London's 100 Best Churches

Last Sunday evening I was at St Mary’s in Addington for the Nine Lessons and Carols. This was the first parish church to have the service and I had long wished to be there for the annual event.

The church exterior was floodlight and looked so welcoming as I walked from the tram stop. Inside I found a packed church and was lucky to have been handed the last service sheet.

So tonight I am amazed and sad to hear that thieves have removed lead from the roof of this historic church.

A local report is here.

Canon Samuel Wells, Dean of the Chapel at Duke University, North Carolina USA, is to be the next Vicar of St-Martin-in-the-Fields.

He succeeds Nicholas Holtam who is now Bishop of Salisbury.

The university chapel attracts a Sunday congregation of around 900 and is known for its good preaching, music and liturgy.

Canon Wells, who has been in America for six years, will be insituted on Monday 2 July.

The City’s Lutheran Church, St Anne & St Agnes, has launched a new website:

www.stanneslutheranchurch.org.uk

Details of services will appear shortly.

It has also been confirmed that Timothy Dearhamer has ceased to be pastor.

With Advent and Christmas being a time to see London’s churches at their best here are some of the special sevices and events:

Sunday 4 December
6.30pm Advent Carol Service (followed by mulled wine in the cloister afterwards)
St Bartholomew the Great

Monday 5 December
7pm An Advent Vigil: meditation, Taizé chants & Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament
St Andrew’s, Holborn Circus

Sunday 11 December
6.30pm Jazz Carol Vespers
St Anne & St Agnes Lutheran Church

Tuesday 13 December
6pm Parish Carol Service (followed by mince pies & mulled wine)
St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe

Tuesday 13 December
7.30pm Adeste Fidelis
(Awareness Foundation Christmas Concert and Gala Party. Carols, readings and visits from Santa Lucia and St Nicholas; tickets £20)
Holy Trinity, Sloane Street

Monday 19 December
6pm French Carol Service
All Hallows-by-the-Tower, Tower Hill

Sunday 18 & Thursday 22 December
6.30pm Cathedral Carol Service
Southwark Cathedral

There is an interesting report about Ecclesiastical Insurance wanting the beacons lit for the Jubilee to be at ground level and not on church towers.

I fully expect St Mary’s Church at Monken Hadley to light its ancient copper beacon on the church tower. Will Ecclesiastical approve?

Having known Philip Gould I was very sorry not to be able to attend his funeral on Tuesday at the unusual late afternoon hour of 4pm.

But I was delighted to know that his Labour colleagues including two former prime ministers were called to say farewell at All Saints, Margaret Street.

“Thanks to Fr Alan Moses and All Saints Margaret Street for the beautiful requiem mass for Philip Gould,” said Ben Bradshaw MP.

St George’s, Hanover Square has won the 2011 Georgian Group achitectural award for the restoration of a Georgian Church.

“This was an exceptionally sympathetic restoration on a Grade I listed building,” said the citation.

The church was closed for 8 months last year for the £1.4m rewiring and restoration scheme.

The bells at St Mary-le-Bow were rehung after the Second World War 50 years ago.

The church will mark the anniversary with a short service of thanksgiving under the tower on Wednesday 21 December at 6.05pm. This is Old St Thomas Day.

Bow Bells ring out on such big occasions as Ascension Day reminding City workers of the Christian year.

Good news from Southwark Cathedral this morning. Sub-Dean Andrew Nunn is to be the new Dean.

He succeeds Colin Slee who died a year ago.

There was great joy when the surprise announcement was made at the end of the Choral Eucharist. The congregation did not expect the news to be released on a Sunday or hold out too much hope that Andrew would be named since he was already a member of the chapter.

See story on London SE1 website which had it first.

As St Paul’s Cathedral reopens today its worth looking back over the seven days.

St Paul’s, not being a parish church, does not feature in London’s 100 Best Churches. But Southwark Cathedral does and at least one third of its Sunday congregation live nearby.

Southwark has gained from St Paul’s Cathedral’s foolish action. The service to celebrate 150 years of Hymns Ancient and Modern was switched across the river. One result is that Timothy Dudley-Smith’s new hymn How shall we sing salvation’s song When justice stands denied? had its premiere at Southwark and not in The City.

Would-be worshippers have been directed to tiny St Vedast Church (also one of the 100) which is worth discovering with its collegiate-syle seating.

The loss of the past week has been Canon Giles Fraser who has long been an inspiration to many in the Church of England. St Mary’s Putney had to feature in London’s 100 Best Churches not just because of its association with Cromwell and Dickens but because as vicar he had made it an exciting and model parish church.

Giles Fraser’s sacrifice of office and lovely home hurts us even at a distance. But he has saved the reputation of the Anglican Church.

On the day of Canon Fraser’s resignation the Bishop of London asked for a meeting to “to discuss how we can ensure that his voice continues to be heard”. St Martin-in-the-Fields is vacant.