All Saints Margaret Street.

Christmas 1

The Christmas story, in all its original gritty realism (as well as in its romanticized greeting card tinsel), says simply this to us all: God is as close to us as birth and death, and everything good in between comes from him. 

This involvement with us is very simple: God did not become like us as we are likesome animals. He became the same as us, to give us back our self-respect. Christianity was not intended to make us guilt-wracked, fearful creatures: on the contrary, the gift of Christmas was the first sign of the many which Jesus gave us that God wants us to be free from fear and to flourish.

That is wonderful, literally a miraculous thing. It is something for which we rightly give thanks at this season. But it extends far beyond the crib and the manger and the shepherds and the kings. It extends to our death – for the Son of God went there too – and it extends to what is good, what is right and how we find that and do it.

Our humanity, our distinctive consciousness of who we are and of the created order in which we spend our lives, was not just shared by God in Jesus, it came from God in the first place. The birth of this child and, more importantly what he did with his life (and what he did with his death, too) shows us how much we matter; it is a pure act of love, because it is a concrete sign of acceptance and faithfulness. It cannot be taken away. The relationship is forged for ever.

Celebrating the Christmas festival is meant to kick-start us in the same direction: to use our consciousness to seek, prefer and promote love, which is stronger than death and which always finds the good. As with Jesus, and as he came to show us, that is what will give meaning to our lives.

Yours in Christ,

Michael Bowie

THE ALL SAINTS CLUB BAR 

below the Parish Room is open after High Mass.

The bar has a members’ only licence; (membership £5).

Club members are reminded that annual subscriptions for 2020

are due for renewal  from 1st January.

New members are welcome.

Sunday 5 January 2020 6pm EPIPHANY CAROL SERVICE

Featuring music by Mendelssohn, Elgar, and Poulenc

Monday 6 January

6.30pm EPIPHANY HIGH MASS

Preacher: The Rev’d Anna Matthews, 

 Vicar, St Bene’t’s Cambridge

Missa Brevis – Kodaly

Three Kings – Cornelius

PARISH OFFICE

For the foreseeable future the Parish Office will not always be staffed.

James Sherwood will usually be in the office on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

From Tuesday to Saturday, Peter Little will also be in and around the church working as sacristan / verger.

The best way to get in touch with the parish is by email:

E:  office@allsaintsmargaretstreet.org.uk         (T: 020 7636 1788)