Sunlight over a statue

Canon Patrick writes….

Each day, Monday to Thursday, I say Morning Prayer in St Mary’s Lapworth.  In January the church is usually pretty cold, dark and grim at 8.30am, but very occasionally we get a bright, crisp sunrise and there is a remarkable two minutes when intense sunlight passes over the Christ child in the A. John Poole statue on the west wall of St Mary’s.

I took the above photos on 20^th January 2026.  It is a few years since I last saw this effect and that was on about 8^th January, when the sun was lower and only the face of the Christ child was illuminated.  It doesn’t happen very often, but it can be a lovely sign of hope in the middle of the winter.