This weekend is Blackburn Heritage Festival, part of the national scheme of Heritage Open Days – but Blackburn aims to be the biggest.

Let’s hope we succeed.

It's an opportunity to see buildings that may be closed at other times, and to enjoy all sorts of special events.

Of course, churches are amongst those buildings, including Holy Trinity which is usually kept closed and, although it is open every day, I'm surprised how many people in Blackburn tell me they've never been inside the Cathedral.

You can come in there any time, but today is an opportunity to go up the Tower, or join a guided tour.

Somehow you’d expect the Church of England to be involved in heritage – and we are, we have some of the most interesting buildings around. But many people in the church have an ambivalent view of heritage.

It’s not that we don’t value our history, but we struggle to hold it in balance with the life of the church of today. Sometimes we do need to update our historic buildings, so they can be used to serve the needs of the community, as well as for worship.

That’s been going on down the centuries – few people realise that pews are a relatively modern invention.

We need to move on, but remembering our history is still important, not least because of that famous saying, ‘those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.’ One of the features that’s common to all churches, whether ancient or modern buildings, is that at the heart of them we remember.

Almost all churches will have a cross, and a table for the service of Holy Communion, both of which point us to the story of Jesus, which we remember every time we gather for worship. We remember his teaching, and we remember his life, death and resurrection, but that’s not because we’re a historical preservation society, but because that life continues to be lived out in history today.

Canon Sue Penfold

Church of England in Lancashire

Diocesan Director of Ministry and Canon at Blackburn Cathedral