All Saints Parish Paper 7, MARGARET STREET, LONDON W1W 8JG asms.uk SEPTEMBER 2020 £1.00 The Assistant writes:

In September we keep another feast of Our Lady, a later addition to the Calendar than the Assumption, but no less significant: Mary’s Nativity, celebrated on 8 September. Mary always points away from herself and towards her Son. Her significance is rightly tied to her son’s immeasurably greater significance and we sense that, like John the Baptist, she would happily declare, ‘He must increase and I must decrease’. So we honour Mary, the Mother of God, with an eye on her horizon. We look beyond her to her Son, to the Light of the World. But this is only part of the story. Saint Augustine of Hippo, who died in the year 430, wrote: The Church observes the birth of John [the Baptist] as a holy day; and none of the other great ones of old is solemnly commemorated in this way. We celebrate The Lady Altar John’s birth, as we celebrate Christ’s. Photograph: Andrew Prior (Sermon 293: 1 – 3) feast originated in Jerusalem, during the Augustine is reminding his listeners that 400s; it was celebrated in Constantinople by it was the customary practice for a saint to the year 500 and then, finally, in Rome by be remembered, not on the date on which the seventh century. he or she began his life in this world, but on the date on which the saint began life in Beginning to celebrate the Nativity of heaven. Therefore, the saint’s real birthday, Mary was a turning point in Christian the true dies natalis, is the day of their death. understanding. The Church’s decision to Augustine, in telling us that celebrating John add this third ‘nativity’ to its calendar, in the Baptist’s ‘birthday’ is unusual, confirms addition to those of Our Lord and John the for us that the Nativity of Mary was not Baptist, followed the increase in veneration being celebrated in the West in his time. This of the Blessed Virgin in the years following

1 the Council of Ephesus in 431. That council Here the young woman Mary, having met a year after Augustine died. It affirmed accepted Gabriel’s news and responded that Mary was Theotokos, the Bearer, or with a ‘yes’ to God’s proposal that she will Mother, of God. The celebration of her bear his Son, recognizes in her experience birthday (nine logical months after the feast the pattern of how God deals with any of us. of Immaculate Conception), signals what He has shown strength with his arm; happened at the Council of Ephesus: the he has scattered the proud in the thoughts Church’s recognition of Mary’s central rôle of their hearts. in the events of our salvation. So, while this He has brought down the powerful from feast points forward, it also insists that Mary their thrones, had value in herself, not just as a necessary and lifted up the lowly; link in a theological daisy-chain. Mary was he has filled the hungry with good things, a person who was born as John was and and sent the rich away empty. Jesus was, but also as you and I were. The feast of Mary’s birth recalls that she, The birth of Mary, like the birth of John full of grace, is also one of us, which means the Baptist, is a sign that God is doing that we can emulate her, be filled with God’s something new, but not just that. The grace ourselves. We do this by pointing to incarnation demonstrates our relationship Jesus, but also in our daily routine, in all our with God as flesh and blood human beings. relationships and encounters. We can be as Here we celebrate that humanity of Mary she was, full of grace, in recognising the true which God embraced and elevated in order value of those we know and encounter, not that we all should be exalted to an intimate as powerful or significant people by some relationship with him, by that grace with worldly measure, but as children of God and which Mary was filled. Grace, the newly therefore dear to us as well. revealed characteristic of God in the scriptures, was acknowledged by That principle that God works with the angel in this unique human life. Mary and through those who make no claim for demonstrates that it is also a human quality, themselves, including the empty-handed gifted by God, in which we can share. and downhearted, informs the whole of Mary’s song. Mary sees God’s dealings with The law indeed was given through her as the manner of his activity throughout Moses; grace and truth came through history: this is what God is like, gracious. Jesus Christ. Just as God has exalted her, an ordinary Mary was born as we are born and she did person, so God is graciously, generously, great things with God. for all of us, especially when we feel most downhearted, rejected or misunderstood. And the Word became flesh and dwelt – – – – – – among us, full of grace and truth. As we approach the first Sunday in September it is good to be able to add a Remember Mary’s song, the Magnificat, family celebration from our community to words we are more accustomed to hear at Sung Mass that day. Judith Mather, who Evensong or daily evening prayer: is probably the only adult member of All ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my Saints ever to have attended the church spirit rejoices in God my Saviour. from within a month of her birth, is well

2 known to us all and now a valued member from a lady in North Wales who had last set of our PCC: she and her husband Joe will foot in All Saints 75 years ago but has been celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary sustained by our Masses throughout this during Sung Mass on September 6th. As period, during which no church has been with so many other events this year the open where she lives. celebration has had to be scaled down a little I hope you are keeping well and also but, as you will read in a piece from Judith finding ways return to actual worship, if not below, her innate exuberance has prevailed with us in your local parishes. over all pandemic limitations. With prayers and best wishes, On the last Sunday of August we said farewell to our Organ Scholar of the last Fr Michael two years, Jordan Wong, whose skill and flexibility have been invaluable during a All Saints Memories period of change in our music staff and the more recent difficulties associated with the I first came to All Saints, Margaret Street in lockdown. He played for Mass on his last July 1973 having been born on June 20th Sunday and we will miss his contribution to 1973. I was two weeks old! To be honest our liturgical music as we wish him the very I don’t remember a lot about that occasion best for his future career in law and church but my parents, Pat and Tony Hawkins, music. He has written a little about his time told me that, until I was baptized, I couldn’t with us below. pass the font, and I didn’t do so until after my baptism about six months later. I was Fr Pip Bevan who moved to Fitzrovia, baptized in the font at the back of church partly to be within reach of All Saints, has by my uncle, Fr Frank Hawkins. I mention also written for this edition, partly as a this because, during Fr Michael Marshall’s result of Paparazzo Martin Woolley having incumbency, baptisms usually took place at captured an image of him arriving for the front of the church on what I called a weekday Mass on his new chariot. A picture railway sleeper with a bowl on top. may be worth a great many words, but I thought this one would be a little cryptic I have sat with my family in various seats without some explanation from the subject! /places around the church. When I was a small child, I always sat in the front row It has been encouraging to see people with my mum and my gran so I could watch making their way back to Mass in church but my dad serving as MC and Sub and it will be many months before everything will so I could see him read the Epistle. I was be back to normal: it is pleasing, however, to very proud of my dad and, when he wore report that some choral singing will soon be the best white vestments, I was fascinated possible. We are continuing to investigate by the dolphin on the back. the means by which we can continue to offer live streaming in this constantly A member of the congregation once said changing landscape. Many thanks to those to my mum that they thought we were a who have already contributed financially one-parent family as Dad was always in to this project; some of the messages the sanctuary serving or looking after the accompanying contributions have been very strong room and the candles. Dad also moving, not least one received last month used to help Joe Kirkham run the All

3 Saints Club. This is where my Paton performed the marriage love for ‘hula hoops’ crisps and and Ambrose gave his cheese cubes began as I used to pontifical blessing. Our wedding sit on the not-so-hotplate in the was ‘grand’ and I’m proud of window!!! This used to keep me that! quiet while the grown-ups talked Few of our friends are religious about grown-up stuff. This was and it gave me great pleasure to an amazing part of my childhood tell them that Bishop Ambrose as I met so many different people, was not the Pope as they thought. Lords, ladies, artists, actors, Judith Mather Archbishops, , lawyers, The entire service was ‘grand’: QCs, MPs and wonderful ordinary people. the liturgy, the music, the serving. If you ever have the opportunity to arrange a I used to come to All Saints every service at All Saints, then make it ‘grand’. Saturday with my Dad as Mum worked very hard as a hairdresser and Saturday The choir was amazing, Nick Luff was was her busiest day. We called it ‘daddy organist and I was so proud of our church daycare’. I helped my dad prepare the that day as it showed off the best All Saints sanctuary for Sunday, including changing can be!! I can’t believe how many non- the candles and altar frontals. churchgoers were impressed and moved and come to carol services now. My favourite job was hoovering the carpet in the sanctuary. I think I might have My dad walked me down the aisle to been the first woman in the sanctuary! But ‘I Was Glad’ by Parry. That was really what people don’t know is I was the biggest unnatural for him as he would have liked to stickler for straight candles. My Dad and have been in a cassock and cotta. The Mass I spent quite a while with 1 and 2p coins setting was Gounod’s ‘Messe Solonnelle’, making sure the candles were perfectly which I would love to hear in full at All upright. Even to this day I’ll have a word Saints soon. The hymns we chose were, with John Forde if they are not correct! ‘Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones’, (Sorry, John, for criticizing.) Another ‘Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken’ (my favourite memory of this time is that Dad school hymn), and ‘Love Divine All Loves looked after the strong room and we treated Excelling’. We left the church to Widor’s all those treasures with love and care and Toccata. as you would expect from any custodians We had our photographs taken in the at All Saints especially the unbleached courtyard and had our wedding breakfast candles and the jewelled funeral pall. in what was then the Berners Hotel around I was confirmed by the Rt Revd Ambrose the corner from All Saints. Weekes in the eighties (who also gave a All Saints is the most remarkable special pontifical blessing at our wedding). My place and I can honestly say it will be my dad first met Bishop Ambrose in the 1960s love from my cradle to my grave. RIP and they became great friends. Revd Ambrose Weekes, Fr David Paton Joe and I were married on 2nd September and Nick Luff: wonderful people. 1995. My adopted godfather David Judith Mather

4 Jordan writes: I will miss the most. Many thanks especially to Jeremiah, It is somewhat difficult to for being my first guide to believe that it has already been All Saints, fellow enthusiast two years since I moved to for indulgent music, and a London, almost to the day. I can great friend. Many pleasant still remember having to lift all connections were also made those boxes and suitcases down in the courtyard, which I will the creaky college staircase equally treasure. in Cambridge, into the van heading for the city. There is At the moment, I have no that strangely contradictory plan musically: it will be feeling that I have just started at interesting to see what comes All Saints not long ago, yet also that I have along when churches are back in full swing, been here for a long time. whenever that might be. It will be strange no longer having a regular commitment devoted Even after two years, I am still taken by to church music (as it already has been since the beauty of the place, the traditions, the March!). Sadly, it may be time to hang up liturgy, and I feel privileged to have served the organ shoes, perhaps temporarily, or and added to its livelihood with music, for indefinitely — who knows; or perhaps a which this church has never stopped being return to the piano, my ‘mother’ instrument. a great muse. Perhaps a rather dramatic two At the very least, I will be looking for an years during my time as organ scholar, or so organ in London for regular practice, or I have been told, and coming back to play in perhaps even a church or churches for which August has certainly felt even more surreal, I can continue to play, if such is possible though no less enjoyable. The services alongside a solicitor’s career in London. have often been my highlights of the week, especially compared to law school, dare I I shall be eager to return to visit All Saints say… in its full glory, hopefully soon. Jordan Wong I have enjoyed great camaraderie with the John Birch Organ Scholar 2018-20 choir, and it is certainly one of the things

From the Churchwardens Appointment of Fourteenth Incumbent — Process and Progress

In the January Parish Paper Fr Adam with the PCC meeting scheduled for late Atkinson gave an outline timescale for the March and the Meeting of Parishioners process in ‘Discussion and Decision on and APCM scheduled for late April being Sacramental Ministry and the Appointment postponed for the foreseeable future. of a New Incumbent’. Sixty five people took Fr Adam prepared his report on the part in conversations with Fr Adam during conversations for the Bishops of London and January and February. The timescale was in April. This was then circulated to then severely disrupted by the Pandemic, members of the PCC to inform a review of

5 the Resolution under the House of Bishops made with a new opening sentence written, Declaration, passed in November 2016. and then agreed with the Bishop. The Profile In accordance with the direction of has now been completed and we are grateful the Diocesan Bishop, the Benefice was to Mike Glasspell of Oink Creative Limited, formally declared Vacant by the Registrar a friend of Judith Mather, for generously on 22 June 2020. As Fr Moses had ceased making this into an attractively presented to be incumbent on 3 November 2019 the document complete with photographs. This applicable legislation* required the PCC will be posted on the Parish website once the to complete and submit the Statement advertisements appear in the church press. describing the Conditions, Needs and Video versions of the Pastoral Letter Traditions of the Parish (the Parish from the two Bishops and a summary of Profile) and to appoint the two Parish Archdeacon Adam’s consultation have been Representatives within just 28 days, by made available: Monday 20 July. In anticipation, some https://youtu.be/wkjI2qbuwL4 background work had been done on the objective parts of the Statement and in mid https://youtu.be/qv9kXNrrhBI June the members of the PCC were asked The text of the Bishops’ letter is on the to complete a questionnaire on the Parish parish website. Vision and Person Specification, based on the Diocesan proforma. Various views were The formal involvement of the PCC in the expressed. These were collated together appointment process has now concluded. It and a balanced distillation was produced should be noted that, although the rôle of the and incorporated into a draft Profile which, Parish Representatives is limited in law to with some amendments, was approved exercising a right of veto to any candidate by a correspondence vote by the PCC presented by the Patron, in practice, in following a ‘Zoomed’ meeting on Monday this Diocese, they are usually involved in 13 July. Archdeacon Adam Atkinson drawing up the final shortlist and are present made a presentation on the findings of his at the actual interviews. The Bishop’s conversations and a majority of the PCC office is arranging for the vacancy to be voted to affirm the Resolution passed in advertised in September. Shortlisting will November 2016; consequently the Bishop take place in October and interviews will be of London, who remains both the Ordinary held in early November. It is hoped that the and the Patron of the Living, has asked announcement of an appointment will be Jonathan, , to exercise made before the end of the year, once the Episcopal oversight of the parish according various formalities are completed. We look to the provisions of the London Plan. At forward to the Collation and Induction of the same meeting, and after a vote, Kate the next of All Saints which is now Hodgetts and John Forde were appointed as expected to take place during Eastertide the Parish Representatives. next year. The Bishops of London and Fulham Please pray for all those involved in the arranged a meeting with the members of appointment process. the PCC which was held by ‘Zoom’ on 21 * Patronage (Benefices) Measure 1986; 1 July. In accordance with their request, some March 2019 Version. adjustment to the order of the Profile text was

6 Annual Reports for 2019 Diocese which are similar throughout the In recent years there has been a consolidated Provinces of Canterbury and York. pack of information for the Meeting of The lockdown delayed the compilation Parishioners and Annual Parochial Church of some of the usual reports, but all have Meeting, held in Lent or Eastertide, which now been completed except for the report has included the various reports and minutes on the electoral roll which is directly of the meetings held in the previous year. related to the date of the annual meetings. The Meetings which were expected to be The consolidated document containing the held at the end of April have been postponed various reports is on the Parish website. If to a future date due to the pandemic. This you would like to have a paper copy please is in accordance with directions from the contact one of the churchwardens.

Liturgical Life in the Church 6

This is the sixth of a series of articles to but also the infant children of believers were refresh our memory about how we live as brought to be baptized. The anointing with Christian people nurtured in a Catholic chrism which takes place in Confirmation discipline and tradition of worship. came, customarily, to be separated from This month the series concludes with baptism and given by a Bishop at a later articles about the six sacraments additional stage. Baptism confers full membership in to the Mass, sacramentals, and the Daily the church, the family of Christ. Office. Confirmation Baptism Confirmation is originally an element of The Gospel is about our relationship with the sacrament of Baptism. It came to be God, a free gift (‘grace’, the distinctive separated from baptism and usually (though characteristic of New Testament revelation). not always) conferred by a Bishop as the Relationships are always personal, practice of infant baptism became the particular and local, not theoretical. Jesus norm. In Eastern Orthodox churches this taught that the primary family membership ‘chrismation’ (anointing with chrism oil) is our status as a child of God and brother has never been separated from baptism and or sister to him and other Christians. The is completed by the priest who baptizes. It sacrament of baptism integrates us into confers the gift of the Holy Spirit, of which this new family: it is the ‘new birth’ (or the oil is the sacramental sign (understood ‘birth from above’) of which he speaks in to be the ‘seal of the Spirit’ mentioned in, his conversation with Nicodemus in John e.g., 2 Corinthians 1 and Ephesians 1). 3. Because we believe that sacraments In the reformed Church of are effectual signs, making real what they confirmation was administered simply by signify, this new birth is unrepeatable and the laying on of hands with prayer; more does not depend on the faith of the recipient. recently Anglican revisers have recovered For this reason, as the church grew, not only the use of oil, used in this sacrament from adult catechumens (those instructed in the before the of Scripture was agreed faith in preparation for initiation at Easter) (e.g., in Hippolytus’ Apostolic Tradition,

7 c. 215). Chrism oil, which is also used to Prayer in the rite for the Visitation of the anoint the hands of at Sick, indicating that it continued to be (and in the English Coronation Rite), is normatively used. It is also commended in consecrated each Holy Week by a Bishop the BCP in the first Exhortation, which was at a special Chrism Mass at which priests required to be read to give notice of any renew their ordination vows as they prepare celebration of the Eucharist. for Easter. The sins confessed are held in absolute Confession confidence between priest and penitent. Confession, or Reconciliation (as this Careful self-examination and the sacrament is now commonly called), is a gift articulation of personal failure, with the conferred on the Church by our Lord’s post- assurance of forgiveness, is a joyful spiritual resurrection commission to the disciples in discipline which can only add depth to a John 20: personal rule of life and bring us closer to Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with God. you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on Matrimony them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony has Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are some unique features. forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, First, the two lay people are the technical they are retained.’ celebrants of the sacrament: the priest acts (Compare also the gift of ‘binding and as a witness who blesses the marriage. loosing’ to Peter, representing the whole Because it originates in extra-Biblical Church, at Matthew 16, further clarified in social constructs, because monogamy is Matthew 18.) not the only form of marriage in the Bible, This sacrament is falling into disuse even and because marriage has a legal and in the Roman Catholic Church, where it social function outside of Christian life remains mandatory but where the form and practice, the Church has sought to base of it is now becoming controversial. The its sacramental status on New Testament practice of ‘private’ or individual confession warrants, which are twofold. One is the so- is one of several forms it has taken over the called prohibition of divorce by the Lord Christian centuries, and rites of General or (Matthew 19): this is in fact a declaration of ‘group’ Confession and Absolution, familiar divorce as a sin in the context of the Gospel, to Anglicans from our liturgical patrimony, which is a proclamation of forgiveness. The are likely to become more common. other warrant is Paul’s theological image of the Church as the bride of Christ (Ephesians Confession was accounted by Luther a 5), tied to ‘headship’. Neither of these is ‘Sacrament of the Gospel’, but the English unproblematic. reformers relegated it to those ceremonies ‘commonly called Sacraments’ (Article 25) It may be better to accept the sacramentality on the basis that the Lord did not ordain of Marriage as a gift of God in creation a visible sign or ceremony attaching to it. and to rejoice in the blessing conferred by Nevertheless, a form of confession and the sacramental rite. Undertaken freely by absolution is found in the Book of Common Christians and blessed by the Church it is an

8 ‘effectual sign’ of the ‘inward and spiritual authority to act in place of the sender. This grace’ of a commitment to faithfulness in echoes other cultural traditions and was relationship. gathered into Christian polity within the first Anointing two centuries of the Church’s life. The sacrament of anointing with holy oil, The sacramental nature of Orders formerly known as Extreme Unction, takes matters because they situate us firmly its immediate warrant from James 5: within the fullness of the Apostolic faith Are any among you sick? They should call as an essentially Eucharistic community for the elders of the church and have them (which significantly predates the biblical pray over them, anointing them with oil in Canon). The Church ‘is like’ this. Our the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith polity has always included some who do not will save the sick, and the Lord will raise acknowledge it; sometimes they have even them up; and anyone who has committed been among our Bishops. But sins will be forgiven. are at the heart of God’s gift of the Church to the world. The very giftedness of orders and There is a clear scriptural basis for this sacraments means that they hold their value sacrament, including its association with even when misunderstood or misused. ‘elders’ or presbyters: priests, according to Catholic order. Like Baptism, Ordination confers a permanent ‘character’ on a person, which Over time this sacrament had come to guarantees the efficacy of the sacraments be restricted to those in extremis (hence they celebrate, permanently changes who ‘extreme unction’) and given with their they are, and cannot be removed, even if the deathbed confession. Nevertheless, like order is no longer exercised. most of the sacraments, it could be and was repeated, and, during the renewal of Sacramentals liturgical life and the growth of healing Sacramentals are sacred signs given to aid ministry in the twentieth century, it was us in the life of faith. They increase our restored to frequent use across a range of devotion and help us to draw closer to God; Christian traditions. The terminology in sacramentals are so called because they are James of ‘saving and raising up’ is clearly ‘like sacraments’ but do not in themselves about more than physical healing, and effect what they signify. associates the sacrament with the gift of They have developed in response to resurrection life. the needs, culture and special history of Ordination particular regions or times. They always Ordination, the setting aside of members include a prayer, often accompanied by a of the community as Bishops, priests, and specific sign, such as the laying on of hands, for the sacramental ordering of the sign of the cross, or the sprinkling of the whole Body of Christ, is a fundamental holy water (which recalls Baptism). characteristic of the Church. They do not always require the The laying on of hands would, according participation of a priest: blessings such as to longstanding Jewish custom, commission grace at meals may be celebrated by any a person to be sent out with full and assured Christian. Objects of devotion, like rosaries,

9 icons, statues and medals, may be blessed participate. This developed into our daily by a priest and then used and shared by any said services, required of the clergy as a Christian. duty, or officium, but available to all. The best known sacramentals, apart This distinctive pattern of Anglican from blessings, are the Rosary and Stations worship developed its own liturgical of the Cross. Sacramentals also include music for Morning Prayer (Matins) and pilgrimages, processions, commissioning Evening Prayer (Evensong). Choral to various ministries, the dedication of a Matins is now less commonly celebrated, church and altar, holy oils, vestments, relics, except in some Cathedrals, but Evensong and the Christmas Crib. remains the evening worship of parishes The Daily Office which have retained a choral tradition and The Daily Office derives from the two early is also an important part of cathedral and forms of Christian liturgical community: collegiate worship in many places. It has monasteries (which celebrated seven or a large repertoire of musical settings, also eight such services a day) and cathedrals drawing from Roman Catholic sources, (which had two services: morning and is often augmented by an anthem and a evening prayer). At the English reformation sermon on Sundays, and may be followed a form of morning and evening prayer was by Benediction. The late evening service provided, merging the two traditions into of Compline, the last office of the monastic a simpler daily pattern, with the intention day, has been widely revived in that the laity as well as the clergy would in both public and private devotion.

Thoughts on Daily Life During The Lockdown in Fitzrovia

How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a silent, apart from chemists and supermarkets foreign land? Psalm 137: 4 to which people ventured out sparingly. Of Christmas came with great joy, new life, course, I belong to the elderly class at 79 new birth, a hopeful time. New Year and years of age, and so could not even get out Epiphany, the Manifestation of Christ to at all in the first weeks of lockdown. Thank the world, the Baptism of Christ, and then God for Sainsbury’s, who, when I had set up around March 21st just after Mothering our account had noted my age, and offered Sunday, the Coronavirus lockdown arrived regular delivery slots throughout the time and our world changed almost overnight. we were locked down. London and the Parish of All Saints in I found the lockdown period almost a Fitzrovia became strangely silent, with “foreign land”, everything was very out of empty streets, and almost no traffic or kilter. Of course the daily round of Offices aircraft. The cafés, pubs and restaurants, so and Mass streamed from All Saints at Noon much part of our local life, were shuttered. were an anchor in the storm. Especial From the open door to our balcony on the thanks to Fr Michael and the team who 7th floor there was silence except for the kept this vital Sacramental Presence of our sirens of ambulances. People were in their Lord broadcast daily like the Manna in the houses and flats, beginning to work from Old Testament. Our act of daily Spiritual home where they could. London was eerily Communion was life-giving. Going out

10 each day to the coffee shops of our parish, For me this brought back times as a young usually on my way to Mass or returning man when I had tried my vocation for seven home, Giovanni and Susan at Conchiglia, years at Mount St Bernard Abbey. Fr Bede, Alex in Hanson Street, Kaffiene, Gitane, our Novice , was always quoting the and Giovanni at H.T. Harrison in Great Fathers and saying: abide in your cell and Titchfield Street, had been a large part of your cell will teach you everything. I began my life. I have always in my work as a again exploring the difference between Priest found that “holy loitering” around the loneliness and solitude. In the lockdown I parish has always presented opportunities was never lonely, but began to explore again for people to encounter the Gospel. I have what being solitary was. Fr Henri Nouwen never been one for the well cut suit, the puts its so well: stock and linen collar, I have always worked In solitude we discover that our life is in my cassock, which I learned from my not a possession to be defended, but a gift days at Chichester Theological College, and to be shared. It’s there we recognise that in 1965 as a at St Mary’s, Walton, in the healing words we speak are not just our Liverpool. Not in any sense of clericalism, own, but are given to us; that the love we but so that people can see a radical Christian can express is part of a greater love; and the presence present to them in the street. Often new life we bring forth is not a property to today the Church is invisible to the majority cling to, but a gift to be received. of people. You are seen as a Priest who is Also I was reminded again in this strange near to them, and available to them. Often time of my great grandfather: he was a quiet, people stop you and ask for prayers, perhaps poetical Welshman, a ’s Warden a blessing, or to tell you of things going on in for thirty years in the same small village their lives, or that they just need a “listening church. The family farm bred and trained pit ear” to unburden their hearts. “Morning ponies for the mines in South Wales. He met Father” or “Mornin’ Farve” is a greeting of my great grandmother at the Autumn horse friends in the streets of our Fitzrovia Parish. fair, and loved her all his life. In his late This all stopped in the lockdown, and we 80s he spent the winters by the kitchen fire entered a strange land. How can we sing the looking intently into the flames, he spent his Lord’s song in an alien land? summers sitting quietly under the boughs We learned new skills, Zoom came into of a favourite apple tree in the orchard, his our lives, and the Word of The Lord, and pince-nez glasses almost magically perched His Sacrament came to us in a new way. on the end of his nose, and the big old family The Sodality of Mary Mother of Priests, a Bible in Welsh on his knee. As a small boy life-giving community for priests to which I can remember going up to him and asking I belong, ran seminars, closely followed by him what he did all day, just sitting there our own Diocese and St College. under the apple tree reading and staring. It was strange being a Zoom presence at Pippin, he said, I am making my soul! And a Board of Trustees for The Museum of all these years later his words still resonate Homelessness, but the work continued. in my own life and soul. Great grandfather The lockdown brought time and space to was preparing himself to die, to go to God. think. Richard continued to go into work, When he did die, he was laid out in the farm and so for a large part of the day I was alone. parlour, in an open coffin, visited by many

11 friends and neighbours. travelling distances by my After the Requiem Mass new chariot, which means and funeral, he was that I can now attend daily planted like a seed in Mass. I am surprised the ground, his life was by how physically tired celebrated at the farm with I get, especially in the a great ham tea, crusty afternoon. A far cry from bread, golden butter, with my years on Long Island Welsh Cakes, homemade in the Bahamas as a young , and much gossip! priest, when I said Mass At seventy nine, and in each day in a different my solitude I thought of church, and sang four my soul; it was a chance Masses every Sunday, and to look back over my life thought nothing of it, but and count the cost of the that is perhaps a story for years. Time to repent of another time! Fr Pip in his chariot times when I did not love Even when I am old and (photo: Martin Woolley) as much as I ought to have grey, do not forsake me, done, and thank God for His wonderful my God, ’til I declare your power to the next goodness to me over the years. My life- generation, your mighty acts to all who are long asthma and my arthritis have begun to come. Psalm 71: 18. to get the better of me, and I am helped in Fr Philip Bevan

Sermon for the FEAST of the Assumption 2020 by X Jonathan Baker

‘The Feast of Our Lady in Harvest,’ or just, we hope in the resurrection: we are able ‘Easter in Summer’ — those are two of to say, look, here is a human person taken the titles given to this day and this feast by up into glory, here is what it looks like our Christian brothers and sisters in parts to say of someone who is a creature as of southern and eastern Europe. Easter in we are, fashioned from the dust: Death, Summer — and how fitting it is that the where is your victory? And we are able to epistle for this principal feast of Mary the say, as we celebrate Mary’s assumption, Mother of the Lord is part of St Paul’s great very specifically, that we believe in, and hymn to the resurrection from his First can see, the resurrection of the body. Not Letter to the Corinthians. The Assumption for we Christians the speculations of the of Our Blessed Lady is, of course, the fruit philosophers about the survival of the of her Son’s resurrection. As we celebrate soul, not for us the conviction of pagans Mary’s assumption and proclaim her to ancient or modern that our future consists in be, body and soul, in the glory of heaven, absorption into the stars or the rivers or the so we affirm our faith in the resurrection trees, not for us the gloom of the scientific of the dead. We are able to say more than materialists for whom there is nothing we believe in the resurrection, more than beyond the grave but the abyss of non-

12 existence: no, we proclaim that we shall and courtyards — all these find their echo know God in our bodies — transfigured, in the sanctuaries of our churches, carried yes, glorified, yes, but demonstrably and over into, and continued in, the worship recognisably ourselves, our perishable of God in this the dispensation of the New nature clothed in imperishability. Covenant. You will know of course that at To possess the very centre a body, even a of the Holy risen body, a of Holies, the glorified body, most sacred requires there place of wor- to be a space ship, in the in which that second and body can dwell: smaller temple and so as we built by the celebrate the people of Israel promise of the on their return resurrection to Jerusalem life in the from exile in Babylon was Assumption Bishop Jonathan, preaching for the Assumption of Mary, we — nothing: for celebrate the reality of heaven, the place the Ark of the Covenant, where the very where we shall be at home with God. One of presence of God was known to dwell, was the beautiful symmetries of this feast day is lost when the former temple was destroyed that of the homecoming of the one who gave and the people taken into captivity. And in God a home. Many of you here and many today’s first reading from the Apocalypse, watching online I am sure will be pilgrims St John the Divine sees the vision of to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, heaven, the sanctuary, the holy place, laid England’s Nazareth, and you will know open, and the ark of the covenant there. that at the heart of Walsingham is the Holy And then the great sign — a woman, whose House. One of my fellow Guardians of the son is born to rule over all nations. Now Holy House writes that, at Walsingham, we the woman clothed with the sun, standing rejoice to say that ‘here God has a house on the moon, can rightly be understood as and God has a mother’.1 God has a house. the symbol of the people of Israel, or of One of the threads running through the Old the Church: but surely too she is Mary, the Testament is that of their quest to make a new Ark, the one in whom the creator of all dwelling place fitting for God Most High things was pleased to dwell. The Holy of — in the tabernacle, the tent, carried by Holies, the House of God and the gate of the people of Israel through the wilderness Heaven, is no longer the innermost recess on their journey to the promised land; then of a temple built by human hands in brick in the Temple in Jerusalem. The beauty and in stone; it is no longer an empty space; of the tabernacle, its colours and fabrics; 1 The Revd Dr Jeremy Sheehy, ‘Sacred Space the fittings and lamps and the other holy and the Incarnation’ in Sacred Space, things which adorned the Temple precincts Continuum, 2007 p20

13 it is a woman, it is Mary, the Lord’s mother, is the one who ponders the things of God in whose most inward parts contain ‘heaven her heart, modelling for us the life of prayer and earth in little space.’2 and contemplation; Mary is the one who As we pause and wonder at these truths hurries to tell her cousin Elizabeth of all of our faith, as we gaze in our mind’s eye that the Lord has done in her life, modelling upon the image of the woman clothed with for us evangelisation and witness; Mary is the sun, so we must hold all of this together the one who says to the steward at the feast, with our Gospel reading, with the young and pointing to her Son, ‘Do whatever he girl from Nazareth, the ‘lassie from the tells you,’ modelling for us obedience and sticks,’ in the words of one modern biblical discipleship; Mary is the one who most scholar,3 ‘waxen little more than a child,’ in perfectly fulfils her son’s words, ‘blessed Mother Julian’s memorable phrase, singing are those who hear the word of God and ‘Magnificat,’ singing the praises of God; keep it’. From the Cross Jesus gives the and we must remember that these are not beloved disciple, the representative of all two Marys, but one and the same. It is a disciples, into Mary’s hands: and so it is mistake of some protestant attitudes to that the Mother of the Church is present at Mary of Nazareth to see in her no more than the birth of the Church, as she prays with a convenient vessel for God’s purposes, a the apostles and awaits the descent, once necessary bit of the kit, as it were, needed to more and afresh, of the Holy Spirit who bring about the incarnation, but afterwards came upon her at the annunciation. disposable, of no further interest, the job The orthodox theologian Sergius done. It is, or has been, perhaps, a mistake Bulgakov writes passionately of Mary’s of some strands in catholic devotion so to lifelong vocation to be the Mother of emphasise devotion to the glorious Queen Jesus, the Mother of God: God requires of of Heaven and thereby minimalize the life her4 constant, testing, trusting and faithful and witness of the earthly Mary. But here growth in that vocation, growth in holiness: in St Luke’s great hymn is the spirit-filled in this she is a disciple with us, and the Mother of the Lord singing of God’s mercy model of discipleship for us. She is the and God’s majesty, here is the Mother of pattern of the Christian life, the pattern of the Lord singing of God’s protecting hand life in Christ. on the poor of the Lord; the materially poor, And so we return to today’s feast. If Mary yes of course, but also the poor in spirit, all is the pattern of the Christian life, where can who know their need of God. Here is the she be, but alive, body and soul, in that place Mary who seems to exemplify the very where the Christian life finds its destiny and qualities of the Beatitudes which her Son would teach to be the very hallmarks of 2 Mediæval carol, c 1420 blessing. Mary of course is closer to God 3 See John Fenton ‘The Blessed Virgin Mary’ than we could possibly imagine as the one in More About Mark SPCK 2001 p 95 who bears His Son: but this is not a passive closeness, Mary is not merely the recipient 4 See The Burning Bush: On the Orthodox veneration of the Mother of God trans Thomas of divine grace as a jar might be filled up Allan Smith, Grand rapids/Cambridge 2009 with water: no, the water overflows, it is See esp ch 4 ‘The Glorification of the Mother living water, it is active discipleship. Mary of God’.

14 its fulfilment, its ‘perfect consummation this parish. 5 and bliss?’ Where can she be but in the Blessed are you Mary, pattern of the heavenly places, a sign, a beacon, for us resurrection life. Blessed are you Mary, of God’s purposes for our own lives? Yet who bore the creator in your womb. Blessed one thing more we must say. No more in are you Mary, pattern of discipleship and heaven than on earth is Mary’s a passive model of the Christian life. Blessed are you or a merely functional rôle. There, she Mary, assumed body and soul into heaven, intercedes for all the children of her Son; who intercedes for us with your Son. And she is the ‘noonday torch of charity,’ the blessed above all others is the fruit of your 6 ‘living spring of hope’. She is Mother of womb, Jesus. Amen. Mercy; she is our gracious advocate; she casts the protecting veil of her maternal 5 BCP Burial Office care and compassion over all things living, 6 These two are titles accorded to the Blessed over all creation. She prays the prayers Virgin Mary in Dante’s Paradiso, Canto of a mother who witnessed the suffering XXXIII, 10, 12 (Everyman edn 1995, tr. and death of her own Son for the teenager Allen Mandelbaum) killed the other day even in the precincts of

All Saints, Margaret Street Part 4

Kenneth Needham Ross (1951 – 1969) he wrote: “All Saints’, while always In 1951 Bishop William Wand appointed remaining avowedly and proudly Anglican Kenneth Needham Ross as eighth vicar. has found great strength in the past in a After a curacy in the Southwell diocese he judicious and discriminating willingness to spent nine years on the staff at Salisbury learn from the Roman Catholic Church. I Theological College and then ten years as hope and believe that it will continue to do Vicar of St John the Baptist, Old Malden in so in the future.” Although Ross questioned Surrey. Unlike his immediate predecessor elements of Roman dogma, he actually he had not worked through a stream of brought distinctly Western practices into distinctively Anglo-Catholic Churches. All Saints. In his first year Devotions While at All Saints, he produced a number before the Blessed Sacrament advanced of short pamphlets and booklets on the into Benediction — something which Catholic traditions and practices of the Mackay had expressly desired thirty years parish. In 1953 High Mass explained did before. In his first Holy Week in 1952 the exactly that on what was then a modified High Mass of the Easter Vigil was moved Prayer Book rite clothed in the full Western from the morning of Holy Saturday until ceremonial of the time. He also produced a late that night, following the experimental series of pamphlets for a wider readership use allowed by Pius XII in 1951, which on the various sub-Christian cults which had been taken up by a number of Anglo- were and remain prevalent. His books Catholic churches. In 1959 the Blessing of included Why I am not a Roman Catholic, the Chrism and the other oils was quietly published in 1957 — in the pre-conciliar added to the High Mass of Maundy years. In 1969 at the end of his vicariate Thursday, which was then still celebrated

15 in the early morning. From 1960 the High only idea of worship is of the prayer- Mass of the Last Supper was celebrated meeting variety, I do not find that we are in the evening after a separate High Mass sufficiently alive to the opposite challenge of the Chrism earlier in the morning. This to our liturgical worship. There ought to be was celebrated by the or more evidence of that warmth of personal one of the suffragan bishops at All Saints devotion which does not depend at all on until 1979, after which more emphasis forms and ceremonies, but which springs was placed on the corporate renewal of straight from the heart. It may be and will ordination vows and the service moved to be shapeless and sprawling and inarticulate St Paul’s from 1980. and unpredictable, but that is all right, for it is not liturgical worship but unliturgical From the time of Upton Richards there devotion. It would be a grievous error if were various Guilds and Confraternities in we tried to make our liturgical services the parish; some were branches of Anglo- spontaneous and extempore; but I cannot Catholic Societies and some unique to All but think it a mistake too when people make Saints. The Confraternity of All Saints was their private prayers too liturgical.” Over established by Upton Richards in 1865 ten years later in June 1964 Kenneth Ross with the object of uniting young women wrote that the Guild which had gone on its between the ages of 18 and 30 working in way steadily, though with a diminishing London in a fellowship of prayer and good membership, was an association of people works. This flourished for many years who prayed for All Saints and support it, but was adversely affected by the Second making their Communion regularly and World War and was dissolved in 1952. This their confession at least annually. Members opened the way for two new ventures: The specifically undertook to spend half an Guild of the Sacred Heart open to all and hour a week in prayer for the conversion of the Fellowship of St Margaret for younger sinners, preferably in church. This was for women. some usefully undertaken during the silent Holy Hour concluding with Benediction on The Guild of the Sacred Heart was Thursday evening every week which was established to encourage private prayer. however open to all. Kenneth Ross commented, “All Saints’ has long been famous for the beauty The Fellowship of St Margaret for and reverence of its liturgical worship, young women attending All Saints met and there must be thousands to whom one evening each week ‘for purposes of corporate worship has meant something devotion, culture and recreation’. Kenneth entirely different after a visit to All Ross added: “That sounds horridly stilted, Saints’. I pray that this may never cease but you can see the idea!” Three years on to be true. But I become uneasy when I in 1955 the Fellowship of St Margaret find, as I sometimes do, that people do reported on the previous year’s activities, not always balance participation in this which concluded on the feast of St Margaret most moving formal worship with a more of Antioch, their chosen patron saint. Fr spontaneous and unliturgical devotion in [later Metropolitan] Anthony Bloom gave their private prayers. Whereas our High a talk about the Orthodox liturgy and the Mass convincingly challenges folk whose Church in Russia. There were talks on the

16 Diocese of Nassau, with which All Saints’ Eastertide 1959 to be conducted by Fr had been connected since Roscow Shedden Jonathan Graham CR, Kenneth Ross went as bishop, and on the St Pancras wrote: ‘Early in this century All Saints’ was Housing Association, founded by Fr Basil described by a well-known and sympathetic Jellicoe, who had lived at 84 Margaret observer as an “extinct volcano”. Whether Street, regularly assisting at All Saints. that was just or not, it certainly started erupting again under Mackay’s inspired In anticipation of the centenary of leadership. The parish work might diminish the Parish in 1959 a restoration was and almost reach vanishing point, but the undertaken in late 1958 under the direction mission of All Saints Church to London as a of the architect Laurence King. The work whole increased. The temptation to merely included an interior decorative scheme cater for a little pious coterie of musically- which completely overpainted significant or ritualistically-minded persons is one parts of Butterfield’s original decoration, a which has always been eschewed here.’ new lighting installation, the repositioning of the 1924 statue of Our Lady and the 1959 was the centenary of the Divine Infant on a corbel bracket with a consecration of the church. In the June spirelet above and three new somewhat Parish Paper in an article entitled “A baroque confessionals. These replaced hundred years of blessings” Kenneth Ross the perfunctory “Confessional Screens” wrote: “Right from its consecration in 1859 erected in 1911 early in Mackay’s time. Mass has been said daily in All Saints’, and King’s proposal for a new setting of the the whole lay-out of the church proclaims Calvary Crucifix beneath the west window that it is the Mass that matters. I believe of the baptistery was never implemented. myself that more people will have been The Crucifix was taken down, together with converted through attending High Mass here its altar and black hangings, at the time of than by hearing the splendid evangelical the internal restoration. It was subsequently sermons of past vicars and of this given on loan to the Chapel in Wandsworth place. The high solemnity with which the Prison, where it remains. The final part of worship is conducted, coupled with the King’s interior scheme was a timber screen determination of those participating to across the south chancel aisle, erected in make their lives something to join to the late 1962. Most of King’s other work was Sacrifice of Christ, this brings us right to subsequently reversed between 1994 and the heart of the Christian message. What 2014. The remaining parts are the gilding is it that unites high and low together, but of the previously plain foliated alabaster the conviction that the Sacrifice of Christ’s frieze high above the choir stalls below the clerestory windows, the corbel bracket death is central? The whole purpose of supporting the statue of our Lady, a small Eucharistic worship is “that we may ever square table in the nave, and two of the dwell in him and he in us” — and who three confessionals. The timber screen was is he but the Lamb of God freely offered replaced in 2007 by the present iron gates in for the sins of the world? The Mass is the memory of Helen Clayton, the first woman proclamation of Christ’s death, and here to serve as a churchwarden of All Saints. we have a part in his dying and rising again. So far as we are concerned, Calvary Leading up to a Parish Mission in might just as well not have witnessed the

17 crucifixion and Margaret Street not have evenings for a programme varying between seen a hundred years of Masses, if we are light entertainment and serious discussion. not finding Calvary here and if we are not There were a number of distinguished feeding on Christ throughout the day by speakers. In 1967 Archbishop T.D. Roberts faith with thanksgiving.” S.J, who was based at Farm Street, gave an address on the subject of “Vatican II and The Octave of liturgical celebrations Authority”. Amongst other activities the for the Centenary included an exterior Club arranged the coffee mornings which procession of the Blessed Sacrament had been started after Sunday High Mass around the parish. The canopy was carried in the Parish Rooms at 84 Margaret Street. by four Doctors of Divinity, including In November 1968 the Club arranged the Eric Mascall. (Although a monstrance festival party for the congregation; people was borrowed for this procession, it was were encouraged to get their tickets early not until 1982 that a monstrance was as there would be guests from St Charles introduced for Benediction. At the same Borromeo, Hinde Street Methodist and St time the references to the Immaculate James’ Spanish Place! Conception and Glorious Assumption were included in the Divine Praises.) There were series of lectures on Monday evenings. A sample from November 1968: In 1960 the All Saints Men’s Forum Anthony Cǽsar spoke on the “Future of was established for men under 40. Early Psalm-singing” and Metropolitan Anthony meetings were addressed by a number Bloom on “Why use the psalms at all?” of well known guest speakers including The Pope’s representative in England, Bishop Mervyn Stockwood, Dean Eric Archbishop I.E. Cardinale, the Apostolic Abbot, Fr Trevor Huddleston, C.R. and Delegate, then spoke on “Renewal, Reform Peter Boydell, Chancellor of the Dioceses and Reunion”. of Oxford, Worcester and Truro. In January 1962 the Men’s Forum and the Fellowship Kenneth Ross was vicar when both the of St Margaret held a joint Christmas party; church and the world were in a time of rapid the Parish Paper reported “It was the first transition. Liturgical change in the Church venture of this kind and proved to be a of England followed the very significant great success, so much so that members of changes in the Roman Catholic Church both organisations are determined to repeat after the Second Vatican Council. The new it on suitable occasions in the future.” Later rites (Series 1 and 2) in 1962 both were dissolved and “The 84 were introduced at All Saints alongside modifications to the ceremonial associated Club” was formed as a new mixed club with the Council, but the Eastward position for everybody in All Saints under the was maintained. age of 40. The Club produced Saints in Fetters, a dramatically illustrated history Within the parish some of the most of the church, its priests and furnishing. challenging problems were around the An expanded and improved version was resident Choir School for eighteen boys. performed on two evenings in October In the early 1960s an ambitious scheme 1963 as an extension of the Dedication had been proposed to demolish Nos 6, Festival. The Club met on Wednesday 7 and 8 Margaret Street and to build a

18 small commercial office block, a larger In 1969 Fr Ross moved to Wells as Canon Choir School for both resident and non- Chancellor. He died in 1970 at the age of resident boys with a small suite of rooms 61. Over fifty years later those who were for the vicar. In late 1967 it became clear in the parish in Kenneth Ross’s time fondly to Fr Ross and the Churchwardens that the remember a shy but kind and intelligent School was unsustainable as an educational man. establishment and would therefore be closed at Easter 1968. What can now The last fifty years and the last five vicars be seen to be the inevitable and correct (one Michael, three Davids and another decision created much hostility both inside Alan) and outside the Parish. Following Fr Ross there have been five vicars spanning a period of half a century. Fr Ross was much sought after as a Four are still living: Michael Marshall, confessor. His book Hearing Confessions David Hope, David Hutt and Alan Moses. was published in 1974, after his death. The tenth vicar, David Sparrow, served five Many still remember his undemonstrative, years from 1976 until 1981, when he sadly carefully prepared and engaging sermons. died in office after a long illness at the age He had been a regular contributor and of just 45. theological adviser to the Church Times. John Forde

New website, new addresses The church has a new website, and a new address where it lives. But don’t worry, if you put the old address into your computer, it will re-direct you to the right place automatically. The new address is: asms.uk We hope you’ll find that rather easier to remember, and pass on to friends. You can put ‘www’ on the front, or not — either way it will get you there. This means the parish emails are changing too. But again, the old addresses will continue to work indefinitely. The new addresses are: [email protected] [email protected] Do drop us an email at the office if you encounter any problems — if, say, you used to rely on part of the old site, but can’t find the equivalent page on the new one. We considered adopting the address “asms.org” but the anagram persuaded us otherwise. James Sherwood Parish Office [email protected]

19 SERMON for Trinity 9

Last week I ended with some fake news, Peter tries to meet him on the waves, sets out, promising The Calming of the Storm. Today’s begins to sink and is rescued. Gospel was not the one generally entitled As with last week’s miracle or sign The Calming of the Storm, but we did hear scriptural context abounds: briefly, the a calming of a storm, the second of the sea- waters of chaos being calmed by the Spirit miracles, a more personal story involving at creation; our rescue, in the person of the group of disciples in general and Peter in Noah, from the great Flood; the deep history particular. I had mentally replaced one piece of Israel’s God as one who rides upon the of the Gospel jigsaw with one of a similar storm and can make his way on the waters; shape. That is very much how the Gospels and Passover, the parting of the Red Sea. work: human story-telling taking events The theme is found in creation narrative, and placing them to illustrate the truth they repeated in psalms and canticles, enacted in demonstrate. Stories, like humankind, are the Exodus. The people of God, tossed about made in the image of God. on the storms of life, are rescued by the one As I said last week, at the heart of the who redeems us, saves us; we are recalled Gospels we hear about Jesus’ teaching to faith, to trust the promise that though we ministry, though always with an eye to fail and sink, we are pulled back to safety his Passion and Resurrection. This core is by our loving God. The underlying scripture made up of parables, and miracles which are proclaims that only God can master this parables, plus a couple of sermons which are terrifying element, telling us who Jesus expanded into formal discourses by John, is. Today’s Gospel is a disclosure of the interwoven with the parables and miracles. same type as the Transfiguration. Peter’s We are now in the midst of three Sundays experience is ours, a reassurance that Christ focusing on these Miracles, or as John more is always at hand for each of us as well as accurately describes them, Signs, which for the Church as a whole. As suggested are enacted parables. Their point is what is last week, there is more detail in Fr Jeffrey signified. Last week we heard the feeding of John’s book The Meaning in the Miracles. the five thousand, which is followed by the Last week in setting the scene for the feeding of the four thousand, events which miracles, I mentioned the Jewish teaching point us to God’s gathering-in and feeding method, Haggadah, ‘narrative’ in which both Jews and gentiles with the bread of his scriptural texts are used to interpret what word, enacted for us daily at the altar in the is reported, weaving together threads of Mass. prophecy-fulfilment, symbolism, typology, Today we’ve heard the strange story of allegory and numerology. The reported event Jesus sending his friends out in a boat in a reapplies the truths, hopes, patterns and storm while himself withdrawing for quiet meanings of the scriptural past to the present, prayer: this withdrawal precedes a significant and the key to unlocking the meaning is found re-entry. The disciples are frightened both by in the Old Testament stories underlying the the storm and, as we’ve just heard, by him telling. walking towards them across the sea. He This way of communicating narrative is responds, ‘do not be afraid, it is I’, ‘do not innately human. Knowing it from fiction or to be afraid’ being the single most frequent the telling of myths helps us to understand divine command in scripture. Then impulsive what the scriptural writers are doing: this

20 is human communication, with the truth- the Heavens and Earth, followed by The stakes raised. Creation of Adam and Eve and the Expulsion from the Garden of Eden. And, note for Compare, at the most basic level, films today, Noah and the Great Flood. The figures of books and remakes of films. In a more around these frescoes are accompanied by nuanced way some directors reuse or prophets and sibyls who foretold the coming recreate scenes and images from other of Christ. In the four corners of the room are films; some call this intertextuality; that scenes depicting the Salvation of Israel. just means one text using another text to tell a story. Fr Richard Leonard SJ writes As with religious art, not every Fellini film that this is characteristic of animated films is as effective in communication as every like Shrek, which set me thinking about other, but within the completeness of his how many sophisticated references and work each film is an episode with individual re-tellings were present in the animated scenes. Fellini himself said: cartoons of my youth, from Bugs Bunny All my films turn upon this idea… a world to Duckula. That led me in turn to my without love, characters full of selfishness, favourite director, Federico Fellini. Fellini, people exploiting one other, and in the midst whose working life began as a cartoonist, of it all, there is always… a little creature constructed his films from a series of who wants to give love and who lives for characters which he drew; there was no love. fixed script (that’s a parable of creation). That is a profoundly Catholic sensibility, As he found his voice, his films became almost echoing S Therese of Lisieux. interlocking scenes worked up from these images, weaving together elements from his Many of Fellini’s films have inspired films, or scenes in films, by other directors, remembered past. All are beautiful, funny acknowledging the power and truth of and human. Having just watched again his his stories, their human resonance. The most personal film, Amarcord, (Riminese incarnation enfleshes religious story telling dialect for ‘I remember’), I was struck by as the most human story telling. The Gospel a comment by one of his producers, Renzo is the story of how God, to show his love Rossellini: ‘all Fellini’s films are frescoes’. for us, achieves human resonance, makes his For an Italian, growing up with that sort of Word heard in our words. Those frescoes, art all around him, this does not mean just and what you see depicted all around you in frescoes in the technical sense. He means this building, are Gospels. The miracles or visual narratives in fragmentary episodes, signs are scenes which communicate truth if carefully arranged to help us interpret them. we don’t get stuck on the surface of them. An orthodox iconostasis, mediæval wall We don’t need to be fearful that this paintings and, nearer to hand, the images all somehow undermines the truth of the around us on these walls and in our stained- Gospel. This resonance with our lives makes glass windows, all do this, they tell us the it our story: we are pulled from the waves Gospel. when we fall or fail. That is why the gospels Rossellini compares the famous frescoes are the Gospel, capital G, the primary of the Sistine Chapel, where Michelangelo, Christian scripture. They are narratives, asked by Pope Julius to paint a geometrically not propositions, statements or laws. Jesus ornamented ceiling with the twelve apostles didn’t die for a proposition. He entered around the decoration, instead painted into our life, including our death, so that Old Testament scenes, organizing the we could become fully human, alive in the composition so that the narrative begins at image of God. the altar with the story of The Creation of Fr Michael

21 MUSIC LIST SEPTEMBER 2020

X SUNDAY 6 September X SUNDAY 20 SEPTEMBER 13th AFTER TRINITY 15th AFTER TRINITY MASS AT NOON MASS AT NOON Motet: I was glad — Parry Motet: Ertödt uns durch dein güte Communion Hymn: 309 (i) Victim divine BWV 22 — Bach thy grace we claim Communion Hymn: 308 (T279) Thee we Voluntary: Toccata from Symphonie 5 adore, O hidden Saviour, thee in F minor Op 42 — Widor Voluntary: Fugue on a theme of Corelli BWV 579 — Bach X SUNDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 14th AFTER TRINITY X SUNDAY 27 SEPTEMBER MASS AT NOON 16th AFTER TRINITY Motet: O how amiable — Weelkes MASS AT NOON Communion Hymn: 312 (T425) Where the Motet: A new commandment — Tallis appointed sacrifice Communion Hymn: 275 Blessed Jesu, Voluntary: A voluntary for my Mary’s son Ladye Neville — Byrd Voluntary: Præludium in G — Buxtehude All services are streamed on YouTube. Motets and hymns are pre-recorded from the choir’s homes, and produced specially for each service.

KEEPING IN TOUCH As well as the monthly Parish Paper, you can keep in touch with life at All Saints through: The All Saints Website: asms.uk The Weekly Parish Email This gives weekly news of events, people to pray for, and a short letter from the Assistant Priest.You can subscribe by sending the Parish Office an email titled News and Events/Weekly Newsletter to: [email protected] Assistant Priest: The Revd Dr Michael Bowie 07581 180963 Email: [email protected] Honorary Assistant Priest: The Revd Julian Browning 020 7286 6034 Parish Office: 020 7636 1788 Email: [email protected]

22 – ALL SAINTS MARGARET STREET – (Registered Charity Number: 1132895) Parish Legacy Policy At All Saints Church, we welcome all gifts in Wills, however large or small, and we promise to use your gift to make a difference in our parish. Our PCC legacy policy is to encourage people to leave bequests specifically to one of our two related charities: All Saints Choir & Music Trust (Charity Number: 802994) which supports the choral tradition at All Saints. The capital of the Choir & Music Trust cannot be spent, only the income. or All Saints Foundation (Charity Number: 273390) which assists the PCC in the care of our Grade 1 listed heritage buildings. The capital of the All Saints Foundation can be spent. Non Designated Bequests When bequests which have not been designated for any specific purpose are received, the PCC’s policy is to direct these to one or other of the two All Saints Trusts, or to some specific piece of restoration work or capital expenditure. You can be confident that your gift will have a long—lasting effect rather than being used to pay day—to—day expenses. Remembering Donors The names of donors will be entered in our Chantry Book and they will be remembered in prayer each year on the anniversary of their death. Contacting Us about Bequests If you would like to discuss making a bequest to All Saints, please contact: The Vicar/Honorary Treasurer/The All Saints Choir and Music Trust Administrator/ The All Saints Foundation Administrator c/o The Vicarage, 7 Margaret Street, London W1W 8JG. The Parish Office can put you in touch with these individuals by email. Please email in confidence:[email protected] or telephone 020 7636 1788.

Mission Projects All Saints year—round fundraising efforts support: The Church Army hostels and programmes empowering homeless women into independent living in Marylebone (The Marylebone Project) The USPG—led UMOJA, HIV Project in Zimbabwe, enabling people living with HIV and Aids to live positive lives, and The Soup Kitchen (American International Church, Tottenham Court Road) feeding up to 80 vulnerable people daily CALENDAR and INTENTIONS for SEPTEMBER

1 S Giles Medical researchers 2 Feria Preachers 3 S Gregory the Great Pope Francis 4 S Cuthbert 5 S Teresa of Calcutta Christians in India 6 X TRINITY 13 Parish and People 7 Feria Christian healing ministries 8 NATIVITY of the BVM Thanksgiving for Our Lady 9 Feria Anglican Religious Communities 10 Feria Christian Unity 11 Feria Persecuted Christians 12 Holy Name of Mary Devotion to our Lady 13 X TRINITY 14 Parish and People 14 hOLY CROSS DAY Christians in Jerusalem 15 Our Lady at the Cross Parents and carers 16 Ss Cornelius and Cyprian Theologians and teachers 17 S Hildegard of Bingen Church musicians 18 Feria Persecuted Christians 19 Monthly Requiem Faithful departed 20 X TRINITY 15 Parish and People 21 S MATTHEW Evangelists 22 Feria Practical discipleship 23 S Pius of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) Spiritual directors 24 Our Lady of Walsingham Shrines of OLW 25 S Sergei of Radonezh Russian Christians 26 of BVM Our Deanery and Area Dean 27 X TRINITY 16 Parish and People 28 Feria School 29 S MICHAEL & ALL ANGELS Thanksgiving for the angels 30 S Jerome Translators of Scripture

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