Saturday 15th August 08.45am 

w/c Sunday 16^th August 2026

Dear Friends,

Just to remind everyone that the Mission Community’s first “Pilgrim Walk” is on August 30th, from St Luke’s, Buckfastleigh over Dartmoor to St Petroc’s South Brent.
We will start with a joint Mission Community service at St Luke’s at 10am.
The walk will leave from the church at 10.45am, aiming to reach St Petroc’s for tea at 4pm, followed by Songs of Praise.
The walk is 9 miles and of moderate difficulty.
Please come equipped and with lunch/water. Bishop James will be joining us at Shipley Bridge at about 3pm for the final part of the walk if anyone else wants to join then.
Well-behaved dogs on leads are welcome. Further information in the notices section of this Newsletter.

Thought for the week:  Matthew 15 v21-28

The second half of our Gospel reading (verses 21-28) is particularly interesting for a number of

reasons.
Firstly, this is one of the few encounters in the Gospels where Jesus initially seems to

lack compassion for someone who seeks his help.
His response to a desperate plea for help

seems somehow shocking.
At first, he ignores the Canaanite woman, and then when she persists

in calling out to him, he appears to insult her.
This seems all the more shocking given the teaching

we heard in the first part of our Gospel about cleanness and uncleanness.
In this teaching Jesus tells us that, rather than the breaking of religious rituals being what makes us unclean, it is what is in our heart, evidenced by how we speak and act, that makes us clean or unclean.

Secondly, this encounter is the only time when someone took Jesus to task and appeared to

emerge victorious.
Elsewhere, when people challenged him – the young lawyer who wanted to know who his neighbour was, for example – Jesus always had the last word and turned the challenge back on the questioner.
But not so here. Jesus acknowledged the faith-filled answer given by the Canaanite woman.
He healed her daughter as she had asked and also praised her faith (v.28).

And this is, therefore, also one of the very few passages where Jesus praises the faith of somebody.
It is high praise indeed. But what had she done to deserve such praise? Several things, I suggest:

• She recognised him – repeatedly calling him Son of David, and Lord. This confession of

Jesus as Lord is one of the central elements of faith.

• She was persistent in her request. Even when Jesus appeared silent, even when she was

challenged, she kept trusting that Jesus could answer her prayer.

• She seeks mercy – knowing God is a merciful God and trusting that Jesus is the same.
• She has hope that Jesus is doing God’s work and that through the blessing of the Jews, the

world, including the Gentiles will be blessed too.

Recognition, persistence, seeking (and showing) mercy, and hope are all still important elements

of our Christian faith today.
I wonder, if you had a conversation with Jesus today, what aspects of your life and beliefs might make him say to you ‘great is your faith’?
Or might there be an aspect that he might also ask you to work on?
Rev Alex Holmes

Notices and Diary

• August 16^th at 5.30pm Joint Songs of Praise in S Brent Methodist Chapel. All welcome.
• August 30^th – Mission Community Pilgrimage walk from St Luke’s to St Petroc’s.

Further details and to sign up:- call Val on 07792 802307 or use QR code  :-

• CHANGE OF DATE – Sat 5^th September Yonder Cross, Hillside, South Brent, TQ10 9DR 12-5 pm Open garden, BBQ, children’s games, live music. 
• Mission Community Newsletter Editor/s needed! From the end of September, we need a volunteer/s to edit the weekly Newsletter. This is straightforward and is a matter of populating the Newsletter template with information sent to you. You will need to be comfortable using Word or similar. Lots of help available! Please do consider if this is something you could help with, otherwise we will not have a Newsletter! Please contact Rev Gina to discuss.

Sun 16^th Aug                        Songs of Praise at South Brent Methodist chapel at 5.30pm

Wed 19^th Aug                      St Petroc’s Morning Prayer at 8.30am

Thought for the week at 10am by zoom and telephone

St Petroc’s Parish Lunch 12.30-1.30pm

Fri 21^st Aug                           Morning Prayer at 9am by zoom and telephone

Sun 23^rd Aug                        Baptism at Landscove as part of the 9.30 service

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