Dear St Mary’s,

What a wonderful Sunday we had last week with powerful Advent reflections from Revd Tim Scott and an extraordinary and packed Orchestral Carols in the evening. Thank you to the many people who made the services such as a joyous occasion, with special thanks to our wonderful Musical Director, Jonathan Rathbone. 

This Sunday, we will celebrate the third Sunday of Advent – known as Gaudete Sunday (meaning ‘Rejoice’) – with Communion at 9am and a service of All Age Carols at 10.30am. Revd Alan Moss leads and Revd Vanessa Conant preaches. 

Carols by Candlelight at 6pm 

Join us for another beautiful service of Carols and reflection at 6pm as our now 50-strong choir leads us in traditional carols and beautiful new arrangements. All are welcome – do invite friends and family to join and to stay for mince pies and mulled wine at the end. 

Christmas Choir rehearsal reminder – this Friday

If you are in the Christmas choir, a reminder that the next rehearsal is on Friday 15 December at 7pm in Church (not the Welcome Centre). 

Serve on a Christmas Team  – Help needed this Sunday evening!

Thank you so much to all those who have signed up to help, especially with our Christmas Eve Christingle services. Our urgent need now is for help welcoming at our Carols by Candelight service at 6pm this Sunday evening – we are looking for about 4/5 people who can help guide people to their seats and direct people to the mulled wine and mince pies. If you are able to help, please sign up here. 

St Luke’s – Carols and Final Stall – This Sunday

This week, our sister church, St Luke’s, will be holding its final stall on the Farmers’ Market until 2pm  – if you have loved and appreciated St Luke’s ministry over the years or been part of the team, please do join them for carols on the market on that day. And then on 28th January at 4pm, we will be holding a service of thanksgiving at St Mary’s to celebrate all that has happened through the market and you are warmly invited. And after this, we enter into a new period of discernment as to where God is calling us in this new season, praying especially for the High Street and the surrounding streets and how we serve this part of our parish. Please join us in giving thanks for the ministry of St Luke’s and do consider whether you might like to be part of the future discernment. Please pray for St Luke’s on this important day and as a new season begins. 

Community Carolling – join us around Walthamstow to sing

We’re taking our Carols outside again – join us to sing in our local community! 20th December  (WEDNESDAY) at 6pm – Carols on the Drive and Attlee Terrace (meet on the green space at the end of The Drive for hot chocolate and Christmas carols) 20th December (WEDNESDAY) at 7.30pm Carols on Wood Street (join our sister church, St Gabriel’s) for Carols on the Square near the Co-op and Library on Wood Street. 

Book for Quiet Christingle – only 10 tickets left!

If you would like to bring your child to Christingle at St Mary’s but they find large services overwhelming, join us for Quiet Christingle on 23 December at 3pm. It’s free but booking is required. Find out more by clicking the link here.

St Luke’s Advent Communion

Join our sister church St Luke’s at Harmony Hall on Truro Road, for a reflective Advent Communion service at 7.45pm tonight Thursday 14th December – all are welcome. 

Coming up at Christmas in our building: 

 – Waltham Forest Community Choir Christmas Concert on Saturday 16th December at 7pm. Free entry.

-London Forest Choir concert on 21 December at 7.30pm. Our own Jonathan Rathbone directs the wonderful Forest Choir and each year they hold a remarkable Christmas extravaganza concert with both choir and orchestra. Not to be missed – you can find out more and book tickets here.

EcoTip of the Week 

Not so much a tip this week but a cautious word of hope – COP28 – the most recent global conference on climate change seems to have secured a landmark deal. More than 190 nations accepted a text on Wednesday morning that calls on the world to ‘transition away’ from fossil fuels. This doesn’t go far enough – we still need to phase out fossil fuels, but it is an important start. The tip this week is to give thanks and to keep going, signing petitions and seeking change. 

Please pray: 

• Please pray for all those who are homeless in our borough, especially those being made homeless at this time 
• Please pray for the Forest Churches Emergency Night Shelter
• Please pray for local churches, especially remembering Christ Church Wanstead, recently burgled 
• Please pray for St Luke’s as they celebrate their last stall on the Farmers’ Market 
• Please pray for all who are unwell at this time and in need of healing 
• Please pray for Israel/Palestine and the people of Ukraine, all those facing war 
• Please give thanks for the outcome of COP28 and pray for further progress in the coming months
• Please pray for our churches as we welcome many to worship over Christmas – may people find welcome, comfort and peace 
  

Reflection

This week, I had the privilege of speaking at the annual Village Carols. It is always a favourite event – the Walthamstow Village Residents Association (V17) work so hard to create a beautiful, free event for the community with hundreds of people gathered around the tree to sing carols led by East London Brass. 

I spoke about stardust. A friend had told me recently that human bodies are composed of matter made in stars which had led me to the NASA website and to discover that this is true – almost all of the elements in the human body were made in a star and some have travelled through many supernovae. We carry and contain the light of stars millions of years old. 

Soon, we will host nativity plays from school, we will retell the story ourselves in our Christingle services, we will hear it read in services across the coming days. And towards the end of the story will come the star, the star that rose in the East and guided the Magi to the stable where Christ was born. ‘Star of wonder, Star of light, Star of royal beauty bright’, we will sing. We don’t know if the star was a comet, a conjunction of multiple planets or a nova – it could have been any of these astronomical events. 

We do know that the star led the Magi to the Christchild and that it was for them, a sign of hope, a guiding light, a pointing to the source of love, hope, healing and wisdom. 

This Sunday, we will hear about John the Baptist and the Scripture will tell us, ‘he himself was not the light, but he came to bear witness to the light.’ 

Which leads me in this third week of Advent, to wonder how we are also invited to reflect on the way in which we bear witness to the light, how we, a stardust people, might also be signs of hope – might also point to love, healing and peace. Science tells us that our bodies are made of the same matter as stars and Scripture tells us that we are given power to be children of God, the light that shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. 

So may we, with John the Baptist, bear witness to the light this Advent and, carrying the light of ancient stars, may we point to the source of hope, love and peace this Christmas. 

With love, 

Vanessa