Dear St Mary’s,

On 30th March, join us for the Fourth Sunday in Lent, which is also Mothering Sunday. We’ll celebrate Holy Communion at 9am followed by a 10.30am Family Communion with Revd Vanessa Conant leading and preaching. There will be a Baby Lounge in the South Vestry, but as it’s the fifth Sunday of the month, there will be no children’s groups at 10.30am.

In the Church of England Mothering Sunday is historically a day in which people would return to their ‘Mother Church’, reconnecting with the communities that nurtured their faith. 

We recognise that Mothering Sunday/ Mother’s Day is not only a time of celebration, but is, for many people, a difficult day; this is why our custom is to distribute flowers to everyone at both our Mothering Sunday services, acknowledging there will be a range of feelings about the day and also that we have each been mothered or have mothered others ourselves. 

There will also be evening prayer at 6pm, hosted by St Luke’s, and all are welcome. 

Thank You St Mary’s: £900+ Donated to YMCA in East Jerusalem 
Many of us were deeply moved by Peter Nasir, a Palestinian Christian and the director of the YMCA in East Jerusalem, who spoke on Sunday about his experience living in East Jerusalem and his work with Palestinian young people. Peter was touched by your response to his work, with over £900 raised by our church for the YMCA in East Jerusalem. 

Vespers on Wednesday 2nd April, 7.30pm 
Our next Vespers gathering is on Wednesday 2nd April at 7.30pm, with Holy Communion celebrated after Vespers at 8.15pm in St Mary’s side chapel. Vespers is held on the first Wednesday of every month – a beautiful candlelit space in our ancient church where many have gathered over eight years to practise contemplative prayer, explore faith or simply sit in silence. Whether you’re looking to deepen your prayer life or just need a quiet place to sit, do come along to Vespers – it would be wonderful to have you. 

Evening Worship Service on Palm Sunday at 6.30pm 
We’ll hold an evening service of sung worship on Palm Sunday 13th April at 6.30pm. Led by Jonnie Barrow and Charnelle Barclay, ‘Embers’ is an hour of praise and worship music. 

Holy Week 2025 at St Mary’s and in the Parish 
During Holy Week, join us on Wednesday 16th April at 7.30pm for our Tenebrae service – a retelling of the passion narrative, with the church growing progressively darker as the story progresses. On 17th April, Maundy Thursday, there will be a 7.30pm Holy Communion service at St Gabriel’s Church. And then on 18th April, Good Friday, we will begin the day at St Mary’s with Holy Communion at 8.30am; will later hold a ‘Messy Good Friday’ service for children and families at 10.30am; a ‘Quiet Easter’ service for neurodiverse children at 3.30pm (booking required); and a Good Friday service at 7.30pm. On Easter Sunday, 20th April, we’ll have a 6.30am Sunrise Service with an Easter Fire in St Mary’s courtyard followed by Holy Communion at 9am and 10.30am (stmaryswalthamstow.org/HolyWeek).  

Is St Mary’s Your Church? Join Our Parish Roll 
Every six years, dioceses from around the Church of England ask parish churches to start from scratch and create an entirely new Parish Roll, which is a listing of everyone who considers a particular church to be their church home. If St Mary’s is your church, will you fill out a short form during or after a Sunday service (or online, if you’re unable to join us in person)? While being on our Parish Roll allows you to vote at our annual parish meeting as well as to stand for church leadership, it also helps us see how we are growing as a church. If you would prefer to fill out the forms online, it takes less than three minutes, but please note that we would like you to fill out both the Electoral Roll form (link here) and GDPR form (link here). You can also find the forms at stmaryswalthamstow.org/ElectoralRoll2025. 

Newcomers’ Breakfast on Saturday 10th May
Are you new (or relatively new) to St Mary’s and looking to get more connected? If so, join us for our Newcomers’ Breakfast in the St Mary’s Welcome Centre (our church hall, located just across the churchyard from the church) on Saturday 10th May, 9.30am-11am. Clergy and lay leaders will be in attendance to share more about St Mary’s and answer your questions. We’ll have free tea, coffee, juice, fruit and pastries, and children are very welcome. RSVP by emailing Revd Vanessa Conant at . 

Nearly 100 Tickets Sold: ‘Ground Level’ Gardening Event at St Mary’s on 20th May  
Be inspired by some of the UK’s foremost wildlife gardeners at ‘Ground Level’ – a ticketed 20th May event at St Mary’s featuring talks by TV presenters Kate Bradbury and Errol Reuben Fernandes, with everything you need to know to garden better for wildlife. Wherever your plot is – balcony, ground or pot – you can help biodiversity. The 6.30pm talks will be followed by a panel discussion with gardener and writer Susanna Grant and Wild City Studio’s Jon Davis and Steve Williams, all chaired by our head gardener Tim Hewitt with a Q&A to follow. There will also be a paid bar and a chance to tour St Mary’s Churchyard. Tickets are going fast, with nearly 100 sold already, so get yours soon; tickets are £13.70 and available here or by searching ‘Ground Level’ at eventbrite.co.uk. 

Children’s Birthday Parties in the Welcome Centre 
A great source of revenue for our church has been weekend children’s birthday parties in the Welcome Centre, and we have a number of openings in the months ahead. If you’re looking to hold a child’s birthday party, you can hire the larger Welcome Centre hall or the smaller Welcome Centre lounge on either a Saturday or a Sunday from 1pm-5pm. The hall (which can accommodate a bouncy castle) is £275 for four hours, whereas the lounge is £175 for four hours. To book or learn more, email Louise Wallis at . 

EcoTip: World Council of Churches’ Resource to Hold Big Polluters Accountable 
As reported earlier this week in The Guardian, Christians are being encouraged to take legal action against polluters and those who finance them. In a new climate justice handbook called ‘Hope for Children Through Climate Justice: Legal Tools to Hold Financiers Accountable’, the World Council of Churches has set out practical ways that faith groups can help protect young people and future generations from the climate crisis. Drawing on Christian teachings on stewardship and justice, it presents strategic litigation as a tool to ‘create hope and hold responsible parties accountable’. You can download the guide here or access it by visiting the World Council of Churches’ website at www.oikoumene.org. 

Please pray this week for:

• The PCC (church trustees) meeting on 31st March 
• Those who will be impacted by UK welfare cuts, which were announced this week, as well as those who are already struggling to make ends meet 
• Young people who are not in work, education or training: for hope and opportunities 
• Places of war/ unrest, especially Sudan, Ukraine, Syria, Türkiye and Gaza
• The work of Peter Nasir and the YMCA in East Jerusalem 
• Campaigners peacefully opposing authoritarian movements around the world 
• Those in our parish who are unwell in body, mind or spirit: for healing and support 
• Many to experience the love of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit this Lent 
• The work of our Walthamstow Welcomes cafe and for those in need of help  
• For all who visit our buildings or churchyard: that they would feel welcomed 
• St Mary’s staff and clergy, including clergy in our wider parish and diocese 
• The children in our church and parish, and for St Mary’s children’s ministry leaders 

Next Week in the Welcome Centre (31st March – 4th April)

Monday 31st March
Daphne & Friends (baby and child loss community), 10-11am 
Waltham Forest Community Choir, 7.30-9.30pm 

Tuesday 1st April  
HulaFit, 6.30pm 

Wednesday 2nd April      
Walthamstow Welcomes Cafe (free help with confusing paperwork), 10am-Noon 
Ninja School, 4-7pm 

Thursday 3rd April   
Baby Massage, 10.30am
FoodCycle (free community meal), 6.30pm 

Friday 4th April      
Ninja School, 4-7pm

Reflection: ‘Freedom from Debt’ 
Revd Vanessa Conant writes: 

In a time where the news seems relentlessly bleak or alarming, I was touched by a story (and accompanying documentary) about the actor and director, Michael Sheen. Two years ago, in an attempt to publicise how banks and finance companies profit from society’s most vulnerable people, he set up a debt buying company. Pledging himself to be a ‘not-for-profit’ actor, Sheen spent the next two years using £100,000 of his own money to pay off the debts of 900 people in South Wales. These debts amounted to £1,000,000 in value. Sheen never found out whose debts he paid off. 

The project has highlighted profound injustices in the debt and loan systems of this country and shed light on the devastating experiences of many who find themselves both dependent on financial support and punished for that dependency. But more than that, it has released people from the crushing anxiety and exhaustion of debt and the impossibility of finding freedom from that weight. It has brought new life and new hope. 

I find myself thinking about this story as we draw closer to Good Friday and Easter Sunday, wondering how to describe what happens in these days. 

Christian theology has spent two thousand years seeking an adequate metaphor or model for the atonement – the process by which sinful humanity is reconciled to a holy and loving God. Often, our limited language and limited understanding mean that these models fall short in some way. How to describe the saving intervention of God? How to explain the mysteries of cosmic reconciliation? 

The image of debts cancelled is one which has some echoes in atonement theory, particularly the idea of Jesus paying a ransom to Satan for our freedom and salvation. Jesus himself says that the Son of Man came to give his life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28). It’s a model that has been closely studied and found wanting, but I don’t think that we necessarily need to discard it altogether. Perhaps what is more helpful is to think of stories, such as Michael Sheen’s act of incredible generosity, as something closer to an icon – a gateway to prayer, a beginning of thinking, a provocation or an inspiration. 

In Christ, the broken systems and injustices of the world – the horror of genocide, oppression and cruelty which afflict so many – are taken on. Death is defeated and eternal life – freedom from debt, freedom from suffering, fullness of life – is found. We prepare to celebrate this ineffable joy even when we do not have the words to fully describe it. 

As we journey through Lent, I pray that each one of us might glimpse the liberating love of Jesus Christ – that it might be a light in a world of darkness, and that we might have the courage to wonder about that light and to receive its gifts.