Saturday 21st March 0925am 

w/c Sunday 22^nd March 2026

Dear Friends,

Passiontide begins this Sunday.
The next two weeks are an amazing opportunity not just to tell the story of Easter, but to invite people to become part of it.
Worship can sometimes be a bit of a spectator sport if we’re not careful.
But the true power of Easter is to be found in an encounter with Jesus.
On Sunday 29^th March, we will holding a Mission Community for a United Palm Sunday service at 10am at St Petroc’s.
Please do come – and invite someone else to come with you!

Thought for the week:  

If you kept a record of our sins, who could escape being condemned?

But you forgive us, so that we should stand in awe of you. (Psalm 130:3-4)

That is part of the Psalm set for this coming Sunday, and it gets the balance just right – the seriousness of sin on the one side, and the reality of God’s forgiveness on the other.
Over the last weeks we have had a very good Lent group at St Luke’s.
One interesting thing that came out of our conversations was that several people grew up in churches which had clearly over-stressed the sin side.
One person had been told he would be going to hell. Another was made to be fearful that she hadn’t properly accepted Jesus and so would miss out when the rapture came and the saved were taken up to heaven.

There is always a risk of the Church banging on about sin, often stressing what might be seen as minor failings that have little or no effect on other people or on the wider world, while much more serious matters that do affect the well-being of others or have an impact on the wider world are just ignored.
Sadly, this is the picture many people have of the Church.

Of course, the opposite approach, that of ignoring sin and wrong, is equally bad, as is the refusal to ever admit being wrong – how often we have seen that recently in national scandals, where the immediate response is cover-up and bland statements.

This ties up with how we see the Bible’s message for ourselves, and also how we present it to others.
Take Paul’s great letter to the Romans.
Another of this Sunday’s readings is a snippet from chapter 8.
Paul starts the letter by talking about human sin.
He then goes on to salvation through Jesus, but his starting point is sin, and I suspect that has been deeply influential on how we see and present things.

For instance, there is a little booklet “Journey into life” that has sold millions of copies and helped many people make a commitment of faith in Jesus -a revised edition is still available.
It begins at the same point as Paul does in Romans – with sin, with the fact that we all fail God’s standards.
As I now look back on my own use of that booklet in talking with people enquiring about Christian faith, I do wonder if sometimes it was not the right starting point.
Yes, sin, whether personal and small-scale or corporate and large-scale, does need calling out, but perhaps today we would do better to start by stressing a combination of God’s love for us, whatever we are like, and the sense of emptiness and the searching for purpose that many people seem to experience.
That might be a better starting point for seeking to explain to other people what our Christian faith is all about.
George Day

Notices and Diary

• Lent Course: St Luke’s on Tuesdays at 10am; and at South Brent Methodist hall on Wednesdays at 2pm.
• Tent for Lent Lunch on Wednesdays at 12.30 at South Brent Methodist church hall
• Littlehempston church Coffee Morning on Thurs March 26th 10.30-12.00. All welcome.
• Conflict in the Middle East. Tearfund, a Christian charity, is working with local churches and partners across the Middle East by providing urgent health care, food, and shelter. If you would like to donate to Tearfund’s Middle East Crisis Appeal,click here.
• Buckfastleigh MU on Thursday 2nd April at 2pm at St Luke’s when the speaker will be the Revd Marisa Cockfield. The subject of her talk is ” Fear not for I have redeemed you”.

Tues 24^th Mar                      St Luke’s Lent Course at 10am

Wed 25^th Mar                      St Petroc’s Morning Prayer at 8.30am

Thought for the week at 10am by zoom and telephone

South Brent Tent for Lent 12.30-1.30pm at Methodist church hall

South Brent Lent Course 2-3pm at Methodist church hall

St Luke’s PCC at 6.30pm

Thurs 26^th Mar                    Littlehempston church Coffee Morning on Thurs March 26th 10.30-12.00.

Fri 27^th Mar                           Morning Prayer at 9am by zoom and telephone

Sun 29^th Mar                        United Mission Community Palm Sunday service at St Petroc’s at 10am

Mission Community Services

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