Love needs to be learned.
A great saint once told this story. “Once upon a time a man went to the mystical monastic enclave of Mount Athos in northern Greece to ask what he needed to do for his salvation. The monks he asked all told him: “You need to love God with all your soul, all your mind, and all your heart, and your neighbour as yourself.” And the poor man said to himself: “I can’t do this! I don’t think I really love God. I’m not sure I even know Him; and I can’t stand my neighbour more often than not. Isn’t there something else I could try doing?” And he went from one holy Elder to another, crisscrossing Mt. Athos, but he couldn’t find any other method. Then he sat down on a stone and said, with all the despair of someone looking for a solution: “What will I do? I need to be saved. I don’t want to suffer for eternity!” And an idea came to him: “I will do what I can. I can do that which I would do if I loved!” And he constantly asked himself: “What would I do now if I loved God?” And he would do it. “What would I do now if I loved my neighbour?” And he would do it.

And the saint who told the story said: You do the same. Cry out: “Teach me, Lord, to love! Teach me to love!” And then God will teach you every morning. You should say to yourself: “What would I do if I really loved people?” And see what thoughts come to your mind: you would pray for them. What would I do if I loved my wife? I would immediately forgive her for telling me to take out the rubbish at exactly the moment when I sit down to watch the football. And so on. And you will witness great miracles!

The Rev’d Dr James Lawson
St Mary Magdalene Enfield, August 2025
(James’ vlog for August)

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 (Not during August and December)
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, Tuesdays from 1:30-3:30pm
Does not run during August
we return on Tuesday 2nd September

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.

Director of Music retiring

Sadly, for the second time at St Mary Magdalene, Jonathan Marten, our current Director of Music, is retiring on August 17th. Jonathan began as our DoM in 2013, a joint position he initially shared with Keith Beniston. Both Jonathan and Keith were instrumental in the much needed restoration of our organ.

Jonathan ‘retired’ for 12 months when Ben arrived, but, upon Ben’s departure, Jonathan stepped in and has carried the role of DoM since. Jonathan has been the guiding light, aided by Chris Royall, in the launch of our Choral Scholarship scheme, which has breathed new life into the music of St Mary Magdalene’s worship and the reintroduction of our monthly Choral Evensong.

We owe an extreme debt of gratitude to both Jonathan and his wife Ros, who has greatly enhanced our soprano line with her infectious joyful and incredibly positive attitude. As a team their commitment to St Mary Magdalene has been immense (a great deal of which has been unseen) and we would be vastly impoverished without them.

So it is with a mixture of sadness and joy that we wish Jonathan all the very best in his retirement. It won’t be the last we see of Jonathan because he will be back for an Autumn series of organ recitals during Autumn.

Incoming Director of Music

The following Sunday, 24th August, we will be welcoming Manav Paul, as our new Director of Music. Manav comes to us with enthusiasm to continue and build upon the work that Jonathan began with the Choral Scholarship scheme in tandem with Chris Royall; will be taking on Roland as an Organ Scholar; and is looking to further expand the choir into new territory. We look forward to welcoming Manav.

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.

Sausage Sunday!

Yes, it’s back! Sunday 31st August following on from the morning Eucharist Service.

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 – Stained Glass

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

This month we look at some of our stained glass windows: https://stmarymagdalene.church/about/history-art-and-heritage/stained-glass-windows/.

The windows of the chancel (a separate page), the Ladychapel’s ‘Annunciation’, and the West End are all William Butterfield designs. One, the War Memorial Window ~ ‘The Dying Soldier’ is by James Clark, also with its own page. The others in the Nave (the majority on this page) are by other Victorian artists.

Dates for your diary

August 2025
Weds 13th 11:30am Eleanor Pritchard Concert Series
Sat 16th 4:00pm Afternoon Tea
Sun 24th 6:30pm Evening Praise!
Sun 31st Sausage Sunday (following the morning Service)

September 2025
Weds 10th 11:30am Coffee & Cake followed by Eleanor Pritchard Concert Series
Sat 13th 6:30pm Charity Dinner
Sun 14th 6:30pm Choral Evensong
Sun 28th 6:30pm Evening Praise!

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