Travellers

For those of you who griped that I don't post enough, I hope you're happy--here's two in one day. Many thanks to those of you who waited patiently while I recovered from Holy Week and enjoyed a holiday with my parents. Either way, here's a brief report of our time abroad.

Mom and Dad arrived on Holy Saturday morning at about 9:30. By 10:30, I had successfully dumped them...err...dropped them off at their lodgings and trusted two church members to look after them while I frantically finished my preparations for services that night and the next morning. What a blessing those church members have been! The folks were exhausted, as we might expect, but I didn't let them sleep much that first day, as I wanted them to get adjusted to the time change. Mom did alright after a couple of days. I think Dad is still adjusting 10 days later. Anyway, after church on Sunday morning and a very nice roast on Sunday afternoon, we made the drive down to London. Mom slept. Dad drove from the passenger's seat. We arrived at the hotel (Hilton, no less!), deposited the car, and went to sleep. We got up too early (3:15) the next morning for our flight to Portugal. Once we arrived, we didn't stop. Pedro was once again an excellent host, and took us around Lisbon to show us the sights and sounds. We even took a street car around. It was toursity, but nice. Pedro's wife and a good friend of his joined us and we had a good day. We then made the drive out to Sintra (to their weekend house) where we stayed for the week.

It was really fun to spend time with Pedro and his family. It was even more fun to see our parents interact. For those of you who don't know, Pedro stayed with us as a foreign exchange student when I was in junior high. This trip was the first time that the two sets of parents actually met. Pedro's folks were very gracious and fun to talk to. I only got worried once when President Bush somehow made it into the conversation--but it turned out to be a non event, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Once again we ate well, experiencing the best Portugal had to offer. Except the seafood. Yeah....I was about five minutes away from becoming a vegetarian that night. I can't remember which day it was, maybe Wednesday, we had spent a day eating and sight seeing, when we went out to a seafood restaurant for dinner. Now, I'm not a big fish eater to begin with, so this was a stretch. I didn't do well at all. First of all, they brought out clams. I tried one of those. They weren't too bad...though I kept eating the bread on the table. For the main course, they brought out a sampler tray of the finest of sea fare. I kept eating bread. The tray had some creepy looking things on it--including barnacles, crayfish, shrimp (complete with eyes and antennae), and a crab dip in the crab shell. All this came after the wait staff brought out a live crab to show to the table next to us (before they cooked it). The bread was really good.

Without a doubt, we thoroughly enjoyed our short stay in Portugal with Pedro and his family. And we got to meet Pedro's daughter. She's gorgeous! I can't wait to go back and see her (and the rest of the family, too! :))

Thanks again, Pedro, for the great week!

(More on London and Norwich later.)

Holy Week

Well, I survived my first Holy Week. Barely. It was touch and go there for a couple of days, but I survived. From Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, I led seven services and participated in three others. It was manic. We had the typical Palm Sunday service, complete with Palms (though real palms aren't as common over here...they have the palm crosses instead...which I forgot to get...so on Saturday I dashed around to the local florists to get some leafy branches!). I also had a funeral on the Wednesday of Holy Week. This was the first funeral of someone I had actually known--so it was a bit of an added challenge in the middle of the week. Thursday night we held a modified seder meal--bread and cheese in the middle of the service. It wasn't all that well attended, but those who did come enjoyed it and found meaning in it. This one was probably my favorite of the whole week. I found the intimate setting of a meal with one's friends quite touching. At one point, in extolling the love of God in Christ I felt the palpable presence of God. That hadn't happened in a while, so it was nice to return to that holy place.

On Friday, most churches in the UK will participate in some form of 'walk of witness'. Sometimes they will hold a service at the beginning or end of the walk, or both, depending on local tradition. The first one began in Horsford at 9:30a. We had a 30-minute service in the Anglican church, after which we took up the cross and processed down the main street in the village to the Methodist chapel, where we had another 30-minute service. I then dashed off to the next service that was taking place in Taverham. The Churches Together group in Drayton, Taverham and Thorpe Marriott held a walk (supposed to be a silent walk, but wasn't, I'm told) starting at each individual church and then processing together toward the Anglican church in Taverham. I arrived 15 minutes late and left 15 minutes early so I could get to the next service. I arrived in Spixworth (connected to the congregation at St. Faiths) where my Anglican colleague held a largely silent and slightly modified service around the stations of the cross. I left that service 10 mintues early so I could meet up with the Methodists in St. Faiths for our walk around the village. Interestingly enough, they refused to take a cross with them. As we prepared to leave for the walk, I asked, "So, where's the cross?" "Oh, we don't take a cross," they told me. "Well, then how do people know this is a walk of witness instead of just a bunch of people walking around the village?" A perfectly reasonable question, I thought, but apparently, I'm just an outsider trying to come in and change things. So we walked through the village (and some back fields) without a cross. At some point along the way, we met up with the Anglicans (who did have a cross) from Spixworth and processed together to the Church where we had a concluding service.

Saturday morning, the folks arrived. Saturday evening saw an 11:30 service of darkness to light. Then, Easter morning, we had a lovely service at Horsford. By the end of it all, I was exhausted. Then, that afternoon/evening, after lunch, we drove down to London to begin our holiday (more in the next post).

In any case, despite the utter exhaustion that comes with Holy Week, we can rejoice that Christ is Risen! Alleluia.

Country Girl heads to the Big City!!

I have officially been to London! Finally! I know, I know...took me long enough. It was way fun, though! Jenny took me to London the day after my birthday (last Friday, for those of you who don't have that point of reference) to show me how to get around on the Tube and such. It really isn't much different from any other subway I've ridden, but it is helpful to at least see it before I try to take the folks round. We took the train down and got into Liverpool Street around 12:30 or so. We got off the train and onto the Underground to Westminster. I've seen Big Ben! It was pretty surreal. We saw where Parliament meets and then went around the corner to Westminster Abbey. We contemplated going into the Abbey until we saw the 10 quid entry fee. But, on our way there, we saw Methodist Central Hall, so we decided to visit it instead. And, I'm happy to say, it was free. We walked around and then grabbed a bite to eat in the cafe. Check out the picture of the two of us with the JW statue!

After that, we walked up the south bank of the Thames, passing the London Eye, the aquarium (really long line!), and Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. We ended up at Southwark (pronounced suthuk...with the u's sounding like fun) Cathedral. It was by far the smallest Cathedral I'd been to. Luckily, this one was free, too.

Jenny had a short meeting at Methodist Church House (basically headquarters), so we went there next. Then we headed toward Oxford Street which is apparently famous for its shopping...so that's what we did. I bought some shoes, clothes and CDs. That was fun to carry back through the Tube on the way to catch our train!

Everybody we talk to tells us that we accomplished a lot in the short amount of time we had in the city, but it didn't really feel like we did much. I guess that's to be expected since there's just so much. But boy were we tired when we got home. I had no problems sleeping that night!

Mom and Dad will be here on Saturday! I can't believe it!! I'm so excited. I'll report on Holy Week later...I think it deserves its own entry...

Bowling and Worship

Yesterday, I took a 13-year-old bowling. I'm thinking she's a typical 13-year-old. She doesn't expound much when asked a direct question, but if given enough time, she'll tell me things I never would have thought to ask. She's the daughter of a couple that belongs to one of the churches. We had a grand time, I suppose. I won both games we bowled, even though I tried to throw the second game. It's a sad commentary on one's actual skill when you bowl better when you're trying to lose! I tried to bowl badly without being obvious, but I had so little control over where the ball actually went, that I threw one of my best games...ever. It boggles the mind. Another interesting tidbit--bowling alleys smell the same over here as they do at home.

And now for something completely different.

As you might have gathered from my previous posts, ecumenism plays a big role in the ecclesial scene. This afternoon, I went to a service at the Cathedral in the city where the Methodist Chair of District and a Roman Catholic Bishop were installed as ecumenical canons. I'm not really sure what a canon is, but it is used as a title of some sort. I'm going to see some Anglicans tomorrow, so I'll ask them. Anyways, this is a pretty big deal, and is an honor bestowed upon leaders of denominations other than the CofE (Church of England) who have shown a commitment to ecumenism. Anyway, I went to the service today.

I've been to evensong at the Cathedral twice now. Both times a choir sang most of the liturgy. They did a beautiful job. It's a fairly high service, as you might expect, which isn't altogether a bad thing. I thought I liked high church services--and for the most part I do. However, I can't seem to shake the feeling that when I participate in those services, I'm part of a living museum exhibition. I understand the history, I understand the theology, I understand the Tradition of it all...but I can't help feeling like a spectator. I sang two hymns, said the Apostles' Creen and the Lord's Prayer. That was all the congregation did in the whole service. Not to mention the fact that they use the 1662 version of the Book of Common Prayer. I have no doubt that the prayers and things are beautiful...but what the heck are they saying? Plus, the pray for the queen. And, they use all HE language...for both God and people.

Is it too much to ask that we can combine the rich tradition of worship--with all the high church processions and smells and bells--with the desire of people today to actually participate in worship? Today I watched a bunch of (relatively) old white men in dresses lead worship. There were a few women present, one of which was the Bishop's lackey, but on the whole they did not have a visible role in the service. I had a hard time getting past how out of touch the whole thing seemed.

Nonetheless, it was still cool to see yet another step toward Church unity.