8.10am I just love the Julia Donaldson (or Julie and Jonathan, as Sophia calls them) stories, both the books and the animated films on iPlayer. There’s something about those films that make me calm. So while Sophia watched the Gruffalo, I’ve managed to get a few minutes extra sleep.

8.50am Today I’m going to try and do the Aintree and Crosby walks of witness, followed by Little Pegs playgroup again. If you don’t know, a walk of witness is where Christians from a number of churches gather and walk in a public space. It reminds people that there’s something special about today. There might be Bible readings, hymns or reflections, and they may stop a few times along the route. Anyway, gotta get moving because the Aintree one is at 9.30.

10.45am Cuppa drunk, hot cross bun eaten, time to drive to Crosby!

12.14pm We’re slightly late for Little Pegs, but thankfully it’s only 10 minutes away. Let’s go!

12.55pm Wow, that was a lot! I’m very pleased to be sitting down at Little Pegs for a drink, although who knows how long for. Soph is playing, which will probably be fine but, you know, I’m still very much keeping an eye on her.

Little Pegs is a lovely group with so many absolutely beautiful toys. It’s all wooden and spotlessly clean. The ladies who run it are so friendly. They’ve only been going six months, but they’re clearly doing really well. It’s in Ince Blundell so it isn’t too far from Fromby, Crosby, Maghull or Aintree. It’s only our second time, but Soph absolutely loves it!

2.32pm We’re back at home and I’m reflecting on the two walks of witness this morning. A couple of things struck me. In Aintree, they walked to each of the four local churches in a big circle. At each one, the big cross was passed to a member of that church to carry for the next leg. I was really moved by that.

In Crosby, the new methodist minister referred to the whole crowd as ‘church’ – which, of course, we are! One big body of people gathered to worship God! But it’s so unusual to hear a big, mixed group of Chirstians like that referred to as ‘church’. I really liked it!

5.15 Nathan is back and it’s time for tea. We’re having fish pie which Nathan’s Mum dropped off yesterday. It smells amazing!

11.20pm We’ve had a good day. Nathan and I sat on the sofa and chatted about people, and church, and how we love that Sophia is into her dolly (Poppy), but that it’s a pain when she insists she comes everywhere with us!

I can see how tired Nathan is from a full day with three services and all the heavy stuff that Good Friday brings. It’s dark and it’s hard and it’s awful. I find it a difficult space to hold as a minister. We sang the hymn with this line today:

Hands that flung stars into space to cruel nails surrendered.

In the Shack, Papa, God the Father, has scars on her her wrists too. God on the cross, seemingly defeated.

‘Why did Jesus die on the cross?’ asked Sophia this morning.

‘Because he told people to love each other, and people didn’t like that’ said Nathan.

‘And because we all get stuff wrong, but Jesus didn’t. His dying means we can be close to God even though we’re silly sometimes’ I said.

I hope they’re good answers.

More tomorrow x