All Saints Margaret Street.

Dear Friend,

In the epistle at the Eucharist this Sunday (Galatians 4: 4 – 7), Paul speaks of the birth of Christ taking  place, ‘so that we might receive adoption as children.’  That adoption is not just into a human family, but into God’s family in which Jesus is ‘the first-born of many brothers and sisters.’

Adoption means much more than a change in legal status. It begins a relationship in a family. We are adopted so that we may share in Jesus’ relationship with his Father in the Holy Spirit.  So we pray in the ancient Collect for this day, ‘grant that as he came to share in our humanity, so we may share in his divinity.’

In a family, relationships grow through conversation, speaking and listening. In the life of Jesus, which is the pattern for our relationship with God, the disciples saw that embodied in Jesus’ life of prayer, his conversation with the Father.

Our Advent Study Group read Rowan Williams’ Being Christian.  He writes of four basic practices which shape our Christian life, not just as individuals but as a community: Baptism, Bible, Eucharist and Prayer.  This small book is packed with far more wisdom than could be absorbed during four sessions in Advent. It is full of things which, like Mary in the Gospel, we can ponder in our hearts.

In the chapter on Prayer, he cites that passage from Galatians as expressing the newness about the prayer life of Jesus which made such an impression on his disciples that they asked him to teach them to pray. It goes on: ‘God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” ’

The Spirit enables us to speak to God with that something of that same intimacy and trust we see in the prayer of Jesus. So if, like the disciples, we ask Jesus to teach us to pray, we are first of all to call God ‘Our Father.’   Adoption means that we can stand where Jesus stands and say what he says.  When we pray we place ourselves in the presence of God with him.  The New Testament teaches us,   ‘Jesus speaks to God for us, but we speak to God in him.’ Prayer is letting Jesus pray in us.

Adoption gives a child a home and a family, a place and a home, an identity, a relationship and people to be trusted for the long term; the security of being loved and cared for so that they can grow to their full potential. The gift we receive in adoption is not a one-off either, something to be unwrapped and put away safely somewhere in case it might come in useful. It is one in which we can go on exploring and growing and receiving that we might share the divine life of Jesus Christ.  It is, as they say, the gift that goes on giving.

If we make only one resolution this New Year, may it be to let Jesus pray in us. For from that so much else will flow which will be a gift to us and to others.

With best wishes for a blessed and peaceful New Year.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Alan Moses
Vicar, All Saints Margaret Street
Area Dean of Westminster and St Marylebone

Please pray for those who have asked for our prayers: Rosemary Barratt, Asia Bibi. Heather Brown, Lily Caplin, James Carey-Elwes, Rosamond Clayton, Kate Down, Norman Greenfield (Priest), Tim Harding, Yvonne & Philip Harland, Elspeth Harley, Lewis Harvey, Sheila Kenyon, Molly Leng, Joshua Levy, Christine Loffty, Hilary Morgan, Norman Newby, Anne O’Connor, Linda Orme, Malcolm Richards, Peter Royle, Jock Scott, Nicholas Stacey (Priest), Robert Streit, Celia Swan, Dilys Thomas, Joy Wright and Mark Young.

For the recently departed: Charles Richardson (Priest), Susan Beauchamp, Phyllis Dorothy James, Monica Evans, Michael Freeman (Priest), Ian Stevens, Annie Moran, Elizabeth Hill, Ken Hill, Tony Marks (Priest) and Helen Turner. 

Remember past priests, benefactors, friends, and all whose year’s mind occurs this week: Percy Flemine, Richard Williams, Paul Drake (member of the PCC), Ernest Gaskell, Gordon Symes, Katherine Mundy (Deacon), Brian Lee, Elsie Boyton, Mona Crompton, John Rhys Freebairn-Smith (former Headmaster of All Saints’ Choir School), Malcolm Melville (former Headmaster of All Saints’ Choir School), Ethel de Rougement, Trevor Burnett-Brown, Nicholas Luff (former Assistant Director of Music All Saints), Hugh Glazier (Priest and sometime member of staff at All Saints) and Beardmore Compton (Priest and second Vicar of All Saints).

WORSHIP THIS SUNDAY and NEXT WEEK

Weekday Masses remain in the Parish Room, while the scaffolding for the electrical works remains in Church. The Church will be open for Midnight Mass, High Mass of Christmas Day and Sunday 28 December, the First Sunday of Christmas (when there will be High Mass but no Choral Evensong). Thank you for your understanding and flexibility during the challenging period of the Electrical Renewal Project. Full details of services over Christmas and New Yearmay be found on the website: www.allsaintsmargaretstreet.co.uk

WORSHIP THIS SUNDAY 28 DECEMBER – FIRST SUNDAY OF CHRISTMAS
HIGH MASS , 11am
Preacher: The Vicar, Prebendary Alan Moses
Mass in G minor – Rheinberger
I sing of a maiden – Hadley

There is no Sunday lunch service this week – it will recommence in mid-January 2015.

Low Mass 5.15pm.  There is no CHORAL EVENSONG on Sunday 28 December 2014.

WORSHIP NEXT SUNDAY – 4 JANUARY 2015

HIGH MASS, 11am
Preacher: The Vicar, Prebendary Alan Moses
Missa ‘Aeterna Christi munera’ – Palestrina
There is no rose of such virtue – anonymous, c 1420

CHORAL EVENSONG & BENEDICTION, 6pm
Preacher: Father Gerald Beauchamp
Magnificat sexti toni – Victoria
Nunc dimittis tertii toni – Victoria
O magnum mysterium – Willaert

NOTICES

Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year 2015 from the Clergy and Churchwardens of All Saints – The Vicar, Prebendary Alan Moses, Assistant Priest Fr Michael Bowie,  Fr Gerald Beauchamp, Fr Julian Browning, John Forde and Chris Self.  

Please Note: ALL SAINTS’ CLUB BAR PRICES GO UP ON 1^ST JANUARY 2015 for the first time since 2012. New Annual Membership cards are required from that time – price held at £3. Please purchase your new membership from the Bar.

ALL SAINTS’ PARISH RETREAT 2015
The Retreat will be at Ely again, from 13-15 March. As already announced, the conductor will be Fr John Cullen. If you would like to attend, or to know more about it, please contact Martin Woolley on 07976 275383 or at m.g.woolley@btinternet.com. A careful note will be kept of the order in which firm reservations are received.

ALL SAINTS RESTORATION – EXCELLENT PROGRESS but FURTHER DONATIONS NEEDED to complete works

New wiring and lighting cost £350,000. Essential CCTV security and fire detection systems cost £22,000. We are going ahead with these while scaffolding is in place, to minimise the cost. We want to reduce our reliance on loans for the total project so any further gifts will help us to do that.

HOW YOU CAN HELP………. please be as generous as you can – we need a further £900 for the security and fire detection and any additional donations above that will minimise the use of loans. Please make cheques payable to: All Saints Church Restoration Appeal and send to:  The Parish Administrator, 7 Margaret Street, London W1W 8JG.
Please indicate where Gift Aid may be applied as it increases the value of your contribution by 25% at no cost to yourself. Thank you!

WORKS – as those who came to the Nine Lessons and Carols will know, the Sanctuary was cleared of scaffolding and the new lighting there was in use, so the high altar will be used at Christmas. The striking new chandeliers were installed in the nave arches on 23 December. With a Christmas break for our hard working electricians, we anticipate that all scheduled works will be completed by the end of January 2015. We plan to celebrate the newly lit All Saints at Candlemas.

WEEKDAY SERVICES – taking place in the Parish Room and Confessions heard in the Oratory (access via the Parish Office). Church will be open on Sunday throughout the project and at other times when safe to do so. 

ALL SAINTS EVENTS in DECEMBER:

Wednesday 24 December – CHRISTMAS EVE – MIDNIGHT MASS and BLESSING OF THE CRIB at 11pm. Music includes: Missa Sancti Nicolai – Haydn and O magnum mysterium – Poulenc.

Thursday 25 December – CHRISTMAS DAY Low Mass 9am and HIGH MASS at 11am. Music includes: Spatzenmesse – Mozart and Tomorrow shall be my dancing day – English trad., arr. Willcocks

ST STEPHEN’S DAY, Friday 26 December Low Mass at 1.10pm only.

ALL SAINTS’ DATES FOR YOUR DIARY IN JANUARY 2015

Tuesday 6 January – THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD – High Mass, 6.30pm 
Music: Missa Brevis in F – Mozart, Ab oriente venerunt Magi – Händl
Preacher: Very Revd Professor Dr Martyn Percy, Dean of Christ Church Oxford 

Saturday 10 January, 3.30pm – the visiting Choir of Christ Church St Laurence, Sydney sing Evensong & Benediction for the Eve of The Baptism of the Lord at All Saints
Canticles: Magnificat & Nunc dimittis on Plainsong Tones – Wills
Anthem: Sicut cervus – Palestrina
Responses: McEwan
Benediction: O salutaris – de la Rue; Tantum ergo – Duruflé

The choir is touring various churches and other venues in the UK, Belgium and France, and will spend a week in residence at St Paul’s (past visits have often included residencies at Westminster Abbey); they will also sing in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Full details of the tour can be found online at www.ccsl.org.au/11-latest-news/256-frontispiece2-9.

Christ Church St Laurence, Sydney is a sister parish to All Saints (actually a slightly older sister, completed in 1845!) with shared roots in the early stages of the Oxford Movement (the first Bishop of Sydney, William Grant Broughton, was a Tractarian: the diocese did not embrace his ideals, but Christ Church still bears witness to his part in its foundation). It is now known as the most vibrant Anglo-Catholic Church in Australia, with a fine musical tradition which was part of the founding vision and, like All Saints, once included a choir school. All Saints Director of Music, Dr Neil McEwan, and Organist Peter Jewkes (a frequent visitor to All Saints) are former colleagues of Fr Michael Bowie, our Assistant Priest. Come and worship; conclude your Saturday shopping with a meditative and worshipful preparation for Sunday’s Feast!

Sunday 11 January 2015 – THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST – High Mass, 11am
Missa Brevis – Berkeley and Kindle a light—Fleming. Preacher: Father Julian Browning

Sunday 11 January – Epiphany Carol Service, 6pm
A service of Readings and Music by candlelight for the Epiphany with the Choir of All Saints

Sunday 25 January, 7.15pm (after Benediction) ORGAN RECITAL – CHARLES ANDREWS (Associate Director of Music)
Programme:
By J. S. Bach (1685-1750):
Vom Himmel hoch, da komm’ ich her BWV 606
Mit Fried’ und Freud’ ich fahr’ dahin BWV 616
Herr Gott, nun schleuß den Himmel auf BWV 617       
Vom Himmel hoch, da komm’ ich her BWV 700
Prelude and fugue in A minor BWV 543
In dulci jubilo BWV 608

By M. Dupré (1886-1971): Variations sur un Noël op. 20

Retiring collection to support the Choir and Music at All Saints (suggested donation £4)

The All Saints Licensed Club/Bar below the Church will be open after this recital.

EVENTS BEYOND ALL SAINTS
 Wednesday 14 January, 1.10pm – Organ Recital St Cyprian’s – NICHOLAS MANNOUKAS – Dr John Birch Organ Scholar.   The full programme is still to be finalised, but it will include Mendelssohn’s complete 6th Sonata. If you can, please come along and support Nicholas. Entry is free with a retiring collection for St Cyprian’s

ALL SAINTS YEAR ROUND SUPPORT for HOMELESS PEOPLE
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.

Seasonal Appeals – With last monies in from Carol Singing, the grand total was £3,463 (up significantly on last year’s support of £2,790) to this Mission Project and a further £3,000 to Us collected through the All Saints Festival and Lent Appeals. Thank you for your generosity in supporting these Appeals.

Year Round Support – we also support the Resettlement Project with non-perishable food and toiletries or household necessities like cutlery or bed linen/blankets. Please contribute to this effort, bringing donations to the Parish Office or leaving them in Church in the basket in the Baptistery.

Day-to-day Support – we respond to the needs of homeless people who visit the church, providing luncheon vouchers for the West London Day Centre for rough sleepers who apply to the office and allowing a few 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, please help us fund and support people in need through our Mission project.

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.

* If you know of others who would like to receive this correspondence 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.

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@hotmail.com.

DAILY SERVICES AT ALL SAINTS during Refurbishment until January 2015
(Church guaranteed open Sunday only from 7am to 7pm and at other times when safe to do so)
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 CHORAL EVENSONG, SERMON and BENEDICTION, 6pm.

MONDAY – SATURDAY in the Parish Room
Morning Prayer 7.30am
Low Mass – 8am, 1.10pm and 6.30pm
Evening Prayer 6pm
(Except Bank Holiday – 1.10pm Mass only)

Confessions
A priest is available for confessions/counsel Monday – Friday from 12.30-1pm and at 5.30pm Monday – Saturday, or by appointment. During the refurbishment works, confessions will be heard Monday – Friday in the Oratory at 7 Margaret Street. Please ring the bell
at the Vicarage or Parish Office doors for admittance. 

www.allsaintsmargaretstreet.org.uk and e-mail: astsmgtst@aol.com.