Friday 7th August 11.15am 

                                                                                            w/c Sunday 9^th August 2026

Dear Friends,

The Church of England has launched a campaign centred around pilgrimage.
Pilgrimage lies at the heart of the Christian faith, reminding us that God journeys with us through every season of life.
As a Mission Community we are holding our first “Pilgrim Walk” 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.
There are places enroute where people can join or leave.
Bishop James will be joining us for part of the walk. We hope people from our communities will also join us, and dogs on leads are welcome.
Details of how to sign up and for further information are below.
If you aren’t able to do the walk, please do join us for the services and tea & to see the “pilgrims” off and welcome them home.

Thought for the week: 

Some churches place great emphasis on the saints, sometimes too much emphasis, to the detriment of looking to Jesus.
But perhaps the risk for us is of ignoring the stories of those who have gone before us in the faith. So, in this reflection I want to look at two who are remembered in the official C of E lectionary over the next week.
Both are martyrs, but from very different periods of history.

Laurence (martyred in 258AD, commemorated on Monday 10 th ) held the care of the treasury and riches of the church in Rome and the distribution of alms to the poor.
During persecution under Emperor Valerian, he was commanded to hand over the riches of the church.
He asked for 3 days to gather the wealth, but spent those 3 days giving away as much as he could to the poor and needy.
When ordered to deliver the treasures, he presented the city’s poor and suffering, and declared that these were the true treasures of the Church.
He was then imprisoned, taking the opportunity to baptise some of his fellow prisoners, and was subsequently killed, though the story that he was tied to a gridiron is doubtful.

Maximilian Kolbe (martyred in 1941, commemorated on Friday 14th) was a Polish priest.
He was first imprisoned by the Nazis in 1939 and after his release he worked to shelter refugees, including some 2,000 Jews.
He was again imprisoned in February 1941, and then sent to Auschwitz.
After one prisoner successfully escaped, the camp commander ordered 10 prisoners to be starved to death in an underground bunker.
One of those selected cried out that he had a wife and children, and at that, Kolbe stepped in to take his place.
He was reported as calmly leading the prisoners in prayer in the dungeon.
When only Kolbe and 3 others still survived, the Nazis finished them off with a lethal

injection.
His statue is one of 10 modern martyrs on the west front of Westminster Abbey.

Martyrdom continues today, and in fact the General Synod has just approved adding to the calendar of those who are commemorated the 21 Coptic Christians beheaded by Islamic State soldiers on a beach in Libya in 2015.
And there have sadly been many more since then.

Our response should be to remember with thanksgiving those who have been so faithful in the past, to pray for those who suffer today for their faith in Jesus, and to reflect upon the depth of our own Christian commitment.
George Day

Notices and Diary

• August 16^th at 5.30pm Joint Songs of Praise in S Brent Methodist Chapel. All welcome. If anyone would like to choose a hymn, please could you let me know asap, with a few words about why you have chosen it. Many thanks
• August 30^th – Mission Community Pilgrimage walk from St Luke’s to St Petroc’s. Morning Worship at St Luke’s at 10am; walkers leave St Luke’s at 10.45am; arriving for tea at St

Petroc’s 4pm then Songs of Praise. Bishop James will join us. Further details and to sign up:- call Val on 07792 802307 or use QR code  :-

• Sun 6^th September Yonder Cross Hillside South Brent Open garden, Teas, children’s games, live music.  2-5 pm Further information to follow

Sun 9^th Aug                           St Petroc’s Baptism during morning service (Ream)

Wed 12^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 14^th Aug                           Morning Prayer at 9am by zoom and telephone

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

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