Dear friends,

There is a wonderful very beautiful hymn which I am very fond of, which you will find in old copies of Hymns Ancient and Modern, though it has sadly fallen out of favour, I can’t think why. It is sung to the tune of Jerusalem the Golden, and is actually part of the same poem as Jerusalem the Golden by Bernard of Cluny, and the particular hymn I am talking about is called: The world is very evil. Whoah, I hear you say, what kind of hymn is that? How can you say the world is evil, and even very evil, when we know it was created by God, and that it was created good? Look around at all God’s goodness. I would say the world was absolutely created by God and created good, but look around you. There is war in Europe, and while Putin will not win, how long, how long will it be? There is war in Gaza, also in the Sudan, Syria… in many places of the world. There is widespread theft and suffering, and even poverty in this great city, and the country as a whole. The world was created good, but was distorted and corrupted by the devil and his angels, and then by the will of man. There is much evil in the world.

This is what Jesus tells us in the parable of the wheat and the tares:
“‘The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed ears, then the weeds also appeared.
‘The owner’s servants came to him and said, “Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?”
‘“An enemy did this,” he replied.
‘The servants asked him, “Do you want us to go and pull them up?”
‘“No,” he answered, “because while you are pulling up the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: first collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.”’

And his disciples approached him, saying, ‘Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.’ He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”

But, as the parable that immediately follows tells us: “‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.”

There is so much goodness in this world. Not only does Christ sow the good seed which grows up despite the enemy’s best efforts, but there is the pearl hidden, but glimpsed in this world – the promise and the joy of the kingdom of God. And when we go to church, and receive the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, we receive in the traditional language of the church, an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace, for we feed on Christ in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving. But the Orthodox church has a wider understanding of what a sacrament is. Schmemann describes that in Orthodoxy a sacrament is understood primarily as a revelation of the genuine nature of creation, of the world, which however much it has fallen as ‘this world’ will remain God’s world, awaiting salvation, redemption, healing and transfiguration in a new earth and a new heaven. For the world was created and given to us for conversion of creaturely life into participation in divine life. If everything in the world can be identified, manifested, and understood as a gift of God and participation in the new life, it is because all of creation was originally summoned and destined for the fulfillment of God’s plan of salvation. “Then God will be all in all,” as St Paul says in 1 Corinthians.

God will be all in all. Until then the field must be left to ripen in patience, and everything else left to God in faith, until God’s hour comes.
(For) The world is very evil,
The times are waxing late;
Be sober and keep vigil,
The Judge is at the gate;
The Judge that comes in mercy,
The Judge that comes with might,
To terminate the evil,
To diadem (to crown) the right.
Amen.

The Rev’d Michael Aylmer
St Mary Magdalene Enfield, 01/07/2025
(Michael’s vlog for July)

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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Hymns & Pimms

Join us on Sunday 13th July at 6:30pm for our final Choral Evensong of the 2024-2025 Academic Year followed by a reception in the hall.

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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.

ICE In Case of Emergency mobile number

If you use your mobile phone book to store the name and number of someone who should be contacted if you have an emergency, simply add the letters ICE in front of their name. For example, ‘ICE mum’ or ‘ICE Joe Bloggs’. Make sure the person whose name and number you are giving has agreed to be your ‘ICE partner’.

First Aiders

We are very fortunate to have Jean McDonald, Gill Bird, Elise and Bella Horlick with us who are all capable of First Aid assistance. However, it would be really helpful if others from the congregation would come forward for First Aid Training with the view to becoming registered First Aiders. This enables us to always have someone who is registered to administer First Aid should someone require First Aid help. If you are interested in becoming First Aid trained either reply to this email, speak to Elizabeth or Joy, our churchwardens, or James or Michael. Thank you.

Lunchtime Concerts

Eleanor Pritchard has been very involved with St Mary Magdalene’s Church, Enfield, for many years and for around 30 years she has organised the monthly lunchtime concerts which originally offered a lunch as well. For nearly 20 years the lunch became coffee and cake before the concert and this is how they became known as the Coffee and Cake Concerts.

Eleanor has spent her life being involved in music, as a pianist, singing and teaching music in a primary school and to other young people out of school also by being involved with the music of St Mary Magdalene’s in various ways. Her family, both children and grandchildren have all grown up within this church, making their own contributions to the musical life of the Parish.
Eleanor has engaged musicians from far and wide to play in our lunchtime concerts. Many of the artistes have returned several times as they have enjoyed the atmosphere and friendliness of the concerts in a reasonable acoustic. Eleanor has also built up a dedicated audience base of regular attenders and we would all like to thank her for her years of organisation of the concerts and for leading her dedicated team, both cake makers and other helpers.
From June 2025 we are calling the monthly lunchtime concerts “The Eleanor Pritchard Concert Series” to honour all that Eleanor has done to sustain these concerts so successfully.
On Wednesday the 9th July we welcome the Ionian Clarinet Quartet.

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.

A trip to the Seaside!

Join us on a trip to Shoeburyness (just up the coast from Southend but without all of the amusement arcade distractions!). Saturday 26th July. We will travel by train and meet just outside Enfield Chase train station at 10am that day and travel as a group – see you there!

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.

This week in Rekindling we began to learn this beautiful new song ‘You Know What I Need’ by Pat Barrett, Josh Baldwin, David Leonard:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9C40XS7H2c&list=PLOS511gUMPpV2F1Lk-vDW5x9_UE_t_bVG&index=1

(Pat Barrett has a terrific playlist!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpGXyD8Owzs&list=PL8kehqRVOwuhUB2ZuTLXkO85WGnUB11ww

Website Treasures – Past Vicars

Have you looked at our website lately? Someone recently remarked that it was the most informative of all the Enfield church websites!

Joy has uncovered a new photo of Reginald Boylette Stewart. After a bit of digital restoration work this is now on the website, as are two other photos from the church archives – first vicar, Percy Brent (1883-1885), and second vicar, George Passand Turner (1885-1910) (these need some TLC, particularly the one of Rev’d Turner, which has suffered over time – watch this space!). The vicars page is here: https://stmarymagdalene.church/about/history-art-and-heritage/clergy-history/

Dates for your diary

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!

August 2025
Weds 13th 11:30am Eleanor Pritchard Concert Series
Sat 16th 4:00pm Afternoon Tea
Sun 24th 6:30pm Evening Praise!

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