Dear St Mary’s, 

On Sunday 16th February, the Third Sunday Before Lent, we’ll celebrate Holy Communion at 9am and again at 10.30am. Revd Vanessa Conant will lead and preside and Revd Ola Franklin will preach. We will also have supervised children’s groups in the Welcome Centre at 10.30am, with a Baby Lounge in the South Vestry at both services. 

This week’s lectionary readings are 1 Corinthians 15:12-20 – a section from St Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church in which he insists on the importance of understanding that Christ was in fact raised from the dead – and Luke 6:17-26, where Jesus discusses who is rich and poor in the Kingdom of God, a section which is sometimes called the ‘Sermon on the Plain’. 

For those unable to join us in person, we’ll livestream the 9am service to Facebook. At 6pm, there will be evening prayer in the church hosted by St Luke’s and all are welcome. 

New Song This Sunday 
We’ll be learning and singing a new intergenerational song this Sunday. It’s called ‘The Rock’ and has some simple actions which you as well as the children in our congregation may enjoy learning before we gather. You can listen to it here or you can find it by visiting YouTube and searching for ‘The Rock by Nick and Becky Drake’. 

Helping After This Sunday’s 10.30am Service 
Due to St Mary’s being used as a blood donation centre on Monday 17th February, we need to put chairs away after this Sunday’s 10.30am service. If you’re able to help, please let a member of the clergy team or a churchwarden know after the 10.30am service. Thank you! 

No Morning Prayer on Monday 17th February
There will be no Morning Prayer on Monday 17th February. We typically say Morning Prayer Monday to Thursday at 8.30am in the side chapel in St Mary’s and livestream it to Facebook.

Blood Donation Returns to St Mary’s on Monday 17th February 
We’re pleased that there will be another opportunity to give blood at St Mary’s, this time on Monday 17th February. For those who would like to give blood at St Mary’s on the day, our partners tell us that the best way to do this is to book in advance via the Give Blood app or via www.blood.co.uk. If there is a slot available at St Mary’s, that will be noted when you book. Please note the booking/ donation process is not managed by us but by the NHS. 

Interested in Community Organising? ‘Listen and Lead’ Course Starts 20th February
In association with the Centre for Theology and Community, ‘Listen and Lead’ is a short course which begins on Thursday 20th February, running four Thursdays, 7.30-9pm, that will give you the opportunity to explore practical ways to live out your faith at St Mary’s and in the wider community. We’ll look at how building relationships in our church and community can help us to discern personal and collective callings and form the bedrock for church leadership and working for the Common Good. Email .  

Book Your Ticket to Hear David Dark Speak at a Special 16th March Learning Event
On Sunday 16th March, professor and cultural commentator David Dark will preach at St Mary’s Sunday Services and also speak that evening as part of a free (but ticketed) learning event. David will give a 6pm lecture on ‘Art, Empire and the End of the World: Taking up the Human Assignment One Day at a Time’, followed by a discussion and Q&A. David is a Greenbelt Festival favourite and author of The Gospel According to America, Everyday Apocalypse, Life’s Too Short to Pretend You’re Not Religious and We Become What We Normalize. Book your ticket here or visit www.eventbrite.co.uk and search ‘David Dark’.

Time Change: Sunday Evening Worship on 2nd March at 6.30pm  
Join us for an evening service of sung worship on Sunday 2nd March at 6.30pm. Led by Matt Begg, ‘Embers’ is held quarterly and is an hour of praise and worship music. 

Morning and Evening Ash Wednesday Services on 5th March 
As the season of Lent begins, join us for Ash Wednesday services at St Mary’s on 5th March at 7.30am (for morning commuters) and later that same day at 7.30pm. We will offer the imposition of ashes and celebrate Holy Communion at both services. Please do join us. 

St Mary’s Lent Book 2025: How We Learn To Be Brave by Mariann Budde 
From 20th March, St Mary’s will run a Lent book group – which will meet four consecutive Thursdays in the church, 7.30pm-9pm – discussing How We Learn To Be Brave by Rt Revd Mariann Budde, the Bishop of Washington in the US. Register your interest by clicking here or by emailing Revd Jacintha Danaswamy (). 

EcoTip: ‘No Faith in Fossil Fuels’ Ash Wednesday Service on 5th March 
This Ash Wednesday, a coalition of Christian charities will hold a ‘No Faith in Fossil Fuels’ service of reflection, repentance and hope at St John’s Waterloo in Central London – an opportunity to connect Ash Wednesday observance with the harm fossil fuels are causing. The hour-long service will begin at 11am and will be followed by a 24-hour prayer vigil outside the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Whitehall. To register for the service, click here or visit the Green Christian website (www.greenchristian.org.uk). 

Please pray this week for:

• Ethical leadership in international affairs 
• Youth workers, teachers, school staff and all who work with children/ young people
• All who work in the medical profession, particularly those serving in the NHS
• Community, business, charity and political leaders who are seeking to move the UK away from fossil fuel dependence, to reduce emissions and to improve public health 
• St Mary’s clergy, staff and lay leaders – and for our entire church community 
• Those receiving treatment, and all who are unwell in body, mind or spirit: for healing 
• The safety and wellbeing of children and young people this coming half term 
• Those who are weary or feel like giving up: for rest and hope 
• Deeper friendships and connection among the St Mary’s congregation 
• All who enter our buildings, visit our churchyard or engage with our ministries 
• Places around the world where there is war or the threat of war: for peace 
• People searching for meaning: that they would encounter the love of Christ 

Next Week in the Welcome Centre (17th-21st February) 

Monday 17th February 
Worth Unlimited Drama Workshop, 10am-2pm 

Tuesday 18th February 
Worth Unlimited Drama Workshop, 10am-2pm 
Hula Fit, 6.30pm 
Tai Chi, 7.30pm 

Wednesday 19th February    
Worth Unlimited Drama Workshop, 10am-2pm 
Walthamstow Welcomes Cafe (free help with confusing paperwork), 10am-Noon
Ninja School, 4-7pm 

Thursday 20th February  
Worth Unlimited Drama Workshop, 10am-2pm 
FoodCycle (free community meal), 6.30pm 

Friday 21st February    
Worth Unlimited Drama Workshop, 10am-2pm 
Ninja School, 4-7pm 

Reflection: ‘Kyrie Eleison’
Revd Vanessa Conant writes

One of the things I treasure about being a priest in this parish is the gift of going into the church at night. All is still, the happy hubbub of the cafe and the whirr of church activity has ceased. I rarely put the lights on; I love the restful peace of the darkness. I love the soothing gentleness of being in a building I know so well. I am at home. 

And in that darkness, I always sing. I sing almost immediately when I arrive. Sometimes I sing for a very brief time – on my way to a more mundane task – photocopying or rearranging chairs. But sometimes, I find that nearly an hour has passed and I have barely noticed. I almost always sing the same thing – not necessarily the same tune – but the same words rise up and overflow as I make my way down the central aisle, as I stop before the carving of the Last Supper. I sing: Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison, Kyrie Eleison (Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy). 

The Church has prayed these words (known as the Kyrie) since the 2nd century and it has become part of the liturgy we say week-by-week. Sometimes it sits in the background of our prayers of confession and at other times we have said or sung these words together in their Greek or English form, as we will this Sunday at St Mary’s. 

I find the Kyrie to be a prayer of great comfort and hope when I have run out of words to pray, as I frequently have. I pray it as a profound lament, when I have no idea how to intercede in the face of terrible sorrow or injustice or horror in the world – or the disappointments and sadnesses of my own life. I pray it when I am carrying both the tenderness of love for God’s people and an awareness of their deep suffering. 

I pray it over Gaza and Israel, Ukraine and Sudan, I pray it over General Synod and our wider Church, I pray it over those who are unwell or frightened or alone. Kyrie Eleison. 

And what is it we are asking for as we pray? Perhaps in part, it is our way of holding on to the Old Testament call we hear in Joel: ‘Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.’ (Joel 2:13)  So we pray a word of hope: may our loving God show mercy to us and to the world. But we are also invited to pray it as people who bear witness to the mercy we have received. In my own life, I know that I live in the light of the grace and compassion which has been shown to me, and so I pray the Kyrie with the confidence and freedom of a forgiven person. I ask God to do again what I have known Him to do countless times before. 

Finally, I pray it – I sing it – as an act of commitment. May the mercy of God dwell in me, in us. May we be people who overflow with the gracious and compassionate love of Jesus Christ who gave his life for us. May the Kyrie resound not only through the moonlit walls of the church but in our life as a church and our love for one another. 

This Sunday, let us sing together: Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord have mercy on us.