St Mary's Church, Wilton

St Mary's Church at Wilton, Wiltshire, is but a shell of its former self. Now largely ruinous, this was the town’s parish church until the outrageously grand Italianate church was constructed in the nineteenth century. Now it is a little civic curiosity nestling in the grounds of what is now a small, public park. Apart from a few town meetings and housing some curiously spelt memorials, it appears to have little purpose.

Above the entrance on the external wall is a statue (top picture) of Robert de Bingham (1180–1246) who was the Bishop of Salisbury from 1229 to 1246. It was here that he received consecration (was elevated from mere prebend to bishop) and went on to play an important role in the foundation of New Sarum, better known to us as Salisbury. Its gigantic cathedral could not offer a greater contrast with St Mary’s at Wilton, yet this little church played its small part in the larger’s completion.

It has been my pleasure to speak at our shorter, mid-week services this year on the ‘bit parts’ of scripture. These, belonging to people like Apollos, Lydia, Huram and Trophimus are mentioned but briefly, yet have influenced and inspired the lives and faith of Bible readers for millennia. If, like me, you know yourself to be an insignificant player in the wider plans of God, delight to recall that He seems to enjoy using the weak, the insignificant and the small for His greater, glorious, unfathomable purposes.

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