St Clement, Eastcheap

The Church of St Clement, Eastcheap, in the city of London is only ever closed when I visit. Furthermore, it is so hemmed in by tall office blocks and narrow streets, that I never see it properly, having to strain my neck and squint into the sky. Whatever beauties it possesses are beyond my perception; whatever treasures lay within are beyond my reach.

This is why the world cannot know God; He is well away from us, His magnificence obscured by distance and darkness. Yet in Jesus Christ, He flings wide the doors and reveals Himself to the poor, the blind and the lame. It was in this churchyard, in 1645, and before the Great Fire destroyed the previous building, that the poet John Milton was reconciled to his estranged wife, Mary. I pray that, in the shadow or sound of St Clement’s, exiled sinners bereft of joy find Him who loves to open up His heaven. God desires intimacy with lost people and shares His magnificnce with them, freely.

Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Isaiah 26:2

A. D