Dear St Mary’s, 

On Sunday 5th July – the Fifth Sunday of Trinity – we’ll share Holy Communion at 9am and 10.30am. Revd Vanessa Conant will lead/preside and Revd Ola Franklin will preach. At 10.30am, children who have been prepared will be admitted to Holy Communion; there will also be supervised children’s groups at 10.30am and a Baby Lounge at both services.

Our lectionary readings for 5th July are Romans 7:15-25 and Matthew 11:16-19, 25-end.  

Immediately after this Sunday’s 10.30am service, there will be a 45-minute community organising-style ‘house meeting’, exploring how we might campaign for a safer, slower Wood Street (details below). And then at 6pm, the St Luke’s Community will say evening prayer in St Mary’s Church and all are welcome. We hope to see you this Sunday at St Mary’s! 

‘House Meeting’ on Sunday 5th July after the 10.30am Service
St Mary’s has been invited to work with other local community groups to campaign for a safer, slower Wood Street and we would love to hear your thoughts. If you regularly travel across or along Wood Street and would like to share your hopes and concerns, as well as any ideas for making it safer, we are holding a 45-minute ‘house meeting’ in church after the 10.30am service on Sunday 5th July. A house meeting uses a simple community organising approach to enable attendees to share their stories and to workshop solutions. Register your interest here or email Revd Jacintha Danaswamy at . 

Blood Donations on Friday 3rd July at St Mary’s: Play Area Closed, Cafe Open  
The NHS will return to St Mary’s this Friday 3rd July for blood donations; this means our Play Area will be closed all day but our Ruttle & Rowe cafe will remain open, with service through the outdoor hatch and cafe seating available both outdoors and in the Exhibition Space. 

Wedding at St Mary’s on Saturday 4th July: Cafe and Play Area Closed 
There will be a wedding at St Mary’s on Saturday 4th July; please note that because of this, our Ruttle & Rowe cafe as well as our Play Area will both be closed for the entire day. 

St Mary’s School Assemblies in Church on 7th July: Play Area Closed, Cafe Open  
Our church Play Area will be closed at various points in the day on Tuesday 7th July as there will be St Mary’s School assemblies taking place in the church both in the morning and afternoon. However, St Mary’s Ruttle & Rowe cafe will remain open to the wider public throughout the day, with cafe seating in the Exhibition Space as well as outside. 

Centre for Theology and Community Quiz at St Mary’s on Thursday 9th July at 6.30pm
Support our partners, CTC, as they celebrate 20 years of faith-filled community organising across East London and raise money for the next 20 years. Tickets are now on sale for a 9th July evening of brain teasers, laughs and some friendly competition which will be held at St Mary’s Church. You can book your ticket here or search ‘CTC quiz night Walthamstow’. 

St Mary’s to Host East London Brass Band on Saturday 11th July 
Join us at St Mary’s on Saturday 11th July at 7pm for an evening of Summer Brass with the award-winning East London Brass Band. Tickets are available for £10 (+ processing fee) for adults or £5 (+ processing fee) for children and young people, and we will run a card-only bar on the night. Based in Walthamstow, East London Brass is a championship section brass band with a reputation that extends far beyond our local area. You can purchase tickets online here or by going to stmaryswalthamstow.org/SummerBrass. 

Sponsor a Bible for School Leavers: Donate via Tap-and-Go Machines in Church 
Every year we give a Bible to Year 6 leavers of St Mary’s Primary School, and for many children, it will be the only Bible they have ever received. If you would like to sponsor a Bible for £10, you can now give via the tap-and-go machines in church, via stmaryswalthamstow.org/donate (write in the notes section that your donation is for a St Mary’s School Leavers’ Bible), or you can also make a bank transfer, noting the reason for your donation. Our bank details are: Co-operative Bank, St Mary’s Church, Parish of Walthamstow; Account Number: 65579372, Sort Code: 08-92-99. If you would like to give cash or to donate via cheque, contact our Parish Office (). 

Spaces Now Available: Summer Saturday Churchyard Volunteer Sessions 
This summer, St Mary’s Head Gardener Tim Hewitt is running free Saturday sessions from 10am-Noon for volunteer gardeners who have struggled to attend Tim’s regular weekday sessions – an opportunity to learn new skills, meet new people and better understand the principles of gardening for wildlife. Due to anticipated demand, Tim is asking people to book in advance as spaces will be limited for each session. The free Saturday sessions will begin on 25th July and run the following five Saturdays through the end of August. Book here or find a booking link at stmaryswalthamstow.org/SummerSaturdays. 

Churchyard Tours in July and August to Raise Money for St Mary’s 
Join us for a tour of the award-winning St Mary’s Churchyard led by our head gardener Tim Hewitt as we raise money for the church. Learn about gardening for biodiversity, explore the stunning planting around the churchyard, and discover some of the wildlife that calls St Mary’s Churchyard home. Finish the tour with a cup of locally-grown herbal tea. Tickets are £10 each (+ booking fee) with three dates to choose from: Wednesday 22nd July at 6pm, Wednesday 5th August at 6pm, or Wednesday 19th August at 6pm. Click here to book a churchyard tour, or visit stmaryswalthamstow.org/ChurchyardTours. 

Volunteers Needed for Free Summer Activities for Children in August 
After the success of our 2025 Summer Activity Programme, we are planning to offer another week of free children’s activities, 24th-27th August. Throughout the week, we will hold two free sessions per day for children and their parents/carers (10am-12pm and 1.30-3.30pm). The plan is to run outdoor fete games, crafts, board games and a movie day, and we are looking to build a team to serve our community. If you are available to help out at one or more sessions, please email Revd Vanessa Conant at . 

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: Help Chris Packham’s National Emergency Petition Get to 100k Signatures
Chris Packham and the team behind the People’s Emergency Briefing – a film about the climate and nature crisis which is being screened in hundreds of churches and community halls across the UK, including a screening held last week at St Mary’s – are calling for a national emergency briefing, broadcast to the entire country, which makes clear the scale of the climate crisis and the possible impacts if we don’t take urgent action. Packham’s petition currently has nearly 30,000 signatures but needs 100,000 to be considered for a debate in Parliament. Sign the petition here or search ‘Chris Packham petition’ to find the link to sign. 

Please pray this week for:

• Urgent building work needed on the St Mary’s Welcome Centre and St Gabriel’s Family Centre: for funding and wisdom as we seek to improve these buildings for all 
• The next Prime Minister’s commitment to addressing the climate and nature crisis, and that the government would agree to hold a National Emergency Briefing 
• The UK Government to take climate mitigation seriously and develop a plan for retrofitting homes and improving towns and cities to cope with extreme heat 
• Places where life is dangerous due to war, disease, oppression or instability, praying especially for the DRC, Ukraine, Lebanon, Gaza, Sudan, Iran and Myanmar 
• Bishops Lynne and Guli, Archdeacon Mike, Archbishops Sarah and Stephen, and for leaders of all Churches, including Pope Leo – for wisdom, discernment and courage 
• Pope Leo’s encyclical on Artificial Intelligence, that it would get a wide hearing, and for more serious regulatory proposals for AI, drawing on significant ethical concerns 
• The work of the Centre for Theology and Community as they celebrate 20 years of supporting community organising in East London churches, including in St Mary’s 
• All who are unwell in any way, praying especially for those undergoing tests, receiving treatment, or preparing for surgery: for hope, help and healing 
• The ongoing development of our work with and in local schools 
• The work of our Walthamstow Welcomes paperwork cafe, the free Thursday evening FoodCycle community meal and the Kindwell Sunday evening foodshare, all of which happen in the Welcome Centre and which we support as a church 
• All who are struggling financially in our parish and across the whole of Walthamstow and Waltham Forest, including any small businesses which are currently struggling
• More people to come to faith in our parish, and for us to find new ways of introducing people to the love of God and building lasting connections and relationships 

Reflection: ‘I Will Give You Rest’ 
Revd Andrew Stewart, Vicar, St Gabriel’s, Walthamstow, writes: 

A few weeks ago I found myself taking a dance class. It was great fun, but I quickly realised I was by far the least experienced person in the room. The instructor and the other dancers were using dance terms, and I hadn’t the faintest idea what they meant.

Thankfully, the instructor noticed my blank expression and would stop every now and then to explain. She was wonderfully patient. But it reminded me that every skill has its own language. The deeper you go, the more specialist it becomes. If you don’t know the vocabulary, you can feel as though you’re standing outside, looking in.

That thought stayed with me as I read this Sunday’s Gospel. Jesus says these extraordinary words: ‘No one knows the Son except the Father.’

We often assume Jesus is the easiest person of the Trinity to know. After all, we can picture him walking dusty roads, eating with friends, telling stories, and welcoming children. 

He feels familiar.

But Jesus says otherwise. In all the universe, only God the Father truly knows God the Son. Only the Father comprehends all that he is and all that he’s done. Jesus isn’t less than we can understand, but always more.

Every generation thinks it has worked Jesus out – yet he never quite fits inside anyone’s categories. There’s always more to discover. No one is so clever that they can think beyond him or plumb the depths of him.

At first, that can make Jesus sound like every other difficult subject – as though he belongs to the experts, reserved for those with enough knowledge or insight.

But then, beautifully, having told us that he is the deepest mystery of the universe, he goes on to say, ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.’

No one – and then all.

In most areas of life, the more ‘advanced’ something is, the less accessible it becomes. Specialist knowledge is for specialists – the rest of us stay on the outside.

But Jesus overturns that completely. 

The deepest reality in the universe isn’t reserved for the intellectual elite or the spiritually impressive. It’s offered to the tired, the struggling, and the ordinary.

I’ve been following Jesus for quite a long time now, and I still find him surprising. Sometimes comforting, sometimes unsettling – often both at once. Every time I think I’ve reached the end of what there is to know about him, I discover I’ve barely begun.

Perhaps that’s one of the great joys of the Christian life. Jesus isn’t a puzzle to solve but a person to know. We’ll never exhaust the mystery of who he is. The wisest scholar will never reach the end of him, and the smallest child can truly know him. He’s endlessly fascinating, utterly enthralling, and always greater than we imagined.

And yet the most mysterious person in the universe is also the most welcoming. The one whom only the Father fully knows is the very one who invites ordinary, worn-out people, including those with no special learning or insight, to come to him. We will never reach the end of him – but his invitation is not complicated: ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.’