Dear St Mary’s, 

On Sunday 19th January – the Second Sunday after Epiphany – we’ll share Holy Communion at 9am and again at 10.30am with Revd Tim Scott leading and presiding and Revd Ola Franklin preaching. There will be supervised children’s groups at 10.30am, with a Baby Lounge in the South Vestry at both services. For those unable to join us in person, we’ll livestream the 9am service to our Facebook page (facebook.com/StMarysE17). 

As we journey through the liturgical season of Epiphany, the lectionary gives us a series of epiphanies about who Jesus is; last week, we reflected on Jesus’s baptism by John in the River Jordan, while this week, we explore Jesus’s first miracle: turning water into wine at the Wedding at Cana. We hope to see you this Sunday at St Mary’s! 

Make Church Happen: Join a St Mary’s Rota in 2025 
Will you consider joining a rota in 2025 and commit to serving in church every 4-6 weeks? We need your help serving refreshments after Sunday services, leading children’s groups, welcoming people, reading scripture, running AV and more. Church happens because we make it happen! To volunteer or to learn more, email .

St Mary’s Church Closed Until Saturday 18th January 
St Mary’s building – including our Ruttle & Rowe Cafe and Play Area – will be closed today (Thursday 16th January) and tomorrow due to a classical album being recorded in the church. We look forward to having the building open again on Saturday 18th January. 

New Date: Bible Study on the Book of Judges to Begin 23rd January, 7.30pm   
A new Bible study series on the book of Judges, led by Revd Vanessa Conant, will start next week and will meet for four consecutive Thursdays, beginning 23rd January at 7.30pm. To reserve your place, email Revd Jacintha Danaswamy at . 

St Mary’s Youth Group to Resume on Sunday 26th January, 5pm
Young people in secondary school are invited to join our youth group, which meets fortnightly on Sundays, 5pm-6.15pm, in the Welcome Centre and will meet for the first time this year on 26th January. This term, we’ll be discussing the Gospel of Mark. If your child hasn’t attended our youth group before, email to register. 

What’s Important to You? Join Our Online Listening Meeting on 28th January, 8pm 
Climate Change, Youth Safety, Air Quality, Affordable Housing, London Living Wage, Supporting Refugees – what’s important to you? Community Organising is more than public action: the methods and techniques of organising also shape our life as a church and help us to live out our faith as Christians. We are currently in the process of holding a series of congregational listening meetings, and our next one will be online on Tuesday 28th January at 8pm. To reserve your place, email: . 

Revd Vanessa Conant to Return to Work on Sunday 2nd February 
Revd Vanessa Conant, who has been on parental leave for the past year, will resume her role as Team Rector of St Mary’s and the Parish on 2nd February. Vanessa will respond to emails from 3rd February and can be contacted at . 

No Morning Prayer on Fridays 
There will be no Morning Prayer on Fridays – only Monday to Thursday – for the foreseeable future given St Mary’s more limited clergy availability. We say Morning Prayer at 8.30am in the side chapel and livestream it to facebook.com/StMarysE17. All are welcome to join us. 

EcoTip: Climate Action in the Church of England 
Often before taking action on climate and nature, it’s helpful to have some inspiring examples to draw on in order to know what’s possible and how change happens. One recent example from the Church of England is the incredible amount of solar that is being installed on and around York Minster, one of the most historically significant buildings in the country. 

More than 180 solar panels on the roof of York Minster were recently switched on during a blessing ceremony and are expected to generate 70,000 kWh of energy, providing a third of the minster’s electricity requirements. It’s the fourth solar installation on the minster estate, which together will generate 120,000 kWh per year, enough to power 41 average UK homes. None of our parish buildings, including St Mary’s Church, currently have any solar panels, though could we find a way to change this? 

Please pray this week for:

• Those who are unwell or recovering in hospital – for healing, hope and support 
• Candidates from St Mary’s who are being confirmed on 2nd February
• Those recently baptised at St Mary’s, that they would be supported in their life of faith 
• Those nearing end of life, that they would profoundly experience God’s love/peace
• More people to encounter the love of Christ in this season of Epiphany 
• Campaigners and people of goodwill working for a more compassionate, just society 
• Anyone struggling with the cost of living – for help and support 
• A fair and fast transition away from fossil fuels in the UK and around the world 
• People in Los Angeles and elsewhere impacted by dangerous global heating 
• Leaders to address challenges of conflict, disinformation, climate change and more
• Regulation to curb the negative impacts of AI and other emerging technologies 
• For the agreed upon ceasefire in Gaza/Israel to hold, and for a lasting peace 

Next Week in the Welcome Centre (20th-24th January) 

Monday 20th January
Daphne & Friends (baby and child loss community), 10-11am 
Waltham Forest Community Choir, 7.30pm 

Tuesday 21st January  
Tai Chi, 7.30pm 

Wednesday 22nd January   
Walthamstow Welcomes Cafe (free help with confusing paperwork), 10am-Noon
Ninja School, 4-7pm 

Thursday 23rd January  
Baby Massage, 10.30am
FoodCycle (free community meal), 6.30pm 
The Singing Room, 7.30pm 

Friday 24th January   
Sing and Sign, 10.15am & 11.15am 
Ninja School, 4-7pm 

Reflection: ‘Do Whatever He Tells You’ 
Natalie Burwell, our churchwarden, writes: 

The place I used to work has a new global tagline: ‘Shape the future with confidence.’ They pose a question to their corporate clients: ‘Will you shape the future or will the future shape you?’ And they offer up their own credo: ’We believe the best way to shape the future is to create it.’

To the individual thinking about careers, they offer the chance to be future-shapers —‘change agents, risk managers and confidence builders.’ 

All these words must have been workshopped a thousand times into shininess, and the firm really is a great place to work. But the language sounded so strange to me I had to stop and reflect. And I realise that my own mental software, the operating system that organises my experience of the world, has been majorly updated since I worked there. Some of the updates were conscious — I clicked ‘accept’! — but a lot happened in the background, and some feel quite recent.

To prepare for preaching on the Magnificat, Mary’s beautiful, prophetic vision of God’s reign of justice and peace (Luke 1:46-55), I read during Advent about the social and economic conditions Jesus’s family lived in. I was struck by how utterly oppressed they were: a portrait of a community at the wrong end of a social hierarchy, constantly at risk from Rome’s violence and Herod’s heartless taxation. Grinding poverty and Jewish longing for liberation shaped Mary. And Mary shaped Jesus.

Even in the Gospel reading for this coming Sunday about a joyous wedding celebration in Cana, when hospitality is everything, there is not enough wine. There’s just never enough to go around in that economy.

And Mary reacts to the lack of wine with a marvellous confidence. She knows that Jesus has the power to change the situation. In her words —  ‘Do whatever he tells you’ — she inspires her son to take action, and the workers at the feast to trust. And things get better. Everyone receives a taste of generous life, life abundant.

If you ask me what feeling 2025 fills me with, I can’t honestly say ‘confidence.’ But I am pondering the way Mary moved through her world of risk. Who she was confident in. Who shaped her and who she shaped. Who she trusted to co-create a generous and liberating future. I’m praying over her transformational words, ‘Do whatever he tells you’.

Loving God, shape and change us to be more like you. Show us how to live through difficult times with generosity, trust and joyous risk-taking. Fill us with confidence in your ways, and help us to discern the living wisdom of your son, Jesus, guiding us into your future. Amen.