Sunday 27th October 2019 Last Sunday after Trinity
This week's REFLECTION
'The Tax Collector and the Pharisee', National Cathedral, Washington
THIS WEEK'S READINGS
Ecclesiasticus 35.12-17 · Psalm 65 · 2 Timothy 4. 6-8, 16-18 · Luke 18. 9-14
‘ …who trusted in themselves that they were righteous’ (v.9)
This passage follows on directly from last week's on the parable of the widow and the unjust judge, and continues Jesus' teaching on prayer. As with the earlier parable, today we are presented with a contrast: two men, a Pharisee and a tax collector, are praying in the temple. Again, there is an unevenness of status between the two. The Pharisee is one of the respected religious elite; the tax collector, a member of the 'tax collectors and sinners' class of outcasts.
Jesus reserved some of his harshest criticism for those who paraded their supposed virtue and importance in public, and the Pharisee here comes in for particularly scathing judgement. Jesus seems to be saying that the ultimate barrier between ourselves and God does not necessarily lie in the wrong attitudes we hold and the mistakes we make in life, but in whether or not we are able to approach God, ourselves and others with genuine humility. It is human nature to play up what we imagine are our strengths and underplay our weaknesses, and to compare ourselves to others, often to the others' detriment. Subversively, this is the tendency Jesus confronts us with, and with which he challenges us to face honestly our own behaviour and attitudes. I once heard of a preacher whose sermon simply consisted of reading this parable to the congregation and them saying, 'Hands up anyone who didn't think, "Thank God I'm not like that Pharisee"...'
Barbara Mosse
Bishop to take us beyond the Brexit debate
This Thursday (October 31) at 7.30pm our Area Bishop is coming to Holy Trinity to talk about what happens after Brexit, offering a Christian perspective on the debate and how to bring the nation back together.
Bishop Graham had been planning to speak on the theme of the Incarnation but in view of the urgency of the situation in the nation at the moment he has decided to change the topic. SPCK are publishing a short book he has written on the topic later in November. We as the church may have a crucial role to play in reconciliation after Brexit and this evening will aim to help us see how we might do that as well as to help people think in Christian way about the Brexit debate.
(Left) The Revd. Jenny Welsh, Area Dean of Chelsea
(Right) The Ven. Stephan Welch, Archdeacon of Middlesex
An Archdeacon comes to call
We will welcome the Archdeacon of Middlesex and the Area Dean of Chelsea to Holy Trinity on Wednesday evening (October 30) for the Archdeacon’s Visitation. The Visitation should happen every three years but this will be the first time in six years that it has taken place. The Archdeacon will be meeting with the Clergy and Churchwardens and will want to see and inspect all parochial registers and records held in the parish, the inventory and log book, the minute and account books, insurance policies, the PCC’s policies on child protection, employees’ contracts, and insurance policies; review progress on quinquennial works; and to inspect the storage of valuables and to inspect the buildings and security and safety systems, and to see the PCC’s Mission Action Plan. It’s been an immense amount of work for our staff and church officers to prepare but we are ready to go!
Hot food warms hearts
Holy Trinity opened her doors to the first of the Winter Breakfast Club meetings on Friday (25 October) at 7:30am.
Over the course of the morning 10 people from all walks of life came to begin the day with good food and good company. It is likely that next week we will see more visitors coming to begin the day with us and so the support we receive is greatly appreciated. Next week we will also hope to put together small goody packs with socks, a prayer card, and some other vital necessities for people to take away with them.
If you would like to help support this initiative in anyway, please contact Fr Grant.
Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord
As the year comes to a close, All Souls' Day provides a time to remember the dead. It gives us a special opportunity to come together to share the Eucharist with all who mourn the loss of a loved one. We remember; we celebrate; we give thanks; we pray.
If you wish to join us and would like us to remember someone by name, please be sure to sign the sheet which is located on the Welcome Desk (in BLOCK CAPITALS ONLY) or email our Parish Administrator.
The Choir will be singing the Requiem Mass by Tomás Luis de Victoria.
Bishop Rob and Janine back from the outback
In 2014, Fr. Rob and Janine Gillion left Holy Trinity for a new life in the Diocese of Riverina, Australia where Fr. Rob had been appointed Bishop.
They returned to the UK in 2018 and now they're back at Holy Trinity on Sunday 3 November when Bishop Rob will preach at the Sung Eucharist and then at a Sunday Conversation in the Parish Room he and Janine will share their experiences of life in a Diocese with a land mass bigger than England, Scotland and Wales combined!
Twelve steps to Heaven
Our Tuesday night Bible Study has begun again with a 12-week course looking at the 12 disciples and their characteristics of faith. Following the pattern of the 12-step programme adopted by a number of recovery groups, we're exploring how Jesus’ first followers set a pattern for our own discipleship in the 21st century. Come and join us on Tuesdays in the Parish Room at 7pm after the 6.30pm Eucharist. Food is provided.
A Sloane Square Christmas card
Holy Trinity Church is selling two Christmas cards this year. One a reprint of last year's sell-out card which is a detail of Christopher Whall's 'Incarnation' window in the souith aisle. The other - which should arrive in early November - is 'The Annunciation' by Sir Edward Burne-Jones in the East Window. Both packs include ten cards and envelopes and sell for £5.
Remember that for every £1 you spend in the Cards for Good Causes Shop, Holy Trinity Church receives 10p. All sales from Holy Trinity's own cards go direct to the church.
The Opening Hours will be: Monday – Saturday: 10am – 5.30pm
Sunday (from 17th Nov – 8th Dec): 1pm – 4.30pm
Debit and Credit Cards are accepted
There will be a special opening on Sunday 3 November after the Sung Eucharist
Calling all young people
It is with great joy that we are fast approaching the ‘Church at Night Sleepover’ Event taking place on Friday 8th November – Saturday 9th November 2019 at St John the Baptist Church, Holland Road W14 8AH.
This event aims to draw young people (ages 11-16) from our churches and schools to experience the catholic expression of faith in Jesus Christ. The evening is for young people of all denominations and all expressions of our shared faith. It is a time to ask questions and to build relationships with other young Christians!
The event will be opened by Bishop Graham (Bishop of Kensington) and the activities for the evening will be drawn to a close with Midnight Worship led by The Venerable Luke Miller (Archdeacon of London). Throughout the night, there will be various activities ranging from Pizza Making to Sumo Wrestling, whilst also having the opportunity to speak with real life monks and nuns, to seek spiritual direction, to worship God in music and in calligraphy or to sit quietly in prayer!
If you should like to ‘come and see’ please sign up via the website churchatnight.org.uk or contact us at office@hollandparkbenefice.org
Fr. Grant Bolton-Debbage
Guardian features IYT and exclusion
Intermission Youth Theatre and its forthcoming production 'Excluded' took centre stage in aspecial feature on exclusion in the Guardian.
Education correspondent Sally Weale highlighted the impact of exclusion on the lives of young people. The subject resonates with this year's Youth Theatre cohort as all but two of the performers have been excluded from school at some point in their education. Excluded opens 6 November and runs until 30 November, Wednesday to Saturdays at 7.30pm. Tickets available here
Piano trio to perform
Come along to our Free Wednesday Teatime Concerts! The series continues this Wednesday 30 October (5.30 for 30 minutes) with Harry Rylance and his piano trio (all students at the Royal Academy of Music) playing Weinberg’s Piano Trio. Weinberg was a Polish-born Soviet composer, and his music, often programmatic, was influenced by his friend Dmitri Shostakovich. He wrote extensively, including twenty-two symphonies and seven operas. Admission is free and there will be a retiring collection. The series runs every Wednesday (except 6 November) up until 27 November. We have a stellar line-up of local and national talent. See you there! Please pick up a few flyers from the desk and give them to your friends and family or put them in a library near you.
Trio photo. Left, Jack Greed (violin); centre, Harry Rylance (piano; right: Yurie Lee (cello)
The best from the Baltics
This Sunday (27 October) at 4pm in Holy Trinity, come and hear Copenhagen's premier chamber choir in concert! In one of their rare trips to London, Ars Nova will be presenting ‘Baltic Voices – Music from around the Baltic Sea.' The performance will feature music by prominent composers including Arvo Pärt, Per Nørgård, Veljo Tormis, Rytis Mazulis, Karen Rehnqvist and Heinrich Schütz.
Tickets: £20 (£12.50 students/children)
Book tickets: www.kofma.co.uk; Email: info@kofma.co.uk; Call: 07779 108108
Art in Creation
This week, Holy Trinity will be hosting the art exhibition "Creation", organised by commission4mission, a group which encourages churches to commission contemporary art (www.commission4mission.org).
The title and theme for the exhibition can be understood in terms of emotions, ecology, personal, biblical etc. The artists were encouraged to reflect broadly on the theme, and 25 artists have responded with imagery that ranges from depictions of the Genesis Creation stories to Christ’s birth and our recreation through redemption, by way of flower studies, the creation of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance, and future creation using AI and genetic engineering. A mix of abstract and representational imagery has been created, utilising assemblage, ceramics, digital illustration, drawing, painting, puppetry and sculpture.
The exhibition includes work by Hayley Bowen, Harvey Bradley, Irina Bradley, Lewis Braswell, Cathie Chappell, Valerie Dean, Jonathan Evens, Mary Flitcroft, Maurizio Galia, Michael Garaway, John Gentry, Laura Grenci, Barbara Harris, Deborah Harrison, David Hawkins, Alan Hitching, Anthony Hodgson, Jacek Kulikowski, Mark Lewis, David Millidge, Dorothy Morris, Jacqui Parkinson, Janet Roberts, and Henry Shelton.
FORTHCOMING CONCERTS
News from THE KENSINGTON EPISCOPAL AREA
Grenfell at risk of getting forgotten amid Brexit
The Grenfell Tower Inquiry is to publish its Phase One report on Wednesday next week — the day before the supposed Brexit deadline. Coincidence or not, this will ensure that any government response will be buried under the Brexit media avalanche.
I recently visited some of the people I’ve come to know in North Kensington over the past two years. Listening again to their stories of the fire and its aftermath, I left with the depressing feeling that not much has changed and little has been learned.
Grenfell United are known as the main group representing survivors and bereaved families. They are ordinary people, yet their experiences give them a heavy burden to bear — a realisation of the need for urgent change and a sense of debt to those who died to ensure that it never happens again.
Residential blocks around the UK remain covered in Grenfell-type cladding, yet the Australian state of Victoria has spent as much on removing it as our entire nation. Social housing tenants’ concerns are often ignored and there is little effective regulation of landlords. Grenfell United have limited resources, yet they are determined to maintain pressure on these issues.
I sat with one young mother in her flat near the shell of Grenfell. She lives in “temporary accommodation” (some in her block have been in this state for over 20 years). The block had been without hot water for many weeks, the ground floor balcony door did not lock, making the apartment vulnerable to intruders and mouse droppings littered the floor.Because the flat was offered by the council yet administered by a housing association, it wasn’t clear where to complain. Repeated calls to the landlord had achieved little. Similar stories are found across North Kensington, with many reluctant to complain in case they are branded troublemakers.
This is happening in one of the wealthiest boroughs of the country. Many feel our depleted social housing stock has become, to quote one resident, a “dumping ground for the most vulnerable”. Those we met often felt that the people responsible for housing work in an opaque, bureaucratic system that doesn’t care enough to ensure decent living conditions.
Which brings us back to Grenfell United. The changes they campaign for — stronger regulation and a proper tenant voice — should not be hard to establish. The financial crash led to tighter regulation of financial institutions, yet tenants with landlords who fail to maintain their property, rendering it unsafe, have no effective remedy.
If the inquiry report is lost under the Brexit fallout it will continue the pattern of Grenfell’s lessons being forgotten. It’s hard to imagine how that feels to those who lost loved ones. If we continue to neglect social housing, there is no guarantee it won’t happen again. If it does, we will have no excuses left.
The Rt Revd. Dr Graham Tomlin is Bishop of Kensington
DIARY DATES
Sunday 3 November 2019 at 12.45pm Sunday Conversation
with Bishop Rob and Janine Gillion to hear about their ministry in the Diocese of
Riverina, Australia
Sunday 3 November 2019 at 6pm Requiem Mass for All Souls’
Sunday 10 November Remembrance Sunday
10.50am Act of Remembrance in Sloane Square
11.00am Service of Remembrance
PARISH DIARY
All events at Holy Trinity Sloane Square unless otherwise stated
SUNDAY 27 OCTOBER THE LAST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY Intention: Parish and People
8.30am Holy Communion
11.00am Sung Eucharist conQordia
Hear ye the word of the Lord Mike Abrams Communion Service in A flat Tustin Baker Blessed be the God and Father Samuel Sebastian Wesley Preacher: The Revd. Canon Nicholas Wheeler
6.00pm Choral Evensong and Benediction sung by Katie Schofield,
a member of Holy Trinity Choir
Responses William Byrd
Magnificat and Nunc dimittis:
Anglican chant
Escurientes Johann Sebastian Bach
Monday 28 October Intention: Artists Simon and Jude, Apostles
6.30pm Commission4Mission Exhibition
Private View 7.00pm Sloane Square Choral Society
Tuesday 29 October James Hannington, Bishop and Martyr, 1885 Intention: The Church in Africa 6.30pm Eucharist
7.00pm Bible Study
'Twelve Steps to Heaven'
Wednesday 30 October Intention: Social Services 11.00am Funeral of Bianca Eastman 1.00pm Holy Communion
5.30pm Free Teatime Concert 6.30pm Eucharist
Thursday 31 October Intention: Bishops 6.30pm Eucharist
7.30pm Bishop of Kensington's
Teaching Evening
Friday 1 November Martin Luther, reformer Intention: Unity 7.30am Winter Breakfast Club
Saturday 2 November All Souls' Day Intention: Those in need 7.30pm English Chamber Choir concert
SUNDAY 3 NOVEMBER ALL SAINTS' DAY Intention: Parish and People
8.30am Holy Communion
11.00am Sung Eucharist with Junior Church Preacher: The Rt. Revd. Rob Gillion 12.45pm Sunday Conversation
with Bishop Rob and Janine Gillion in the Parish Room 6.00pm All Souls' Requiem Mass
WHO'S WHO and CONTACTS
RECTOR The Revd. Canon Nicholas Wheeler E-mail: rector@sloanechurch.org
ASSISTANT PRIEST The Revd. Grant Bolton-Debbage E-mail: priest@sloanechurch.org
HONORARY ASSISTANT The Rt. Revd. Dr. Michael Marshall
CHURCHWARDENS Jeffrey Kabel Carolyn Hallett
ASSISTANT CHURCHWARDENS Gill Dunley
John Renz
TREASURER David Fairlamb
PCC SECRETARY Martin Bonham
PARISH ADMINISTRATOR Sophie Wilson E-mail: parishoffice@sloanechurch.org
Telephone: 020 7730 7270
FACILITIES AND EVENTS MANAGER Clinton McMaster E-mail: manager@sloanechurch.org
Telephone: 020 7730 7270
