I hope you have had an enjoyable and productive week, despite all the restrictions that we are now living under. I note that Warrington will be moving into Tier 3 with effect from Tuesday, so at least most of us will be living under the same rules/guidance.

For how long this will continue is anyone’s guess. I think it is fairly safe to assume that we will not be able to return to anything similar to ‘normal’ Church life until next Spring. And even then, I am sure that our Church will be different, and we will have to embrace new ways of worshipping, offering pastoral care and carrying out God’s mission.

From the beginning of ‘lockdown’ we have held online weekday services of Morning and Evening Prayer through Facebook. Thank you for all your support and comments over the last 6 months. Gill, Linda, James, Gavin, Simon and I have been touched by your kind messages of encouragement. We could not have anticipated that we would be still doing it for so long. We have learnt so much over the months – spiritually, biblically and theologically, as well as discovering and developing new IT skills. Necessity is the mother of invention!

The point has now come to consider how we can sustain all this for the foreseeable future, whilst the virus is still a threat to public health and giving some thought as to what the situation may be afterwards. Our individual work commitments have changed from those early days when we were all confined to the house.

So, we have decided that from 2nd November we shall continue with the daily weekday Morning Prayer services but drop the Monday to Thursday afternoon services. Every Friday there will be a 4.00pm service, which will include a reflection on the week and a looking forward to Sunday. I hope you will understand this change and will give this revised pattern your full support. If you have any thoughts on this or any ideas as to what we can develop, please let us know.

One other thing to draw to your attention is to remind you of our annual service for All Souls on Sunday 1st November 2020 when we shall remember all those who have died and who still mean so much to us.

We shall especially remember those who have passed away over the last 12 months. If there is anyone you would like us to particularly mention, then please go to our website - https://daresburycofe.org.uk/all-souls-service/ complete the form and click ‘send’. Many of you have done so already. Thank you.

If you can’t come to Church then the service will be streamed as usual from 10.30am through our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/daresburychurch where you can watch it live, or at any time afterwards.

You might like to light a virtual candle in memory of your loved one at this website:- https://www.churchofengland.org/life-events/funerals/light-candle-remember-someone.

Tomorrow’s service is attached.

Don’t forget you have an extra hour in bed tomorrow!

With God’s blessing,

David