St Edith's Church, Shocklach

St Edith's Church at Shocklach in Cheshire dates back to 1150 and was likely to attended by some ancestors of mine who originated at Caldecott Hall a couple of miles up the road. The church is both very old and remote (it has its own, single-track lane leading off another quiet, narrow lane). Dedicated to Edith or Eadgyþ, Abbess of Wilton, and daughter to the Saxon King Eadgar I, the current structure likely replaced an older one. Nevertheless, its greatest feature is that wonderful Norman doorway with its perfectly round arch and various strands of decoration about its curvature. It might seem strange that such a little church should have so prominent a doorway; that a building that occupies such a small plot should enjoy the benefits of so grand an entrance.

Many who come to church are disappointed. I heard only the other day that someone had left us because we were not sufficiently charismatic. Or the pastor is too hard, or too wet. The preaching too short or too long. The songs too old or too modern. The people unfriendly, or overbearing. The location too far or too close to home -and all the rest. Even those of us with sufficient mettle to find a church and stick with it must put up with things we might not like, emphases we might not prefer, styles not to our taste. Truly, going to church is not always easy, and not always wonderful.

But the doorway is superb. Not the door into the building, of course, but the doorway into membership of the universal ecclesia, the congregation of the redeemed. The Door is truly beautiful, for:

I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture -The Lord Jesus Christ, in John 10:9