Dear St Mary’s, 

On 17th May – the Sunday after Ascension Day – we will share Holy Communion at 9am and again at 10.30am with Revd Vanessa Conant presiding and Ian Drury preaching. There will be supervised children’s groups at 10.30am and a Baby Lounge at both services. 

Our lectionary readings this Sunday are Acts 1:6-14 and John 17:1-11. 

This Sunday at our 10.30am service, we will be thanking our churchwarden Nevil Osborne, who is standing down, and welcoming Ollie Elgie, who has just been appointed to serve as churchwarden alongside Natalie Burwell. 

At 5pm this Sunday, our youth group (which now includes those in Year Six as well as those in secondary school) will meet in the Welcome Centre. You can register your child here, or by emailing Revd Jacintha Danaswamy at . 

7.30pm Ascension Day Service at St Gabriel’s 
There will be a 7.30pm Ascension Day Holy Communion service this evening – Thursday 14th May – at St Gabriel’s Church on Havant Road and all welcome to attend. 

Announcement to Parents Regarding 10.30am Service 
Revd Vanessa Conant writes: ‘We are absolutely thrilled by the number of children and families joining us for worship each Sunday. As the church grows, we need to keep in mind the health and safety and safeguarding needs of our children. It is really helpful to our welcome teams if parents and carers are able to stay with their children and to supervise them when in the main worshipping space. We would also ask that the South Vestry (our Baby Lounge) is reserved for children under 2 only, and that any child in the Vestry is accompanied by an adult.’ 

Changes to Cafe and Play Area Hours on Monday 18th May 
St Mary’s Ruttle & Rowe cafe and Play Area will open as normal at 8.30am on Monday 18th May, close from Noon due to a funeral in church, and then reopen from 2pm until 4pm.  

Vestry Sessions Returns on Friday 22nd May
Our music partners, Vestry Sessions, return to St Mary’s on Friday 22nd May with a performance inspired by Russian composer Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ – a 19th Century piano suite inspired by an exhibition put on at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St Petersburg. As one of the most famous examples of visual art inspiring music, Mussorgsky’s seminal piece serves as the backbone for an evening of classical, jazz, pop, and folk. Performed by a mix of familiar friends and new faces, expect a musical tasting menu including works by Kate Bush, Don McLean and Debussy. The evening also features an exhibition by a local Walthamstow artist. Doors are at 7.30pm for an 8pm start. Tickets are £12.50 and available here or by visiting wegottickets.com and searching ‘Vestry Sessions’. 

‘Rooted in Community’ Gardening Day on 30th May 
Join us for the 2026 ‘Rooted in Community’ gardening event on Saturday 30th May, 11am to 2pm, held in and around St Mary’s Churchyard, with our Ruttle & Rowe cafe open as well. The day will include plant stalls, churchyard tours, a history tour, art workshops and more. Head gardener Tim Hewitt will lead two free tours of the churchyard, bookable on the day, at 11.15am and 12.30pm. For more details, including how to book either of the paid nature-inspired art workshops, visit stmaryswalthamstow.org/rootedincommunity. 

Communion Preparation on 21st June After 10.30am Service
Communion preparation for children over the age of 8 who are already baptised will be on Sunday 21st June after the 10.30am service with lunch provided. Admission to Communion will take place on 5th July. To reserve a place for the Communion preparation session, or for more details, contact Revd Vanessa Conant at . If your child is keen to receive Holy Communion but hasn’t been baptised, do also contact Vanessa.

Whirl & Wonder: Second Baby Confidence Course to Meet in June 
Expecting your second child? Whirl & Wonder runs a Second Baby Confidence Course in St Mary’s Exhibition Space (the church extension) – a course designed to help parents make the leap from one to two children. Meet other second-time parents with similar due dates and learn how best to manage the sibling transition. The unique split-session format allows both parents to attend and discuss their thoughts openly, with no babysitter required. There are three spots left for the June course. This course is ideal for parents with babies that are due August to October. Register here or visit www.whirlandwonder.co.uk.  

Climate Films at St Mary’s in June 
In late June, join us at St Mary’s for a thought-provoking weekend of climate films. We’ll start with the People’s Emergency Briefing on Thursday 25th June at 7pm – a film featuring contributions from Chris Packham, Deborah Meaden and leading scientific, energy and national security experts. Tickets are available by making a donation of your choice. And then on Saturday 27th June at 7pm, join us for Power Station by Hilary Powell and Dan Edelstyn, with tickets available for £6 each. This documentary follows the attempts by Hilary and Dan to turn their Walthamstow street into an energy-generating collection of solar-powered Power Stations. The film will be followed by a discussion with the filmmakers. To book tickets to either film, visit stmaryswalthamstow.org/climatefilms. 

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:

• New councillors elected in last week’s local elections, as well as for those reelected, including our Hoe Street Ward councillors Miriam, Ahsan and Andy 
• Attempts to bring people together in Walthamstow and around the UK, and for more people/ institutions to challenge divisive politics and advocate for the Common Good 
• The alarming rise in antisemitism in the UK and elsewhere – praying for safety for Jewish communities and for efforts to combat racism/ discrimination in all its forms 
• St Mary’s and other churches in our country to be places of hope, meaning and connection for all, including those who feel culturally or economically marginalised 
• An end to conflict in Ukraine, Sudan, Mali, Gaza, Israel, the West Bank, Iran: for a just peace, the building of relationships across difference and creative peacemaking 
• The work of Christian Aid and its partners as the charity marks Christian Aid Week 
• All taking SATs and sitting GCSEs and A-Levels: for teachers, students and parents
• Small scale solar projects in Walthamstow and around the UK, including efforts to get solar panels on our parish buildings and attract funding to decarbonise our buildings 
• All who are exploring faith at St Mary’s or are preparing for baptism this Pentecost 
• St Mary’s and all churches around the world to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ, reflecting God’s love and living the counter-cultural way of Jesus 
• Those grieving the loss of a loved one or the loss of a relationship: for comfort 
• All who are unwell in our Parish in any way: for help, healing and support 

Reflection: ‘Lift Up Your Hearts’ 
Revd Andrew Stewart, Vicar of St Gabriel’s Walthamstow, writes: 

One of the phrases Christians have said in church for nearly two thousand years comes just before Communion: ‘Lift up your hearts.’

The congregation replies: ‘We lift them to the Lord.’

Those words give us a doorway into the meaning of Ascension Day, which the church celebrates this week. Forty days after Easter, Jesus ascended into heaven. To many, that can sound distant or even strange – as though he simply floated away into the sky. Yet something far richer is being claimed.

The ascension means that Jesus Christ has entered the very heart of reality – the true centre of all authority, power, and life. Perhaps it’s no accident that Ascension Day falls on a Thursday, most often in May – the day and month we most readily associate with elections and the placing of people into positions of authority.

Christians confess that something far more decisive has already occurred. In Jesus, our humanity has come to what we might call the ‘control room’ of the universe. He who knew tiredness, friendship, grief, temptation, pain, and death now reigns at the centre of all things. Our humanity – our representative – is at the heart of reality.

That shapes how we understand worship. Worship is far more than attending a service or taking a moment out from life. It’s participation in the life of Jesus himself – being drawn beyond our narrow, self-focused concerns into the larger purposes of God in Christ.

Historically, Christians have understood what happens when we gather for worship as a kind of journey – or better, a reshaping of our lives around Christ. Coming from scattered and distracted lives, we gather in his name, confess our sins, hear Scripture, pray, receive from the Lord’s Table, and are sent out again into the world.

In the midst of this ancient rhythm we hear: ‘Lift up your hearts’ – and, as the liturgy continues, to join our voices ‘with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven’.

Christian worship has always been understood as more than an earthly gathering. Because Jesus has ascended, worship is never small or private. It spans heaven and earth, which meet in Christ, and we are caught up into a reality far larger than ourselves.

This is why church can feel different from ordinary life. For a time, we step out of the noise and pressure of daily living and remember what is most true – Christ reigns, Christ is present, and our lives are held within his purposes.

Ascension Day reminds us that heaven isn’t simply ‘up there’. In Jesus, heaven and earth have been joined. Human life has been carried into the presence of God.

‘Hearts up!’ These words call us out of anxiety, distraction, and the endless noise of our age. They say, Lift your gaze, your hearts and minds, towards Christ.

This isn’t an escape from reality. In ascending, Jesus has gone to the place where he can truly act and reign. He isn’t distant from us, but closer than our next breath, carrying our humanity into the very heart of reality. And he doesn’t draw us away from the world, but draws the world towards its fulfilment in him. In worship, we are caught up into the life of Christ so that we may share in his work of healing, renewing, and reconciling all things.

Ascension Day reorients everything. History isn’t aimless, prayer isn’t wasted, and worship isn’t inward-looking. Christ reigns at the centre of reality, and from that place he is gathering all things to himself. The church therefore lives with hearts lifted up – worshipping, hoping, and bearing witness until the day when what is now glimpsed in faith is seen in full.