Well, what a week! It absolutely gets 10/10!

On Saturday I woke up early to set up the Fairtrade stall at the coffee morning. In the last week, we have taken £220 (we ordered £280 worth of products) and so I’m super happy with that! It was great to sit at the coffee morning and chat to people, church regulars, people who I have never met before and all sorts of people in between.

On Sunday I presided at the 8.45 and preached at the 10.45. Unusually for me, I had a pretty bad migraine which came on at the end of the first service. I carried on with the help of the aspirin which is kept in the vestry for exactly that reason! My all age, Fairtrade themed sermon wasn’t bad, but it was not my best because the migraine wiped me out.

When I got home on Sunday, I had a phone call from the couple I mentioned last week, asking if we could do the wedding the next day rather than Wednesday. Things kicked into action, and thanks to the help of the amazing people at the faculty office, an Archbishop’s Licence came through at 5.30pm.

On Monday, I got to church, said Morning Prayer and focused on filling out the wedding registers (one of my least favourite jobs because of the pressure of getting every word perfect!). I went home for a short rest and headed to the hospice for the wedding at 1.30. There was just 6 people at the ceremony, plus the photographer and myself. It was a lovely, intimate service, and all the more special for being in the hospice. The staff were also amazing; when the service was, they were stood singing, clapping, and throwing confetti. With just 24 hours notice, they had fully decorated a room for us, and produced prosecco, canapes, cupcakes and huge chocolate cake covered in fresh berries! It was just wonderful, incredibly bitter sweet, but absolutely beautiful.

In the evening, I chaired PCC. It was a good meeting, and it lasted 52 minutes, which is a personal best.

On Tuesday morning, we were up super early for breakfast at Bishop’s Lodge with other young clergy from across the diocese. I left feeling really encouraged and believing that the church is in safe hands.

Wednesday was another full day, with 2 services, a car park meeting, a supervision with a placement student, a wedding blessing for the couple married on Monday (in the hospice again, this time with more people, more dresses and even more bottles of prosecco!). After a home communion, the day finished with a video chat with my oldest friend, Fiona, who is getting married next year, and I will hopefully be doing the wedding. Yesterday I spent the morning in the office and attempted to catch up on the admin which had slipped over the last few days.

The weekly star is a man called Paul. We had a good chat at the coffee morning on Saturday, as I don’t get to see him that often. Paul has a stall full of flowers in his front garden and the proceeds go to charity. He has been doing this for many years, and he thinks that if you add it all up, he has raised £100,000 for charity over that time. How awesome is that?!

I was going to push through my tiredness this evening and do a bit of sermon prep for next week, but actually, looking at all of the above, I’m going to save it for Sunday. I feel happy and blessed, but also fairly weary, and the things on my To Do list can wait.

Next week I am off on mission with Bishop Paul. You might remember that last year, Liverpool diocese hosted lots of Bishops from the North of England. Over the weekend, we held loads of events designed to reach out into the local community. Next week, York diocese will be hosting a similar mission, and Nathan and I get to go! So more about that next time.

Poppy x