Dear St Mary’s, 

On Sunday 19th July, the Seventh Sunday of Trinity, Revd Tim Scott will preach and preside at 9am (Holy Communion) and again at 10.30am (Holy Communion). This week is the first of our Summer Sundays, which means that there will be no supervised children’s groups at 10.30am; however, we will have activity packs for children to work on during the 10.30am service and there will be a Baby Lounge in the South Vestry for parents to use as needed. 

Our reading for this Sunday is Matthew 5:1-12, the first in our Summer Series exploring the Sermon on the Mount – a collection of Jesus’ moral teaching and sayings. For those unable to join us in person on Sunday, we will livestream our 9am service to our Facebook page. Later on Sunday, at 5pm, our Youth Group will have a Summer Social in the Welcome Centre. And then at 6pm, the St Luke’s Community will say evening prayer in the church.

We hope to see you this Sunday at St Mary’s! 

Thank You St Mary’s + Fans Still Available for Collection 
We want to thank everyone who helped us on Sunday evening as we turned St Mary’s Church into a donation and rest centre for all who were impacted by the fire in our parish. The fire led to the loss of two flats but many people were evacuated from their homes; remarkably, the London Fire Brigade managed to bring the blaze under control later that same evening. For those who brought a fan for us to use but have yet to pick it up, please come by the church from 8.30am-4pm this week to collect it; you can also collect your fan immediately after this Sunday’s 10.30am service, which will be finished by 11.45am. 

St Mary’s Raising Funds for Families Who Lost Flats in Fire
St Mary’s is working with the wider community to raise funds for residents who lost their homes in the fire on 12th July 2026. The two households lost everything when fire ripped through their flats at 75 Shernhall Street. The building itself has now been demolished, meaning these families will likely face months of being homeless as well as having to start again. The fire took everything but the clothes that they were wearing that day. Every penny raised will be passed to the residents of 75 Shernhall Street to support them during this difficult time. You can donate via a GoFundMe page that St Mary’s has set up here or you can find the donation page by visiting gofundme.com and searching ‘75 Shernhall Street’. 

Vestry Sessions at St Mary’s on Friday: Tango with El Chamuyo Quartet 
On Friday 17th July at 8pm (doors at 7.30pm), join our music partners Vestry Sessions at St Mary’s for a night of Latin dance, music, food and a bar, with El Chamuyo Quartet performing famous tangos alongside some more obscure ones. There will be a dance performance and in the second half the floor will be opened up for a Milonga. Don’t feel like dancing? There will be ample seating for those who want to sit, sip and listen. Purchase tickets here, or visit wegottickets.com and search ‘Vestry Sessions’. 

Youth Group Summer Social on 19th July 
Our Youth Group will have an end of term Summer Social on Sunday 19th July from 5-6.15pm in the Welcome Centre – their last meeting until the new school term begins. For details, please email Revd Jacintha Danaswamy at . 

Summer Sundays from 19th July Focussing on the Sermon on the Mount 
Beginning Sunday 19th July and running through Sunday 30th August, our 10.30am service will look slightly different. For these seven weeks, both our 9am and 10.30am services will be services of Holy Communion, with the 10.30am service lasting approximately one hour. 

There will be no supervised children’s groups at 10.30am throughout the summer but we will have activity packs for children to work on during the service and our sermons will be shorter than usual. During the summer, we will also deviate from our normal lectionary readings to study the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), looking at a different section of Jesus’ teachings each week. On Sunday 6th September, we will return to our normal pattern, with supervised children’s groups on the first three weeks of the month at our 10.30am service and Holy Communion celebrated on the first and third Sundays of the month at 10.30am. 

Pastoral Contacts Over Summer 
Over the summer weeks, our clergy and staff team will be taking periods of rest. Please be aware that it may take longer to get a response to an enquiry and that there will be times where our staff capacity is more limited. That said, there will be pastoral cover throughout the summer, and the pastoral contacts for different weeks of the summer are as follows:

• 18th-25th July: Revd Jacintha Danaswamy () 
• 26th July-3rd August: Revd Tim Scott () 
• From 3rd August: Revd Vanessa Conant () 

Spaces Now Available: Summer Saturday Churchyard Volunteer Sessions 
This summer, St Mary’s Head Gardener Tim Hewitt is running free Saturday sessions from 10am-Noon for volunteer gardeners who have struggled to attend Tim’s regular weekday sessions – an opportunity to learn new skills, meet new people and better understand the principles of gardening for wildlife. Due to anticipated demand, Tim is asking people to book in advance as spaces will be limited for each session. The free Saturday sessions will begin on 25th July and run the following five Saturdays through the end of August. Book here or find a booking link at stmaryswalthamstow.org/SummerSaturdays. 

Churchyard Tours in July and August to Raise Money for St Mary’s 
Join us for a tour of the award-winning St Mary’s Churchyard led by our head gardener Tim Hewitt as we raise money for the churchyard. Learn about gardening for biodiversity, explore the stunning planting around the churchyard, and discover some of the wildlife that calls St Mary’s Churchyard home. Finish the tour with a cup of locally-grown herbal tea. Tickets are £10 each (+ booking fee) with three dates to choose from: Wednesday 22nd July at 6pm, Wednesday 5th August at 6pm, or Wednesday 19th August at 6pm. Click here to book a churchyard tour, or visit stmaryswalthamstow.org/ChurchyardTours. 

Join our Community WhatsApp
We run two WhatsApp channels at St Mary’s. This public channel updates on events and services, and you can join it to keep up to date with everything happening in our wider life. We also have this community channel which gathers all our teams and provides a space for messages just for church members. It is also the gathering space for most of our team chats, so if you are serving on a particular rota at St Mary’s, it’s likely your team WhatsApp is there.

Volunteers Needed for Free Summer Activities for Children in August 
After the success of our 2025 Summer Activity Programme, we are planning to offer another week of free children’s activities, 24th-27th August. Throughout the week, we will hold two free sessions per day for children and their parents/carers (10am-12pm and 1.30-3.30pm). The plan is to run outdoor fete games, crafts, board games and a movie day, and we are looking to build a team to serve our community. If you are available to help out at one or more sessions, email Revd Jacintha Danaswamy 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. 

Please pray this week for:

• All who were impacted by the fire in Walthamstow on Sunday 12th July, especially those who lost everything in the fire – for ongoing support and help 
• The US and Iran conflict: for a peaceful resolution and a return to diplomacy 
• All who are struggling financially in our parish and across the whole of Walthamstow 
• All who are unwell in any way, praying especially for those undergoing tests, receiving treatment, or preparing for surgery: for hope, help and healing 
• Safety and rest for all who are travelling over the summer as well as for those who will be in Walthamstow throughout the summer  
• Children, parents/ carers, teachers and school staff as the school term ends, praying especially for school-leavers as they make the transition over the coming months 
• Firefighters across London working to keep people safe, as well as for all who work in public safety, including police officers and all medical professionals 
• Efforts to bring diverse groups of people together and to challenge divisive rhetoric 
• Climate action around the world: for an end to fossil fuel financing and for an increase in green investment to reduce emissions/ mitigate impacts of global heating 
• A politics focussed on the Common Good and improving people’s lives – especially the lives of those who are struggling – and for the transition to a new Prime Minister 
• Our Rector, Vanessa, and all our Parish clergy, including Jacintha, Tim and Andrew, as well as for our bishops, Lynne and Guli, our Archbishops Sarah and Stephen, and for the leaders of all Churches, including Pope Leo: for wisdom and courage 
• Our churchwardens, Natalie and Ollie, as well as for all of our lay leaders at St Mary’s over the summer, especially as our clergy and staff take periods of rest 

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

It was an extraordinary weekend at St Mary’s. On Saturday morning, we were burgled yet again. This time, devastating damage was done to one of the oldest stained glass windows. That same day, East London Brass wowed us in the humid evening heat – the sound of the band filling the rafters and bringing us joy. On Sunday, two baptisms – one in the morning and one in the afternoon – meant a day of celebrations. And then: the fire. 

Fire ripped along the rail line, fences and back gardens, burning sheds and studios and tragically two homes in our parish until the London Fire Brigade brought it under control. It was fast, intense and terrifying. Thanks to the skill of firefighters, something even more devastating didn’t happen as the wind was strong, and lack of rain had created a tinderbox. 

St Mary’s, as most of you know, became an evacuation point. Over the evening, hundreds of people began pouring into the church. So too came the police, the council, the fire brigade. People came bewildered, scared, and devastated by loss. But as quickly as evacuees arrived, so too came the church, by which I mean, the people of God. 

As Sunday evening prayers were ending, the church put on an urn of water. Others from our St Mary’s family arrived, arranging donations of food and water, then nappies and chargers. Throughout the evening, our church served cups of tea, checked on babies, poured saucers of water for dogs, called paramedics, connected people, listened and prayed. 

And not just the church. Many neighbours and friends of the church, including people we had never met, kept arriving to bring what was needed, to offer a spare room, to help, to show they cared. What a remarkable community we live in, full of deep wells of human kindness. 

Whatever the cause of the fire, there is no doubt that the intense heat of this summer and weeks without rain contributed to the force and spread of the inferno. This is one clear impact of human-caused climate change. The often oppressive heat of this summer is not an echo of 1976; it is a sign of a dangerously warming climate in which wildfires are becoming more common and devastating. The borough commander of the Fire Brigade told us that he was leaving the next day for essential training on wildfires but he was aware that he may be called to fight a wildfire even whilst on that course, so frequent and prevalent are they.   

One of the features of climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels, is the creation of feedback loops – cascading effects which lead to more severe consequences. The warming of both the air and sea temperature leads to the melting of polar ice, which in turn leads to sea level rise, loss of land and livelihood. Melting glaciers and permafrost are allowing the release of ancient methane stores, itself devastating for the climate. Rising summer temperatures and drought conditions cause more widespread wildfires. 

On Sunday night, I thought about this as we sweltered in the church. And then I thought about a different feedback loop – the feedback loop of human love and compassion. I thought of how one act of generosity was building on another; how friendships, partnerships and relationships had their own cascading effects. One kindness can lead to another, one connection can create possibility, find a solution, be just the person that’s needed. 

This Sunday, we begin a new sermon series, looking at the Sermon on the Mount. The Bible Project describes these passages of Scripture in this way, ‘Emphasizing humility, forgiveness, and generous care for our neighbours, Jesus encourages people to choose God’s way of love, which will eventually renew all of creation. He calls this restored world God’s Kingdom. This is a realm in which Heaven and Earth are inseparably combined, a place where life flourishes that’s free from injustice, suffering, and death.’ 

In Jesus’ teaching and in the community he gathers around him, he is constantly creating feedback loops of divine and human love, building the Kingdom of God through daily acts of care and service. I hope you will join us as we study these texts together. 

Thank you to all who came on Sunday, all who donated something, all who prayed, and all who sent messages and helped us clear up. Thank you for all you are in times and crises and in the everyday. In a turbulent and unpredictable world, you are, in each small action of service and love, creating a feedback loop of love – a powerful sign of God’s Kingdom. 

With love 

Vanessa