All Saints Margaret Street.

Dear Friends,

Trinity 4 

The Old Testament reading and the Gospel on Sunday are linked by the theme of humility:

Zechariah 9.9:

Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Matthew 11.28-29:

‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.’

Humility is not the counter value to a sense of self-worth, which Jesus commends (‘love your neighbour as yourself’); it is the reverse of megalomania and control-freakery. 

The prophet Zechariah looks for the arrival of a king who will free the warring kingdoms of Ephraim and Jerusalem from the trap of war into which they and other nations have fallen. Neither Ephraim nor Jerusalem can do this on their own: they are completely trapped by the weapons they have made and the wars they have waged, all in the name of gaining ‘freedom’ from the ‘oppression’ of the other, of gaining control on their terms. We see this situation replicated all too often in current events. In Zechariah’s vision, only someone completely free of this trap, the humble peace-bearing king riding on a donkey, not a chariot or warhorse, can free them (the donkey, incidentally, is a royal beast, but it denotes a peaceable royal progress). This king will not return violence with violence. And if they do not cede ‘control’ to this king, they will remain trapped. 

Fast forward to the gospel, which tackles our innate obsession with being in control in three moves. The first identifies those who can freely and openly receive Jesus’ teaching, They are not the learned or clever who think they are in control but those who like children accept what they need to learn from the ‘other’. This is not a denigration of cleverness but a rejection of pride and arrogance. Then Jesus identifies himself as the source of the teaching, with knowledge of the Father that alone can save. To whom does Jesus choose to reveal the Father? The answer comes in the third move, where Jesus invites ‘all who travail and are heavy laden’ as we used to hear in the ‘Comfortable Words’ of the old prayerbook. 

Reading the passage this way, the overburdened or ‘heavy laden’ are not so much those who are crushed by others (though these are clearly not excluded) but those of us who desperately try to take control of our lives on our own terms and who therefore have to keep acquiring more and consuming more (‘it is a law’, as St Paul might say, that the more you have the greater your appetite). In this way we become trapped: in order to be free of our yoke we are offered the paradoxical yoke of Jesus, paradoxical because it is easy as the burden he gives us is light, paradoxes which would have been felt with great immediacy in a culture where most things had to be carried by human strength or pack animals. 

This alternative ‘burden’ is following him, and the consequence of it that we are yoked in a team with him (again, in this culture, oddly-yoked teams – a donkey and an ox, a farmer helping his ox – are not uncommon, so why not a sinner and the Son of God): the burden is not removed but shared and lightened by someone with infinite strength and patience to assist and refresh us. As the old hymn puts it:

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?

We should never be discouraged, take it to the Lord in prayer.

The yoke of the cross that was imposed on Jesus by those who seemed to have vanquished him – the forces of evil – becomes the sign and instrument of his victory over these forces, and salvation for all who ‘travail and are heavy laden’, to whom he says ‘I will refresh you’.

Yours in Christ, 

Fr. Michael Bowie
Assistant Priest, All Saints Margaret Street 

THIS WEEK’S PRAYER DIARY

Those who have asked for prayers
Asia Bibi, Fr Graham Francis, Hannelore Sibley, Maria Magdalena Gemanaite, Faddy Hardo, Ken Hales, Fr Giles Fraser, Gulzari Babber, John Hughes, Ron Capon, Patricia Capon, Nancy Gardner, Katie Marko, Andrew Evans, Sarah Payne and Rodney Bickerstaffe. 

Those known to us recently departed 
All those lost and grieving as a result of the Grenfell Tower fire, Geoffrey Rowell Bp., Iris Podmore, Leeroy Barrow, Dale Burton, Hugh Cox, Vicky Wilmott and Charlotte Nikoi (whose Memorial Service is being held on Saturday 8 July in Ghana).

Remember past priests, benefactors, friends, and all whose year’s mind occurs this week
Doreen Davis, Grace Harrison, Flying Officer Gordon Arthur RAF killed in action 1941, Aileen Buxton, David Botsford, Mabel Pearce, Laurence Olivier, Wilfred Stansfield, Cyril Ward, Mary Gaskell, Mina Robertson, James Wheen, Sheila Duggan, Richard Young, Gladys Gibbs, George Quicksmith and Kathleen Rodger.  

WEEKLY NOTICES 

Thank you to everyone who joined Fr Michael Bowie last Friday to celebrate his Silver Jubilee with Digby Fairweather and His Half Dozen’s jazz concert. The retiring collection raised £833.75 (with applicable Gift Aid) for the All Saints’ Foundation.

PARISH PILGRIMAGE TO WALSINGHAM – Friday 21 to Monday 24 July. Places are limited but contact Ross Buchanan (Mob: 07905 863578 or email:
ross.r.buchanan@btinternet.com) and he will try to fit you in.  

“HELP US TO STAY” Wednesday 26 July, 7pm
An illustrated talk on his recent pilgrimage to the Lebanon with Aid to the Church in Need, by Fr. David Ackerman, Vicar of St. John’s, Kensal Green.
Aid to the Church in Need was one of the charities supported by the 2016 Bishop of London’s Lent Appeal, and one of All Saints’ Lent Appeal projects. 

Tuesday 15 August – FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY – HIGH MASS and OUTDOOR PROCESSION with choir and brass accompaniment 6.30pm
Preacher: Fr Richard Peers, Director of Education, Diocese of Liverpool
Mass Setting: Mozart Missa Brevis in C ‘Orgelsolo’, K.259
Motet before procession: Elgar Ave Maria
Voluntary: Guilmant Grand Choeur in E flat (Op. 40 No 4) 

WORSHIP THIS WEEK:

Sunday 9 July – Trinity 3
HIGH MASS with Choir and Sermon, 11am 
Preacher: Fr Michael Bowie
Rachmaninov Mass in B flat 
Rachmaninov Bogoroditsye Dyevo (Ave Maria)

Sunday Lunch this week is being prepared by Robin Clutterham. The menu is:   Cold brisket, Potato salad, Red cabbage coleslaw with blue cheese. Pudding is Eton Mess. Tickets £5 on sale at the Parish Shop before and after Mass. 

EVENSONG & BENEDICTION with Sermon, 6pm
Preacher: Fr Julian Browning
Harwood Setting in A flat
Howells O pray for the peace of Jerusalem 

SERVICES THIS WEEK

Monday 10 to Friday 14 July
7.30am Morning Prayer
8am Low Mass
12.30-1pm Confessions
1.10pm Low Mass
5.30pm Confessions
6pm Evening Prayer
6.30pm Low Mass

Saturday, 15 July
12 noon Low Mass
6pm Evening Prayer

6.30pm First Mass of Sunday

Next Sunday, 16 July ~ 5^th Sunday after Trinity

8am Low Mass
10.20am Morning Prayer

11am High Mass with Choir & Sermon
Guest Preacher: The Revd Canon Grace Kaiso, General Secretary
of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa
Gabriel Jackson Missa SanctÓ• MargaretÓ•
Arr. Tippett O, by and by

5.15pm Low Mass
6pm Evensong, Sermon and Benediction
Preacher: Fr Michael Bowie
Wood Setting in D
Stanford Iustorum animae                                                           

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

ALL SAINTS MISSION PROJECTS

Our year-round fundraising efforts go to support three charities:

The Church Army hostels and programmes in Marylebone empowering homeless women into independent living.
The USPG-led UMOJA, HIV Project in Zimbabwe, enabling people living with HIV and Aids to have positive lives, and
The Soup Kitchen (American International Church, Tottenham Court Road) feeding up to 80 vulnerable people daily in central London. 

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 also need men’s outerwear of all varieties and rucksacks and duffle-bags to help our guests carry their belongings!’

The Soup Kitchen team (only part-time cover) asks: ‘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/

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 Parish Church of All Saints Margaret Street,
London W1 W 8JG

Vicar: The Reverend Prebendary Alan Moses
T: 07973 878040 E: alanmoses111@gmail.com (Day off: Saturday)

Assistant Priest: The Revd Dr Michael Bowie
T: 07581 180963 E: mnrbowie@gmail.com (Day off: Wednesday)

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.)

For amendments to the prayer list please contact:
Dee Prior, Parish Administrator (020 7636 1788).  E: astsmgtst@aol.com

Or make use of the prayer request facility on the website at: www.allsaintsmargaretstreet.org.uk/prayer. 

Safeguarding Officers: Chris Self (Vulnerable Adults) and: Janet Drake (Children) 

allsaintsmargaretstreet.org.uk www.facebook.com/AllSaintsMargaretStreet