Page 2 - St Alphege Guide 2012 for website

A Welcome to St Alphege

A very warm welcome to the Parish Church of St Alphege,
Solihull. This fine building is the home of a community which
has worshipped together here continuously for more than 800
years. It is both a witness to our Christian heritage and a
living place of prayer, worship and hospitality, a holy space
for a vibrant community of many people who are glad to
share its beauty and richness, its life and its meaning with all
who come. It is a place where the mission of the church to
proclaim Christ’s love is central, a prayer in stone and glass
where there are shadows and shafts of light beckoning the
visitor or pilgrim to discover what lies within.

The purpose of this guide is to help you to read the building,
not as a historical museum, but as part of the living, on-going
story of how the people of Solihull understood themselves
and their relationship with God. Here the visitor will find an
example of living Christian history, for every fresh insight into
the nature and love of God, every attempt to reform or revive
the church, has been worked out in stone and mortar. Yet this
story is on-going, for into this holy place today come many
individuals and varied groups to celebrate life, to give thanks,
or to shed their tears, for we remain open to the life of the
town and its people around us, seeking to serve the wider
community in the spirit of Jesus Christ. Just as a visit to
anyone’s home will inform the visitor about the kind of people
who live there, so this building, and how it is arranged and
decorated for worship, will tell anyone who comes into it
something about the community of faith who gather here.