He that giveth ...

Not much of a day for outdoor photography, but I did spend a chilly hour in church as part of my month's cleaning rota stint. I've been doing all the brass - the lectern, then the crucifixes and candlesticks, even a door-knob or two. I thought I'd finished when I came upon the collection plates last week; an experimental dab with the Brasso demonstrated that they were as grubby as they seemed and the challenge was issued. 

So today I returned to clean them - two big matching ones like the one in the photo, and another lesser one that polished rather satisfactorily. I used to enjoy cleaning the brass door sill when I was a teenager - I wasn't one for ordinary housework of any kind, but this was fun because I could see the difference. And as you can see, this big plate is now bright enough to reflect the flowers as well as - I think - the red pulpit fall.

And the words round the rim? Well, this is an offering plate, and the extremely ornate script assures us that "He that giveth to the Poor lendeth to God" and inside the plate that "God loveth a Cheerful Giver". 

And can I tell you that the auto-correct loveth not archaic English?