Not only is the whole experience of visiting St Mary’s so often seen through a camera lens, but also some visitors seem completely unaware of the difference between this space as “the House of God” and, say, that of the Sheldonian.

St Mary’s is the most visited parish church in England and our recent number of tourist has been at a critical high – 400,000 annually. Our Welcomers and staff do an incredible job in making St Mary’s a place of welcome, warmth and love; but should we not begin to think about how to use the following three realisations as a mission opportunity, not just crowd control issues?

• Challenging the mentality that ‘if you don’t take a photo it did not happen’. The photo shows that you could afford the overseas trip, that you are cultured, that you “had an experience”. But does it mean you savour that experience?
• Explaining that the architecture of a church reinforces or expresses the sacredness brought to it by the building’s use: the liturgies, the sacraments, and the worshippers.
• Addressing the fact that the sizeable footfall means that seeking a quiet place to pray or reflect is often difficult to find.

Once there is an understanding that this is a sacred space would it be too huge a leap to convey St Paul’s message from 1 Corinthians 3.16?

“Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”

Paul’s message is important because he reminds us that church is not a building but a group of people. It is not just a physical space but a spiritual one as well. The church occupies a building but if we remember the original Greek for church “ekklesia” – we know it as “a gathering, an assembly of people”.