Dear St Mary’s, 

On 6th April, the Fifth Sunday of Lent – which is also known as Passion Sunday – Revd Tim Scott will lead and Revd Jacintha Danaswamy will preach at 9am (Holy Communion) and again at 10.30am (Holy Communion), with a baptism in the 10.30am service. 

This is the final Sunday before Palm Sunday, and, as such, the atmosphere of the Season of Lent begins to darken; the lectionary moves into the story of Christ’s suffering, with this week’s reading of the Passion Narrative giving ‘Passion Sunday’ its name. 

There will be supervised children’s groups at this Sunday’s 10.30am service with a Baby Lounge in the South Vestry at both 9am and 10.30am. For those unable to join us in person, we will live-stream our 9am service to Facebook (facebook.com/StMarysE17). 

At 6.30pm, there will also be evening prayer in the church led by St Luke’s and all are welcome. We hope to see you this Sunday as we continue to journey through Lent together.  

Free ‘Vestry Junior’ Music Event at St Mary’s on Saturday 5th April at 11am 
Our music partners are running a free children’s music event this Saturday 5th April and are hoping to run others on the first Saturday of every month. Ideal for children ages 4-10, each 40-minute ‘Vestry Junior’ session will explore a new theme through music and interactive stories, with 5th April’s session exploring Aesop’s ‘The North Wind and the Sun’. St Mary’s Ruttle & Rowe cafe will be open and donations for the musicians will be gratefully accepted. 

St Mary’s Knitting and Crochet Group to Meet Again on Saturday 5th April 
Our Knitting and Crochet group has been meeting on Saturdays, 10am-12pm, in our Exhibition Space and will meet again this Saturday 5th April – the last gathering before Easter. Bring wool, needles, crochet hooks and whatever you’re working on. Details: .  

Don’t Miss Our 8th April Easter Craft Event + Volunteers Needed 
On Tuesday 8th April, 2pm-4pm, we will run a free Easter-themed craft event at St Mary’s for children and families. Drop in for any or all of that time; our Ruttle & Rowe cafe will also be running. We also need a few volunteers to help us set up, clean up, and run our Easter craft activities. If you can help for any amount of time on Tuesday afternoon, we would be so thankful. To volunteer, email Revd Vanessa Conant at . 

Is St Mary’s Your Church? Join Our Roll by 20th April and Help Us Reach 300 
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 this Sunday’s service (or online, if you’re unable to join us in person)? Our deadline is 20th April and so far we only have 136 people who have signed up, though we estimate over 300 people regularly or occasionally attend services at St Mary’s. 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 if possible 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. 

New to Faith or Considering Baptism? Register for ‘Discovering Christianity’ in May
We’re offering a four-week course starting on 8th May and running four consecutive Thursdays, 7.30pm-9pm, for people who are looking to explore faith or who are considering getting baptised. We will be discussing the new book, ‘Discovering Christianity: A Guide For The Curious’ by Rowan Williams. Email . 

Newcomers’ Breakfast on Saturday 10th May in the Welcome Centre 
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 . 

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 100 tickets now sold, so get yours soon; tickets are £13.70 and available here or by searching ‘Ground Level’ at eventbrite.co.uk. 

St Mary’s Bell Ringers Looking for New Members 
The group that rings bells in our church tower is keen to welcome new learners to join them for practice every Wednesday at 7:30pm. Meet new people and get some gentle exercise, with no musical skills necessary. Interested? Email for details. 

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 . 

St Mary’s Churchyard to be Featured on ITV Gardening Programme 
Earlier this week, our head gardener Tim Hewitt and some of his St Mary’s Churchyard volunteers were interviewed by Errol Reuben Fernandes – a TV presenter and the Head of Horticulture at the Horniman Museum and Gardens – for Alan Titchmarsh’s Gardening Club on ITV. We will let you know when the episode is scheduled for broadcast, but it was brilliant to see Tim and his volunteers’ hard work being recognised, with Errol Reuben Fernandes calling St Mary’s Churchyard a ‘gem’ on social media. Well done Tim and team – and many thanks to Errol and his film crew for coming out to explore St Mary’s Churchyard this week! 

EcoTip: Walthamstow Village Meadow Sowing on Saturday 5th April, 10am-1pm 
The Walthamstow Village in Bloom gardening group is inviting the public to join them at the junction of Orford Road and Church End this Saturday, 5th April, to sow seeds in the green space near the Ancient House, across from our churchyard, as they work to create a pollinator-friendly meadow. Drop in between 10am-1pm. There will also be a seed-swap with experts on hand to give advice and local BEE17 honey for sale to raise money for plants.  

Please pray this week for:

• People in Myanmar and Thailand suffering the impacts of a devastating earthquake 
• Places of conflict around the world, including Sudan, Myanmar, Ukraine and Gaza 
• Efforts to shield young people from the negative impacts of social media 
• International relief efforts/ peacemaking, and all global efforts to alleviate suffering
• Child poverty in the UK and around the world – for efforts to reduce and eliminate it 
• Movements to counteract the rising tide of authoritarianism in many countries, including in the US and Türkiye 
• Campaigners working to stop new fossil fuel developments around the world 
• Many to discover and experience the love of Christ this Holy Week and Easter 
• Clergy in our church and parish – Vanessa, Jacintha, Tim, Ola and Andrew – as well as for our bishops, Lynne and Guli, and for our archdeacon, Mike 
• Our churchwardens, Natalie and Nevil, and for all of our lay leaders at St Mary’s 
• Those who are unwell in any way – body, mind or spirit: for healing and hope 
• All who are lonely in our parish, and for our outreach to those who feel isolated/alone 

Next Week in St Mary’s Church and Welcome Centre (7th April – 12th April) 

Monday 7th April 
Morning Prayer in St Mary’s Church, 8.30am 
No scheduled events in the Welcome Centre 

Tuesday 8th April   
Morning Prayer in St Mary’s Church, 8.30am 
Easter Drop-In Craft Activities in St Mary’s Church, 2pm-4pm 
HulaFit in the Welcome Centre, 6.30pm 

Wednesday 9th April       
Morning Prayer in St Mary’s Church, 8.30am 
Ninja School in the Welcome Centre, 4-7pm 

Thursday 10th April  
Morning Prayer in St Mary’s Church, 8.30am 
Baby Massage in the Welcome Centre, 10.30am
FoodCycle (free community meal) in the Welcome Centre, 6.30pm 

Friday 11th April      
Ninja School in the Welcome Centre, 4-7pm

Saturday 12th April 
Walthamstow Welcomes Cafe (free help with confusing paperwork), Welcome Centre, 10am-12pm 

Reflection: ‘Connected and Moved’ 
Revd Tim Scott writes: 

I saw a clip and report this week on the BBC Verify website of a video of the horrendous destruction in Myanmar following the earthquake. It was a fake video generated through AI. 

The BBC report explained that it was possible to see that it was fake partly because there was a watermark (which was subsequently cropped) and because the landscape and horizon did not match up with reality. Additionally, the people who were walking amongst the destruction appeared to be walking in a strange way, suggesting that they were superimposed. It was as if they were walking through the scenes of devastation in a completely ‘unconnected’ and ‘unmoved’ way. Somehow, it was different to seeing actual people walk through the devastation with an understandable sense of shock and disbelief.  

This got me thinking: being ‘unconnected and unmoved’ is the antithesis of God’s action and God’s longing for us. Moreover, the biblical narratives make it very clear that we live and move and have our being in – and as part of – God‘s creation, and are invited to recognise our ‘interconnectedness’. God is always longing for us to be re-connected with God and with each other. It’s not a distant longing, but one which God in Jesus shows us, one he lives out, dies because of, was raised for, and is present for. 

As we draw closer to the passion narratives and Holy Week, we are drawn more deeply into the presence of Jesus. We see what being ‘connected and moved’ looks like. In Jesus, we see a God who does not walk unconnected and unmoved through the reality of our lives. Rather, we see a God who is moved and reaches out to us in costly love. 

As WH Vanstone has written in ‘A Hymn to the Creator’: 

Drained is love in making full; 
Bound in setting others free; 
Poor in making many rich; 
Weak in giving power to be. 

Therefore He Who Thee reveals 
Hangs, O Father, on that Tree 
Helpless; and the nails and thorns 
Tell of what thy love must be. 

Thou art God; no monarch Thou
Throned in easy state to reign; 
Thou art God, Whose arms of love
Aching, spent, the world sustain. 

This is no fake video, but a costly, risky love which is both free (pure grace) but also a love which invites us to respond. We cannot walk ‘unconnected and unmoved’ as the people in that fake video seemed to. With open hearts, we are invited to reach out to those around us or to what we see and hear, allowing ourselves to be moved as we seek a deeper connectedness and discover hope and God’s presence within even the deepest heartache. 

May God continue to sustain us as we continue our Lenten journey towards the joy of Easter.

With my love and prayers,

Tim