNESDAY 2 NOVEMBER 6.30pm
ALL SOULS’ DAY – HIGH MASS OF REQUIEM
Preacher: The Right Reverend Paul Bayes,
Bishop of Liverpool
Requiem – Victoria
Iustorum animae – Byrd
SUNDAY 6 NOVEMBER 11am
ALL SAINTS SUNDAY – PROCESSION & HIGH MASS
Preacher: The Very Reverend Michael Perrson, Rector of The Swedish Church
Mass Setting: Missa omnium sanctorum – Hutchings
Beati quorum via – Stanford
FESTAL EVENSONG, TE DEUM & BENEDICTION 6pm
Preacher: The Reverend Dr George Westhaver,
Principal of Pusey House
Canticles: Magnificat à 8, Op. 164 – Stanford
I heard a voice from heaven (Requiem) – Howells
The ALL SAINTS FESTIVAL APPEAL 2016 will run over the period of the Festival, collecting at each service and running a bottle raffle (to be drawn on Festival Sunday). It is raising funds for THREE important causes:
The Marylebone Project (run in London NW1 by the Church Army) –‘empowers homeless women into independent living’. Our money supports the emergency bed unit, providing emergency accommodation for women escaping domestic violence, financial crisis, sexual exploitation and mental health issues.
THE SOUP KITCHEN (run by the American International Church in Tottenham Court Road) ‘helping the homeless in central London’, providing 17,000 meals a year, to some 400 people, with an average of 70 people being fed each day.
UMOJA HIV PROJECT, (run by USPG – the United Society Partners in the Gospel) working in the Anglican Diocese of Manicaland Zimbabwe. This project ‘enables people living with HIV and Aids to live positive lives’ by reducing stigma and boosting HIV prevention. The programme mobilizes the local community, in partnership with local churches and HIV services, raising awareness of the lack of care and support for these people and their families.
Further information about the three charities will be displayed in the baptistery of Church.
Please give generously – gift-aiding your donations wherever you can (so that your generosity is increased 25%). If you can’t visit All Saints, please send cheques payable to: Parochial Church All Saints in an envelope marked FESTIVAL APPEAL to: All Saints Church, 7 Margaret Street, London W1W 8JG.
ALL SAINTS CELL OF OUR LADY OF WALSINGHAM: UPCOMING EVENTS
Saturday 12 November 2016 at All Saints
11.30 am Rosary and Walsingham Devotions
12 noon Low Mass of Our Lady of Walsingham
Thursday 8 December 2016 – Conception of Our Lady at St Mary’s Bourne Street – 7pm High Mass
You need not be a member of the Cell to join in these events. They are organised by the Cell members for all to join as they wish.
** MISSION NEWS** Men’s clothing is badly 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. As you prepare for the winter season, if you have men’s clothes to give away, please bring to Church and leave at the Parish Office so we can continue to help support our neighbour’s efforts predominantly with homeless men.
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/
SERVICES & EVENTS FOR OCTOBER & NOVEMBER BEYOND ALL SAINTS
Saturday 22nd October, 11am – OPEN HOUSE SHABBAT, WEST LONDON SYNAGOGUE
This is an opportunity for neighbours of all faiths and beliefs to experience a friendly, welcoming Shabbat Service and to meet new friends in the local community. The service starts at 11am, but please arrive at 10.15am if you would like a tour of the sanctuary, with coffee and cake. Please RSVP to nic.schlagman@wls.org.uk, and please bring ID with you on the day.
ST MARY’S BOURNE STREET TALKS
One of London’s principal Anglo-Catholic churches, closely connected with the intellectual thought of the Catholic tradition in the Church of England, is holding a number of lectures in memory of the distinguished personalities who were instrumental in the life of this church. On Thursday 27 October, 7pm the talk is by the Rev’d Canon Chris Chivers, Principal of Westcott House, Cambridge – Grace and Glory: in dialogue with EL Mascall (in memory of Professor Eric Mascall, former honorary curate of St Marys).
ALL SAINTS MISSION ACTIVITIES:-
The charities we had agreed to support through the Lent Appeal 2016 (and including applicable Gift Aid) received the following sums:-
Marylebone Project – £2,666.67 – emergency refuge and rehoming project for homeless women.
USPG – £2,666.67 – work with those experiencing Aids and HIV in Zimbabwe.
London Diocese Lent Appeal – £3,001.66– this year supporting Syrian and Iraqi refugees through charities Open Doors and Aid to the Church in Need. The certificate of appreciation is on the Church noticeboard. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this great achievement – a significantly enhanced total collected through the Lent Appeal compared with recent years – of £8,335 (including some late funds generated by the Queen’s 90th Birthday Raffle). To this sum must now be added the further £20k raised by the Vicar’s Pilgrimage of earlier this year.
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 £1,000 towards the Soup Kitchen at the American International Church in Tottenham Court Road this year. 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