Dear Friends,

In Advent we can discover the difference between our understanding of Christ and the Church and the reality. We can also find out how hard it can be to be a real Christian in England today. Advent is a season of waiting. The word Advent comes from the Latin adventus, which means coming. We are waiting for what we know is coming. Advent represents not just the four weeks before Christmas but also the thousands of years we’ve been waiting for Christ’s return. Advent is a penitential season of fasting and prayer like Lent. Advent can allow us to intensify our preparation, not just for the Feast of Christmas, but also for Christ’s return to be our judge. So Advent calendars were originally designed to be part of a spiritual discipline that was designed to help us clear the clutter from our lives. Uncovering the little windows was a way to capture the imagination of children, with symbols and stories that prepare us for Christmas. But now who keeps Advent with fasting and prayer and stillness and longing? Who waits for Christmas? Even Advent calendars have been secularized. The Waitrose down the road doesn’t sell Christian Advent calendars any more as far as I could see but it does offer what it calls a choice of “chocolate classics, and a luxurious gin calendar for grown-ups.”

Advent for a Christian is primarily a time for spiritual renewal, not for shopping and busyness and what Christians used to call gluttony. As St Augustine put it:

“Now is the time of mercy, for us to correct ourselves. The time for judgment has not yet come. There is no need to despair. Because of our human, pardonable, and more trivial sins, God has established in the Church set times for requesting mercy.”

And as the days grow shorter we take the opportunity of noticing that so do the number of days left to us; the four last things – death, judgement, heaven and hell – give us a fresh focus for what really ought to matter in our lives. And as we get ready to prepare for a fresh apprehension of the Incarnation some element of de-cluttering as well as shopping needs to take place if we are to be properly serious Christians.

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)
Friday 5:00pm Silent Prayer

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/

Advent Carol Service Sunday 1st December 6:30pm

Do join us and the support our Choral Scholars in this Service. Mince pies will be served after the service in the hall.

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Dear friends

Wishing you and yours a Happy & Peaceful Christmas and a Happy & Healthy New Year.
With Love from Betty xx

Wishing all my dear St Mary friends ‘A very Happy and Peaceful Christmas and 2025 Wendy Dollimore

Wishing our friends at St. Mary Magdalene a very Happy Christmas and good health for the year ahead. Best wishes from Janice and John Salmon

With my love and God’s blessings to all my dear friends at St Mary Magdalene, wishing you a joyous Christmas. From Janet Reed.

Thank you to all who have given their time and devotion in so many different ways over the past year to make this a wonderful place to be present in and part of. Remembering that Christ is by our side in everything we do we wish all in our St Mary Magdalene family a peaceful and joyous Christmas. With our love,
Alison and Elizabeth.

Malcolm and Mo wish you a very merry Christmas and a healthy and happy New Year. May God bless you all. Maureen (Mo) & Malcolm

To all my friends at St. Mary’s. A joyful and peaceful Christmas.
With love from Josie Andrews.

Wishing you all a joyous and peaceful Christmas. May our understanding and appreciation of the free, unmerited gift of God in the person of Jesus grow and develop in each one of our lives as we embark on the journey into 2024 together.
With love, Ken.

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Community Café & Informal Singing

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

Please note: The informal singing will be taking place as an activity during the Community Café instead of a separate activity Tuesday evenings. Please see below for what’s happening and when. If you are available to help in any way, it would be most welcome.

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

We meet in the Hall as it’s a bit warmer than the Choir Vestry! We’re continuing our series on Mark’s Gospel using Tom Wright’s Mark for Everyone.

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.

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.

Pilgrimage to Greece 2025

Join us on a pilgrimage to Greece for 2025 which includes St Paul’s time in Greece as well as some sightseeing of the ancient wonders of Greece, including Athens and Delphi. It will cost around £3,100. If you think you would like to come, please speak to me for more details.

If you have not been on a pilgrimage with us before they are great fun, and serious too, help us all to get to know each other better and make us the family we are. Do give it a thought.

A PDF of the Pilgrimage schedule is available on our website here.

Michael Smith

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 twenty videos with lyrics. Four have been shared in the emails before, a few of the others at Rekindling, while others you may have heard elsewhere. Hopefully there will be one, two, or more(!) that strike a chord with you, the words, the tune, or a combination of the two. There’s a variety of styles included so perhaps one day something upbeat works, another something quieter, more reflective resonates with you. Any feedback is welcome. Here’s a link to the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOS511gUMPpV2F1Lk-vDW5x9_UE_t_bVG

Dates for your diary

December
Sun 1st 6:30pm Advent Carols
Sat 7th 7:00am Parish Quiz
Sun 8th 10:00am Toy Service
Weds 11th 11:30am Coffee & Cake followed by Lunchtime Concert
Sun 15th 6:30pm Chris Royall & Latymer School Concert
Sun 22nd 6:30pm Nine Lessons and Carols
Tues 24th 4:00pm Christingle
Tues 24th 11:15pm Midnight Communion
Weds 25th 10:00am Christmas Morning Communion

January 2025
Sun 5th 10:00am Epiphany
Weds 8th 11:30am Coffee & Cake followed by Lunchtime Concert
Sun 19th 12:00noon Big Breakfast

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