Dear St Mary’s, 

On 18th January, the Second Sunday of Epiphany, we will share Holy Communion at 9am and again at 10.30am, with supervised children’s groups at 10.30am. Revd Vanessa Conant will preach and preside at both services. 

Our lectionary readings for the Second Sunday of Epiphany are 1 Corinthians 1:1-9 and John 1:29-42. In the season of Epiphany, we are exploring various ‘epiphanies’ or revelations from the life of Christ, thinking about who Jesus is and what it means to follow him. For those unable to join us in person this Sunday, we will livestream the 9am service to Facebook (facebook.com/StMarysE17). We hope to see you this Sunday at St Mary’s! 

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 Still Available for Burns Night Community Ceilidh on Friday 23rd January 
Tickets are going fast but are still available for our Burns Night Community Ceilidh at St Mary’s next 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 free for under 12s. You can buy tickets here or purchase tickets at stmaryswalthamstow.org. 

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 participating or would like to find out more, email . 

Ash Wednesday at St Mary’s
The season of Lent – forty days of preparation and reflection leading up to Holy Week and Easter – begins on Ash Wednesday, which this year falls on 18th February. Our Ash Wednesday services will be at 7.30am (for morning commuters and early risers), and later in the day at 7.30pm, with Holy Communion and the imposition of ashes at both services. These services are always moving and are beautiful ways to begin the season. Throughout Lent, we will also be offering opportunities to explore and deepen your faith through book groups and one-to-one meetings with clergy. We will soon share more information about our Lent programme and hope you will join us as we journey through this meaningful season. 

St Mary’s Register 
As our church grows, we are introducing some new systems. If you are considering a 2027 application for your child to attend St Mary’s School or you are attending St Mary’s to qualify for marriage in our church, we kindly ask you to sign the register at the back of church each week that you join us for worship. This enables clergy to keep track of attendance and ensure, in the case of marriage, that legal requirements are met and, in the case of school, that we have all the necessary information when school forms are signed this time next year. If you have any questions, contact the Parish Office at .

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: Collect Free Plants from the Hornbeam Community Centre 
Our friends in the Waltham Forest Right to Grow campaign are looking to encourage more people to grow food and pollinating plants in 2026. They estimate that Waltham Forest has roughly 12 acres of unused green space (excluding parks and protected nature areas) and the campaign wants to make better use of that space for food-growing and other gardening. Everyone is invited to visit the Hornbeam Community Centre (458 Hoe Street) on either 24th January or 31st January between 11am and 1pm to collect your free plant and then to join hundreds of others in planting it out on Sunday 1st February on any unused patch of green space near to you. To find out more, email . 

Please pray this week for:

• Our increasingly polarised world – for more people to seek out human connection and develop in-person friendships – and for our church to help facilitate connection 
• Regulators and politicians to put appropriate regulations in place to mitigate the harmful impacts of AI, social media and other forms of technology
• Chaotic geopolitical developments – from the threat to Greenland to the ongoing bombing of Ukraine to the attack on protesters in Iran: for justice to prevail 
• All who are unwell, and all who are caring for – or worried about – someone who is unwell: for hope, help, healing, and for a palpable sense of Christ’s presence 
• Teachers, school staff, students and parents as schools settle into a new term 
• The work of our Walthamstow Welcomes cafe as it helps local people access much-needed services and assistance 
• All in our Parish and community who are in low paid work or in need of work and are struggling to afford the high cost of housing, food and other essentials 
• Efforts to speed up the transition to renewable energy and prevent new fossil fuel developments in order to stop runaway global warming 
• All at-risk young people – for role models, mentors and youth programmes
• Christian leaders to show discernment, wisdom and prophetic leadership, praying specifically for our Parish clergy team – Vanessa, Tim, Jacintha, Ola and Andrew –, for our bishops Lynne and Guli, for Archbishop Stephen and Archbishop-designate Sarah and for leaders of Christian communities around the world, including Pope Leo 
• The work and witness of the Inclusive Church network and for all churches seeking to extend God’s unconditional love and welcome to all 
• All migrants and refugees, for their safety and for a world where all can find refuge 

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

I had the opportunity to speak to (and with) first year ordinands this week. These are students preparing for ordination to priesthood in the Church of England. I spoke to a group as part of their formation for ministry. Formation is a significant part of theological training – the part of the curriculum which asks: how do we prepare practically, spiritually and in character for the calling we believe God has placed on our hearts? My talk was fairly prosaic: I had been asked to speak about the nuts and bolts of parish ministry. Nonetheless, I felt privileged to speak about some of what I think is needed to be ready for priesthood. 

Later that same evening, I watched an address from the Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire, responding to the killing of Renee Good in Minnesota and addressing the growing spectre of state-sponsored violence in the United States. Speaking about the need for clergy to protect immigrants at risk of arbitrary deportation, he said, ‘I have asked the clergy [of my Diocese] to get their affairs in order, to make sure they have their wills written, because it may be that now is no longer the time for statements, but for us with our bodies, to stand between the powers of this world and the most vulnerable.’

I was struck by these stark and poignant words. And I thought again about formation – not just for priests – but for all Christians.

Most of my days – and perhaps most of yours – are occupied with the demands (and sometimes the banalities) that come with living in a generally peaceful democracy. I think about the pressures of work, my children’s education and health and well-being, my family, my friends, the housework. I rarely think about getting my affairs in order because my life might be demanded of me. 

Reflecting on formation makes me wonder: if things were to change – if suddenly my neighbours were to be menaced, grabbed and disappeared from their workplaces, their homes, even schools – would I have the courage to stand – to physically stand – between the powers of this world and the most vulnerable? What kind of formation needs to be happening now, in the safety of my life, so that my instincts for sacrifice, mercy and courage are sufficiently trained and able to respond when God calls me? 

In Matthew 16, Jesus says: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.’ The journey of following Jesus is always a growing commitment to the way of the cross and to the offering of our lives for the sake of love. 

All of which may seem very dramatic. Maybe even melodramatic. I don’t mean to suggest that we live in constant anticipation of future horror. That’s not good for our souls, denies the actual gift of each day and probably leads more to paranoia than to virtue. But I do want to treasure the good work of laying down in our souls the foundations of courage, the commitment to mercy and the willingness to pursue what is right, even when it is costly. 

Because even now, our lives may suddenly require great wisdom and discernment, acts of generous and selfless love, sacrifice, grace and compassion. Formation is what happens when you pay attention to the hard, quotidian work of the heart and soul, noticing what needs reshaping, strengthening and amending. And every day is an opportunity for formation, for allowing prayer or worship, scripture or stillness, conversation or creation to do some gentle work in you, in preparation for whatever may lie ahead. 

I pray that our life together at St Mary’s – both our worship and our witness – is formational. May the epiphanies of this season, the new discoveries, the deeper understandings you receive, help you now and in all the decisive moments of your life, to choose the way of Christ, the way of unfailing love. 

With love, 

Vanessa