Friday 24th April 12.35pm 

  w/c Sunday 26th April 2026

Dear Friends,

Thy Kingdom Come, a global wave of prayer between Ascension and Pentecost, is taking place from the 14-24 May 2026. 
There are a number of free resources available on the Thy Kingdom Come website. These include a “Novena” entitled ‘God with us’, which has been written by the Archbishop of Canterbury, & can be found at:- https://www.thykingdomcome.global/resources/2026-novena

Thought for the week:  

The fourth Sunday of Easter is also known both as Good Shepherd Sunday and Vocations

Sunday.
So, quite a busy Sunday! The image of the Good Shepherd is one that features as part of

the priestly vocation.
This passage from John 10 is referenced in the ordination service when the

bishop says in the introduction that priests ‘are to set the example of the Good Shepherd always

before them as the pattern of their calling’.
And then later just before the ordination itself, again the

bishop says to the ordinands, ‘Remember always with thanksgiving that the treasure now to be

entrusted to you is Christ’s own flock, bought by the shedding of his blood on the cross’.
They are

powerful, challenging and encouraging words. Some of you will have heard me preach on this

before, but in the brief times when I haven’t been a parish priest in the last ten years, one of the

ways I describe it is as feeling like a shepherd without a flock.
The vocation to care for Christ’s

own flock is strong and I’ve very much enjoyed this first year of getting to know, love and serve

Christ’s flock here in the Mission Community.

But vocations aren’t just for those thinking of an ordained or licensed ministry.
As Christians we all

share a vocation: a vocation to live God-filled lives.
And the verse George reflected on last week

tells us a bit about how we might live out that vocation.
They devoted themselves to the apostles’

teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer (Acts 2:42). One way of

looking at this verse is seeing our call as a call to fill our minds (through teaching), our hearts

(through fellowship), our bodies (through bread and wine), and spirits (through prayer), with the

things of God.
So, it is also a way of understanding how we should love God with all our heart,

mind, body and soul as the greatest commandment puts it.
And it is by doing this that we begin to

find the abundant life, or life in all its fullness, that Jesus speaks of in this passage.

Of course, what this God-filled call looks like for each one of us will be different as we all have

unique relationships with God and unique gifts to offer.
What really matters, I think, is that we are

intentional in trying to live God-filled lives in the church and in the world by living out our vocation

to fill our whole lives, our hearts, minds, bodies and spirits with God.
Rev Alex

Notices and Diary

• Sat 25th Apr – Dean Prior Coffee Morning with cakes and Plant Sale 10.00am – 12.00 Dean Prior Village Hall (not at the church).
• Wed 29^th Apr – St Petroc’s Parish lunches restart from 12.30 in the church room

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

Wed 29^th Apr                       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 1^st May                              Morning Prayer at 9am by zoom and telephone

Sat 2^nd May                           Landscove Wedding at 1pm (Summers/Kuligowski)

Mission Community Services

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