All Saints Margaret Street.

Dear Friends,

DEDICATION 

On Sunday we celebrate the Dedication Festival of our church. For us, as in most parishes, this feast is overshadowed by the Feast of Title, commonly called the ‘patronal’ festival, in a month’s time. But the feast of a church’s Dedication (usually recalling its consecration by the bishop) is theologically and liturgically the more important celebration, being a Feast of the Lord himself, ranking above celebrations of our Lady or any saint.

This is because our church building, and especially the High Altar, is the sign of Christ’s presence in this place. Historically it was the altar, not the sacrament, which was the focus of reverence offered to Christ. The rite for dedicating an altar is the central action of consecrating a new church; it is anointed with chrism; it has upon it five crosses representing the five wounds of Christ; it is ‘dressed’ as part of the rite, almost as if we were dressing the body of Christ himself. We bow to the altar, not the cross on or near it. Minute observers of liturgy (of whom, of course, we have none at All Saints) will know that even when the Blessed Sacrament is reserved at the altar, the priest is supposed to bow to the altar as well as genuflecting to the sacrament, a ceremonial action which is rather difficult to achieve with dignity or clarity (!), but which recalls this more ancient focus of devotion.

All this reflects and expresses a complicated relationship of Christianity to place, about which I shall say more on Sunday morning. We are holding together a memory of biblical events such as the dedication of Solomon’s Temple (and the Jewish feast celebrating that) with Pauline teaching about ourselves being ‘God’s building’ and ‘God’s temple’. The Church (the institution) and our church (the building) are both theological signs, sacraments even, of the holy people of God, with Christ at the heart.

Dedication Festival is thus the celebration both of our dedication as the People of God and our local expression of the Church as a community of faith. For each of us that surely means recollection of (and thanksgiving for) our own incorporation into the Body of Christ in Baptism and Confirmation, nourished by our continuing, regular and frequent participation in the Eucharist. These sacramental building blocks (with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone) are what make us the living stones of Christ’s building in the earthly city, as well as the prototype of the heavenly Jerusalem, where there will be no temple, ‘for its temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb’ (Revelation 21: 22).

Feasts and ceremonial observances mark and embody for us that glory which now we only glimpse ‘through a glass darkly’. As we sing during the All Saints Festival, of those who have gone before us in this place:

These stones which have echoed their praises are holy,

And dear is the ground which their feet have once trod;

Yet here they confessed they were strangers and pilgrims,

And still they were seeking the city of God

Dedication Festival is a time to recall the point of all we do: the point of being a Christian, and the point of being a Christian at All Saints Margaret Street (how that makes us different from the people we would otherwise be). And it is a time to rededicate ourselves, together, to becoming an ever more authentic icon of Christ in our place in the world, always with an eye on heavenly glory.

Yours in Christ,

 Fr Michael Bowie, Assistant Priest, All Saints Margaret Street

Please pray for those who have asked for our prayers: Stephanie Aziz, Alan Bishton, Susan Beauchamp, Michael Beauchamp, Rachel Clayton, Rosamond Clayton, Kate Down, Jean East, Tim Harding, Yvonne & Philip Harland, Elspeth Harley, Lewis Harvey, Myrtle Hughes, Molly Leng, Joshua Levy, Christine Loffty, Jonathan Mani-Weoki, Hilary Morgan, Norman Newby, Maureen Pride, Malcolm Richards, Peter Royle, Jock Scott, Dilys Thomas, Mary Thomas and Joy Wright.

For the recently departed: John Edwards, Meriol Oliver and Martin Bluhm.  

Remember past priests, benefactors, friends, and all whose year’s mind occurs this week:
John Clayton, Alan Harrison (Priest), Sarah Venn, Mabel Moore, Pauline Rolph, Eric Kay, Grace Miller, Emma Titley, Ann Armstrong, Gwendolen Clementson, Suzette Shores, Mark Carpenter-Garnier (Bishop & former Assistant Priest at All Saints).

WORSHIP AT ALL SAINTS THIS SUNDAY 5 OCTOBER – FEAST OF DEDICATION

HIGH MASS at 11am
Preacher: Father Michael Bowie
Orgelsolomesse – Mozart
Expectans expectavi – Wood

Sunday lunch is not being served this week but will be served weekly from Sunday 12 October. Tickets £5 from the Parish Shop in the Parish Room.

After Mass in Church: the 2^nd TEN TO ONE TALK in the series ‘The Shape of the Liturgy’ – The topic is the Invocation & Greeting.

There is a Mission Committee meeting in the Parish Office after Mass.

 CHORAL EVENSONG & BENEDICTION at 6pm

Preacher: The Vicar
Magnificat:   Service in D minor – Walmisley; Nunc dimittis: Tone VI
Behold, the tabernacle of God—Harris


WORSHIP NEXT SUNDAY 12 OCTOBER – SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
HIGH MASS at 11am
Preacher: Revd Dr Andrew McGowan, Dean and President of Berkeley Divinity School, Yale

Missa ‘Ave Maria’—Palestrina
Locus iste—Bruckner

3^RD TEN TO ONE TALK in the series ‘The Shape of the Liturgy’ in Church after Mass. The topic is the Collect for Purity.

 Sunday lunch is being served this week. Tickets £5 from the Parish Shop in the Parish Room.

 CHORAL EVENSONG & BENEDICTION at 6pm

Preacher: Fr Julian Browning
The Second Service—Byrd

Praise our Lord, all ye Gentiles—Byrd

ALL SAINTS EVENTS in OCTOBER/NOVEMBER:

Saturday 4 October at 3pm at Pamela’s – POETRY TEA. Please bring your own choice of Poetry or Prose and maybe tell us why you made that choice.  To accept or to find out 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.

Tuesday 7 October (feast of Our Lady of the Rosary) ALL SAINTS CELL OF OUR LADY OF WALSINGHAM – 6.30pm Mass and Rosary followed by refreshments.

Monday 13 October – there is a Standing Committee meeting of the All Saints PCC after the 6.30pm Low Mass.

REQUIEM MASS on Tuesday 14 October, 8am– please print the names of anyone you would like remembered in the file at the back of Church, to be found on the wooden lectern in the Baptistery.

Friday 17 October, 11am – READING GROUP (second meeting of three in 2014, meeting the third Friday of each month. The last date is Friday 21 November). The text for the Group is: Marilynne Robinson’s novel Gilead, available in paperback from Virago at £7.99.

Sunday 26 October – there is a Buildings Committee meeting in the Parish Office after Mass.

ALL SAINTS FESTIVAL 2014

FRIDAY 31 OCTOBER 6.30pm – EVE OF ALL SAINTS, LITANY OF THE SAINTS, SOLEMN EVENSONG AND SOLEMN BENEDICTION
Preacher: The Reverend Reuben Preston,
Vicar of St Mary of Eton Church, Hackney Wick
Mass Setting: The Chichester Service – Walton
Anthem: O what their joy and their glory must be—Harris

SATURDAY 1 NOVEMBER 11am – ALL SAINTS’ DAY HIGH MASS
Preacher: The Reverend Dr Greg Seach, Dean of Clare College, Cambridge
Mass Setting: Missa Sanctae Margaretae – Gabriel Jackson
Anthem: Gaudent in coelis—Hassler

SUNDAY 2 NOVEMBER 11am – ALL SAINTS’ FESTIVAL SUNDAY
PROCESSION & HIGH MASS
Preacher: The Very Reverend Peter Bradley, Dean of Sheffield
Mass Setting: Krönungsmesse – Mozart
Anthem: Cantate Domino—Gabriel Jackson

6pm SOLEMN EVENSONG, TE DEUM & SOLEMN BENEDICTION
Preacher:  The Right Reverend & Right Honourable Richard Chartres, Bishop of London
Canticles: The Truro Service – Gabriel Jackson
Anthem: Justorum animae—Stanford

MONDAY 3 NOVEMBER – ALL SOULS’ DAY 6.30pm – HIGH MASS OF REQUIEUM
Preacher: The Very Reverend Victor Stock
Mass Setting:  Officium defunctorum à 6 – Victoria
Anthem: Justorum animae—Byrd

EVENTS BEYOND ALL SAINTS IN SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

EYES OF FAITH by Professor Jack Mahoney SJ – Christianity as viewed by five great theologians (Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Calvin and Karl Rahner) A five week course on Mondays from 7 – 8.30pm from 22 September to 20 October 2014. MOUNT STREET JESUIT CENTRE, 114 Mount Street, London W1K 3AH.  Please book in advance via website: www.mountstreet.info or phone: 020 7495 1673.Professor Mahoney is a Jesuit priest and Emeritus Professor of Moral and Social Theology in the University of London, where he taught in several colleges for thirty years. These included Heythrop College, where he also served for a period as Principal. He is the author of several books and many articles, and has lectured widely at home and abroad, on theology and various branches of ethics.

Saturday 4 October at 3pm – ST CYPRIAN’S, Clarence Gate – EVENSONG & BENEDICTION

Saturday 11 October – ALL SAINTS CELL OF OUR LADY OF WALSINGHAM – Pilgrimage to Oxford.  Gathering at St Mary Magdalen’s church at 11am, Mass and sermon by Vicar, Fr Peter Groves. Fr Peter will talk to us about the church and its strong connections to the Shrine (the second Administrator of the Shrine, Fr Colin Stephenson, was also Vicar of Mary Mags). Fr Peter is kindly also arranging for us to lunch together nearby and will then take us on a short guided tour of Marian paintings in the Ashmolean Museum (across the street from the church). Pilgrims may wish to stay for Evensong at Christ Church at 6pm. Please contact Fr Michael Bowie, Cell Superior, to confirm travel arrangements.

Saturday 18 October – NATIONAL PILGRIMAGE TO THE SHRINE  OF ST EDWARD THE CONFESSOR 9am Abbey opens for Pilgrims, 11.30am Festival Eucharist Preacher : The Right Reverend John Pritchard, Bishop of Oxford  3pm Evensong with Procession
Walking pilgrims will be welcomed with a rite of foot washing. Throughout the day pilgrims will be able to pray at the Shrine, priests will be on duty for individual spiritual counselling and the Sacrament of Reconciliation and prayer tours around the Abbey will be available. For more details about the day, contact T: 020 7654 4805 or E: press@westminster-abbey.org.

Thursday 23 October – 6.30pm for 7.30pm – The Annunciation, Marble Arch W1H 7AH  – ANNUNCIATION CENTENARY FUNDRAISING CONCERT – ‘Jamie Lonsdale & Friends’ present an evening of arias and songs from your favourite operas and shows. Jamie will be joined by soprano Alexandra Kennedy, Chinese X-factor winner Mary-Jess and mezzo soprano Flora McIntosh. MD – Robert Emery. Please come and support this wonderful event. Tickets strictly limited, so please book in advance at www.jamie-lonsdale.com or T: 01367 820599 or email: lroyde@gmail.com. Tickets £25 per person or 4 for £60, including a glass of Prosecco.

NOTICES

ALL SAINTS RESTORATION APPEAL UPDATE – WORK HAS NOW BEGUN!

FUNDRAISING
Following the testing of the market the budget for the work has been revised to £350,000 with over £347,092 now given or firmly pledged (including loans of £35,000), some £2,908 is yet to be secured. While we still await the result of applications to charitable trusts, we are reliant on loans and two significant omissions have come out of the original scope of the works;
an automatic fire detection system and CCTV for security purposes.

THE WORKS
The good news is that work is underway! The cabling strip out phase began on 29 September. Church will be closed during weekdays for most of the period until 30 October to allow the use of cherry pickers and other access equipment. Weekday worship will take place in the Parish Room, with the Church open at the weekends. Weekday confessions will take place in the Oratory. Please ring the bell at the Vicarage or Parish Office to gain admittance at the usual times. The main works on infra-structure cabling in the basement take place at the same time as the strip-out. Work in the Church itself is planned from Tuesday 4 November after the Festival – for completion (allowing for a Christmas break) in January, subject to the supply of specialist items.

HOW YOU CAN HELP……….With some £2,908 to find (and loans of £35,000 to cover) – further donations are needed!
Cheques should be made payable to:
All Saints Church Restoration Appeal and be sent to:
Dee Prior, 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%. Thank you!

RESEARCH VOLUNTEERS REQUIRED
Healthy volunteers aged 65 or over are required for a project on the effects of ageing on the immune system. The aim of the study is to investigate why the immune system declines as people age. Volunteers must have had chickenpox in the past. The study involves taking a blood sample and a sample from the skin. If you are interested in taking part, please contact Dr. Neil Patel (Dept. of Immunology, University College London) to discuss the study. Email: neil.patel@ucl.ac.uk or Tel: 0203 108 2158.

ALL SAINTS SUPPORT FOR HOMELESS PEOPLE – MARYLEBONE PROJECT –
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 provided the funds for one of the 4 beds – provides a safe haven and refuge for women escaping domestic violence, financial crisis, sexual exploitation and mental health issues.

Seasonal Appeals – Last year we donated £2,790 to this Mission Project, collected through the All Saints Festival and Lent Appeals. The PCC approved support of £3,000 for 2014.  

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 – Sept/Oct 2014
(Church open Saturday and Sunday only from 7am to 7pm)
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 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)

SATURDAYS  in Church
Morning Prayer 7.30am
Low Mass 8am 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. 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.