The past few days...
Well, I made it to London and back safely. We stayed at a Roman Catholic retreat center. It's a renovated cloister with all the rooms intact where different groups can hold overnight meetings. While we were there, another group was on a Tai Chi retreat.
The meeting was for other non-British clergy (and their families) who are new to the country. Most of the Americans are only here for one year while the non-Americans are here for a period of at least 3-5 years. Several of the Americans came from Candler School of Theology in Atlanta--about. There were three from Duke, one from Methodist Theological School of Ohio, two from Perkins, and one from Iliff. The non Americans came from Brazil, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Malaysia, and South Africa. We learned about a lot of the practical things of ministry--how to use the hymnal (which is very different from the UMH (United Methodist Hymnal)--Most of the copies do not have music in them--just words. Those that do have music printed in them, the score is on one side and the words on the other.). We also learned where to find the baptism liturgy, communion liturgy, and how to do weddings and funerals. We learned about British politics and media and how to do our taxes. All in all, fairly helpful, though most of it won't make sense until we actually do it. It was fun to talk to everybody else--hear their stories and the adventures facing them in their churches and circuits. It was also great to talk to people with American accents.
The drive wasn't too bad. I think I've pretty much adjusted to driving on the other side of the road. It isn't too difficult really. Just remember that the driver's supposed to be in the middle. The 120 mile trip took about 3 hours--thanks to traffic in London and on the A11 into Norwich. This is the American equivalent to Labor Day weekend--Monday is a bank holiday--the last one until Christmas, so everybody's taking a long weekend holiday. The A11 is the only major access route to this part of England--so it was already full of vacationers.
Speaking of driving adventures, this morning I tried to go and find the parcel warehouse where I had a package waiting. It really shouldn't have been that hard to find...key word "shouldn't". I drove around the Norwich city centre for a good hour before I finally found where I was supposed to be going. I got a nice tour of the city--not that I could actually get anywhere again on purpose. None of the roads are marked! There's all sorts of roads and roundabouts that I pass...but none of them are labeled! Thank goodness for stoplights where I could look at my map! Anyways, I finally found it, got my package and returned home.
This afternoon I went to a wedding held at one of my churches. I didn't have to officiate, but my superintendent did--and said I could come and observe. For the most part, it was similar to American weddings. More hymns, less special music--but that might have been because the couple is active in a church. In an English wedding, there are certain words that the state mandates the bride and groom say. One is that they know of no reason why they can't be wed, and the other, the vows--"I take you to be my husband/wife". After the couple was pronounced married, then their minister (not my super) gave a short sermon. After another hymn, the congregation is seated while the couple signs the "register". That took at least 10 minutes. This wedding had someone sing a solo while they did that. I don't know if that's typical or not. Also different, at the beginning of the service, the bride processes before the bridesmaids. This wedding also had two pastors participate. The funny thing about England is that you can only get married in authorised places--mostly churches, but now some hotels are being authorised. So this couple belongs to an Evangelical church that meets in the village hall. The hall is not an authorised place, so they got married in one of my churches. Also, you have to get married before 6pm--no getting married "in the dark" and the doors of the church/building must remain unlocked.
What I'm noticing about a lot of things in England--the public schools and other state-controlled things--when things start to change, they tend to grandfather the old way in, but don't really change it--so that the old and new coexist instead of the new replacing the old. Which is good in some ways and terribly confusing in others. For example, there's no understandable way in which the schools are set up. Some of them are public, some of them are public, but are old Anglican schools turned public--that still operate like an Anglican school. When a school was built largely determines how it operates. If I figure that out, I'll let you know. This relates to the wedding because the rules governing when you can get married and what iformation is listed on the wedding records (father's occupation for both the bride and groom), the no getting married after dark, etc--seem to be remnants of the past that carry forward until today--but nobody's bothered changing them. Only recently have weddings been allowed to take place outside of churches. Its all very odd.
This week is my official start week (though technically not until Thursday). I preach next Sunday in a communion service. I have another wedding on Thursday. Finally I get to begin! Thanks for reading this far. Don't forget to post comments!
The meeting was for other non-British clergy (and their families) who are new to the country. Most of the Americans are only here for one year while the non-Americans are here for a period of at least 3-5 years. Several of the Americans came from Candler School of Theology in Atlanta--about. There were three from Duke, one from Methodist Theological School of Ohio, two from Perkins, and one from Iliff. The non Americans came from Brazil, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Malaysia, and South Africa. We learned about a lot of the practical things of ministry--how to use the hymnal (which is very different from the UMH (United Methodist Hymnal)--Most of the copies do not have music in them--just words. Those that do have music printed in them, the score is on one side and the words on the other.). We also learned where to find the baptism liturgy, communion liturgy, and how to do weddings and funerals. We learned about British politics and media and how to do our taxes. All in all, fairly helpful, though most of it won't make sense until we actually do it. It was fun to talk to everybody else--hear their stories and the adventures facing them in their churches and circuits. It was also great to talk to people with American accents.
The drive wasn't too bad. I think I've pretty much adjusted to driving on the other side of the road. It isn't too difficult really. Just remember that the driver's supposed to be in the middle. The 120 mile trip took about 3 hours--thanks to traffic in London and on the A11 into Norwich. This is the American equivalent to Labor Day weekend--Monday is a bank holiday--the last one until Christmas, so everybody's taking a long weekend holiday. The A11 is the only major access route to this part of England--so it was already full of vacationers.
Speaking of driving adventures, this morning I tried to go and find the parcel warehouse where I had a package waiting. It really shouldn't have been that hard to find...key word "shouldn't". I drove around the Norwich city centre for a good hour before I finally found where I was supposed to be going. I got a nice tour of the city--not that I could actually get anywhere again on purpose. None of the roads are marked! There's all sorts of roads and roundabouts that I pass...but none of them are labeled! Thank goodness for stoplights where I could look at my map! Anyways, I finally found it, got my package and returned home.
This afternoon I went to a wedding held at one of my churches. I didn't have to officiate, but my superintendent did--and said I could come and observe. For the most part, it was similar to American weddings. More hymns, less special music--but that might have been because the couple is active in a church. In an English wedding, there are certain words that the state mandates the bride and groom say. One is that they know of no reason why they can't be wed, and the other, the vows--"I take you to be my husband/wife". After the couple was pronounced married, then their minister (not my super) gave a short sermon. After another hymn, the congregation is seated while the couple signs the "register". That took at least 10 minutes. This wedding had someone sing a solo while they did that. I don't know if that's typical or not. Also different, at the beginning of the service, the bride processes before the bridesmaids. This wedding also had two pastors participate. The funny thing about England is that you can only get married in authorised places--mostly churches, but now some hotels are being authorised. So this couple belongs to an Evangelical church that meets in the village hall. The hall is not an authorised place, so they got married in one of my churches. Also, you have to get married before 6pm--no getting married "in the dark" and the doors of the church/building must remain unlocked.
What I'm noticing about a lot of things in England--the public schools and other state-controlled things--when things start to change, they tend to grandfather the old way in, but don't really change it--so that the old and new coexist instead of the new replacing the old. Which is good in some ways and terribly confusing in others. For example, there's no understandable way in which the schools are set up. Some of them are public, some of them are public, but are old Anglican schools turned public--that still operate like an Anglican school. When a school was built largely determines how it operates. If I figure that out, I'll let you know. This relates to the wedding because the rules governing when you can get married and what iformation is listed on the wedding records (father's occupation for both the bride and groom), the no getting married after dark, etc--seem to be remnants of the past that carry forward until today--but nobody's bothered changing them. Only recently have weddings been allowed to take place outside of churches. Its all very odd.
This week is my official start week (though technically not until Thursday). I preach next Sunday in a communion service. I have another wedding on Thursday. Finally I get to begin! Thanks for reading this far. Don't forget to post comments!
posted by RevSarah at 4:14 PM
1 Comments:
So I see you are getting accustomed to English spelling as well -- Certain places are authoriSed for marriages! Glad you got your packages.
Lots of love, MOM
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