All Saints Margaret Street.

Dear Friend,

My father was a keen and skilled gardener. It’s fair to say that he enjoyed the hours he spent in his garden more than those at his day job. When I was a teenager, my parents bought what had been the police house in our village; so Dad had to leave the garden which he had lavished attention on for years, and start again; and from scratch.  Village bobbies seem not to have been much given to gardening, so with the house came a large and neglected wilderness.  With hard work, skill and patience, Dad set about transforming it into a garden which would blossom and bear fruit again. It would be his pride and joy until he became too frail to manage it. 

Perhaps this explains my fondness for the second part of Sunday’s gospel in which a vineyard owner tells his gardener to cut down a barren fig tree he regards as a waste of space.  The gardener responds by pleading for time.  This is not just a stay of execution but to give him time to cultivate the tree in the hope that this will result in it bearing fruit.  The owner relents and grants him the time. 

It is easy to miss the importance of what happens after the plea has been accepted: the digging and manuring which will make fruitfulness possible.  A bishop I was speaking to recently, said to me that many had given up looking to Catholic Anglicanism for new growth in the Church.  While not quite a wilderness, it had exhausted itself in political campaigning and infighting.

Well, this is not always the case, as the renewal of life at the Annunciation (long-regarded as one of the diocese’s basket cases) in which we rejoice demonstrates.  But all too often it is.  It is assumed that new life can only come by bringing in clergy and people from another tradition; sweeping out the old and starting afresh with something very different.

In his commentary on this parable, St. Augustine thinks the manure is very important:  as a sign of humility. Catholic Anglicanism needs a great deal of the manure of humility if it is to recover from the sterility brought on by spiritual pride and ecclesiastical snobbery which boasts of sacraments and liturgy and devotions as if they were our products and possessions rather than the gifts of God to be shared with others, as my father was pleased to share the surplus of his garden with neighbours.  Catholic Anglicanism has a good deal to be humble about and much for which to repent. 

There is no magic solution to the problem of transforming the wilderness into a garden again. It is a task which demands hard work, patience and skill on the part of clergy and lay leaders, and patience of us all.

It is a task which never ceases.  Even in the dead of winter, when nothing seems to grow, there are things gardeners must still do; maintenance and preparation to carry out so we are ready when spring comes.  If that is true of a garden, how much more must it be the case in the vineyard which is a Christian community?

On days when all seems barren, when no green shoots are visible, it is worth recalling that our Lord, who had been buried in a tomb in a garden, rose to new life there, and that Mary Magdalene at first believed him to be the gardener.  (We read John’s account of this at my father’s funeral before we laid him to rest in the earth of a country churchyard.) 

Jesus is the gardener, the one who cultivates and feeds the soil in which the Church is set. If we are to bear fruit once more, then we need to let him turn us over like the soil in that vineyard, nourish us with the manure of his word, the muck of humility, and prune away the dead wood. In Dad’s garden, we had to cut down of a lot of trees too far gone to be brought back to productive life. The reprieve given to the fig tree was not for ever and Lent calls us urgently to the work of cultivation before it is too late.

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, John Bailey, Fr Allan Buick, Vivien Caplowe, James Cary-Elwes, Dennis Davis, Elizabeth Day, Mark Dougly, Kate Down, David Fettke, Jonty Gordon, Adrian Gunning, Ghislain Hamelin, Lewis Harvey, Minnie Hodgetts, Julia Holland and family, Myrtle Hughes, Pat Hunt, David Jewkes, Alice Jullien,  Julie Knight, Andrew Laird, Tom Leader, , Miriam Nelson, Oliver Orr, David Pearce, Canon John Rees, Jock Scott, Patricia Searle, Stella and Helen Skinner, Rose Stephens, Christine van Dyck and Joy Wright.   

For the recently departed: Ian Coull, David Garlick (Priest), Gaby Grace, Richard Wood, Dora Parsons, Dorothy Laird, Christine Loffty, Margaret Humphries and Ellen Hirschberg (Funeral, Friday 26 February).

Remember past priests, benefactors, friends, and all whose year’s mind occurs this week including: Alexander Finnis, Martin Mogridge, Dennis Gill, William Batey, Gertrude Bennett, Charles Bewick (Priest and one-time Server at All Saints), Frances Lightfoot, Catherine Packer, Ernest Gittins, Walter Freeth, Bridget Wright, Marion Badger, Kenneth Edwards and Alfred Gorse (Churchwarden in the 1970’s).

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

WORSHIP THIS SUNDAY 28 FEBRUARY – LENT 3

HIGH MASS, 11am
Preacher: Fr Julian Browning
Mass for three voices – Lotti
O Lord, in thy wrath – Gibbons

There is a Health & Safety Committee meeting after Mass in the Parish Office.

There is Sunday Lunch service this week– when Jean Castledine and Christine Levy will be the chefs. Tickets £5 on sale in the Parish Shop in the Parish Room before and after Mass (subject to availability).

CHORAL EVENSONG & BENEDICTION, 6pm 
Preacher: Fr Michael Bowie 
The Short Service – Weelkes
Ave verum corpus – Poulenc

WORSHIP NEXT SUNDAY 6 MARCH – LENT 4 (Mothering Sunday)
HIGH MASS, 11am
Preacher: Fr Michael Bowie
Missa Brevis in
B flat K 275 – Mozart
Ave virgo sanctissima – Guerrero 

CHORAL EVENSONG & BENEDICTION, 6pm
Preacher: Fr Julian Browning 
Stanford in G 
Ave maria – Bruckner

PARISH NOTICES

THANK YOU FOR CLOTHES DONATION, FROM THE MARYLEBONE PROJECT
We have received this email of thanks today:
‘Dear Friends at All Saints,

Thank you so much for the donation of clothes which we received from you yesterday! We have been very busy lately and these clothes are much appreciated.

As you are probably aware, we run drop-in services for homeless people with the primary focus on helping them off the streets and back into accommodation. (Last month we managed to help 32 individuals find new homes!) But in the meantime we provide a range of basic health care and other services to meet their immediate needs. Showers and clothes are one of the things we can offer and we rely on donations of clothes like this.  So please pass on our thanks to those who collected and delivered these. Thanks!

Mark Palframan, Fundraising Manager

The Marylebone Project has delivered the latest newsletter – copies of which can be found on the table in Church – in which they advise of their new Patron singer Ellie Goulding and make an Easter Egg Appeal. Following the success of their first Egg Appeal in 2015, they ask if anyone is able to donate a chocolate Easter egg to the Project for their residents and Day Centre service users? If you can help, please deliver your egg as you would clothes contributions and we will get them to the Project for Easter.

REVISION OF THE ALL SAINTS’ ELECTORAL ROLL
The Electoral Roll has to be revised before the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) on 10 April 2016. Inclusion on the Roll is the qualification to attend, participate and vote at the Meeting, or to be nominated for office. The Roll will be closed for revision between Thursday 17 and Thursday 24 March. No further entries may be made to the Roll between 18 March and the close of the APCM. Would members of the Roll please check their entries on the copy of the Roll available in the Parish Office? Alterations should be notified to me, c/o the Parish Office. Anyone else who wishes to be included on the Roll, and who fulfils the qualifications, is welcome to apply. Completed forms (to be found on the table in Church) should be returned via the Parish Office.

Catherine T Burling,
Electoral Roll Officer

ALL SAINTS LENT APPEAL 2016
As part of Lenten almsgiving, collections for our Appeal will be shared equally between the following three charities:  

1. Bishop of London’s Lent Appeal 2016
   Fundraising for two reputable charities active among the beleaguered Christian communities in Iraq and Syria:
   Open Doors – providing emergency food supplies and hygiene kits to 10,000 families every month in Syria and
   Aid to the Church in Need – focusing in Iraq on urgent needs for housing, medicine and education to allow the Church to maintain its Christian presence and witness Jesus Christ.
2. Us (formerly USPG)
   Supporting the church in Zimbabwe working with those affected by HIV and AIDS and providing local clergy and lay leaders with skills and training to undertake that work.
3. The Marylebone Project – our regular year-round mission project, run by the Church Army – empowering homeless women into independent living. Our money goes towards the emergency bed unit, providing urgent accommodation for women escaping domestic violence, financial crisis, sexual exploitation and mental health issues.

In 2015 we raised a total of £3,900 (including applicable Gift Aid).  Please give generously this year so we can try and raise over £4,000 in 2016.

Lent Coin Boxes are now available in church and plate collections will take place at particular services in Holy Week. Please make cheques payable to: Parochial Church All Saints (Lent Appeal). Please Gift Aid donations wherever possible – signing and completing a yellow envelope to accompany cheque or coins to increase the value of your donation by 25%.

Please return donations to the Parish Office by Sunday 3 April.

Please see the noticeboard in Church where other events may be advertised as space is limited in the Newsletter.

UPCOMING SERVICES & EVENTS – at ALL SAINTS

LENT at ALL SAINTS – Reading and Meditating on God’s Holy Word
In addition to our normal reading and preaching on scripture in the liturgy at All Saints, we are providing some opportunities for study:

FEBRUARY/MARCH FILM NIGHTS
A series of films will be shown in church on Thursdays after the 18.30hrs Evening Mass.
There is no charge for these viewings, but a retiring collection will be taken in support of the All Saints’ Lent Appeal. Please give generously, using Gift Aid wherever possible if you are a UK tax payer – which increases your donation by 25% at no cost to you.

3 March – The Gospel According to St. Matthew – Pier Paolo Pasolini’s masterpiece.  

10 March – Of Gods and Men Xavier Beauvois’ film of the life and death of Trappist monks in Algeria amidst Islamist violence.

READING GROUP – Fridays in Lent, the Vicarage
We are reading the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book: I Am With You, written by the Revd. Dr. Kathryn Greene-McCreight who is a chaplain at Yale University and is an assistant priest at the Christ Church, New Haven.  In I Am With You she explores the scriptural portrayal of God’s presence among us as light in darkness. Readings of Scripture are woven into a framework patterned on the seven monastic hours of prayer and the seven days of creation.  

The devotion of STATIONS OF THE CROSS will take place after the Evening Mass at 7.05pm on Fridays during Lent.  

PARISH RETREAT, 6 – 8 May 2016 
The 2016 All Saints Parish Retreat will be from 6 – 8 May at Bishop Woodford House in Ely. It will be conducted by Fr Barry Orford. If you want to come, or would like further information, please contact Martin Woolley on 07976275383 or at m.g.woolley@btinternet.com. Rooms will be allocated in the order in which bookings are received.  

SERVICES & EVENTS FOR FEBRUARY 2016 BEYOND ALL SAINTS

POETRY TEA PARTY, Saturday 27 February 3pm, at Pamela’s.  All welcome.  Please bring Poetry and Prose for ST DAVID’S DAY (coming up soon).  To accept, or to ask for Pamela’s address, please speak to Pamela or Sandra in the courtyard or ring Sandra on 020 7637 8456 leaving your name and phone number.  Cost £6 towards the All Saints Restoration Appeal.

From 6.30pm, Tuesday 1 March 2016
Churches Together in Westminster MEET THE NEIGHBOURS hosted by
The Salvation Army, Regent Hall, 275 Oxford Street (opposite BHS)
The visit will include: an act of worship together, a short talk about the history of Regent Hall and the Salvation Army including its activities and outreach, music (a chance to hear the Regent Hall Band playing) and refreshments. All are very welcome to join.

Thursday 3 March 2016, 6.30pm – 8pm
St Paul’s Cathedral
Creation: Science, Faith and the Bible
Katharine Jefferts Schori
Genesis tells us that God created the world in seven days, and science tells another story. How can people of faith read the Bible’s account of Creation in the light of contemporary science?

Katharine Jefferts Schori is by passion and profession both a scientist and a theologian. She will explore the creation stories in Genesis, asking what we can learn about God’s relationship to the world from them. Rather than an attempt to explain creation scientifically, is this actually God’s first love song to the earth, and us, his creatures?

The Most Revd Dr Katharine Jefferts Schori was until last year the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. Before being ordained she had a career as s scientist, and during her Presidency has been a vocal advocate on issues of global poverty, climate change and care for the earth, which she will also explore in the light of Genesis this evening.

Free, there will be plenty of time for questions and answers and all are welcome. To register for a free place: www.stpauls.co.uk/creation.

St Cyprian’s Church, Clarence Gate NW1 6AX
CHORAL EVENSONG & BENEDICTION 
Saturday 5 March, 3pm 
Responses – Byrd
Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis – Walmisley in D minor
Anthem – Finzi ‘Welcome sweet and sacred feast’

With the St Cyprian’s Singers, directed by Julian Collings

HUGH PRICE HUGHES LECTURES 2016
All lectures will be held at Hinde St Methodist Church at 7.30pm.  Admission is free & all are welcome! www.hindestreet.org.uk/hph

This series will invite you to reflect on how other ways of knowing and seeing – “faith” commitments for some – relate to their Christian faith. These alternative and complementary ways of knowing and seeing, sometimes portrayed negatively by people of faith, have the potential to deepen our understanding of our faith commitments and enable us to engage more constructively with the wider world.

Thinking globally, act locally
8 March – Polly March
Head of Campaigns & Policy at Global Justice

12 April – Rev Ric Stott
Artist & Methodist Pioneer minister

Identity, Modernity and Faith 
10 May – Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
Journalist

Living as Christians in Multi-faith Britain and
the Importance of Religious Literacy
14 June – Michael Wakelin
Religion & Media Consultant

ALL SAINTS MISSION ACTIVITIES:-

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 during the cold weather.  

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 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/virtualtour – 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   
CHORAL 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