With Covid-19 limiting pastoral visiting to only emergency situations, you may be wondering how Fr Mark is spending his week.

Here is a week from his October diary.

DAILY

My daily routine is rooted in prayer, with prayers at the start of the day, lunchtime, tea time and the end of the day. There is also the daily round of emails, post and routine phone calls.  

SUNDAY

8am Holy Eucharist at Rufford 10.30am Holy Eucharist at Holy Trinity. The planned Baptism at 1pm was cancelled due to the COVID restrictions. So the afternoon was spent on pastoral phone calls  

MONDAY

My rest day. “There is always plenty to do around the house and garden. I spend the rest of the day reading. My current books are ‘Elizabethans- How modern Britain was forged’ and ‘The Queen’s true worth’.”  

TUESDAY 

This morning I attend the Mere Brow CofE School Governing Board meeting via Zoom. I am an Ex-officio member of the GB of all three of the church schools in the parish. At Lunch Time I squeeze in a personal event. To mark the 30th Anniversary of the reunification of Germany I attend a virtual event at the Foreign Office in Whitehall. The plan was that this week I would lead the Annual Parish Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. In its place, this afternoon, I have hosted a Quiet afternoon on Zoom for Pilgrims. It was good to be joined virtually by the Vicar of Walsingham. 6.30pm Join the Joint Choirs for socially distanced choir practice, followed by recording Choral Evensong for Harvest.    

WEDNESDAY

10am Holy Eucharist at Holy Trinity Church. I like to get to church 30minutes before to prepare myself physically and spiritually. In the Afternoon I am speaking to the three Infant classes at Rufford CofE School about how we use the Bible in church and how I use it in my life. In the evening I attend a Zoom Meeting of the Rufford School’s Learning & Teaching Committee.  

THURSDAY

Thursdays normal start with my recording next week’s school assembly for the three church schools in the parish. Much of the day is spent on pastoral telephone calls Tea time meeting of the Holy Trinity Tarleton CofE School Curriculum Committee on Zoom, havi9ng spent the hours before reading the meeting papers. 7pm Holy Eucharist at St Mary the Virgin. My monthly meeting with Church Wardens follows this. During the past six months, a lot of the business has been about ‘how we can be the church in the Covid Pandemic’.  

FRIDAY

The morning admin includes my input to the November Parish Magazine Late morning I am doing a Zoom session with pupils at Mere Brow CofE School about ‘How God called me’. Afternoon: I help with the decorating of St Mary the Virgin for their Harvest Festival.  

SATURDAY

From 10am – 3pm The Tarleton Wardens and I are sat at the seat of custom for the first of our two parish Gift Days. Saturday evenings are when I turn my attention to preparation for Sundays worship, including gathering my sermon thoughts together.