Church of St Mary the Virgin, Ecclestone

The Church of St Mary the Virgin in Ecclestone, Lancashire, I was pleased to call at last year. There was some sort of social event going in the hall, and I bobbed in seeking one of the wardens, who might show me the building. Although it has a rather magnificent modern roof, there is much here that is ancient, not least the arch under the tower, below. I am no engineer or architect, but someone clearly with a skillset not much superior to mine designed it. It looks wrong, yet it also looks rather quaint, charming, even.

Nonconformist chapels tend me straight and regular, all at right angles and strict degrees of symmetry. Older parish churches are often a little wonky, irregular and topsy turvy. Although we might forgive this of a people long ago and with a less precise arsenal of tools to employ, I would not change this imperfection at St Mary’s even if money and legalities allowed. We serve a God who uses us despite our imperfections and flaws. Indeed, He seems to prefer to use the weak and the foolish, rather than the suave and elegant.

But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. 1 Corinthians 1:27, NKJV