This mid-week-blogging-about-the-week-before thing is getting silly! So I’m going to revert back to Sunday night check-ins as of this week, but before that, I just wanted to tell you about last Sunday.

Last Sunday was harvest at St Peter’s in Formby, and Nathan and I were both invited to preach. Nathan spoke at the Parade Communion Service, and I was guest preacher at the Evensong. It worked well because Nathan’s brilliant retired vicar could look after St Giles in the morning, and I could be at ASSF where there aren’t as many people with magic hands so readily available.

So after the service at ASSF (which was also lovely), I hot footed it over to Formby for lunch. We met up in one of our old haunts and I heard what a lovely morning they had all had. Sophia went with Nathan to church and I think there would have been a riot if he hadn’t! He carried her in during the procession and then she sat next to him, eating crisps and reading books throughout the service. She told me that she’d liked ‘Anne’s church’ and that she’d even been given some bread! As you know, she gets bread with me every week, but she doesn’t at St Giles, so bread when Daddy was in charge was a treat!

We then went home for a nap. Unusually, Soph had an hour in the car, and I joined her for an hour on the Sopha afterwards. At about 5.30, we set off for Formby again for the next service.

We were only slightly delayed. Switch Island was closed due to a horse getting out of a horsebox, so we were stationary for a few hairy minutes! But we got there in the end, and when I walked in I felt very at ease. St Peter’s wasn’t my church. I didn’t do my training there, Nathan did. I’ve only preached there a handful of times. But I did sneak in at the back for the end quite regularly. So, somewhere along the way, I’ve become very comfortable there. I loved preaching on Sunday. Even when it hit 7pm (bedtime) and Sophia got giddy and started running from me to Nathan, me to Nathan.

As the choir were singing Look at the World by John Rutter and Sophia was giggling to herself, saying ‘birdies, birdies’, which is what that piece is all about, and what my sermon was all about! It was a very special God moment.

It was lovely to be back. So, so lovely. We got to catch up with so many people and the church looked so lovely decorated for harvest. I felt very much at home. It was definitely the highlight of my week.