Friday 20th February 18.40pm 

w/c Sunday 22^nd Feb 2026

Dear Friends,

We are now in the season of Lent.
This is a real opportunity to spend time reflecting on our relationship with Christ, on being “honest to God” and to ourselves, and to prepare ourselves to walk with Christ through Holy Week and beyond.
To help us we will be holding the following:-

• Our Lent Course will be based on the Church of England booklet “Draw Near – Life-giving habits for Lent.” Further information and resources can be found at io/DrawNear. It will be held weekly at St Luke’s on Tuesdays at 10am starting on Feb 24^th; and at South Brent Methodist hall on Wednesdays at 2pm starting on Feb 25^th. Everyone is very welcome to come to all the sessions or whatever you can manage
• Our Tent for Lent Lunch,raising money for ShelterBox will start on Wed Feb 25^th at 12.30 at South Brent Methodist church hall

 Thought for the week  

This week marks the start of Lent – oh dear, lots of sin and gloom, and self-denial, and feeling bad about ourselves.
Or perhaps, we can see it in much more positive terms.
The good thing about the emphasis in Lent on sin and repentance is that it encourages us to be honest with ourselves, and with God, to admit what is wrong, and to seek God’s grace to follow the way of Jesus more truly.
Such honesty is a really good starting point.
It is a bit like if you have an illness, perhaps rumbling away in the background.
You ignore it and hope it will go away. But it doesn’t. Then you go to the doctor, and hopefully then treatment and cure can begin.
Until we admit the problem, there is little chance of progress.

But on the other hand, I am conscious of the way the Church has sometimes obsessed about sin, often in a way that Jesus did not.
Yes, he clearly challenged people about the way they were living, and he rebuked hypocrisy in no uncertain terms – look at the blistering Matthew chapter 23, for example.
But he cared for sinners and was clearly delighted to see lives turned around – as for example in the story of Zacchaeus, the tax collector, in Luke chapter 19, whose life was transformed by meeting Jesus.

At times our obsession with sin, and its opposite, the need for purity, has led to great cruelty.
In fiction, there is Thomas Hardy’s story of Tess of the D’Urbevilles, who has a baby outside wedlock, the baby dies, she asks for the child to be buried in consecrated ground, and is refused by the vicar.
Currently the well-known Richard Coles has written powerfully of appalling stories of cruelty toward gay people by those who deem their life- style to be sinful.

In our church services we almost always have a confession near the start of the service.

But I wonder sometimes what a non-Christian coming into one of our services, will make of this.

And how do we see it, just as a set of words to go through, or as something more positive?

Lent, sin, repentance, confession – these things do raise serious questions for us, but they can and should be seen in a positive light – honesty before God can lead to his work in us, both for our personal growth as Christians, and for our work and role as the church which is called to bear his light and truth.
George Day

Notices and Diary

Lent courses and Lent lunch:-

• Lent Course at St Luke’s on Tuesdays at 10am starting on Feb 24^th; and at South Brent Methodist hall on Wednesdays at 2pm starting on Feb 25^th.
• Tent for Lent Lunch,raising money for ShelterBox starts on Wed Feb 25^th at 12.30 at South Brent Methodist church hall
• South Brent MU – come to St Petroc’s church room on Feb 26^th at 10am to meet the ladies from Trevi which supports women in recovery. Details from Sue Addy or Greg Wall.
• Littlehempston Coffee Morning in church on Thursday Feb 26^th from 10.30-12.00.
• Buckfastleigh MU–
• 5th March 2.30pm in St. Lukes with Annie Jefferies from Anna Chaplaincy
• 8th July outing by coach to Exeter then a 21/2 hour boat trip up the Exeter canal. Cost £25. Names and money to Janet Jones by June 7^th

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

Wed 25^th Feb                       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

Thurs 26^th Feb                    South Brent MU at 10am in the church room

                                                      Littlehempston Coffee Morning at church from 10.30am

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

                                                      St Petroc’s Funeral (Wyatt) at 10.30am

Mission Community Services

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