St Stephen's Church, Burnley

St Stephen’s Parish Church in Burnley is a surprisingly handsome edifice. It was built with greater flourish, beauty and scale than might otherwise be expected. Without, the tower is tall with its spiral staircase built onto one of its corners, atop which is a flagpole. Within, there is a a rich blue carpet and matching, comfortable chairs all facing the chancel. Corinthian capitals and marble features on the pulpit add further grandeur to an already impressive space. Various wooden boards list the names of Sunday School prize winners.

On the third Sunday of each month, they have a service called 'Wake Up and Worship', preceded by a breakfast, which sounds like an appealing prospect, but the name got me thinking. Perhaps, during worship, we switch off, our thoughts idling. Some, I know, actually sleep and has been occasion for a polite exchange. Others are spiritually dead, not yet recipients of the Spirit’s quickening. Yet our times of worship, be they personal or corporate, should be the most energised and vivacious spaces of our routines. Everything else about we speak and think will come to an end; the Christian’s relationship to his Father through the Son is of eternal import and everlasting consequence. It is time to wake up and worship.