Dear St Mary’s, 

On 22nd February – the First Sunday of Lent – Revd Jacintha Danaswamy will lead and Revd Vanessa Conant will preach at 9am (Holy Communion) and again at 10.30am (Intergenerational Service). There will be no supervised children’s groups at 10.30am this week given that it is the fourth Sunday of the month, which means all ages will be together. 

Our lectionary readings this Sunday are Romans 5:12-19 and Matthew 4:1-11 – the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. For those unable to join us in person this Sunday, we will livestream our 9am service to Facebook. And then on Sunday evening at 6pm, we will gather again for Embers, our semi-regular evening service of prayer and sung worship led by our brilliant team of musicians and singers. We hope to see you this Sunday at St Mary’s! 

2026 Lent Book Group ‘Dancing at the Still Point’ Begins on 26th February  
Our Lent Book this year is ‘Dancing at the Still Point: Retreat Practices for a Busy Life’ by the Jesuit sister, theologian and writer Gemma Simmonds. Accessible and engaging, the book explores how we can find spaces of retreat in the busyness of life. Each week, we’ll be discussing the book and offering time to practise and ‘retreat’ at the end of the session. Our first meeting will be on Thursday 26th February at 7.30pm with subsequent meetings the following three Thursdays. Sign up here or email . 

Taizé Service of Lamentation and Hope on Sunday 1st March at 6pm 
Join us for a special service, ‘A Lament for Our Habitat’, led by the Eco Church Team and members of our congregation on Sunday 1st March at 6pm. Taizé worship is a contemplative prayer style developed by the Taizé community in France. Using simple chants, periods of silence, readings, poetry and candlelight, the service invites you to join us as we lament the ecological crisis we face and as we seek hope, forgiveness and healing for the future. 

Building Connections at St Mary’s: Join us for ‘Weaving Trust’ on Sunday 8th March 
St Mary’s is a large congregation and it can be challenging to get to know people through Sunday mornings alone. ‘Weaving Trust’ is an opportunity to have guided conversations with different people in the church, allowing you to meet and make meaningful connections with more people in our community. Our hope is that all who attend will make new friends and feel a greater sense of belonging. The event will take place after the 10.30am service on 8th March with a sandwich lunch provided for those who would like to attend. Please register your interest here, or email for more information. 

New PCC Secretary Needed 
Our wonderful PCC Secretary, Liz Davies, is standing down after nearly a decade of incredible service. We are thankful to Liz for all she has done to support the parish and are now beginning to look for a new PCC Secretary. This is a key role in the leadership of the parish and we are keen to find the right person to join the team. Taking on the role would involve being elected or co-opted onto our Parochial Church Council, which meets six times per year. To learn more, email Revd Vanessa Conant at . 

Whirl & Wonder: Second Baby Confidence Course in St Mary’s Exhibition Space 
Expecting your second child? Whirl & Wonder runs a Second Baby Confidence Course designed specifically for parents making the leap from one child to two – a course which meets in our Exhibition Space. Join to meet local second-time parents with similar due dates and manage the sibling transition. The unique split-session format allows both parents to attend and discuss their thoughts openly, with no babysitter required. The course is now booking for its February, April and June cohorts. Book here or at www.whirlandwonder.co.uk. 

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: Carbon Fast for Lent 
In the Bible, caring for creation is one humanity’s first obligations, making it an important topic to reflect on during Lent. If you are interested in reflecting on your care for creation, the team at Climate Stewards will send out a ‘Carbon Fast’ email every week during Lent with a reflection as well as ideas for reducing your impact on the planet and taking other actions. Weekly themes include money, food waste and transport. To sign up to receive the weekly Carbon Fast emails this Lent, click here or visit climatestewards.org/resources. 

Please pray this week for:

• Christian communities in the UK and around the world during this season of Lent, and also for Muslim communities as they mark Ramadan at the same time 
• All exploring faith at St Mary’s this Lent – that many would experience God’s love  
• All in our church and parish who are unwell in any way – for help, hope and healing 
• The UK government to properly regulate AI and social media to prevent harm 
• Christians to come together to proclaim a message of God’s love for all and to advocate for Common Good policies as an alternative to divisive political movements 
• All victims of abuse and harm, including and especially those who have been abused in church settings – that society and all churches would take safeguarding seriously 
• Christians and all people of goodwill to make the case for a fair and fast transition away from fossil fuels out of concern for our Common Home and for each other 
• All who are in need of a job or whose current employment is unstable 
• Young people who are not in work or in education: for opportunities and support 
• Children, parents/carers and school staff as schools prepare to return from half-term
• Global conflict and unrest, praying specifically for Ukraine, Sudan, Gaza, Iran, Greenland, and for all honest efforts to broker a just and lasting peace 
• St Mary’s clergy and lay leaders, as well as for the leaders of our council, city and country – for wisdom and moral leadership that takes into account the needs of all

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

I have just returned from a few days in Edinburgh. Many of you will already know that Cameron and I lived there for four years before moving to Walthamstow. We went to visit friends and show our children a city which is very dear to us. 

It is almost impossible not to love Edinburgh (even in the depths of February) with its breathtaking architecture and history, its craggy mountain and views of the sea – the way the sun, on those rare occasions, bursts through and bathes everything in beauty and light. 

And, of course, when you live somewhere, there are all the people you love and faces you know. There are all the moments you have shared and the friendships that have blessed, challenged and nurtured you. 

I have returned to Edinburgh a few times since leaving but I found that I was particularly nostalgic on this trip. I felt, on this occasion, as if every street was returning to me a memory of a person dearly loved; of how life had once been; of sacred, holy moments. 

There was, of course, also the awareness of how much had changed and of those things I did not recognise or know. In the community of which I had been a part, there was illness, retirement, and once-small children now entering adulthood. The familiar had become unfamiliar, and with that came some slightly ineffable longing to return or to preserve what was precious and treasured. In some small way, a sense of ‘home’ was being unsettled. 

Nostalgia means, in literal terms, ‘longing for home’. Bishop Andrew Rumsey wrote that the term was coined in the 17th century by doctors looking to diagnose the physical and mental symptoms of homesickness experienced by soldiers fighting in the European religious wars. For them, the present was a decline from an ideal past and there was an acute awareness of what was lost. 

Rumsey notes also that, ‘when belief in heaven (however broadly one defines that term) disappears from a culture, our desire for an eternal home does not evaporate; it merely turns back on past and present, asking of them what neither can offer’. 

Nostalgia then can carry both a sweet weight of longing – a remembering tinged with thankfulness – and it can be a helpful way of reorientating oneself; a little nostalgia can help us get our bearings in a rapidly changing world and can prove consoling and restorative. 

Left to its own devices however, nostalgia can also become distorted or unhelpful. Whether that’s the remembering of a past which didn’t actually exist (and who among us has not edited out the more difficult memories of seasons or years?) or the weaponising of reminiscence for political gain or division, nostalgia requires some navigation. 

As we enter the season of Lent this week, we remember Jesus entering the wilderness for forty days and forty nights. This preparation for ministry replays the Exodus story: forty years of the Israelites wandering in the desert on their way to the Promised Land, having been brought out of slavery in Egypt. 

The Israelites are good examples of a nostalgia that has become misguided. Struggling in the wilderness, they remembered with fondness the ‘fish we ate free in Mitzrayim – also the cucumber, melons, leeks, onions and garlic’ (Numbers 11:5). Even though God was providing for the needs of the Israelites and they were able to trust him, they found themselves hankering after the days of oppression and slavery. 

Esther Frankel, a spiritual director and teacher of Jewish mysticism writes that the Israelites, ‘missed the predictability and sense of control they felt in Egypt – where everything was known. Though in actuality they were oppressed and enslaved by the Egyptians, the Israelites looked back on their time in Egypt with nostalgia because they could not bear the uncertainty they faced as a free people. Freedom is, ultimately, uncertain and unpredictable. One of the first lessons we all must learn in order to be free is how to “bear” uncertainty and trust in the unknown.’

The invitation to go with Jesus into the wilderness of Lent is without doubt, an invitation into the unpredictable. Who can say where the coming weeks (whether marked by a particular discipline or not) will lead us? Who can say what God will do? 

Jesus, unlike the Israelites, does not succumb to the temptations of nostalgia in the wilderness, but trusts God and roots himself in the voice of his Father. And the promise to each of us is that, walking in the way of Christ, we too can discover new freedom and hope when we allow ourselves to face uncertainty and to be alive and awake to the new amidst the familiar. 

Christian faith teaches that we have a place of true belonging, an eternal home, in the coming Kingdom where Christ is already preparing a place for us (John 14). This is a forward-facing hope which says, even in the midst of losses or memories, or yearning for the past, there is a future promise and a calling onwards. 

May this season of Lent stir in you a longing for greater freedom, may you find in Church a place for both your nostalgia and your uncertainty, and may, with Jesus, your heart find its eternal home.