Dear friends,

Might I suggest some practices for all of us Advent people during these weeks before Christmas? First, let us deepen our lives of prayer. As St John of Damascus wrote, to pray is to “raise the mind and the heart to God.” It is to be consciously aware of God, present to him. Whatever our expression, we should turn our faces purposely to God, and as we pray, we should allow our longing for God to surface.

A second Advent suggestion is this: wear the world lightly. The reason that we feel spiritual anguish is that the deepest desire of our heart cannot be met by any merely worldly good. St Augustine prayed to God, “Thou movest us to delight in praising Thee; for Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.” (Conf. 1,1.5) In the end, our souls cannot be satisfied by any amount of esteem, riches, power, or pleasure. We could buy anything we see in an advert, anything we want this Christmas, but after a little while we would feel disappointed. We would want something else. And when we have that the same thing would happen again: momentary satisfaction followed by let down and disappointment. But this truth shouldn’t depress us; rather, it should make us adopt the spiritual stance that the saints call “detachment.” This means enjoying wealth and then letting it go; using power to do good but not clinging to it. It is to adopt the attitude that St. Ignatius of Loyola calls “indifference.” Advent is a good time to practice this virtue.

A third and final suggestion is this: we should devote ourselves to doing one of the works of mercy. These acts—feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, and visiting those in prison —are concrete acts of love. It’s easy enough for us to talk about love in the abstract, but to love means to will the good of the other. Therefore, it is dense, real, particular, something that shows up. And heaven—that ultimate joy that we long for—is nothing other than love, love in the fullest possible sense, love without limits. St Thomas Aquinas says that in heaven, faith will fade away (since we will see God face to face) and hope will disappear (since we would have attained what we hoped for), but love will remain (since heaven is love). So, when we love someone here below, in even the simplest way, we anticipate our return to the homeland, we stir up our holy desire for heaven.

So, as we move into the spiritual space of John the Baptist, as we enter the season of Advent, let us pray, and let go, and perform the works of mercy.

With love and my prayers,

James

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:
NEW DATE AND TIME 1st Sunday of the month 5:00pm Choral Evensong
(Not during August and December)
On a trial basis we are moving the Choral Evensong to the FIRST Sunday of the month AND at the EARLIER TIME of 5pm
3rd Sunday of the month 9:00am Little Church for babies, toddlers and under 7’s.
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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Christmas Greetings

Christmas greetings and our very best wishes for the New Year. May God bless your going out and you’re coming in, this day and always. Maureen and Malcolm

To all my dear friends at St Mary’s I wish you a very Happy Christmas and peaceful 2026. Wendy

Wishing both clergy and their families, and also members of the congegation a very happy and peaceful Christmas, as we celebrate the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. Jackie Fish

To all our friends at St Marys.
We wish you all a very happy Christmas and healthy new year. Love Pam and Vic

To all at St Mary Magdalene Enfield: Every good wish to all past and present friends both near and far for a Happy and Joyous Christmas with a healthy 2026.
with much love Christine & Terry

Neil and Diane wish all at St Mary’s a very happy Christmas and a peaceful and healthy New Year. We do not send cards preferring instead to donate to charity.

A very merry Christmas to you all from the curate Michael – and I particularly wish to thank you all for all your help over the past year and for making St Mary Magdalene’s so welcoming. May your new year be very happy.

Sending joy to all at St Mary’s for a happy and peaceful Christmas.
With love and very best wishes Kath Jones

A Happy Christmas – with love and all good wishes to my friends at St. Mary’s. Josie Andrews

A happy and peaceful Christmas for all my dear friends at St. Mary Magdalene’s With love from Eleanor

Wishing you all a very Happy and Peaceful Christmas and all good wishes for a healthy year ahead.
From Janice and John Salmon

Wishing you all a peace-filled and joyous Christmas and a new awareness of God’s love and presence throughout the coming year. Ken

Little Church

On the 3rd Sunday of every month, a family friendly service for babies, toddlers and children under 7. The service lasts 30 minutes and includes songs, Bible stories with puppets, and an activity. It is designed to be both fun and a time for families to worship together.


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Rekindling, Tuesdays from 3:30pm

Exploring the meaning of life and spirituality using the Bible as our road map. Currently we are looking at Paul’s letter to the Colossians.

Sunday Morning Coffee Rota

We are finding that as we have lost a number of our team recently, the coffee rota is managed by a small number of people.

We would be so grateful to anyone who would like to volunteer to join us. Ideally we work in pairs and if there were a few more helpers it would mean committing to perhaps no more than once in 6-8 weeks. Naturally this depends on the response to this request.  Please speak to Anneliese or any of the coffee rota team.

With thanks.

Prayer Garden

We now have a dedicated area in our garden for prayer and quiet reflection. Ribbons are provided should you wish to tie one to the netting on the tree and say a quiet prayer.

The Eleanor Pritchard Concert Series

Join us at 11:30am on Wednesday 10th December in the small hall for tea or coffee, cake, and a chat before going into the church for our 12:30pm lunchtime concert where the Bush Hill Recorder Group will be entertaining us with some festive music.

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. The latest addition can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9C40XS7H2c&list=PLOS511gUMPpV2F1Lk-vDW5x9_UE_t_bVG&index=1

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

December 2025
Sat 6th 7pm Parish Quiz Night
Weds 10th 11:30am Eleanor Pritchard Concert Series
Sat 13th 7pm Enfield in Song Concert
Sun 14th 10:00am Toy Service
Sun 14th 6:30pm Chris Royall & Latymer School Concert
Sun 21st 9:00am Little Church
Sun 21st 6:30pm Nine Lessons & Carols Service
Weds 24th 4pm Christingle
Weds 24th 11:15pm Midnight Communion
Thurs 25th 10am Christmas Morning Communion Service

January 2026
Sun 4th 11:30am Sausage Sunday
Sat 10th 5:00pm Lumos Concert in Church
Weds 14th 11:30am Eleanor Pritchard Concert Series
Sat 17th 3:00pm 321 in the Choir Vestry
Sun 18th 9:00pm Little Church
Sat 24th 3:00pm 321 in the Choir Vestry
Sun 25th 6:30pm Evening Praise!
Sat 31st 3:00pm 321 in the Choir Vestry

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