Dear St Mary’s, 

It was wonderful to worship with you this past Sunday as we celebrated Candlemas, welcomed Revd Vanessa Conant back from adoption leave, and said thank you to Revd Tim Scott, who brilliantly filled the role of Team Rector while Vanessa was away. 

This Sunday, 9th February, is the Fourth Sunday Before Lent and we will share Holy Communion at 9am with Morning Worship at 10.30am. Revd Tim Scott will lead and Revd Vanessa Conant 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. For those unable to join us in person this Sunday, we will livestream the 9am service to Facebook. 

Our lectionary readings for this week are Isaiah 6:1-8 and Luke 5:1-11 – the story of Jesus calling his first disciples. At 6pm, there will be evening prayer in the church hosted by St Luke’s and all are welcome. We hope to see you this Sunday at St Mary’s! 

Blood Donation Returns to St Mary’s on Monday 17th February 
We are pleased to announce that there will be another opportunity to give blood at St Mary’s, this time on Monday 17th February. On the 17th, our Ruttle & Rowe cafe will remain open, with cafe service from the outdoor walk-up window and seating in the Exhibition Space. We partnered with the NHS for the first time last month, temporarily turning the church into a blood donation centre. For those who would like to give blood at St Mary’s on 17th February, our partners tell us that the best way to do this is to book via the NHS 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 be aware that 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, American theologian, professor and cultural commentator David Dark will preach at St Mary’s Sunday Services and will also speak later that same day as part of a free (but ticketed) evening learning event. In an increasingly chaotic world, with political movements challenging human dignity and thoughtfulness, 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 the 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. All are welcome to this free event – book your free ticket here or visit www.eventbrite.co.uk and search ‘David Dark’.

New Date: St Mary’s Knitting and Crochet Group to Restart on Saturday 1st March
Last year we started a drop-in crochet and knitting group which met on Saturdays in our Exhibition Space and was extremely popular! The group has been on pause since Christmas and will now start back up again on Saturday 1st March, 10am-12pm. Bring wool, needles, crochet hooks and whatever you’re working on. Details: . 

Sunday Evening Worship on 2nd March at 6pm  
Join us for an evening service of sung worship on Sunday 2nd March at 6pm. 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 (). 

Bishop of Chlemsford’s 2025 Lent Appeal
This Lent, Rt Revd Guli Francis-Dehqani, the Bishop of Chelmsford, will raise money for Housing Justice – a Christian charity which works in partnership with churches and other faith and community groups across England and Wales to provide a safe and stable home to anyone experiencing homelessness. To learn more about the charity or to donate, click here, or visit www.chelmsford.anglican.org and search ‘Lent Appeal 2025’. 

Thank You From Tim and Linda Scott 
‘We would like to say a huge thank you for the very generous Theatre Voucher for £100 and card the church and team gave us last Sunday as I relinquished my role as Cover Team Rector. We are very much looking forward to using it! Thank you too for the coffee, which I (Tim) will really enjoy!’ –Tim and Linda Scott 

Volunteering with Forest Churches Emergency Night Shelter this February and March
The Forest Churches Emergency Night Shelter (FCENS) needs volunteers to help welcome guests and serve food at the YMCA on Forest Road on Saturdays in February and March, 6.30-8.30pm. FCENS  – which St Mary’s and other local churches have supported for years – is an independent charity providing winter accommodation to local people sleeping rough; it also helps guests address long-term housing needs and other challenges. To volunteer or for more information, contact Corinna Creasy at or 07957228019. 

EcoTip: Join Tonight’s ‘No Faith In Fossil Fuels’ Webinar at 7pm 
As the government consults on whether to end drilling for new oil and gas in the UK, join Operation Noah, Christian Climate Action, Christian Aid, Laudato Si Movement and Green Christian – along with the campaigning group Stop Rosebank – for a ‘No Faith in Fossil Fuels’ webinar tonight (Thursday 6 February), 7pm-8pm. The webinar will feature an address from Rt Revd Rosemarie Mallett, Bishop of Croydon. Learn how you can join campaigners in calling for an end to the destructive fossil fuel era in the UK. Register here or by going to operationnoah.org and clicking ‘Attend an Upcoming Event’. 

Please pray this week for:

• The UK Government, that it would set an example for other countries to follow by stopping the proposed Rosebank and Jackdaw oil/gas fields 
• Those who are being baptised this Sunday, as well as for their families/ godparents 
• All who are considering baptism or confirmation as the next step in their faith journey
• Anyone who is unwell in body, mind and spirit: for love, healing, help and hope
• People in substandard housing or without a home in Waltham Forest 
• Christians around the world working to help others and bring communities together 
• Courageous leaders to oppose the politics of division and work to solve problems
• Refugees fleeing violence, climate change, poverty and persecution 
• For anyone who feels lonely or overlooked – for community and connection 
• St Mary’s desire to fund more ministry in our community – for people and resources 
• Peacemaking efforts where there is violence, both locally and internationally 
• Faith communities and civil society to work together to bring positive change 

Next Week in the Welcome Centre (10th-15th February) 

Monday 10th February 
Waltham Forest Community Choir, 7.30pm 

Tuesday 11th February 
Hula Fit, 6.30pm 
Tai Chi, 7.30pm 

Wednesday 12th February    
Ninja School, 4-7pm 

Thursday 13th February  
Baby Massage, 10.30am
FoodCycle (free community meal), 6.30pm 
The Singing Room, 7.30pm 

Friday 14th February    
Sing and Sign, 10.15am & 11.15am 
Ninja School, 4-7pm 

Saturday 15th February
Walthamstow Welcomes Cafe (free help with confusing paperwork), 10am-Noon 

Reflection: ‘Home by Another Route’ 
Revd Vanessa Conant writes: 

It was a joy to be with you all on Sunday and to resume the role of Team Rector after nearly a year of adoption leave. I felt such a wave of thanksgiving to return as priest to the congregations whom I love so dearly. 

The next day, I imagined I would begin with a newly focused vigour – ready to start again with a clarity afforded by months away. Instead, I confess I felt a little bewildered. I stood aimlessly in the church building for some time, trying to remember what it is I do, trying to work out what it was I should do first, or next, or at all. 

Perhaps this bewilderment is entirely normal after periods of extended leave. The journey into parenthood is also, many have reassured me, always disorientating. I sense that some of the uncertainty may come from hearing an oft-repeated exhortation as I pick up familiar responsibilities: ‘you will have to do things differently now’. These are words of kindness which have been offered to me by wise counsel, by dear friends, and I have sensed them resounding in my own heart. 

At one level, this is a purely practical question: how does the work fit into different hours and around entirely different responsibilities? But there are also questions of ontology: who am I, and how am I changed by the experience of the last year? What have I learnt of God and of his love through this time? How does this change reshape my way of working and serving in this parish and community? 

It seems fitting to be pondering these questions as the season of Epiphany ends and we enter the everyday prayer and worship of ‘ordinary time’, as it is called in the Church. The Epiphany story of the Magi (or wise men) closes with the verse: ‘And, having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.’ The Magi have encountered the living God in Jesus Christ and they are changed by the encounter. The path has shifted, the direction of their steps has been reordered. 

Nothing will be the same again. 

The same is true for the epiphanies of the last weeks: Anna and Simeon are utterly altered by their encounter with the holy family in the temple. All those who bear witness to the baptism of Jesus – perhaps especially John the Baptist – experience the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in delight and love. Those who glimpse a miracle behind the scenes at the wedding in Cana experience the abundance and mystery of God made flesh. 

All epiphanies change and reshape us, making us not only do things differently, but become different in the very depths of our being. There are those epiphanies which arise out of dramatic spiritual encounter or significant life change (both wanted and unwanted). But there are also those which occur every time that we open ourselves to the presence and peace of God: the moment of stillness before we dive into the day, the pause to consider the sunset, the breath of prayer. Epiphanies can arise and touch and transform us at any moment. And while it may be, at times, bewildering, it is also the way of God to renew and remake us as we draw near to Him. 

As I return to the role of Team Rector, I pray for the courage and humility to recognise and walk a different and unfolding path, reshaped and changed by the experiences of this past year. And as the season of Epiphany closes, I pray for each one of us that we may remain attentive to the ordinary epiphanies of the coming days. May we each receive the grace of His Spirit to take us home by another route.