Friday 17th April 12.25pm 

  w/c Sunday 19th April 2026

Dear Friends,

A Year of Prayer in the Mission Community

Our Mission Community Year of Prayer launches this Sunday in the following churches :-

St Petroc’s – coffee from 8.30am; prayer from 8.45-9.15am in the church room

St Luke’s – coffee from 10am; prayer from 10.15-10.45am in the café

Thereafter we have a time of prayer in each of our churches each month as follows :-

2^nd Sunday           Rattery during Morning Worship at 11.15

3^rd Sunday          St Petroc’s at 8.45 (8.30 coffee)

                                    Dean Prior during Morning Worship at 9.30

                                    Staverton during Morning Worship at 9.30

St Luke’s at 10.15 (10.00 coffee)

Littlehempston during Holy Communion at 11am

4^th Sunday          Landscove during Holy Communion at 9.30am

 Please do support these times of prayer and let’s Pray Grow and Serve!

Thought for the week:  They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:42)

I have extended this Sunday’s first Bible reading by one verse, (which may mean you come across this verse next week as well), because of what it says about the life of the early Church, including the emphasis on prayer together.
Obviously personal, private prayer is important, but here these early Christians see prayer together as an essential part of their community life.
Some of this corporate prayer may have been like the prayer section in the middle of our church services, i.e. comparatively formal, but some of it may have been less formal extempore prayer as situations and needs arose.
This prayer clearly included praise (see e.g. Acts 4:24), but some was intercession relating to specific needs (see Acts 4:27-30).

Here is a good pattern for us, and we are seeking to encourage this emphasis on corporate prayer by our gathering this coming Sunday for a half-hour of prayer together in two of our churches before the start of the main service – details elsewhere in this newsletter.
Part of this will clearly be intercessory prayer, but it is helpful to think through what we are doing in such prayer.
Here are 5 pictures, none of which is the complete picture, but all of which are part of the total picture.

• We are asking God to do something, perhaps even a miracle? We long for him to sort it out And of course, miracles do happen but there is a risk here of seeing God as a shopkeeper or a conjuror; so it is not the total picture.
• We are laying our concern before God, not knowing what the answer is. (In 2 Kings 19, King Hezekiah has received an abusive letter from the besieging Assyrians; his response is to take it into the temple and “Spread it out before the LORD”, and to pray).
• We are expressing our concern for people or situations. This often has the result of leading us to greater concern, and that in turn leads us to action. Much prayer may be like this, with its impact on us, and with us being part of the answer.
• We are expressing our weakness or need, which opens the way for God to act. Prayer for our worship and the life of our churches is partly like this, seeking the work of his Holy Spirit.

Some of our prayers may be inarticulate – Romans 8:26-27 speaks of inarticulate groans, and of the Spirit taking those groans as prayer.
Very reassuring when quite often we don’t know what on earth to pray for amidst personal or society or political pains.
So, let us pray!
George Day

Notices and Diary

• Apr 24^th at St Mary’s, Rattery – the Sgrafitto Quartet. Starts 6.45pm, cost £10 at door to include a drink. All in aid of saving the church sgrafitto!
• Sat 25th April – Dean Prior Coffee Morning with cakes and Plant Sale 10.00am – 12.00 Dean Prior Village Hall (not at the church).

Sat 18^th Apr                          St Luke’s APCM at 10am

Sun 19^th Apr                         Mission Community Year of Prayer begins

                                                      Staverton and Landscove APCM after service

                                                      Rattery Baptism at 1pm (Talbot)

Tues 21^st Apr                       St Petroc’s Funeral at 11am

Fri 24^th Apr                            Rattery concert in the church at 6.45pm

Sat 25^th Apr                          Dean Prior coffee morning in the Village Hall 10am-12pm

Sun 26^th Apr                         St Petroc’s Baptism at 1pm (Cartwright)

Mission Community Services

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