Dear St Mary’s, 

On Sunday 23rd November, we will celebrate the Feast of Christ the King with Holy Communion at 9am and an Intergenerational Service at 10.30am. At 9am, Revd Vanessa Conant will preside and Natalie Burwell will preach, while at 10.30am, Revd Jacintha Danaswamy will lead. There will be no supervised children’s groups at 10.30am this week, as all ages will be together, but there will be a Baby Lounge in the South Vestry. 

This week’s lectionary readings are Colossians 1:11-20 – St Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae in which Paul writes, ‘The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities’ – and Luke 23:33-43, which is the story of Jesus’ crucifixion by the Roman authorities. 

On Christ the King Sunday – which was instituted by the Catholic Church in the early 20th century as a response to the rising tide of nationalism across Europe – we are reminded that Jesus is king and lord of all, and is over all earthly powers and authorities. This is a particularly important reminder in our era, given the authoritarian challenge to democracies around the world, and in light of the co-opting of Christian symbols by the far right in an attempt to exclude and demean others – the very opposite of the teachings of Jesus. 

Advent and Christmas 2025 at St Mary’s 
Join us for Advent and Christmas 2025 at St Mary’s and in the Parish of Walthamstow. In addition to our four Sunday Advent services – which begin on 30th November (9am and 10.30am) and run until Sunday 20th December – we will have special services throughout December, including two evening carol services, three Christingle services and a 10.30am Christmas Day Family Communion service for the whole community. None of our services this year, including our two popular carol services, will require booking, with the exception of our Quiet Christmas service for neurodiverse children. For full details on all of this year’s Advent and Christmas services, please visit stmaryswalthamstow.org/christmas. 

Vestry Sessions Presents Christmas Revue and Singalong on 27th November 
Our music partners are back at St Mary’s on Thursday 27th November with a Christmas revue and singalong; there will be mulled wine and ‘a festive musical tasting menu’. Tickets are £11 and available here or by visiting wegottickets.com and searching ‘Vestry Sessions’. 

BBC Radio 4’s ‘Any Questions’ on 28th November: Waiting List + Volunteering  
St Mary’s is excited to host BBC Radio 4’s ‘Any Questions’ political panel show on Friday 28th November. Producers gave us an initial 200 tickets to distribute to the entire community, all of which were claimed within 24 hours. While we may be able to release an additional block of tickets nearer the time (we currently have a waiting list which you can sign up to via our eventbrite page – find the link here or at stmaryswalthamstow.org/AnyQuestions), you can also watch the live broadcast by joining our volunteer team. Our volunteer team will serve tea and coffee on the night and will also help put chairs away after the broadcast finishes around 9pm in preparation for our Christmas Festival the next day. To volunteer to help, please email Dan Copperwheat at . 

St Mary’s Christmas Festival on Saturday 29th November + Volunteering 
St Mary’s Christmas Festival will take place on Saturday 29th November, 10am-5pm, with a Christmas craft market in the church and a Santa’s grotto and kids’ zone in the Welcome Centre. There will be games, food vendors, mince pies, a brass band, wreath-making workshops (booking required) and some very special surprise visitors! Details are at stmaryswalthamstow.org/christmasfair. Also, if you’ve offered to volunteer, our events administrator, Louise Wallis, will be emailing you soon. We hope to see you next Saturday! 

Bottles for Fundraising ‘Bottle Tombola’ Needed Before 29th November 
We will be raising money for St Mary’s at our 29th November Christmas Festival and are still collecting bottles – everything from wine to ketchup to shower gel – for a bottle tombola. Thank you for bottle donations this past Sunday; if you have yet to drop a bottle off but would like to help us raise funds by donating a bottle or two, please bring your bottle(s) to church this Sunday 23rd November or to the Parish Office during the week. 

St Mary’s School Forms
If you have recently joined St Mary’s because you are considering an application for your child to attend St Mary’s School – welcome! We are delighted that you are exploring life at St Mary’s Church and pray that you will find a place of belonging in our community. Please note that all school forms and school enquiries need to go via our Parish Office (please email our administrator Josie at to arrange signatures). In general, school forms need to be completed in full before they are signed, including your level of church membership; however, you will need clergy agreement in order to select ‘at the heart of the church’ as this reflects a long-standing commitment to our worshipping community. 

Fresh Food Share on Sunday Evenings in the Welcome Centre 
This winter, we are partnering with a local Fresh Food Share initiative on Sunday evenings. The aim of the food share is to eliminate food waste and tackle food poverty. In the spring, the food share will move outdoors to the green space at the corner of The Drive and Church Hill, but until then, it will be held in the Welcome Centre. The organisers are still establishing the exact times the Sunday evening food share will run, but if anyone comes to the Welcome Centre this Sunday 23rd November at 8pm, they should be able to take food away.

Join St Mary’s Community Christmas Choir 
Join our Community Christmas Choir which will perform at our Carols by Candlelight service on Sunday 21st December at 6pm. There are two main rehearsals for the choir – one at 7pm on 12th December in St Mary’s Welcome Centre, and one at 7pm on 19th December in the church. There will also be an additional rehearsal on the day of the service. Sign up for the choir here or by visiting stmaryswalthamstow.org/ChristmasChoir2025 – and please feel free to invite neighbours and friends to join you in the choir! You can also listen to the choir pieces and learn the parts prepared by Jonathan and Helen Rathbone here. 

Giving Monthly to St Mary’s 
Your financial support is crucial as we work to keep St Mary’s ancient building open to the whole community throughout the week, to support Walthamstow and to share the love of Christ with all. Your donations make this possible as we receive no direct, ongoing support for the day-to-day running of St Mary’s from the Church of England or from the government. Monthly giving is particularly transformative as it allows us to plan, budget, and even expand our work in the community. If you would like to become a monthly giver, we would encourage you to sign up via the Parish Giving Scheme which you can find here or by going to stmaryswalthamstow.org/donate and clicking on the Parish Giving Scheme link. 

Safeguarding 
St Mary’s takes safeguarding seriously and works hard to ensure that our church is a safe place for everyone. If you see anything that concerns you at St Mary’s, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our Safeguarding Officer Emma Clements at . You can also contact the Diocese of Chelmsford at or Waltham Forest Council at 020 8496 2310. 

Please pray this week for:

• COP30 as it draws to a conclusion this week: for international agreement on issues related to a fair and fast phase out of plant-heating fossil fuel pollution 
• The UK government to reject the proposed Rosebank oil field in the North Sea 
• Ukraine as it continues to suffer attacks from Russia: for steps towards a just peace 
• Anyone in our parish with complex medical conditions – as well as for those who are worried, lonely or dealing with long-term pain or illness – for hope, help and healing 
• St Mary’s and our Parish as we prepare to welcome the whole community to our Advent and Christmas services, and for a deepening of our own faith this Advent
• More Christian leaders and communities across the UK to stand up to far-right attempts to co-opt Christian symbols and language for divisive political purposes 
• Our search for a Schools’ Worker and Operations Assistant – for the candidates being interviewed and for our interview panels’ discernment and decision-making 
• St Mary’s churchwardens, Nevil Osborne and Natalie Burwell, and for all who serve in a volunteer leadership capacity in our church, including PCC members, youth/ children’s leaders, and refreshment/ welcome/ Walthamstow Welcomes/ AV teams 
• For all carers, paid and unpaid – including foster carers – across our borough 
• All who are unhoused as the weather turns colder, and for all efforts to alleviate and end homelessness in London and across the country 
• A fair national budget that helps those most in need and lifts children out of poverty 
• All efforts to increase green investment, decarbonise and improve biodiversity 

Reflection: ‘Inclusion’ 
Revd Tim Scott, Associate Priest at St Mary’s and Area Dean, Waltham Forest, writes: 

I once heard a quote from Rowan Williams that said something like, ‘there is more to see in a picture than we can see’. When we read a novel or poetry, listen to music or look at the world there is always more to be discovered. And that is also true of people. 

Sometimes the perspective we have on things depends on where we are located. One of the privileges I have as Area Dean is to experience worship in a range of different churches, and it has been fascinating to see the different contexts of the worshipping communities in Waltham Forest. There is a richness in the diversity of the contexts in which the churches are located and in which they seek to minister.

The Bible is full of examples of people seeing things from different perspectives. We hear of people in power misusing power. We hear prophets holding people to account and calling people to the way of God. We see role models of good and courageous leadership. We see people who are marginalised acting with courage and being welcomed and affirmed. 

Different perspectives remind us that we don’t have the full picture and we always have more to learn. There is always more than we can see – a deeper story – and no one is ever just a statistic. But in the Bible there is also a clear narrative which emerges that speaks of hope, new life, justice and reconciliation, starting from the margins. 

The initiative of God is always towards inclusion in order that all may flourish. It offers hope to those who long to be included, and it challenges those in power to resist the temptation to dominate or exclude by scapegoating or oppressing certain people. 

This coming Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. The Roman Catholic Church instituted the Feast in 1925 as a direct rejection of rising totalitarian ideologies like Fascism and Nazism. It was Cyril of Alexandria, one of the early church theologians in the 5th century, who said that Christ’s dominion springs from his very nature as the image of the creator God, and is not a dominion seized by violence or by usurping others. 

Hence the powerful contrast between the liberating rule of Christ and oppressive domination of totalitarian ideologies.

Maybe the Feast of Christ the King is an opportunity to reflect more on the nature of Christ, but also to reflect on what power exercised for the good of all might look like. 

As we reflect on the origins of this feast, we in our turn have the opportunity to resist ideologies which dominate or label people. Perhaps we realise that we have more to learn about what it might look like for communities to truly be places where all are welcomed and where people have the opportunity to contribute and flourish. Whatever our perspective, and wherever we are located, may we continue to resist all that oppresses, dominates, scapegoats or diminishes people. 

With my love and prayers,

Tim