Dear friends,

On Sunday 1st February we kept the feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, also called Candlemas. This feast is kind of a hinge in the liturgical year. It concludes the celebration of Christmas. It also looks ahead to the purpose of the Incarnation and to our celebration of Christ’s death and resurrection in the Easter mystery. The Temple, where our Lord is presented, is the place of sacrifice and of redemption. According to the Law of Moses every first born is to be sacrificed to the Lord. This is commuted in a substitutionary offering: to offer in sacrifice, in accordance with what is said in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. But in the case of Jesus, this commuting sacrifice is only temporary and points ahead to his death in literal truth upon the grim altar of the Cross. Simeon told Mary that a sword will pierce her own soul also. As for her so for us. As one of the saints has said, “Without Being Crucified, We Will Not Be Resurrected, We Will Not Be Glorified”. In the collect for Candlemas we pray, “grant that we may be presented to you with pure and clean hearts”. This presenting and purification calls for a sacrifice in our own lives, which will be worked out by God for each of us in our own particular and individual way: for each one of us is called to share in the sacrifice of Jesus and in the offering of Mary.

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/

---

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.


---

Rekindling, Tuesdays from 3:30pm

This is an open invitation for you to join us in embarking on a journey through Lent with Lectio 365 and the 27-7 Prayer movement in discovering what the Desert Fathers and Mothers have to say and how we can apply their teaching today. You don’t have to come on a Tuesday afternoon, but I would encourage you to download the app and resources that we will be following during this Lent.

Some people give something up for Lent while others may take something up – I would encourage you to take up the Lectio 365 prayer app, following along each day and download the small group resources.

You will find the resources and a short introductory video here: https://lectio365.com/desertresources/

Ash Wednesday is 18th Feb, we will begin our first group session on Tuesday 17th in the guide for Week 1 – the week containing Ash Wednesday.


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 11th February 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 Enfield Grammar Senior Jazz Band 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

February 2026
Sun 1st 5:00pm Choral Evensong – Candlemas
Sat 7th 5:00pm 321 in the Choir Vestry
Weds 11th 11:30am Eleanor Pritchard Concert Series
Sun 15th 9:00pm Little Church
Sun 15th 11:30pm Big Breakfast after the Service
Sun 15th 5:00pm Evening Praise!

Weds 18th 6:30pm Ash Wednesday Service with Ashing

March 2026
Sun 1st 5:00pm Choral Evensong
Weds 11th 11:30am Eleanor Pritchard Concert Series
Sun 15th 9:00pm Little Church
Sun 15th 11:30pm Mothering Sunday
Sun 15th 5:00pm Evening Praise!
Sat 28th 7:00pm Aurora Chamber Choir Easter concert
Sun 29th 10:00am Palm Sunday
Mon 30th 6:00pm Stations of the Cross

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