ST MICHAEL’S, AND ALL SAINTS, HIGHGATE PARISH MAGAZINE November/December 2013 From the vicar and priest-in-charge A new window for St Michael’s? ’m writing about an exciting possible addition to the imprint of many stages and differing styles of development fabric of our parish church, which could be part of and addition; as the excellent material and guidebook pro- I our generation’s bequest to the future. A little back- duced as part of our restoration project under Roger Sains- ground may help. bury’s guidance and leadership shows, we are no exception. When Keith and Jennifer Horne Roberts approached me Most parish churches, other than those built since the sec- quite some time ago with the idea of a new window in ond war, are full of memorials to the departed. These memory of the life of their dear son Harry, my initial reac- range from small plaques (of which there are plenty at St tion was to see the difficulties and to try to dissuade them. Michael’s) to much larger additions to the fabric, for in- But over the past few months I have begun to think differ- stance sculpture, or stained glass windows. In some places ently. There is one window in the building not obscured chapels have been added to parish churches or church halls by the gallery, a fact of which our late Reader Quentin Ed- built and dedicated in memory of the departed. But, so far wards was very conscious, as he told me on more than one as I can tell, in recent years there has been an increasingly occasion. It is the one immediately over the door which marked presumption against the introduction of new me- leads to the parish rooms. morials in parish churches; I think that for instance there would be little chance now of adding new brass plaques Just supposing we could enlist enough support from suffi- such as some of those in the side chapel. There are excep- cient people to raise funds for a really excellent new win- tions, such as the very discreet memorial to our predeces- dow, very much of our time period but carefully designed sor at All Saints, Fr Phillip Storr Venter, next to the splen- to fit in with the rest of the building? Wouldn’t this be an did new glass doors at the west end which his generosity excellent contribution to the beauty of our parish church helped to fund. But this presumption against makes for from our generation? I am personally very excited by this tidier and less cluttered church buildings, and it avoids idea. detracting from the buildings we have inherited from the past. Given that we have had to spend so much money recently on making the building meet the new fire safety regula- There is an emphasis on conserving that inheritance, and tions, and that a large stonework restoration project will be all that was accomplished two or three years ago with the essential in the reasonably near future, and that other funds conservation/restoration of the East Wall alongside all the will need to be earmarked for essential work on the parish other work at St Michael’s has done a tremendous amount (Continued on page 5) to heighten the appearance of our building, which I am sure has an indirect effect on our worship and our life as a parish church. However, I was much struck by a cri de coeur in the Church Times a year or two ago, which, so far as I can remember it regretted that the emphasis on con- servation and the strict presumption against memorials, taken together was leading to a situation where our gen- eration might be the one which made little or no distinc- tive contribution of its own to the organic development of most of our parish churches. Those of you who know far more about the history of church architecture than I do will I hope agree when I say that even buildings of very ancient foundation show the SERVICES AT ST MICHAEL’S Services are modern language (Common Worship) except where indicated as BCP (Book of Common Prayer). NOVEMBER 2013 SUNDAY 24th NEXT BEFORE ADVENT: CHRIST THE SUNDAY 4th ALL SAINTS SUNDAY KING 8.00am Holy Communion Ephesians 1.11- 8.00am Holy Communion (BCP) 23; Luke 6.20-31 9.45am Morning Prayer Colossians 1.11-20; Luke 9.45am Holy Communion Ephesians 1.11- 23.33-43 23; Luke 6.20-31 11.15am Holy Communion with Baptism Colossians 11.15am Morning Worship Ephesians 1.11- 1.11-20; Luke 23.33-43 23; Luke 6.20-31 6.30pm Evening Prayer (BCP) 1 Samuel 8.4-20; John 6.30pm Choral Eucharist (BCP, with com- 18.33-37 memoration of the faithful de- parted); Hebrews 11.32—12.2; Luke 9:18-27 DECEMBER 2013 SUNDAY 1st ADVENT SUNDAY SUNDAY 10th 3 BEFORE ADVENT 8.00am Holy Communion (BCP) (REMEMBRANCE, Trinity 24) 10.30am United Parish Communion Isaiah 2.1-5; 8.00am Holy Communion (BCP) Romans 13.11-14; Matthew 24.36-44 9.45am Morning Prayer Job 19.23-27a; 6.30pm Service of Advent Lessons and Carols Luke 20.27-38 10.50am Act of Remembrance 11.25am Holy Communion: Job 19.23- SUNDAY 8th ADVENT 2 note time 27a; Luke 20.27-38 8.00am Holy Communion (BCP) 6.00pm Highgate School Remembrance 9.45am Morning Prayer Isaiah 11.1-10; Matthew 3.1 Service -12 11.15am Holy Communion Isaiah 11.1-10; Matthew 3.1-12 SUNDAY 17th 2 BEFORE ADVENT 6.30pm A Service of Music and Readings for Advent 8.00am Holy Communion (BCP; readings and Christmas of Epiphany 3) 9.45am Holy Communion Malachi 4.1-2a; Luke 21.5-19 SUNDAY 15th ADVENT 3 11.15am Morning Worship Malachi 4.1-2a; 8.00am Holy Communion (BCP) Luke 21.5-19 9.45am Holy Communion Isaiah 35.1-10; Matthew 6.30pm Choral Evensong (BCP) Daniel 6; 11.2-11 Matthew 13.1-9,18-23 11.15am Morning Worship Isaiah 35.1-10; Matthew 11.2-11 5.00pm Christingle Service SUNDAY 22nd ADVENT 4 8.00am Holy Communion (BCP) 9.45am Family Carol Service 11.15am Holy Communion with Carols Isaiah 7.10- 16; Matthew 1.18-25 6.30pm Service of Nine Lessons and Carols 2 CHRISTMAS EVE: Tuesday 24th 11.30pm Midnight Eucharist of the Nativity (BCP) CHRISTMAS DAY: Wednesday 25th 8.00am Holy Communion (BCP) 10.00am Christmas Nativity 11.00am Holy Communion SUNDAY 29th CHRISTMAS 1 8.00am Holy Communion (BCP) 10.30am United Parish Communion Hebrews 2.10-18; Matthew 2.13-23 SERVICES AT ALL SAINTS 6.30pm Evening Prayer (BCP) Isaiah 49.7-13; Philippians 2.1-11 WEEKLY SERVICES AT ALL SAINTS Sundays 10.00 am Parish Communion JANUARY 2014 SUNDAY 5th Epiphany of our Lord Wednesdays 8.00am Holy Communion Ephesians 3.1-12; Matthew 7.30 pm Holy Communion 2.1-12 9.45am Holy Communion Ephesians 3.1-12; Matthew SERVICES AT MARY FEILDING GUILD 2.1-12 11.15am Morning Worship Ephesians 3.1-12; Matthew 1st Thursday of the Month 2.1-12 11.00 am Holy Communion 6.30pm Holy Communion of the Epiphany (BCP) Isaiah 60.1-9; John 2.1-11 Sundays (except the Sunday following the first Thursday) 11.15 am Extended Communion Brownies meet on Thursday evenings Guides meet on Monday evenings ALL SAINTS PARISH MAGAZINE READERS Please e-mail to All Saints editor at [email protected] submissions and correc- tions to Events, Services and Parish Register listings, for inclusion in future magazine edi- tions. Many thanks. 3 Report of St Michael’s PCC held on 12th September 2013 he main items discussed at the meeting were: Annual Report and Accounts for 2012: Jo Iwasaki presented the final audited version of the ac- T counts which was adopted by the PCC and will be received at the next APCM. The PCC would like to thank Jo Iwasaki for her time as treasurer. Jo is stepping down and being replaced by John-Henry Liepe. Budget for 2013 and Contribution to the Common Fund: An update on the 2013 budget and the pro- posed budget for 2014 were circulated. It was noted that there is likely to be a deficit of £60,000 this year due to the work being carried out to comply with fire safety and insurance requirements. It was agreed that the contri- bution on the Common Fund (which pays for the wages, pensions, housing and training of clergy across the Dio- cese) be increased by 4% to £130,000. Stewardship and Fundraising: The next stewardship campaign is to be held in spring 2015, details to follow. The committee will be working with James on internal arrangements of the parish and responsibility for data management. As part of a new Stewardship initiative, a curry supper was held at harvest weekend. Mission Committee: Arrangements for the ‘I Believe’ and Alpha courses were finalised and the programmes commenced in September. The committee plans to produce and distribute a St Michael’s Christmas card again this year. Mission Action Plan (MAP) Review: The MAP was a big talking point and will be the subject of a PCC away-day in January. Plans for the MAP include amending it to align with Capital Vision 2020 (the Diocese of London's mission and strategic framework to serve the city in which we live and work). The away-day will also address how we can improve internal co-ordination and communications, look at the challenges of growth and how to develop a more efficient way of managing church administration.