Dear St Mary’s, 

On the Fourth Sunday of Lent – 15th March – we will mark Mothering Sunday and invite you to join us as we share Holy Communion at 9am and again at 10.30am, with supervised children’s groups at 10.30am. Revd Tim Scott will lead, Revd Vanessa Conant will preach. 

In the Church of England, Mothering Sunday has a more wide-ranging meaning than the modern ‘Mother’s Day’ does, as, historically speaking, people would return to their ‘mother church’ on this day. As we mark Mothering Sunday this year, we will reflect on the Christian community or communities which have nurtured us alongside giving thanks for all mothers, including those who have offered us mothering care, calling to mind Jesus’ reference to being like a mother hen who longs to gather her chicks (Matthew 23:37). 

Join Other Christians on 28th March in Celebrating Love, Hope and Unity 
On Saturday 28th March, a coalition of civil society organisations – including churches and Christian charities – are gathering in Central London to walk for hope, love and compassion in the face of rising movements of division and hostility. Called ‘Together’, this march will be a family-friendly day of welcome, unity and prayer, with activities for children as part of the day and a Christian Bloc which will march together. We are hoping to take a group from St Mary’s. Find out more about the march here or at togetheralliance.org.uk. To join us, register your interest here or email Revd Vanessa Conant at . 

Join St Mary’s Children’s Ministry Team
Children’s Ministry is one of the fastest growing parts of our church life, with occasionally as many as 60 children at our 10.30am service. We celebrate this and recognise that in order to respond to this growth, we need to build our team of Children’s Ministry leaders and helpers, as we currently have a small team. Leaders plan and host each session but there are also roles for helpers, who support and assist. Training and support is provided for anyone interested in serving in this way and we follow safer recruitment processes when appointing volunteers. If you are interested in having a conversation about joining the team, sign up via this form or email Revd Jacintha Danaswamy at . 

Bishop Guli to Visit St Mary’s on the Afternoon of 23rd March  
During Lent, Rt Revd Dr Guli Francis-Deqhani, Bishop of Chelmsford, is making a pilgrimage around our area, visiting art works in churches and taking time to pray. On Monday 23rd March at 3.20pm, Bishop Guli will visit St Mary’s. You are welcome to join her for this and for the rest of her pilgrimage around Waltham Forest, which, after St Mary’s, will continue on to St Barnabas Church, Walthamstow, and will end at St Andrew’s, Leytonstone, around 5pm. 

Holy Week and Easter 2026 
Join us for Holy Week and Easter 2026 at St Mary’s and in the Parish. Holy Week will begin with Palm Sunday on 29th March, which will include a reading of the Passion Story and a procession with palms around the church. On Tuesday 31st March, we will offer Stations of the Cross at St Mary’s at 7.30pm. On Wednesday 1st April, St Mary’s will host a Tenebrae service at 7.30pm, which will feature a reading of the Passion story along with music and poetry. On Thursday 2nd April at 7.30pm, there will be a Maundy Thursday Holy Communion at St Gabriel’s. And then on Good Friday 3rd April, there will be Morning Prayer with Hymns at St Mary’s at 9am; a 10.30am Messy Good Friday service at St Mary’s for children and families with crafts; a 12-3pm Watch at the Cross at St Gabriel’s; and a Quiet Easter service for neurodiverse children at 2pm at St Mary’s (booking required – sign up link coming soon). In the evening, there will be a 7.30pm Good Friday Service at St Mary’s. There will be no services on Holy Saturday. On Easter Sunday, we will have an Easter Sunday Dawn Service with an Easter Fire outside St Mary’s at 6.30am; a 9am Easter Holy Communion at St Mary’s, and a 10.30am Easter Family Communion at St Mary’s. 

Save the Date: Waltham Forest Citizens’ Assembly on 22nd April at 6.30pm
For nearly 15 years, St Mary’s has been a member of the Waltham Forest Citizens’ Alliance. This is a group of local schools, colleges, community groups and faith communities working together on issues which promote the Common Good. Over the years, we have organised around affordable housing, climate and youth safety. On Wednesday 22nd April, St Mary’s is hosting a borough-wide assembly in advance of the local council elections on 7th May, meeting with candidates for the election and bringing before them the stories of local people and the issues which matter most to us. This is positive politics where we demonstrate the power of local institutions and their members and show the possibilities for working together across difference. Assemblies are dynamic, fun and inspiring. Save the date and join us! 

St Mary’s is on WhatsApp 
In addition to our social media channels, we are now on WhatsApp. For the latest updates about St Mary’s services, events and ministries, we invite you to find and follow our channel. 

Joining the Electoral Roll 
If you consider St Mary’s to be your church home and would like to make a commitment to our church, you can join the electoral roll (different to the roll which allows you to vote in local elections). To join, you must be over 16 and baptised. Joining means that you are eligible to serve on our parish trustee board (PCC) and vote at our annual meeting (APCM), but more importantly, it means that you feel a part of St Mary’s and want to affirm that sense of belonging. You can sign up for the electoral roll here or by visiting stmaryswalthamstow.org/electoralroll. If you signed up last year, you do not need to sign up again as your name will remain on the roll until 2031 unless you ask to be removed. Please speak to Vanessa or email if you have any questions.

Openings for Regular Classes in the Welcome Centre 
We have space for new regular bookings in the Welcome Centre – our church hall located across the churchyard from St Mary’s – and invite anyone looking for space to get in touch. Alongside monthly giving from our congregation (which is our largest source of income), a significant source of income comes from regular hires of our Welcome Centre lounge and hall – money which helps us keep the church open in the week. The Welcome Centre is a great space for after-school activities, choir rehearsals, fitness classes and baby and toddler groups. To get in touch, visit welcomecentreE17.org and fill out our enquiry form. 

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. 

EcoTip: This Week, Consider Fasting from Food Waste, Meat and Dairy 
During Lent, the team at the Christian environmental charity Climate Stewards have been putting out a weekly email with tips for reducing your carbon footprint. As Lent is historically a time when Christians ‘fast’ or give up something, Climate Stewards have encouraged a particular climate-themed ‘fast’ each week in Lent; this week, the focus is on food waste, meat and dairy. While there will be understandable reasons as to why many of us eat meat and consume dairy products, they are also a major source of carbon emissions, as is food waste (by some estimates, the world wastes a third of all food produced). That said, could you give up meat and/or dairy for one day – or even try to go vegetarian (or even vegan) for an entire week? You might also see how you could share or repurpose excess food this week in an effort to be more aware of – and cut down on – your food waste.

Please pray this week for:

• The Iranian school children who were killed when their school was bombed and for their families, as well as for all victims of war and violence 
• All of us to use our influence – especially those who are close to global decision-makers – to prevent destruction, cruelty and violence and to promote peace
• Peacemaking efforts in our country, including the upcoming ‘Together’ march  
• All in our church and parish who are unwell in any way: for help, hope and healing 
• Regulation of AI and social media in order to protect jobs, to keep young people safe, and to preserve a shared sense of reality 
• St Mary’s and all churches around the world as we mark Lent – that we would all be changed and be more closely shaped into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ 
• More people to step into leadership roles in our church, especially on St Mary’s children’s ministry and AV teams which are in need of help and support 
• All who are in low-paid work or are struggling with the cost of living – for opportunities and support, including for new government policies which make life easier 
• Ongoing war in Sudan, Ukraine, Iran, Lebanon and elsewhere: for a just peace 
• Our upcoming Holy Week and Easter services: that many would experience healing and hope in the Life, Ministry, Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ 
• All who are struggling with caring responsibilities: for help and encouragement 
• All mothers, as well as for those who we have mothered or have mothered us, including the Christian communities which have shown us mothering care

Reflection: ‘Mother Church’ 
Revd Vanessa Conant, Rector of St Mary’s and the Parish of Walthamstow, writes: 

On the wall of our dining room is a picture given to us as a wedding present. It’s a graphic image of the church where Cameron and I were married (St Mark’s, Hitchin) which is also the church where I grew up. I doubt there are many artistic representations of St Mark’s. It is not an especially pretty church, as it was built as a temporary structure in 1936 and set back from the road and easy to miss. But I cherish the picture as if it were of a beloved relative. 

At St Mark’s, I learnt what it was to be part of a church family, to belong to one another and to grow together. I was both cared for and scolded by older women who would indulge us with biscuits and then grow exasperated with us as we ran around the building after the Sunday service. I was taught to sit and learn from elders and to serve and care for younger children. I was shown a faith that was expressed in commitment and dedication to others and given opportunities to develop faith myself, to take part in worship, to find my place. 

When I first began to discern a call to ordination, it was St Mark’s which walked alongside me and prayed for me and supported me each step of the way. When I was ordained at St Alban’s Cathedral, a coach load came to the Abbey for the service. My home communion set, with which I take bread and wine to others who cannot leave the house or hospital, was a gift from St Mark’s, and the little silver plaque on the case reminds me of the people and the place every time I share in these fragile, tender moments with others. 

St Mark’s is my mother church. 

It has always loved me, cheered for me, challenged and stretched me. It has both sent me out in the name of Jesus and welcomed me home with open arms. I am forever grateful for its gentle, nurturing grace to me. 

On Mothering Sunday, we are invited to recall the mediaeval practice of making procession to one’s Mother Church (often a cathedral) but also the church of our birth or early years. When I think about St Mary’s – about a vision for our life together or a vision for the future – I often return to the hope I have that we will be the mother church for one another and for everyone who walks through our doors, or who encounters our ministry and life in the community or wider world. 

I pray that we each will be able to say that St Mary’s was a place where fledgling faith was nurtured, where questions were held with kindness and respect, where everyone was absolutely sure that they belonged, no matter how different they felt from others. I pray that we all are encouraged, stretched and shown how to grow in faith, how to see the love of Jesus and to attend to the voice of God, how to let the Spirit guide us and how to bear witness with our life, to the love that sustains and gives us hope. 

In Matthew 23, Jesus laments over Jerusalem, saying, ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.’ 

Here, he expresses his love in terms of costly maternal care. Throughout the Old Testament, God’s love is compared to that of a mother: ‘As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you’ Isaiah 66:13 tells us. 

We seek to be the mother church for all who seek that love because the very character of God is maternal in its nurture, protective and full of steadfast love. And we who bear the image of God – no matter our gender or life circumstances – are to reflect those same qualities in the way that we live and love others. 

Perhaps you are returning to your mother church this Sunday, wherever that may be. Or perhaps there is pause for reflection and gratitude for those churches which have offered you the mothering love which has led you into faith. If you join us at St Mary’s this Sunday, whether that is a day of joy or of sorrow for you, of gentleness or struggle, of ambiguity or thanksgiving – I pray you will find with us (this day and always) the sheltering wings, the shielding care, the nourishing encouragement and the compassionate, mothering love of Christ. 

With love, 

Vanessa