Great Bridges: Wycoller

One of the most charming places in Lancashire’s east is Wycoller. Across its beck are three bridges, each one likely to be centuries old. The packhorse bridge dates from somewhere from the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries- historians cannot decide. Part of its charm is its higgledy-piggledy appearance. The arches are not uniform, the stonework is irregular, and its base stones are not level, giving it a unstable feel. When I take visitors there from other parts, I am always a little nervous about them crossing the bridge only to trip and fall off. A careless step, a partial footing, a loss of concentration- and over one goes.

Jesus Christ is the great bridge to God; His spanning human sin to bring us to God’s presence is far more ancient than anything found at Wycollar. Yet He, too, is a bridge which must be crossed with caution. Those who approach Him too casually, lacking sincerity, or turning back once begun, will find the crossing perilous. In Matthew 21, the Lord Jesus says of Himself:

‘The stone which the builders rejected

Has become the chief cornerstone.

This was the Lord’s doing,

And it is marvellous in our eyes’?

Jesus Christ is the gracious entrance to heaven, but woe betide them who would play games with Him.

But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. Hebrews 10:39