Dear St Mary’s, 

On 11th January, the First Sunday of Epiphany, we will mark the Baptism of Christ with a service of Holy Communion at 9am followed by Morning Worship at 10.30am – a service which will include supervised children’s groups. Revd Vanessa Conant will preach and lead. 

Our readings are Acts 10:34-43 – St Peter’s realisation that ‘God does not show favouritism’ – and Matthew 3:13-end, which is the story of Jesus’ baptism by John in the River Jordan in which a voice from heaven declares, ‘this is my son with whom I am well pleased’. 

In the season of Epiphany, we explore various ‘epiphanies’ or revelations from the life of Christ as we think about who Jesus is and what it means to follow him. For those who are unable to join us in person this Sunday, we will livestream the 9am service to our Facebook page (facebook.com/StMarysE17). We hope to see you this Sunday at St Mary’s! 

Next ‘Discovering Christianity’ Book Group Starting 15th January 2026 
We are pleased to offer another opportunity to read and discuss Rowan Williams’ beautiful book ‘Discovering Christianity’ together. Beginning on the 15th January at 7.30pm and meeting over the following three Thursdays, we will explore this text which both introduces the Christian faith and allows lifelong Christians to deepen their understanding. These groups are also an excellent way to meet others at St Mary’s and are particularly recommended if you are new to the congregation. If you are interested in joining us in January, please sign up here or email . 

St Luke’s Community Prayer Morning on Saturday 17th January 2026
The St Luke’s Community will meet at St Peter’s in the Forest on 17th January 2026, 10am -1pm, to pray and plan for 2026. All are welcome. More information about the St Luke’s Community is available on their website: stlukese17.org. 

Tickets Available for Burns Night Community Ceilidh on Friday 23rd January 
Tickets are now available for our Burns Night Community Ceilidh at St Mary’s on Friday 23rd January at 7.30pm (doors at 7pm) featuring a live ceilidh band and card-only bar, and we’d love to have you join us as we raise money for the church. Tickets are £12.50 (+ a processing fee) and are free for Under 12s. We had a great time in 2024 when Stroma – the same ceilidh band that will be joining us on the 23rd – helped us mark the end of our Summer Festival. You can buy tickets here or by searching St Mary’s Eventbrite page. 

St Mary’s Youth Group Returns on 25th January 2026 
Our youth group is now on a break but will return on Sunday 25th January 2026. For times and details, email Revd Jacintha Danaswamy at . 

Save the Date: Open Mic Worship on 12th February 2026 
After the success of our last Open Mic Worship evening, we are excited to announce our next event, planned for Thursday 12th February 2026. If you are interested in performing or would like to find out more, email . 

St Mary’s School Forms: All Forms Must Go Via the Parish Office 
If you have recently joined St Mary’s because you are considering putting in 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 you will find a place of belonging in our community. Please note that all school forms and enquiries must go via our Parish Office rather than handing forms to a member of our clergy team (please email our administrator Josie at to arrange signatures or to ask any questions). We do not sign school forms on a Sunday to enable clergy to be pastorally available to the congregation. In general, school forms must completed in full before they are signed, including your level of church membership; please note that in order to select ‘at the heart of the church’, you must be able to demonstrate a long-standing commitment of at least two years to St Mary’s Church or show a long-standing commitment to your previous church. 

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:

• All who are unwell in body, mind or spirit: for total healing and for the peace of Christ 
• All in our parish who are anxious or troubled: that God would be with them 
• Rough sleepers in our Parish – for access to services – as well as for the work of the Forest Churches Emergency Night Shelter and other homelessness charities 
• All who are the victims of crime or are involved in crime: for restorative justice, for all efforts to prevent crime, and for ways out of destructive ways of living  
• St Mary’s and our entire Parish as we begin the New Year: for the health and wellbeing of our clergy, ministry leaders, church staff and of all who live in our parish 
• Peace in a tumultuous world, praying particularly for Venezuela, Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan and other places of conflict, and for all impacted by violence and uncertainty 
• Global leaders to seek the Common Good and find ways to resolve conflicts 
• An end to the fossil fuel era and to the fighting over polluting oil and gas when low-cost forms of energy which don’t overheat the planet are readily available 
• Those exploring faith or looking to deepen their faith commitment this year 
• All students and schools in our parish, including our church school, St Mary’s
• Our local Council – for all who lead and serve – as well as for our MP, Stella 
• Our bishops, Lynne and Guli, our Archbishop-designate Sarah and Archbishop Stephen, and for other faith leaders around the world, including Pope Leo  

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

In the midst of those sleepy, in-between days before New Year: a disruption. Someone not only broke into the Welcome Centre but also smashed the window of the church’s South Vestry. A few days later, there was another attempt, another broken window – this time in the Exhibition Space. Another call to the police and to the insurance company. The regularity of these events is dispiriting, and the work, repair and future prevention feels never-ending. 

I felt my post-Christmas mood, once buoyant and hopeful, shift; without realising it, I became attentive to every difficult or hard thing. Every tiny cruelty in a day – a brusque bus driver, a dismissive comment, the rudeness of strangers in a hurry – suddenly seemed louder and more oppressive. The worries of the world, so wild and turbulent, seemed overwhelming.

And then came the Feast of the Epiphany and our celebrations in church and throughout the week. Epiphany is both a remembrance of the coming of the Magi to the infant Jesus and the beginning of a short season in which the full humanity and divinity of Jesus is revealed to us and we are invited to respond. Epiphany is a season of paying attention. 

In his Epiphany sermon at York Minster, a friend of mine, Canon Tim Goode, said: ‘The Feast of the Epiphany begins with people who notice what others ignore. While kings are guarding power, priests are guarding tradition, and empires are guarding their borders, a small group of outsiders pay attention to the sky – and allow what they see to disturb them. They notice something that does not fit their settled explanations of how the world works. And instead of dismissing it, explaining it away, or domesticating it, they follow it. That decision – to notice, to attend, to follow – is the real drama of Epiphany.’

‘This feast is not about God suddenly arriving on the scene. God has already come. Epiphany is about the slow, risky awakening of human attention. It is about learning to recognise what has been present all along but has not yet been received. At the heart of Epiphany lies a gift without which faith itself withers: the gift of imagination.’

As the gentle challenge of Epiphany began to sink into my own soul, I became aware of where my attention had been drawn and how easy it is to see only part of what is real. 

In the midst of my gloom, I worked to notice something else – the tiny kindnesses of every day, the wonder of a beloved human face, the gracious generosity of people who help, the gifts of friendship and companionship and shared endeavour. 

And something in my heart began to soften and to feel more peaceful.

Of course, Epiphany is not an invitation into some pollyanna-ish vision of the world: to imagine is not to deny hardship or struggle or suffering. But it is an invitation into a deeper way of seeing, a view which recognises the sorrow and sin of the world and still proclaims that the light of Christ has come into the world and that light is stronger and brighter than all the horrors of which humanity is capable. Just as we celebrated at Christmas, we reaffirm now through Epiphany: love has come amongst us. Love has triumphed. 

I have found over the years that broken windows and break-ins often go in phases. I wouldn’t be surprised if we arrive some mornings to more shattered glass and the mangled iron of ancient window frames. I imagine I will greet these moments, if they come, with the same weary resignation that I did over New Year. But I pray – whatever happens – that my attention will not be diverted from holding a fuller picture of the Kingdom of God alive and at work in the world. I pray I will not miss the joy, the hope, the love and peace which is everywhere around us because of God’s love in Jesus Christ. 

And I pray for each of us, as a new year begins, that we might have the courage to enter into that risky human enterprise of paying attention to the love that has been there all along and is just waiting to be received. 

With love, 

Vanessa