barren walk

a church is not a building

A church is not a building, a church is a body of people who meet to worship and serve Christ. 

So here we are working together as one body in readiness for a wedding party from the village.  The congregation may be small but the team-work to get to this place has been brilliant. It's almost the end of Phase 1 of a major project to renovate the building.  There's a new kitchen, new toilet facilities and a fantastic oak-porch to welcome visitors, congregation and clergy alike.

Cob-webs are swept, pews are polished, the spiral staircase to the bell-tower is dusted down and Christmas decorations go up. 

We work alongside the specialist building and conservation team who've been carrying out the renovations over the past few months. They show us the medieval tiling hidden beneath a trapdoor close to the entrance. And as we pause to reflect we're reminded we're just part of the on-going procession of worshipers that stretches back over a thousand years or more.

One body in Christ.

carnival of souls

and this carnival of souls

passes beneath the lights

rising

and falling

as they skate on such thin ice

a place of reflection

endlessly

spinning

a procession of

the dead

and the live 

 who shift shape

and

cling to the shadows

footsteps

dancing

to

a circle

of light

 

 

aston villa 1 v 4 leicester city

The food was wonderful, courtesy of the Digbeth Dining Club.  We loved the music, the Heavy Beat Brass Band.  Christmas presents were bought in the Villa shop.  There were celebratory rainbow shoe laces and sugar-free coke hand-outs.

But, oh ... the football.