Dear St Mary’s, 

On Sunday 2nd March, the Last Sunday Before Lent, we’ll celebrate Holy Communion at 9am and again at 10.30am, with Revd Vanessa Conant leading and presiding, and Revd Jacintha Danaswamy preaching. 

As we prepare to enter the season of Lent on Ash Wednesday, the lectionary gives us the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus, as recounted in Luke’s gospel (9:28-36) – the moment when Jesus takes three of his disciples up a mountain and, in the presence of Moses and Elijah, is transfigured, with his clothes and face becoming dazzlingly bright. 

There will be supervised children’s groups this Sunday at 10.30am, with a Baby Lounge in the South Vestry at both services. For those unable to join us in person, we’ll livestream this Sunday’s 9am service to our Facebook page (facebook.com/StMarysE17). 

We will also hold an evening service of sung worship at 6.30pm. Led by musician Matt Begg, ‘Embers’ is held quarterly and is an hour of praise and worship music. 

St Mary’s Crochet and Knitting Group to Restart This Saturday
Last year we started a drop-in crochet and knitting group which met on Saturdays in our Exhibition Space. The group has been on pause since Christmas but will resume on Saturday 1st March, 10am-12pm. Bring wool, needles, crochet hooks and whatever you’re working on. The group is a great opportunity to be social and to have a coffee and chat. 

This Monday 3rd March: Listening Meeting at St Mary’s with Lunch Provided  
Climate Change, Youth Safety, Air Quality, Affordable Housing, London Living Wage, Supporting Refugees – what’s important to you? Community Organising is more than public action: the methods and techniques of organising also shape our life as a church and help us to live out our faith as Christians. We are holding a series of congregational listening meetings, and our next one will be this Monday 3rd March at 1pm in the café space in church with lunch provided. Planning to join us? RSVP: . 

Opportunities to Mark Ash Wednesday and the Season of Lent 
As the season of Lent begins next week, join us for Ash Wednesday services at St Mary’s on 5th March at 7.30am, and later that same day at 7.30pm, as we offer the imposition of ashes and celebrate Holy Communion. There will also be a ‘No Faith in Fossil Fuels’ service at 11am at St John’s Waterloo in Central London on Ash Wednesday – an opportunity to connect Ash Wednesday observance with the harm fossil fuels are causing (to register for the service, click here, or visit www.greenchristian.org.uk). And starting 20th March, St Mary’s will run a Lent book group which will meet for four consecutive Thursdays in the church from 7.30pm-9pm. We will be discussing How We Learn To Be Brave by Rt Revd Mariann Budde (register interest here or by emailing Revd Jacintha Danaswamy at ). Our full Holy Week schedule will be announced soon. 

Marriage Preparation Course to Begin 9th March 
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 9th March, 3pm-4.30pm. The course is a great opportunity for 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 Revd Vanessa Conant at . 

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’.

Waltham Forest Citizens’ Borough Assembly on Tuesday 18th March at 6pm 
Join us on Tuesday 18th March at Leyton Sixth Form College, 6pm-7.30pm, for a Waltham Forest Citizens’ Assembly as we gather with other member institutions in our area and decide on grassroots campaigns we want to take forward. St Mary’s is a founding member of Waltham Forest Citizens, which is our local chapter of Citizens UK, the largest community organising alliance in the country – a collection of faith groups, schools and other institutions working for the Common Good. Register here or email . 

Is St Mary’s Your Church? Join Our Parish Roll 
Every six years, dioceses from around the Church of England ask parish churches like St Mary’s to start from scratch and create an entirely new Parish Roll, which is a listing of everyone who considers a particular church to be their church home. If St Mary’s is your church, starting in late March and continuing into April, we will be asking you to fill out a short form during or after a Sunday service (or online, if you’re not able to join us in person). While being on our Parish Roll allows you to vote at our annual parish meeting as well as to stand for church leadership, it also helps us see how we are growing as a church. If you would like to fill out the forms online, it takes less than three minutes, but please note that you need to fill out both the Parish Electoral Roll form (link here) and GDPR form (link here).  

EcoTip: Does Your Employer Offer a Green Pension Plan? ClientEarth Wants to Know 
Does your employer fail to offer a green pension option – or have you asked your employer to offer an ethical fund, only to be rebuffed? If so, ClientEarth would love to hear from you. They are looking to bring a case from someone whose belief in the protection of God’s earth is central to their Christian values, a protected characteristic under employment law. If successful, this could push employers everywhere to invest in green pensions and decrease funding for fossil fuels. Please contact for more information.

Please pray this week for:

• Churches and other civil society organisations working for the Common Good 
• Christians at St Mary’s, in our Parish and around the world in this season of Lent 
• Pope Francis, who is unwell in hospital  
• Peaceful movements to challenge the politics of division and hatred 
• The peace and safety of Ukraine and Europe 
• Justice and peace for all people in the Middle East 
• All global areas of conflict, for an end to the fighting 
• The UK government and the many challenges our country faces 
• All who are unwell in body, mind and spirit: for hope, help and healing 
• For the love of Jesus Christ to change lives in the season of Lent 
• Those who are struggling with a difficult or broken relationship 
• Efforts to foster community cohesion and bring people together in Walthamstow 

Next Week in the Welcome Centre (3rd-7th March)

Monday 3rd March
Daphne & Friends (baby and child loss community), 10-11am 
Waltham Forest Community Choir, 7.30-9.30pm 

Tuesday 4th March 
Hula Fit, 6.30pm 
Tai Chi, 7.30pm 

Wednesday 5th March     
Walthamstow Welcomes Cafe (free help with confusing paperwork), 10am-Noon
Ninja School, 4-7pm 

Thursday 6th March  
Baby Massage, 10.30am
The Singing Room, 7.30pm 
FoodCycle (free community meal), 6.30pm 

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

Reflection: 
Revd Tim Scott writes:

Many years ago I saw a notice board outside a church in North London London which read:

‘We have a vision here. It is that we can become a community in which everyone discovers and stirs into flame the gift which God has given, whatever that gift might be. Every traveller, every pilgrim, every seeker brings a unique contribution, and so in the name of Christ we say: Welcome, enjoy, grow, weep, serve and be free.’

I have found those really helpful words to keep in mind in a variety of places that I have worked, and my sense is that St Mary’s has a very similar sense of vision and calling.

Each of us has a part to play in the life of the Church. We are moving into the season of Lent which begins on Ash Wednesday. In the early Church, this season was observed particularly by those who were preparing for baptism, often done at Easter, or by those who sought particular forgiveness of sins. In the course of time, it also became an opportunity for the whole people of God to look at and deepen their faith with a period of self examination and repentance, prayer, fasting and self-denial, and by reading and meditating on scripture. 

The ancient tradition of ‘ashing’, in which the sign of the cross is made, in ash, on the forehead, is a very visible sign of the journey of faith. In our early morning service on Ash Wednesday, we will hear that ashing is ‘a sign of our longing for forgiveness, a sign of our humanness, a reminder that it is by grace alone that we receive eternal life.’

There are times when I feel that my faith needs some sort of re-balancing, and I often see Lent as a chance to regain a sense of balance within my faith journey. I have sometimes found it helpful to approach Lent with three things in mind: worship and prayer, teaching and nurture, care and service.

Discipleship involves staying with Christ, listening and learning. God’s love, forgiveness and  grace impacts on and transforms every part of our lives. During Lent I wonder if each of us  might take the opportunity to reflect on where we are in our life of worship and prayer, where we are in our study or the nurture of our faith (whether it be through a Lent book group, or some individual reading, or something else that enriches our faith) and that we also give some time to considering how we serve, care for, and learn from others. 

I hope and pray that as we move into the season of Lent, we will give ourselves time and space to reflect, consider and pray, and therefore to be able to celebrate the great feast of Easter, when it comes, with a new joy and depth. 

If helpful, you might wish to carry with you those words with which I started this reflection, as we seek to make space for God to ‘stir into flame’ the gifts within each of us.

With my love and prayers, 

Tim