Dear friends,

An old lady once said of a preacher, “That gentleman just opens heaven to me, and I can look right in.”

That’s what St John does in our Gospel today. He opens heaven to us, so we can look right in. He shows us the innermost secret of the life of God. He shows us the intimate mutual indwelling of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus says of the disciples: My prayer is not for them alone. He was also praying for you on the night He was betrayed. He was praying for all of us, that we might receive the same Spirit as His disciples, and be possessed of the same love. He was praying that we may be one, truly and intimately one, just as He is one with the Father: just as you are in me and I am in you He says. He was praying that all of us may be one, united in the secret life of God. Dwelling in me by thy Spirit; and I in you— By a constant, indissoluble union; that they also may be one in us— closely and vitally united to us, and deriving from us the richest supplies of divine wisdom and grace, power, purity, and consolation.
That the world may believe— That, seeing our generosity, charity, and holy joy, people outside the Church, may believe that a religion that produces such wonderful fruits is truly from God. Our divisions as Christians make that much harder for the world to believe. Jesus says to His Father: I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. In His human nature the Holy Spirit dwelt in Jesus. Now we have the honour and the happiness of having a measure of the same Spirit dwelling in us, enriching us with different gifts and graces, and allowing us to share in the secret life of God. As the Second Epistle of St Peter says…he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature.

I in them and you in me – Jesus says—so that they may be brought to complete unity – the closest union, and enjoy a most holy and joyful fellowship with us and with each other in this life, and eternal joy in the life to come. I in them— Dwelling in their hearts by faith; (Ephesians 3:17;) and you in me— By your indwelling presence; so that they may be brought to complete unity— May possess the most perfect and uninterrupted union of love and purity, and through that union may grow up into me their living head in all things, till they arrive at the measure of the stature of my fullness, and are perfected in that holiness without which no one shall see the Lord. That the world may know that you have sent me – That the clearest demonstration of the power of grace may be given to the world through the existence of churches full of saints who are loved as the Father loves Jesus and who are given grace upon grace for His sake.

As we participate through the Spirit in the complete unity that the Father and Son have with one another so we will grow more united with each other and with the saints who belong to other churches. Think of sunbeams. Far away from the sun, these rays of light are diffuse and spread out; but as they return to their source and become unified with the orb of the sun itself, they get closer to one another until full unity for all the separate beams is found in the sun. Likewise, as we seek and get closer and closer to the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, we will be like the beams of God’s glory, becoming brighter and more concentrated with one another the closer to God we become.

Jesus gives us the deep ‘peace’ of knowing we are utterly loved. We are at home abiding in the secret unity, which is at the heart of all reality. And we are given the deep purpose of being ‘sent’ to love as He was sent by his Father. And, amazingly, we are given the ‘Holy Spirit’—breathed into us minute by minute as He dwells in us, we dwell in Him, and we are energised and inspired to learn, pray, love, and serve as never before.

Amen.

With love and my prayers,

James
(James’ Sermon from the 7th Sunday of Easter)
The Rev’d Dr James Lawson
St Mary Magdalene Enfield, 01/06/2025

Sunday and weekday Services

Our weekly service times are:
Sunday 10:00am Eucharist
Tuesday 10:00am Morning Prayer (BCP)
Thursday 10:30am Holy Communion (BCP)

Additional, Regular Services:
2nd Sunday of the month 6:30pm Choral Evensong
4th Sunday of the month 6:30pm Evening Praise – an informal service

We also provide a livestream of our Sunday Morning Eucharist Service. The link for the livestream page is
https://stmarymagdalene.church/livestream-service/

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Michael’s Ordination as priest

This is taking place on Saturday 21st June at 3pm in Emmanuel Church, West Hampstead, NW6 1JU.
Do go and support Michael if you are able.

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Community Café & Informal Singing

Lots of activities are planned for the Community Café, please see below.

Rekindling, Tuesdays from 3:30-4:30pm

Exploring the meaning of life and spirituality using the Bible as our road map.

Lunchtime Concerts

This month Fumi Otsuki (violin) and Gisela Meyer (piano) will be playing for us.

The coffee and cake organisers need help serving tea and coffee and washing up. The job is just for about 2 and a half hours once a month on the second Wednesday in the month. If you think you can help please speak to Lilian Gibbons or me. Thank you.
Eleanor Pritchard.

Growing Good

The Church Urban Fund (CUF) has developed the Growing Good course to help churches flourish and explore the connection between social action, discipleship and growth. The Growing Good Toolkit is a free six-session interactive course, exploring how we can be faithful and fruitful in our local community.

It is helping churches grow in three key ways:
• knowledge about their local community
• confidence in their local mission
• hospitality and relationships

Clay Hill and St Mary Magdalene are jointly running the course, and the six sessions are on Monday evenings at 7.30pm, alternating between St Luke’s and St Mary Magdalene’s churches:

• Session 1 Presence – 28 April (St Luke)
• Session 2 Perseverance – 12 May (St Mary Magdalene)
• Session 3 Hospitality – 9 June (St Luke)
• Session 4 Adaptability – 23 June (St Mary Magdalene)
• Session 5 Participation – 7 July (St Luke)
• Session 6 Next Steps – 14 July (St Mary Magdalene)

Bishop Rob Wickam (CUF’s Chief Executive) is coming to the first session
There’s much already happening in Clay Hill and St Mary Magdalene to develop our mission in the parishes, and the Growing Good course is an excellent opportunity to take this further.
Everyone is encouraged to be involved and be part of the journey

Opening the Church on Saturdays

Our church is a valuable resource for people in our community to take some time out of their daily lives to reflect and connect with God. Not everyone is available on Sunday mornings and some just want a few minutes to pause and be still. We are hoping to make our church available for private prayer on Saturdays and are looking for volunteers who can give a couple of hours of their time. A minimum of two people will need to be always present. Names will be added to a rota, so the more people who are available to help us, the less often you will be called upon. If you are able to help with this, please see Alison Reeve.

Prayer…

What exactly is it? How do we pray? Why pray?

If these questions echo your thoughts in any way and you would like to find our more, there is a really good website to visit that will begin to answer these, and more questions. Born out of an event that went viral during Lent 1999 (over 25 years ago!), 24-7 Prayer has become an international organisation that has encouraged people to pray.

Their website https://www.24-7prayer.com/ has teaching and resources available to aid understanding and help in building a prayer life centred upon teaching handed down throughout the ages. There is even a free app that can be downloaded for the iPhone or for Android called Lectio 365. This provides a series of up to three daily prayer times, morning, midday, and evening (you don’t have to do all three) that last no more than 10 minutes each if you listen to the audio recordings.

I encourage you to have a look – and be encouraged to join in!

Donate

Would you like to donate towards the work of St Mary Magdalene? If so, this QR code will take you to our donations page where you can choose the amount you wish to donate.

Ladychapel Memorial book

Every week we remember the anniversaries of death for different people. Their names are taken from two Memorial Books we keep. One for those whose ashes are interred in the Memorial Garden and a second, in the Lady Chapel, for people we wish to be remembered on a certain date (usually their death).

If you would like the name of someone to be remembered in the Ladychapel Memorial Book please speak to Ken Cope, the cost is £25.

YouTube Video Playlist

Something to dip in and out of or play while ironing or relaxing! Instead of a single video, this week we have a playlist on our YouTube channel containing more than fifty videos with lyrics.

YouTube Playlist update:

Oceans (Where feet may fail) | Hillsong United: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TY1RhTuZhE&list=PLOS511gUMPpV2F1Lk-vDW5x9_UE_t_bVG&index=1&pp=gAQBiAQB8AUB

Fall like rain | Passion (Feat. Karie Jobe & Rachel Halbach): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dTIQv-EQj4&list=PLOS511gUMPpV2F1Lk-vDW5x9_UE_t_bVG&index=2&pp=gAQBiAQB8AUB

Following on from this and looking at Pentecost – we’ve moved one up on the playlist:
The Dove | The Belonging Co Feat Karie Jobe):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_OOHQJ8ZrA&list=PLOS511gUMPpV2F1Lk-vDW5x9_UE_t_bVG&index=3&pp=gAQBiAQB8AUB

Dates for your diary

June 2025
Sun 1st 11:15am Sausage Sunday
Sun 8th 6:30pm Choral Evensong
Mon 9th 7:30pm Growing Good Pt 3 at St Luke
Weds 11th 11:30am Coffee & Cake followed by Lunchtime Concert
Sat 21st 3pm Michael’s Ordination Emmanuel Church West Hampstead
Sat 21st 5, 7 & 9pm, Lumos Candlelit concerts (x3 1hour concerts)
Sun 22nd 12noon Ascot themed Lunch
Sun 22nd 6:30pm Evening Praise!
Mon 23rd 7:30pm Growing Good Pt 4 at St Mary Magdalene

July 2025
Sat 5th 4pm Parish Picnic at Alison and Paul’s
Mon 7th 7:30pm Growing Good Pt 5 at St Luke
Weds 9th 11:30am Coffee & Cake followed by Lunchtime Concert
Sun 13th 6:30pm Choral Evensong
Mon 14th 7:30pm Growing Good Pt 6 at St Mary Magdalene
Sat 19th 6:30pm Parish Feast
Sun 20th 10am Patronal Festival
Sun 27th 6:30pm Evening Praise!

This magazine appears online only, with only a few copies available for archival purposes.