All Saints Margaret Street.

Dear Friend,

“Where are the Kings?”

This was the question put to me by a worshipper after Evensong on Sunday.

“They’re still on their way,” I replied, “and won’t be here until Wednesday.” 

In fact, ours had made it as far at the Oratory – which was, if you like, functioning as Herod’s palace, where these mysterious Eastern sages were alarming the king by asking him where the child born to be king of the Jews was to be found.   

The lady who asked the question is one of those who worship in her local church in the morning and come to us in the evening.  Her parish, like many others, had been celebrating the Epiphany that morning, while we’re still doing the 2^nd Sunday of Christmas.

Some years ago, I wrote in the Parish Paper about our keeping of feasts like Epiphany and Candlemas, Ascension and Corpus Christi, the Assumption and All Saints, on their “proper” days, rather than transferring them to the nearest Sunday, as the liturgical rules of both Anglican and Roman Catholic rules now permit. I was (and am) glad that we are able to do this but this should not be seen as a criticism of churches which did move them to Sundays. If I was the Vicar of St. Suburbia’s, where it’s not easy to have a service or meeting before 8pm on a working day, I might do the same; if it meant having a full congregation rather than half-a-dozen.  For my pains, I was denounced by one correspondent, who thought I was letting the side down, as “pusillanimous.”

By the time you read this our Wise Men will have made it to the Crib and we will have celebrated the Epiphany; or at least in part. In Western Christianity, the Wise Men have dominated our celebration of this feast; perhaps because of the transfer of relics, first to Milan and then to Cologne.  By way of carol services and nativity plays, the Wise Men have carved out a place for themselves at the crib beside the shepherds.  But the Magi form only one facet of this rich mystery. The others give us much to ponder and absorb.

This Sunday, we will be celebrating another epiphany: the Baptism of Christ. Eastern Christianity focuses on this as the manifestation of God to the world in his Son.  At the waters of the Jordan, the Spirit descends upon the Son and the Father witnesses to his identity.

Given that the baptism inaugurates and sets the scene for Jesus’ public ministry, which we follow through the course of the year, it is good that it has been rescued from the obscurity of the Octave day of Epiphany and given a Sunday to itself.

Luke, whose account we read this year, does not describe the baptism itself: the descent of the Spirit and the testimony of the Father occur after it, while Jesus is praying.  Something similar will happen at Pentecost when the Spirit descends on the apostles and Mary and others who have been praying with them. In between those events, there will be repeated occasions when Luke describes Jesus as praying; especially before crucial events and even on the cross.  Prayer, which lies at the heart of Christ’s bond with the Father and the Spirit, is also fundamental to our own relationship with God through our baptism; our sharing in that triune relationship we see in Luke’s record.

There is a third Epiphany: the Wedding at Cana, but for that we must wait until the following Sunday.

In the meantime, “Happy Epiphany!”

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Alan Moses
Prebendary Alan Moses, 
Vicar of All Saints Margaret Street 
Area Dean of Westminster – St Maryblebone

Please pray for those who have asked for our prayers: Asia Bibi, John Bailey, , Fr Allan Buick, James Cary-Elwes, Ian Coull, Dennis Davis, Mark Dougly, Kate Down, David Fettke, Jonty Gordon, Adrian Gunning, Fr Alan Gyle, Ghislain Hamelin, Lewis Harvey, Gwyneth Hopkins, Pat Hunt, David Jewkes, Alice Jullien, Andrew Laird, Tom Leader, Elizabeth Livingstone, Christine Loffty, Fr Frank Marriott, Miriam Nelson, David Pearce, Canon John Rees, Jock Scott, Patricia Searle, Stella and Helen Skinner, Rose Stephens, Judy Stewart, Buzz Stokes, Christine van Dyck,  Juliet Windham and Joy Wright.   

For the recently departed: Robin Fletcher (former Administrator of the All Saints Foundation and for whom a High Mass of Requiem will be held at All Saints on Thursday 28 January at 11am), Valmai Jewkes, Mary Marriott, Margaret Chester (whose Funeral takes place today), Basil Jones (Priest) and Hester Martineau.

Remember past priests, benefactors, friends, and all whose year’s mind occurs this week including: Vera Freeth, Hermia Mills (member of the PCC), Ann Ind, Jack Finnie, Katherine Humphries, Michael Fleming (All Saints’ Organist 1958 – 1968), Anthea Candlin, Richard Candlin, Frank Hawkins (Priest), Eric Bailey (former Curate), Sophia Wickenden, Beryl Peryer, Charles Backus, Dorothea Graham, Vivian Curson, George Currie, Alfred Stephens, Ethel Hewetson, Hugh Shepheard (Churchwarden), Lyn Jones, Mavis Mercer, John Spencer, Margaret Henwood, George Haines and Dennis Black.

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

TOMORROW – SATURDAY 9 JANUARY – 11.30 Walsingham Devotions followed at 12 noon by Mass, led by Fr Julian Browning.

WORSHIP THIS SUNDAY 10 JANUARY – THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST
(First Sunday after Epiphany) HIGH MASS, 11am
Preacher: The Vicar, Prebendary Alan Moses
Missa Euge Bone – Tye and Kyrie – Missa de Angelis
Verbum caro factum est à 6 – Hassler

EPIPHANY CAROL SERVICE, 6pm
A service of Readings and Music by candlelight for Epiphany with the Choir of All Saints  

WORSHIP NEXT SUNDAY 17 JANUARY – Second Sunday of Epiphany 
HIGH MASS, 11am 
Preacher: Fr Daniel Dries, Rector of Christ Church St Laurence, Sydney
Missa Brevis – Ives       Tribus miraculis – Marenzio

CHORAL EVENSONG & BENEDICTION, 6pm
Preacher: Fr Barry Orford
Service in B minor – Noble
Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern – Praetorius

PARISH NOTICES

MONDAY 11 JANUARY, 7pm – There is a meeting of the Parochial Church Council in the Parish Room. Please note – this date was changed from Monday 18 January.

Please note: the January 2016 Parish Paper is now available in Church: £1. A few December copies also remain available if you missed that one.

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

SERVICES & EVENTS FOR YOUR 2016 DIARIES – at ALL SAINTS

There is a HIGH MASS OF REQUIEM for ROBIN FLETCHER at 11am, Thursday 28 January 2016. Preacher: Canon David Hutt.

ORGAN RECITAL – Sunday 24 January at 7.15pm following Benediction
CHARLES ANDREWS, Associate Director of Music, All Saints –
By W. Lloyd Webber (1914-1982):
Festal March
Minuet
From Das Orgelbüchlein by J. S. Bach (1985-1750):
Der Tag, der ist so freudenreich BWV605
Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ BWV604
Vom Himmel hoch, da komm’ ich her BWV606
In dulci jubilo BWV608
Christum wir sollen loben schon BWV611
In dir ist Freude BWV615
From Miscellaneen op. 174 by J. Rheinberger (1839-1901):
Romanze
Scherzoso
Aufschwung
Improvisation
Finale
Entry is free, but we invite you to make a retiring donation (suggested £5) to support the Choir & Music at All Saints.
The Licensed Club/Bar is open after each recital (new 2016 membership subscription is now payable: £3).

ORGAN RECITALS later in 2016 – all at 7.15pm on Sundays following Benediction:
20 March – Palm Sunday – Laurence Long
22 May – Trinity Sunday – David Graham, Organist and Director of Music at The Jesuit Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street Mayfair
3 July- Timothy Byram-Wigfield
18 September – Charles Andrews
20 November Christ the King – Charles Andrews

SMALL CHOIRS FESTIVAL 2016
Saturday 6 February, 2 – 6pm
Small Choirs was set up in 2004 to support church choirs with few or no men by organising choral festivals with a repertoire that such choirs could manage in their own churches without further support, and also by providing suitable music for such choirs in downloadable form on the internet. The website now has over 700 pieces of music suitable for such choirs and hundreds of choirs around the globe (from every continent except Antarctica) are using the site and receiving the regular newsletter and updates.

The 2016 festival is being held in All Saints. After an afternoon of rehearsing, a Festival Service will be held at 5pm, with Fr. John Pritchard presiding, at which the festival pieces will be sung within a framework of well-known hymns and readings.

The Small Choirs Festivals are ecumenical in nature and, in previous years, church choirs from all the major denominations have been represented. One of the special features of the festivals is that participation is not restricted to small choirs only. Anyone who supports the ideals of the organisation is welcome to join in, whether from a large choir themselves or just a member of the congregation of the host church. So, if anyone from All Saints would like to be part of the festival, just access the website (www.small-choirs.org.uk/feb2016), see what is being sung, and fill in the online form. Alternatively, ring Philip Norman, on 020 8519 6491.

Even if you are not available to sing, do support the concluding festival from 5 – 6pm.
 

CONFESSIONS at the beginning of LENT 
Monday 8 February – 12 – 1pm and 5 – 6pm
Tuesday 9 February – 12 – 1pm and 5 – 6pm

ASH WEDNESDAY, 10 February
Low Mass with Ashing – 8am
Confessions 12 – 1pm
Low Mass with Ashing – 1.10pm
Confessions 5 – 5.45pm
ASH WEDNESDAY HIGH MASS and Imposition of Ashes, 6.30pm

EVENTS FOR JANUARY 2016 BEYOND ALL SAINTS

CHURCHES TOGETHER IN WESTMINSTER 2016 AGM followed by a Panel Discussion to be held Monday, 18 January 2016 at 6:30pm at St George’s Church, Hanover Square, W1S 1FX. Everyone is invited. Followed by refreshments. Panel discussion:

MASS MIGRATION: CHURCHES’ ROLE – (How do we respond? What do we want? What do we do? What is a migrant? What is a refugee?)
Speakers:
Julian Coman (Assistant Editor, The Observer)
Revd Bob Fyffe (General Secretary, Churches Together in Britain & Ireland)
Ambra Longatti (International development project worker)
Revd Nadim Nassar (Director, Awareness Foundation for Syria)

PANCAKE PARTY AT ST CYPRIAN’S –
Tuesday 9 February, 7.30pm
Fr Gerald Beauchamp writes: ‘All being well the new kitchen and toilets at St Cyprian’s should be finished by the end of January. To celebrate and to test them out informally St Cyprian’s is planning to have a pancake party on Tuesday 9 February starting at 7.30pm. I realise that you may already have plans that evening but you are very welcome to come if you are free. We will do something more official by way of thanksgiving on St Cyprian’s Day (Thursday 15 September) but that’s a bit long to wait.’ Please let Fr Gerald Beauchamp know if you can come on 9 February. E: Gerald.beauchamp@btconnect.com. Thank you.

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.

When science exceeds faith, and vice-versa:
reflections on belief by an evolutionary biologist
9 February – Dr Robert Asher
Curator of Vertebrates in the University of Cambridge & Paleobiologist

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