March sees the feast days of two saints who are particularly important to the United Kingdom: St David and St Patrick, the patron saints of Wales and Ireland respectively. Legend surrounds both. But both of these patron saints seem to me to hold more sway over, and capture the imagination of, people than the patron saint of England, George.

Perhaps this has something to do with the way we look at ourselves? Patrick and David were both British; George was not. Patrick and David were said to have been great speakers and to have brought people to faith in Christ by talking to them and engaging in human relationships and interactions. George was held up as the ideal knight and his popularity during the crusades helped him to be established as our patron.

These days we don’t see ourselves as crusaders or warriors. We value human relationships and we’re far more likely to get involved with something because of the personal recommendation of a friend. St Patrick and St David operate on a level that we instinctively respond to. But maybe it’s something even deeper than that.

There is enough scope for historical arguments that all three saints existed outside of legend. But George never visited Britain. Patrick and David did. They walked the countryside that we walk. They lived in the places we still live

When you read this, I will have not long returned from a holiday in Pembrokeshire: while there, I will have walked the countryside. I may have stood in places where David stood. That is a connection between the past and present that inspires people’s hearts and minds.

I think it’s why so many people like old church buildings: when you stand or sit in one you can feel the history of all the people who stood or sat in the same place over the hundreds of years before you did.

There is something about physical presence. We connect more readily to saints who were physically present where we are. We value the physical presence of a church that has remained a landmark in our communities, sometimes for as long as we have had a community. These places connect us with our ancestors like anchors in time, while things around them change and develop.

So, if you ever have the need to feel connected to those who have come before; if you ever feel the need to experience the peace that generations of others have experienced in a place; if you want to spend a little while feeling anchored in time, instead of being pulled backwards and forwards by unpredictable tides, your local church is there for you. Just pop in and sit, stand or kneel. “Be” in a place, as so many others have been before.

Richard Turk, Assistant Curate, Reepham and Wensum Valley Team Churches