On the fringes of the Peak District National Park, near Buxton, hidden in a forest near the top of a hillside, lies a huge moss-lined cavern called Lud’s Church. Stretching over one hundred metres long, it is a vast area that you would expect to see at the bottom of a hillside, not high up on a wooded summit. The narrow entrance means that it is easy to walk by unnoticed.
This strange place is where Christians used to meet many centuries ago for worship when they were in fear of their lives from persecution. Imagine having to clamber up a slippery hillside, probably many miles from home, on a wet and cold Sunday morning, to stand in a cold, damp gorge to worship God, while wondering if you would be captured and killed! Thankfully, in 2025, we enjoy complete freedom of worship in England. Churches are warm and comfortable places where we can gather together to freely worship God.
Psalm 122 starts with this verse: I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.