Dear St Mary’s,

It was a very meaningful Advent Sunday with a beautiful sermon, moving prayers, lovely music and the wonderful baptism of Elin and Grace. What a gift to be together. I am looking forward to celebrating the second week of Advent with you on Sunday. Revd Tim Scott preaches at both 9am and 10.30am services and there are children’s groups (the last of the year) for children aged 2-11. I hope you will join us.

New website – take a look! 

We’re thrilled to launch our new stmaryswalthamstow.org website, funded by the National Lottery. We hope you will find it easier to access the information you need, sign up and stay in touch. A website is a constant work in progress so you will find that we are still adding to this site over the coming weeks. Please take a look here.

Orchestral Carols – this Sunday at 6pm 

One of the highlights of every year is our orchestral carol service at 6pm. A 60-piece orchestra leads us in well-loved carols and we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ with readings, poetry and a reflection – followed by mince pies and mulled wine. Each year we raise money for the Forest Churches Emergency Night Shelter. Please join us and please bring neighbours, family and friends – come early to get good seats! 

Serve on a Christmas Team: Most Needed Roles

Wondering how you can serve but a bit overwhelmed by our Christmas form? Our most needed roles are welcomers at all our Christingle services on 24th December (10.30am, 2pm and 4pm). We also need two more people to help with our 2pm buggy park at Christingle – this is an amazing way to keep the church clear of buggies during our Christingle and ensure that parents can be confident that they will be kept safe in the Welcome Centre. Finally, if you can help us pack down after Orchestral Carols this Sunday evening, that would be so welcome. 

Sign up HERE to be part of a team. 

Making Christingle Resources 

Over 20 people signed up to make Christingle resources at home. Thank you so much for doing that! Your packs will be ready for collection this Sunday. Please return them on Sunday 17th December or let us know that you will be dropping them to church at another time, ready for our Big Messy Christingle Service on 23rd December. 

Christmas Choir Rehearsal  – this Friday 8 December at 7pm in the Welcome Centre

We have almost 50 people in our Christmas choir which is absolutely wonderful. It’s a great way to meet people in church and to welcome people from our community. The first of two rehearsals is this Friday at 7pm in the Welcome Centre. If you haven’t signed up but would like to join, let us know by completing the form here to ensure we have printed music for you. 

Community Carolling – join us around Walthamstow to sing

We’re taking our Carols outside again this year and there are three opportunities to join in with community carol singing:

–17th December – after church at the Farmers’ Market join with St Luke’s for carols at the top of the High Street

–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). 

Music Hall gigs tonight and Thursday 14th December 

The last two Music Hall gigs of the year take place this Thursday and next Thursday. Tonight, there is beautiful music from Ted Barnes, a much loved and multi talented Walthamstow singer-songwriter-composer. Next Thursday, get ready for Christmas with the incredible Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir. You can buy tickets on the door or online 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 on Thursday 14th December – all are welcome. 

Welcome baby Edith! 

Congratulations to Byron Orme and Molly Critchley on the birth of Edith Mary! We send our love and prayers and look forward to welcoming her to the 9am congregation sometime soon. 

Update on St Mary’s Building 

Thank you for all the messages of support and kindness around the burglaries which have taken place at St Mary’s. We are doing all we can to secure the building and repair the damage caused by the two break-ins. We will be applying for grants to help us install CCTV where we can both around the church and the Welcome Centre. Some people have very kindly asked how they can support the church at this time – if you would like to make a donation to help us make the building more secure, you can do so on our new website here.

Coming up at Christmas in our Building

We’re pleased to welcome a number of choirs to our building in the coming weeks for some beautiful concerts:

–Norrsang Choir (the East London Swedish Choir) host their much-loved Sankta Lucia concerts at St Mary’s. With beautiful music, an abundance of candles and Swedish gluhwein, it’s a special event for all ages. There are tickets remaining for the Saturday night concert (8-9pm). Follow this link to book tickets and find out more.  

–Waltham Forest Community Choir Christmas Concert on Saturday 16th December at 7pm. Entry is free.  

– London Forest Choir. 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. Find out more and book tickets here.

Warm Hats and Gloves donations – Thank You!

Thank you so much for all the warm hats and gloves you so generously donated over the last couple of weeks – we have been able to take multiple bags to Waltham Forest College and we pray for those who will receive them, that these small tokens will be a sign of God’s love for them. 

EcoTip of the Week 

The UN climate conference – COP28  – is happening now in the UAE and some interesting things are happening. What is most needed at this conference is for world leaders to hear that people want them to phase out the use of fossil fuels and move to cleaner, renewable sources of energy which will prevent runaway climate change. Take one minute to sign this petition from Climate Earth and deliver a message to those at COP28 that we want urgent change. 

Please pray

• Please continue to pray for the situation in Israel/Palestine, praying for further ceasefires and safety for all civilians 
• Please pray for all those enduring the horrors of war and violence at this time 
• Please remember those affected by terrible floods in Chennai, India and those affected by flooding here in the UK 
• Please pray for all who are unwell in our community, remembering especially those who are undergoing difficult treatment 
• Please pray for our Advent and Christmas services – that we will be able to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ with great joy and love 

Reflection

This Wednesday brings a long-awaited moment in our household. Cameron will become a British Citizen after living here for 12 years. The ceremony marks the end of years of paperwork, biometrics, tests, references, anxious waits and huge amounts of money – visa after visa, uncertainty and hope. The system and forms can feel complex and cold; there is no one to call when you hear nothing, correspondence is baffling and sometimes frightening. Every time we get through another round of visa applications, relief washes over us and we are profoundly aware of those things that make a difficult process easier – we are working in our own language, we have not experienced trauma forcing us to leave our homes, we have been able to pay the costs, so far we meet the requirements. Nonetheless, it has been exhausting and vulnerable. 

This week, the Government announced more changes to the immigration system, designed to lower the numbers of those coming to the UK. Among these changes was a new rule that the British partner or spouse of a foreigner has to earn £38,700 in order for them to marry or live together in this country. This is true for families which are already living here together. Most of the UK does not earn at this level. I do not. Had we met now, Cameron and I would not be able to marry and live together in this country. Thousands are facing this reality now – including mothers and fathers now at risk of deportation, separated from their partners and/or children, their communities and lives they have built with no hope of reunion here in the UK. Perhaps this affects some of you as I write. 

It is right that we grieve, lament and protest – this proposal is both an injustice and destructive to family life. In a reflection yesterday on Radio 4’s ‘Thought for the Day’, Revd Dr Hannah Malcolm talked about how marriages or partnerships in Christian understanding are not a private choice but a good for the whole community, a collective gift. To separate people based on economic power and status denies the life-giving importance of human relationships and our need of them as societies and communities. 

The new legislation is also a further extension of the hostile environment that has resulted in horrors such as the Windrush scandal and the ongoing suffering of asylum seekers in hotels and barges, many of whom are now finding themselves street homeless. We can agree that no country can have uncontrolled migration whilst still holding true to the calling to love justice and act mercifully, as the prophet Micah instructs. 

In the letter to the Philippians, St Paul’s reminds the church that their citizenship is in heaven and so we live as people of that Kingdom – people who seek the good of others, serve with love and live sacrificially, following always in the way of Christ. In this way, all of us are dual nationals – both foreigners and citizens – giving us a different perspective and a new understanding of the experience of the migrant and the new arrival. May we use our citizenship to call for equity, mercy and justice.

This week, Cameron will make pledges as a new British citizen. May each of us daily renew our promises as citizens of heaven, to live with compassion, mercy and love to the glory of God. 

With love,

Vanessa