Pete (The Virtual Vicar)

NHS  data still shows hospitals to be quieter than they were this time last year amid the continued increase in Covid-19. Despite the health service having more breathing room than 12 months ago, Boris Johnson's government continues in it's insistence that the NHS cannot cope. If it cannot then surely some of the blame for this can be laid at the door of the government's underfunding? But, as I pointed out on Facebook, it's not all doom and gloom...

Church worship in my churches, St Pauls, St Lukes and St Mary's in Wallasey, continues each week.  If people are able to make it out, you are welcome. Wherever they are  are we are praying for them. A church minister's letter,  signed by 1,161 English ministers and priests,  was sent to the British government saying:  "The suspension of church services during the first lockdown was something that we were willing to do, given the unknown nature and scale of the threat we were facing. Yet the costs were high. Our greatest concern was that for four months God was not publicly worshipped in this country. And we have all seen first-hand the deep damage that this caused to many people. Since restarting in July, church has been a vital lifeline to many who have been struggling with loneliness and other negative effects of lockdown." Churches have gone to great lengths to ensure that worship need not be suspended again and put in place thorough COVID-secure measures. As a res