Friday 25th July  15.30pm 

  w/c Sunday July 27^th 2025

Dear Friends,

In our Gospel reading this week the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray.

This Sunday 27^th July we will be holding our first session exploring different ways of praying together and individually, beginning with Celtic prayer.
So do come and join us from 3-4pm in St Petroc’s church room.

Thought for the week: Luke 11 v1-13

Why do we pray? Is it because we want to give thanks and extol the name of the Lord? Or is it because we need help?
The bottom line is that we all need help.
To be human is to be dependent.
Just as we needed help when we were children, so we depend on others as we grow older.
There is never a time when we don’t need others.
The humbling fact of the Christian faith is that it acknowledges that we all need help – from each other and most of all from God. Our help doesn’t come from some distant creator, but through a person not unlike is – Jesus. Even Jesus needed help – from his family as He grew up, from friends for friendship. This is both humbling and beautiful.

After Jesus teaches the disciples the Lord’s prayer, He lets them know that is OK to ask for help.
He reminds them that when they ask God for help, they ask it of one who loves us and accepts our needs and dependence.
We are not alone in this world.
We have a companion, a helper, a Saviour. Because of this we can pray – we can ask, we can plead, we can cry for help.
In this we are in some wonderful way hallowing God’s name, because we are acknowledging the kind of God we pray to.

So, what do we need help with today, tomorrow? Coming to a place where we acknowledge we need help can be difficult. But when we do, we become truthful with ourselves, and then we can be truthful with God and with others.  
It may be that we are more comfortable helping others.
We may need a little nudge to remember that we are all dependent – on each other, and on God. We all need help sometimes!

Maybe that help is not for ourselves but others.
We must all be horrified by the ongoing suffering in Gaza, and the desperate need of so many people.
We may feel helpless and want to block it out. But instead, let’s acknowledge our sense of helplessness, the sadness, the anguish, and above all the need for God’s help, and as the hymn says “bring it to the Lord in prayer.”

Dear God,

we cry out to you on behalf of the people seriously affected by the conflict in Gaza and the Middle East.
Our hearts break at the devastation and suffering that we see, and we know it breaks yours, too.
We ask that you stretch out your mighty hand to bring lasting peace.

We cry out for people who have been injured or traumatised, who have lost loved ones or their homes, who are starving for lack of food, who are dying for lack of care.
Please provide everything they need and be their comfort, their hope, their healer, and their safe refuge.
We pray for your peace to reign. We look to you as our Saviour and the hope of the world. Tearfund

Notices and Diary

• Join us on Sunday 27^th July from 3pm-4pm in St Petroc’s church room as we explore together as a Mission Community different way of praying together and individually.

Sat 28^th July                         Landscove wedding at 1.30pm (Brown/ Wawryca)

Sun 27^th July                        Helping us pray – join us for a session on different ways of praying together and individually at St Petroc’s church room 3-4pm

Wed 30th July                    St Petroc’s Morning Prayer at 8.30am

Thought for the week at 10am by zoom and telephone                             

Fri 1^st Aug                              Morning Prayer at 9am by zoom and telephone

                                                      Churchwardens meeting at 10am at Val’s

Sat 2^nd Aug                           Landscove wedding at 2pm

Sun 3^rd Aug                           St Petroc’s Parish breakfast from 8.30pm

                                                      St Petroc’s Baptism during Family service (Rufus Harbottle)

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