Dear friends,

I wish each of you a joyful Easter. This is a time to remember those whom we love but see no longer. May they rest in peace and rise in glory.

The experience of our own St Mary Magdalene can give us hope, as portrayed in a sonnet by the priest and poet Malcom Guite called, “Easter Dawn.”

He blesses every love which weeps and grieves
And now he blesses hers who stood and wept
And would not be consoled, or leave her love’s
Last touching place, but watched as low light crept

Up from the east.

A sound behind her stirs
A scatter of bright birdsong through the air.

She turns, but cannot focus through her tears,
Or recognise the Gardener standing there.

She hardly hears his gentle question
‘Why,
Why are you weeping?’, or sees the play of light
That brightens as she chokes out her reply
‘They took my love away, my day is night’
And then she hears her name, she hears Love say

The Word that turns her night, and ours, to Day.

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:
Choral Evensong: 1st Sunday of the month 5:00pm 
(Not during August and December)
Little Church: for 7’s and under 3rd Sunday of the month 9:00am
Evening Praise! An informal service 3rd Sunday of the month 5:00pm (NB NEW DAY AND NEW TIME!)


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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Electoral Roll

This is a reminder that the annual revision of the Church Electoral Roll will take place between the 6th and 19th of April 2026.
If you are already on the Electoral Roll, please check your details and inform us of any changes. If you are not yet on the roll but would like to be included, application forms are available at the back of church or alternatively there is a form on the church’s website.

Please hand any completed forms to Elise Horlick (Electoral Roll Officer) or one of the church wardens.
Please ensure that any updates or completed application forms are submitted before the revision period ends on the 19th of April 2026.


Little Church

Little Church, is 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.

Do join us for a morning of fun, laughter, singing and joy for the family.


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This is a wonderful opportunity to meet friends and new people in a relaxed, informal setting for an afternoon of tea, coffee, biscuits and a chat. We also have a variety of table top games such as cribbage, dominos and cards.

If you are able to help, please see Alison Reeve or Michael.

Rekindling, Tuesdays from 3:30pm

An open Bible Study in the Vestry following on from the Community Café.

Here we look at a variety of topics through the lens of the Bible. This has included the study of a particulr book of the Bible – Mark’s Gospel, several Psalms, Paul’s letters and several other passages from the Old and New Testaments – or Biblical themes scattered throughout the whole Bible.

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 8th April in the small hall for tea or coffee, cake, and a chat before going into the church for our 12:30pm lunchtime concert where Enfield in Song will be entertaining us with a varied set.

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


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.

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

April 2026

Thurs 2nd 8:00pm – Maundy Thursday with Watch
Fri 3rd 12noon – Good Friday Liturgy
Sat 4th 9:00pm – Holy Saturday Communion
Sun 5th 10:00am – Easter Morning Eucharist
Weds 8th 11:30am – Eleanor Pritchard Concert Series
Sun 19th 9:00am – Little Church
Sun 19th 5:00pm – Evening Praise!
Sat 25th 7:00pm – Lumos play Hans Zimmer
Sat 25th 9:00pm – Lumos play Hans Zimmer

May 2026

Sun 3rd 5:00pm – Choral Evensong
Sat 9th 10:00am – Spring Fair
Weds 13th 11:30am – Eleanor Pritchard Concert Series
Sun 17th 9:00am – Little Church
Sun 17th 11:30am – Sausage Sunday
Sun 17th 5:00pm – Evening Praise!

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

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