Dear St Mary’s, 

On Sunday 27th July, we’ll celebrate Holy Communion at 9am followed by a 10.30am Morning Worship service. Revd Vanessa Conant will lead and Revd Tim Scott will preach.  

This is the first of our Summer Sundays, and for the next six weeks our 10.30am service will last roughly one hour with just one scripture reading and activities for children to work on during the service. Please note that while we will occasionally celebrate Holy Communion at 10.30am this summer, there will be no supervised children’s groups until 7th September. We give thanks for our children’s ministry team as they rest over the summer. 

As part of our Summer Sundays, we’ll be looking at a different Old Testament character each week; this week, we’ll look at Moses, and our scripture reading will be Exodus 3:1-15. 

For those unable to join us in person, we’ll livestream the 9am service to our Facebook page. We hope to see you this Sunday at St Mary’s! 

Crochet & Knitting Group to Meet on Saturday 26th July
Our Saturday drop-in crochet and knitting group will meet this Saturday 26th July; join us from 10am in St Mary’s Exhibition Space (our church extension) for a relaxed time of conversation and crochet/knitting before we take a break for the summer. After our meeting this Saturday, the group will next meet on 20th September, 10am-12pm.

Heatwave Toolkit Workshop on Monday 28th July at 7.30pm
You’re invited to our first community workshop focused on low-cost ways to cool buildings down on Monday 28th July at 7.30pm at St Mary’s. This one-hour session will give affordable ideas for keeping your home cooler in hotter temperatures and is a great way to get to know others while learning useful skills. Spaces are limited for this trial workshop and we will be asking you for your feedback to help us prepare for future workshops. Register your interest here or email Revd Vanessa Conant at . 

Vestry Sessions Returns on Thursday 31st July with Political Theme
Our Vestry Sessions music partners will explore political censorship, protest music, and how artists contribute to societal change as part of their ‘All Art is Political’ show at St Mary’s on Thursday 31st July, with doors at 7.30pm for an 8pm start. The eclectic musical lineup for next Thursday’s gig will include a samba drum line as well as artists playing music from Shostakovich and Sinéad O’Connor. All proceeds from next Thursday’s show will go to the respected charity Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP). Tickets: thevestrysessions.com. 

St Mary’s to Run Free Events for Children from 26-29 August 
We will run a series of free events for local children in the final week of August – a time when many other free activities for children have stopped for the summer but the new school term has yet to start. From 26-29 August, we will be hosting two free sessions per day for children (10am-12pm and 1.30-3.30pm). Our plan is to run outdoor fete games on Tuesday; outdoor crafts and gardening activities on Wednesday; indoor retro video gaming on Thursday; and indoor children’s films on Friday. If you would like to help us develop our programme or volunteer to help, please email Louise Wallis at . 

Marriage Preparation Course to Begin in September  
Are you considering getting married or are you currently planning a wedding? St Mary’s will run a free Marriage Preparation Course for couples on three consecutive Sunday afternoons beginning 7th September, 3pm-4.30pm. The course is a great opportunity for all couples to consider and discuss the building blocks of a lasting relationship. St Mary’s is an inclusive church and our course is open to all couples, including those getting married elsewhere. To register or to learn more, please email Josie Wilson at . 

New to Faith or Considering Baptism or Confirmation? Try ‘Discovering Christianity’ 
Explore faith with a four-week course starting 11th September and running for four consecutive Thursdays, 7.30pm-9pm, in the church. The course is ideal for anyone interested in learning more about the Christian faith or considering getting baptised or confirmed. We will be discussing the book, ‘Discovering Christianity: A Guide For The Curious’ by Rowan Williams. Sign up here or email . 

Save the Date:12th October Evening Confirmation Service with Bishop Lynne 
There will be a Deanery Confirmation service at St Edmund’s, Chingford, on Sunday 12th October. Confirmation is a special service in which a person confirms the promises that were made for them at baptism (also known as ‘Christening’). If you were baptised at a christening when you were a child, your parents and godparents made these promises on your behalf, however, as a young person or adult, you may now be ready to affirm these promises for yourself and publicly commit to following Jesus Christ, something which happens at a confirmation service. Your friends and family as well as the local Christian community are there to promise to support and pray for you. At the service, Bishop Lynne will also lay hands on the candidates’ heads and ask God’s Holy Spirit to help them follow Christ. Register your interest in being confirmed here, or speak to Revd Vanessa Conant to find out more.

BBC Radio 4’s ‘Gardeners’ Question Time’ Coming to St Mary’s on 3rd November 
We are excited to announce that on the evening of Monday 3rd November, St Mary’s will host two live tapings of ‘Gardeners’ Question Time’, the much-loved BBC Radio 4 programme. Ticket-holders will sit through back-to-back tapings of separate episodes of the iconic programme, which will take approximately two hours in total. Tickets will be released in early autumn for the recordings, and will be available from St Mary’s for £4.50 per ticket. We look forward to announcing more details, including how to get a ticket, in September!  

Please pray this week for:

• More Christians and faith leaders to speak out against the inhumane treatment of the people of Gaza who are in desperate need of food, with many now dying of hunger, and for stronger action from the UK and other countries in response to the crisis
  
• The Church of the Holy Family – which was recently bombed in Gaza – and for the entire Christian community and all communities in Gaza
  
• The success and funding of a new youth-safety scheme in Waltham Forest where specialist youth workers are deployed on nearby streets as schools let out 
  
• Children, young people, parents/carers, teachers and school staff as the summer holidays begin – for safety, rest, access to safe/ affordable activities, and support
  
• Those who we met at Waltham Forest Pride last weekend, that many new people might join us at St Mary’s on Sundays or during the week
  
• All who are exploring faith at St Mary’s and/or considering baptism or confirmation
  
• All of our leaders at St Mary’s – including clergy, staff, ministry leaders, preachers, PCC members and churchwardens – for wisdom, discernment and encouragement
  
• All food banks, community meals and other free sources of support across Walthamstow and Waltham Forest, including our Walthamstow Welcomes cafe and the Food Cycle meal which happens on Thursday evenings in the Welcome Centre
  
• Anyone who is unwell in body, mind or spirit – especially those currently in hospital
  
• Our cafe partners Ruttle & Rowe: for the entire cafe staff, mindful of the role they play in helping us get our ancient building open to the whole community in the week
  
• Places around the world where there is tension and violence, including in Gaza/Israel/Palestine, Ukraine, Syria, Iran and Sudan: for efforts to bring peace
   
• The UK government, that it would work with communities to develop Common Good policies that alleviate poverty, restore nature, eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels, reduce crime, bring people together and improve housing and public services

Next Week in St Mary’s Church and Welcome Centre (28th July –  2nd August) 

Monday 28th July
Morning Prayer, St Mary’s Church, 8.30am
Ninja School, Welcome Centre, 6pm
Heatwave Toolkit Workshop, St Mary’s Church, 7.30pm 

Tuesday 29th July
Morning Prayer, St Mary’s Church, 8.30am 
Singing Workshop, Welcome Centre, 6pm 

Wednesday 30th July 
Morning Prayer, St Mary’s Church, 8.30am 
Walthamstow Welcomes Cafe (free help with confusing paperwork), Welcome Centre, 10am-Noon (stmaryswalthamstow.org/WalthamstowWelcomes) 
Ninja School, Welcome Centre, 4-7pm 

Thursday 31st July 
Morning Prayer, St Mary’s Church, 8.30am 
Baby Massage, Welcome Centre, 10.30am
FoodCycle (free community meal), Welcome Centre, 6.30pm 
Vestry Sessions, St Mary’s Church, 7.30pm (thevestrysessions.com) 
Singing Room, Welcome Centre, 7.30pm 

Friday 1st August  
Ninja School, Welcome Centre, 6pm

Saturday 2nd August 
Walthamstow Welcomes Cafe (free help with confusing paperwork), Welcome Centre, 10am-Noon (stmaryswalthamstow.org/WalthamstowWelcomes) 

Reflection: ‘Despair and Joy’ 
Revd Tim Scott writes: 

I would like to start with two very different quotations:

‘For we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself’ (St Paul, 2 Corinthians 1:8)

‘It’s right now to take a step back…to breathe, to heal, and to rediscover the joy of simply living.’ (Ons Jabeur, Tunisian tennis star)

The first statement from St Paul was one of our Morning Prayer readings this past Monday. Commentators differ on what exactly St Paul is referring to in this passage – it may have been personal illness, it may have been conflict, or quite possibly persecution for his faith.

Whatever the reasons, there is a depth and a reality to his words which demonstrate St Paul knows what suffering is. Therefore, in the book of Romans, when St Paul writes, ‘nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord’, these are no cheap words. All of us will know times of personal struggles and pain, and we will also have stood alongside others in their pain. Even now, as we watch the horrendous scenes from Gaza where the death toll from Israeli attacks is reported to exceed 58,000, we may find ourselves identifying with those words of St Paul. As we seek to join with those who are distressed – including many Israelis who long for peace and are calling for the bloodshed to end – we may not be clear what to do or how to proceed. We must pray, we must speak out for peace, we must continue to keep hoping and we must continue to seek wisdom. 

But in my ‘not knowing what to do’, I also find wisdom in the words of Ons Jabeur. Not that we should step back from pursuing peace, but that we should take some time to breathe, to heal, and to rediscover the joy of simply living. This focus is important, lest we get exhausted. The summer season offers a slightly different rhythm to much of the rest of the year. For some, it may offer the chance to take a holiday, while for others, it may be a time of increased stress; if the latter is the case for you, we hope that some of what we do at St Mary’s offers practical help, such as running a series of free events for local children in the final week of August, or having our building open during the week throughout the summer, with a Play Area for young children, as well as having a beautiful churchyard to explore. 

And there will be a slightly different feel to our Summer Sunday services with our children present for the entirety of each service rather than in supervised groups – not to mention slightly shorter sermons! I hope that in this different rhythm there may be some moments in which we can breathe, heal and rediscover the joy of living and the gift that life is.

By holding together the words of St Paul and those of Ons Jabeur (a strange combination, I know) may we be truly blessed by God. And as we long for all to flourish, so too may we know that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

With my love and prayers, 

Tim