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From the Reverend Kate Bottley:

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Like most kids, this week my two went back to school. To mark the end of the summer we decided to take them out for the day. I know a bloke who works at the British Museum and so with a little negotiation managed to get us a bit of a behind the scenes tour. We were mesmerised by the mummies and awestruck by antiquities but we also got to go through doors marked ‘staff only’. We saw the world’s biggest lift, capable of shifting an elephant and we got to stand in the room that was Wonder Woman’s office in the movie, a fact that was declared ‘cool’ by my 14-year-old.

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As we wandered deep in the bowels of the building, I noticed the labels on the doors, stationary cupboards next to storage rooms and one door, solid metal, had no name plaque just a picture of an ornate looking mythical beast. Our host explained apparently, if the building comes under attack or fire breaks out, the picture on the door tells the emergency services in this room lies the most important treasure in the whole museum, an object so valuable, so precious to humankind, that it must be saved at all cost. ‘And what is it?’ we asked, ‘Nobody knows,’ he said with a wink.

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In the gospel’s, Jesus tells a story of treasure hidden in a field, that not everyone can find but that the person who does, is blessed indeed. Reminding me that there’s more below the surface than I can ever know and that what someone presents to the world is not all there is. Each human being is full of treasure, including you and me, Chris. The bloke on the tube, perhaps he has a passion for poetry and the woman in the lift with just now, who knows, maybe she has a singing voice that could make angels weep. Each of us has depths and treasures yet unseen deep in the cellar of our souls.

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After the chat outside the metal door our host pressed on with the tour, lots more to see, my family hurried behind, but I just couldn’t help myself and needed to check, I tried the handle, the door was, of course, locked, I guess I might never know what treasure hides inside!