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Sunday, March 17, 2013

St. Mary the Virgin in Ambleside




During the Industrial Revolution, the Lake District became a popular place for the rich to build vacation homes.  Poets and artists visited the area, and proclaimed its natural beauty.  As their means of travel and their pocketbooks permitted, people from all levels of society visited the area, if only to spend the day there.  In time, wealthy inhabitants, and a growing tourism industry, poured more money into the coffers of developing towns.  Eventually Ambleside grew so large that Sir George Gilbert Scott was commissioned to design the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, and the present building was completed in 1854. 

A mural at the back of the sanctuary
testifies to its communal nature.

In some ways, St. Mary the Virgin may be no different from any other English church.  For example, I doubt Beatrix Potter has a significant connection with it, as she was raised in the Unitarian Church.  But the church has some nice features, and like most English churches, is open during the week, even when no worship service is being held.  This practice allows visitors to tour the sanctuary, enjoy a few minutes of solitude, and find inspiration in its art and architecture.  Like St. Oswald’s Church in Askrigg, St. Mary the Virgin has forged strong links with other (non Church of England) churches in its community.  A striking testament of ecumenical outreach is the new parish center, which a local Methodist church helped fund, and whose congregation now worships in the building’s Wesley Room.  For me, that makes St. Mary the Virgin a remarkable church.






Throughout the centuries, churches and denominations have made plenty of mistakes.  In my own life, I’ve experienced so many negative aspects of church life that I now find it difficult to regularly attend worship services.  But I’ll never stop loving churches, or the love that generations of congregants have lavished upon their buildings.  I appreciate the fact that so many churches in England are open during the week, and allow visitors to tour them on their own.  In so doing, priests and congregations truly make their sanctuaries holy places, where visitors can come in contact with the Divine, and feel the peace and serenity that such experiences yield.  Thus they give of themselves to people all over the world--many of whom they will never even see or speak with--who take back memories of spiritual experiences they will cherish for the rest of their lives. 

Dragon Dave

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