Dear friends,
Our guest preacher at Mass this Sunday will be the Rev’d Canon David Stanton, Sub-Dean and Canon Treasurer of Westminster Abbey. Canon Stanton is also a Trustee of Pusey House, Oxford; an honorary Fellow at Westminster University, and a Governor at Westminster School. He has previously served as a Church Commissioner for England, and – for most of the last decade – as Senior Independent Member of Oxford University’s Research Ethics Committee. Somewhat more dubiously, he was also one of the selectors who recommended me for ordination training, some seventeen years ago!
Canon Stanton will preach to us on the Transfiguration, the theme of this Sunday’s Gospel reading. As Pope Francis has observed, in the Transfiguration ‘Jesus shows the Apostles how he is in heaven: glorious, luminous, triumphant, victorious. He does this in order to prepare them to withstand the Passion‘, when they would instead behold him despised, and rejected by men. So Christ teaches us that the way to glory leads always through the Cross – for via crucis, via lucis: the Way of the Cross is truly a Way of Light.
This weekend we will also bid farewell to Fr Joseph Barnes, who has been with us on placement for the past month. We wish Fr Joseph well as he moves to his next assignment within our Fulham family of parishes: do join him at Mass on Saturday evening, or on Sunday morning, to thank him for his contribution to the life of our parish, and to pray God-speed.
The second session of our Lent Course takes place tomorrow (Friday): this week, the course will be hosted at All Saints’ Church, 531 Kenton Road HA3 0UL (not at St Mary’s) – and will begin with Stations of the Cross at 7pm.
From this weekend you will likewise be able to donate towards the cost of this year’s Easter flowers: these beautiful blooms are always a highlight of our paschal celebrations – and the suggested donation is again £5/lily. These may be sponsored in memory of a departed loved one: please PRINT their names clearly on the list in church. Cash donations may be placed into the basket at the back; otherwise, you can choose to donate digitally, using the contactless terminal. Donations will be received until Sunday, 6 April.
We require your assistance in various ways over the coming months: Pat Edwards will be signing up volunteers to contribute dishes to the party after our Easter Vigil on Saturday, 19 April: as usual, we are looking for sweet or savoury finger-food to share, for around 50 people. Earlier on Saturday, 19 April, we will need “all hands on deck” to help with the church’s “Big Spring Clean”, and Easter flower arranging, from 9am: come for as long or as little as you can manage – tea and coffee provided. We would likewise be grateful for volunteers to serve tea, coffee and hot cross buns after the Kenton Group of Churches Walk of Witness on Good Friday morning, 18 April (poster attached). The walk will begin at All Saints at 9am, pausing at Kenton Methodist Church around 9.45am, and finishing here at St Mary’s at 10am – followed by these refreshments. Those who cannot walk the whole route are welcome to wait in church for the procession to arrive. Finally, we will again celebrate a May Devotion jointly with All Saints’, on Saturday, 3 May in the afternoon. Plans for this are still being finalised – but we would appreciate your contributions of cakes, biscuits and baked goods for a sparkling afternoon tea, as well as offers of help to serve in the kitchen.
A reminder that next week on Wednesday, the Solemnity of St Joseph, Bishop Jonathan will celebrate Mass at St Andrew, Holborn at 7pm – when the preacher will be Fr Giles Allen: all welcome, including afterwards to drinks and a light supper. Fliers are also attached for the Friends of the Holy Land presentation by Bishop William Shomali (Patriarchal Vicar for Jerusalem and Palestine) on Monday, 31 March from 12pm at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church; and for the Bereavement Care Spring Fair and coffee morning on Wednesday, 9 April from 10am to 4pm at Harrow District Masonic Centre, on Northwick Circle.
Finally, advance notice that we will come together for a parish conference after Mass on Sunday, 14 September (the Feast of the Holy Cross) – when we will be joined by the new Fulham Missioner, Fr Stephen Gallagher. This will be an opportunity, over lunch, to reflect together on the life of our parish, and to discern God’s will for our future: further to follow in due course!
Our parish printers (who have just produced our Easter publicity – about which more in next week’s mailing!) have also recently opened an online marketplace for Christian products and services, which you can browse here.
This week’s incense is Blachernae Rose.
May God, who from the death of sin raised you to new life in Christ, keep you from falling, and set you in the presence of His glory,
Fr Richard