On Sunday 22nd June, we’ll celebrate Holy Communion at 9am with Revd Vanessa Conant leading/ presiding and Revd Tim Scott preaching, while at 10.30am, Revd Jacintha Danaswamy will lead our monthly Intergenerational Service alongside St Mary’s children. 

There will be no supervised children’s groups at this Sunday’s 10.30am service as all ages will be together, but we will have a Baby Lounge in the South Vestry at both services for parents and carers to come and go as needed. For those unable to join us in person, we’ll livestream the 9am service to our Facebook page (facebook.com/StMarysE17). 

After celebrating Easter and Pentecost, we are now in the season of the Church calendar called ‘Ordinary Time’, which will last until Advent. Our lectionary readings this week are Luke 8:26-39 – Jesus’ healing of a demon-possessed man – and Galatians 3:23-end, which includes St Paul’s remarkable statement, ‘There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus’. 

At 6pm, the St Luke’s community will gather for prayer in the church and all are welcome. 

Vestry Sessions Gig to Celebrate Shakespeare on Thursday 26th June 
Our Vestry Sessions music partners will celebrate Shakespeare at their Thursday 26th June gig at St Mary’s with doors at 7.30pm for an 8pm start. Music and stories – including music from the Romeo & Juliet-inspired musical, West Side Story – will feature. Tickets are available at wegottickets.com – just search ‘Vestry Sessions Shakespeare’. 

Nicene Creed Course to Begin on Tuesday 1st July 
This year is the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed, one of the great statements of the Christian faith, and we’ll explore its deep theology and significance over four Tuesdays in July, starting 1st July and meeting in the church from 7.30-9pm. The Nicene Creed is our most widely-accepted creed and is used by many denominations across the world. To join us, sign up here or email Revd Jacintha Danaswamy () or Revd Vanessa Conant (). We’d love to have you join us.  

10 Years at St Mary’s: Celebration Lunch for Revd Vanessa Conant on 13th July
On Sunday 13th July after the 10.30am service, we’ll have a bring-and-share lunch in the church to celebrate Revd Vanessa Conant’s ten-year anniversary as Rector of St Mary’s Walthamstow and the Parish of Walthamstow. Vanessa is the first female Rector in St Mary’s 900-year history and helped lead our church through a transformational building project which was completed in December 2022. Join us as we celebrate Vanessa, mark her 10-year anniversary and give thanks for her ongoing ministry at St Mary’s and in the Parish! 

Open Mic Night on Thursday 17th July: Free Tickets Now Available 
On 17th July at 7.30pm, St Mary’s will host its first ever Open Mic Worship Night. This will be an evening of open and reflective worship incorporating spoken word poetry, music and more. We are currently accepting submissions from anyone who would like to take part. Please complete the form here to tell us more about your piece, or email Revd Vanessa Conant at . Click here to reserve your free ticket, or visit stmaryswalthamstow.eventbrite.com which lists our upcoming ticketed events. 

St Mary’s at Waltham Forest Pride on Saturday 19th July 
Waltham Forest Pride is on Saturday 19th July in Lloyd Park, an event which will be brought to life by the talent and contributions of the LGBTQIA+ community and will feature a range of stalls, with activities for children and families. St Mary’s, along with other inclusive churches, will host an inclusive space of Christian welcome, conversation, and prayer at Waltham Forest Pride, and if you are available to serve on the stall that day, we would love to hear from you. You may also simply wish to stop by and say hello! We’ll end the weekend with an Inclusive Eucharist at 6pm on Sunday evening in St Mary’s. Please pray that all who visit the stall or join us for worship will experience the love and welcome of Christ. For more details or to get involved, contact Revd Jacintha Danaswamy at . 

Sponsor a Bible for St Mary’s Primary School Leavers
Every year, we give a Bible to Year 6 leavers of St Mary’s Primary School. This is a gift from the church that we hope will bless them throughout their lives, and for many children, it will be the only Bible they have ever received. If you would like to sponsor a Bible for £10, you can give via stmaryswalthamstow.org/donate (you can choose in the drop-down menu that your donation is for a St Mary’s School Leavers’ Bible) or via the tap-and-go system at the back of church. You can also put a cheque or cash in a marked envelope and leave it in the white box at the back of church, or if you would prefer, you can make a direct bank transfer (please note the reason for your donation). Our bank details are: Co-operative Bank, St Mary’s Church, Parish of Walthamstow; Account Number: 65579372, Sort Code: 08-92-99.

EcoTip: Keep Your Home Cool in a Heatwave
As London and other parts of England experience extreme temperatures both this week and next, our very own Tom Greenhill and his Heatwave Toolkit project have some low-cost ideas to keep your house or flat cool. From glazing the exterior of your windows with yoghurt (yes, really!) to shading the exterior of your windows with a temporary covering, Tom has some cost-effective and simple ways to keep the heat out, most of which are also landlord friendly! Visit heatwavetoolkit.com for more ideas, expert advice and links. 

Please pray this week for:

• Families impacted by the plane crash in India  
• People coping with extreme heat in Walthamstow and around the world 
• Churchwardens across the deanery who will be admitted to office on 24th June
• The conflict between Iran and Israel: for a resolution, and safety for all in harm’s way
• The people of Gaza who are desperate for food and aid 
• World leaders – that they would de-escalate conflict and work for the Common Good  
• Those working for a fair and fast transition away from fossil fuels 
• People in need of food or shelter in our community: for help and hope 
• The work of Tim Hewitt and our churchyard volunteers 
• Staff, clergy and lay leaders at St Mary’s and across our Parish 
• The UK Government – that our politicians would prioritise the most vulnerable 
• Our bishops Lynne and Guli, and for leaders of other Churches, including Pope Leo 

Next Week in St Mary’s Church and Welcome Centre (23rd-28th June)

Monday 23rd June
Morning Prayer, St Mary’s Church, 8.30am
Ninja School, Welcome Centre, 6pm
Waltham Forest Community Choir, Welcome Centre, 7.30-9.30pm 

Tuesday 24th June
Morning Prayer, St Mary’s Church, 8.30am 
Tai Chi, Welcome Centre, 7.30pm 

Wednesday 25th June 
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 26th June
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, 7pm 
Singing Room, Welcome Centre, 7.30pm 

Friday 27th June
Sing and Sign, Welcome Centre, 10am 
Ninja School, Welcome Centre, 6pm

Saturday 28th June
Crochet and Knitting Group, St Mary’s Church, 10am-12pm 

Reflection: ‘Compassion’ 
Revd Tim Scott writes: 

How does war affect people’s lives? The answer to that question can take many forms. For some children and young people, the answer was expressed last year through art, writing, poetry and song as they took part in an international competition for the charity ‘Never Such Innocence’, which aims to give the world’s children and young people a voice on conflict. 

Its mission is to nurture the next generation of thinkers, leaders and peacekeepers through the arts, inspiring cultural exchange and dialogue. To date, young people from 130 countries have participated in this work.

Until Monday evening, when I happened to meet the founder of the charity, I was unfamiliar with the organisation and had never had a chance to read any of the work produced. Since then, I have found the writing and artwork that the children have produced extraordinary and very moving. It comes from a depth of experience which is compelling and is a lived expression of compassion, literally meaning ‘suffering with’. 

On the 5th June this year, Walter Brueggemann, the American theologian and Old Testament scholar died aged 92.  For many of us, his work has been formative and he argued that the church must provide a counter-narrative to the dominant forces of consumerism, militarism and nationalism. His book ‘The Prophetic Imagination’ is one that I return to often. In it, he writes:

‘The one thing the dominant culture cannot tolerate or co-opt is compassion, the ability to stand in solidarity with pain or grief.’ He also writes that ‘the cross is the assurance that effective prophetic criticism is done not by an outsider but always by one who must embrace the grief, enter into the death and know the pain’.

The roots of radical discipleship, prophetic ministry, righteous anger, the challenge to unjust structures and the path to lasting and just peace so often start with a compassionate encounter.

The voices of the children and young people who, from war-torn countries, describe the effects of war and the longing for peace, are poignant, clear and deeply challenging because they come from lived experience. Within such stories and experience are the seeds of lasting and just peace. 

May we listen to and act on those voices and seek to be people who live out compassion in its deepest sense as we also long for and strive for peace. May we draw strength from the depths of the compassion of God whose loving arms ‘aching, spent, the world sustain’. (William Vanstone).

With my love and prayers,  

Tim