The church of Holy Trinity is a solid red-brick presence at the top of Guildford's medieval High Street. There has been a place of worship on the site since at least the 14th Century, and today's Georgian building includes the tomb of an archbishop of Canterbury from the reign of the Stuarts. The pre-Christmas scene here could not be more traditional - children from the local Church of England school putting on a Nativity show of song, dance and drama.
But there is a quiet revolution unfolding at Holy Trinity. In defiance of the Church of England's current rules, the rector of Holy Trinity and St Mary's, Simon Butler, is conducting stand-alone same-sex blessings (blessings that are carried out individually, rather than as a small part of a normal scheduled service).
This quiet act of defiance is a metaphor for the state of the Church as a whole, as Dame Sarah Mullally, the Bishop of London, prepares to take over the C of E's top job on 28 January.
The sense of crisis facing the Church in the aftermath of Justin Welby's resignation this time last year has subsided. Archbishop Welby stood down after being accused of failing to follow up information about abuse committed by the late John Smyth, a lawyer who ran Christian camps here and in Zimbabwe.
