Friday 6th September 12:45 pm 

w/c Sunday 8th September 2024

Dear Friends,

On Tuesday Rev Laura McAdam will be licenced as Associate Priest at Paignton.
Please pray for Laura and Trace in this new phase of their lives, that they may know God’s blessing and peace.
Rev Gina

Thought for the week  James 2 1-10, 14-17; Mark 7 24-end

There’s no denying it, the Bible can be hard to understand sometimes.
Take Jesus’ encounter with the Syrophoenician woman in this week’s Gospel.
It seems as if He is avoiding healing her child because she isn’t Jewish.
According to Jewish teaching, the woman, as a foreigner, had no claim on His help.
He knew it and so did she.
It seems as if He is discriminating against her.
This is puzzling coming from a teacher who had said “Do not judge” – a teaching that is very hard to observe, and on the face of it, Jesus found it hard too.
Let’s be honest, we judge all the time.
Some judgements are considered and thoughtful, but many are immediate, instinctive, based on appearance and prejudice.

James in his letter to early Christians understood this.
They were clearly pandering to those who were rich and powerful and discriminating against those poorer members.
So much of human history is about discrimination – between rich and poor, outsiders and insiders, black and white, men and women.
This type of discrimination provides a crude kind of security, for we know our place and who to look up to and down on.

The Christian Gospel presents a radical dismantling of human hierarchy.
We erect walls to keep people in their place, but the Gospel knocks them down, and we see Jesus living this out.
His initial response to the woman was what would have been expected in His time, yet He acts to challenge these views, and not only engages with this foreign woman but then heals her child.
This story in Mark and James’ sharp words should challenge us to be honest with ourselves about our own attitudes and behaviours.
None of us can escape, we all fall short of that seemingly simple command of Jesus “Do not judge.”

This message is powerfully enacted as we come together to receive Holy Communion. There we all share the same sacred meal, the same bread and wine, we are all reminded that Jesus died for each of us, and each is forgiven and loved by God.
We are all welcome and should welcome all.

In God’s kingdom, no one is an outsider, no one is a foreigner, all are welcomed, all are able to receive God’s grace.
And we are called to reflect that message in our own lives.
All we are asked to do is to budge up and make room for all at God’s table, and who knows who we might meet and what we might discover!

Notices and Diary

Sat Sept 7^th                             Landscove wedding at 1.30pm

Tues Sept 10^th                         Laura’s Licensing at Paignton Parish Church TQ3 3AQ 6.30pm

Wed Sept 11th                       St Petroc’s Morning Prayer at 8.30am

Thought for the week at 10am by zoom and telephone

                                                Ministry team at 12pm

Fri Sept 13th                           Morning Prayer at 9am by zoom and telephone

                                                M C Church Wardens meeting at 2pm at Ros Edwards

Sat Sept 14^th                           St Petroc’s Coffee in the Car Park from 10am

                                                Staverton wedding at 2pm

Mission Community Services for September

 Know you are in my heart and in my prayers.
Rev Gina