The Ultimate Reawakening

By Rev. Peter Hill, Honorary Assistant Bishop

As I write in 2025, St Mary Magdalene’s historic church building is literally in bits. Inside is full of debris as pews are moved and floors are broken up, revealing hidden crypts and ancient human bones from past Christian burials.  Outside the decaying stonework is surrounded by scaffolding.

A disused crypt discovered in the North aisle of the church

In the midst, skilled workers are renewing and re-ordering our much loved building. A building once caught up in the human pain and destruction of the Civil War sieges of Newark in the 17th century.

Our church building is being reawakened.

But what about us, the Christian worshippers in this place? Can our bones live? We are the human church, the body of Christ called to make a difference in God’s world: to be reawakeners!  And what about others who come here, now and in the future, for quiet reflection, during troubled lives, seeking and search for meaning? Or just peeking inside out of curiosity and drawn deeper.

A skilled joiner, working carefully on the Victorian pews

We all have debris in our lives alongside the joys and pleasures. We all have brokenness that needs restoration. There are times when we all seek meaning in the midst of an ultra secular society.

Above all else, we all need continual reawakening to God in Jesus Christ. To the God who reaches out to us with loving, risen and crucified hands and calls us on with the eternal Gospel words, “Come and see’ (John 1v.39).

That is the ultimate RE-AWAKENING.

Looking down the central aisle towards the chancel and altar; the church is wrapped and protected for the Reawakening