|
 |
|
|
|
|
July 19, 2002
Subject: England Trip - Letter #10
Friday, July 19, 2002
Dear Friends,
This morning began after a very sound sleep which lasted 11
hours. I was exceptionally tired last night, having spent they day walking and
standing. Last night I went to bed at 9pm and was asleep immediately. My alarm
clock sounded at 8am to awaken me.
During breakfast this morning, the hotel manager came to me
and said that I had a phone call holding. It was 3am in Denver and Christine
wanted to say hello and tell me some good news. She had a great meeting with Rob
(our rector (pastor)) and is finalizing her plans with him and will be starting
a young singles group at St. Gabriels. It was great to hear her voice!
Since today is my last full day here, I decided to take in
some more of the sites. The Underground is back in full service and that was a
great relief. I spent most of the day at Westminster Abbey. It took only about a
10 minute walk to the Tube station and then a 10 minute ride to the Westminster
tube station.
As I was walking out of the Underground, the magnificient
chimes of Big Bend chimed. It was 11:45am. It is amazing what they can do with
digital audio and lots of audio power these days. (Just kidding.) It was another
10 minute walk past Parlimant and St. Margaret's Church to the Abbey.
Westminster Abbey is certainly a unique place. This time I took no talking taped
guide machine along nor did I hire one of the tourguides. I took my little
guidebook and read and read and then read the gravemarkers and placards. As
always I felt in awe as I stand over the grave of George F. Handel (loving
uncle, bachelor, former organist at Westminster and prolific composer). I did
notice a discrepancy in the dates of his birth. On the stone in the floor it was
carved as 23 February 1684. The placard place near it stated the dates of his
life to be 1685-1759. I will initially trust the etched stone in the floor, but
now I will have to check to be certain.
Nearby were the remains of more famous English persons that
one could recall - thousands of them. I studied the quire (choir loft in
American) and noted that it must be important because they have lamps (candles
or lights) at virtually every seat. Each chorister has a music stand on which to
place their order of service, music, prayerbook and hymnal. The main organ at
Westminster is above the screen and divided onto the two sides. It looks quite
large. I have heard it in the past as well as on recordings. It to has that
unique English cathedral sound.
There was the coronation chair in the back where the English
monarchs have been crowned since around 1200 AD. I did note one change that was
dramatic. The large stone that had been under the chair for centuries was
missing. Many centuries ago, this stone was taken in a war against Scotland. The
crowning of English monarchs, who were sitting over the stone, was a great
symbol of dominance by England over the Scots. There was a note that stated that
this stone was returned to Scotland in 1996. Certainly that is amazing. Each
tour in the past had made such a big deal over this stone and its symbolism.
II stopped in the nave and light a candle and prayed for
someone close to me who has a big decision coming up next week that will have a
long term effect on her life.
I then attended the service of worship - the celebration of
the Eucharist. It was a familiar service in many ways. There was no music, but
much of it is like our Rite 1 service. They clearly like the old English texts
and prayers. I did note that they said "forgive us our sin" where we say "sinS".
I wonder if that is a theological distinction.
Following the dismissal I strolled into the bookstore and
gift shop, looking for things that I did not know that I needed. What I
immediately noticed is that their AC was off! That meant a very brief time
shopping for me.
Next I thought it would be fun to revisit the Tower of
London. I took the tube over and walked around on the outside, but did not fight
the crowd to go inside this time. It is very large and the walls around it seem
towering when you look down into the large separate area that isolates the inner
area from the walls at the outer edge. The tower is were there were numerous
beheadings of well known English men and women. It is rumored there that you
were to tip the executioner well to make certain that he beheads you completely
on the first attempt. We will move on....
The next trip was on the tube to Victoria station and then
out to walk around that part of London for a while. I found a little sandwich
shop and purchased a prawn and crab sandwich which was just outstanding! It was
accompanied by a room temperature coke out of a can, since they don't sell
glasses of ice there. This part of the English tradition will not be missed by
me when I return. /dt>
II then boarded bus number 52 which took me back to the
Kensington Park area where my hotel and this fine internet establishment is
located. I will leave here for my nightly trip to Safeway for a bag of ice and a
bottle of fresh squeezed orange juice.
Thanks for all your notes and stories that you have sent me
over these past two weeks. I have made my arrangements for my cab pickup for 6am
tomorrow for the ride to Heathrow. Unless something dramatic breaks, I will send
you one more letter once I am safely back home tomorrow night. For those of you
at St. Gabriels, I will be at the organ on Sunday morning.
I hope you have had some enjoyment out of my daily epistles.
The experiences and the musical composition as well as the nice persons at the
Wesely Chapel will be long remembered. I will finish off the composition work
when I return and send them copes of the works. I can hardly believe that I made
this trip much less wrote about it daily. I also give thanks for each one of you
that have been receiving these notes.
One final thing that hit me was in seeing so many graves over
here -- Charles Wesley, Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, Handel, John Wesley,
Susanna Wesley, Isaac Watts, Daniel DeFoe and many others. Each of us is
eternal. We live only part of it as a mortal. These fancy tombs in Westminster
were probably for the wealthy and the prestigious persons. The ones that are
more simple were for those who were infamous or not afforded the promotion of
the state. There are many more whose tombstones were engraved with named that
were unknown to me. Yet even more whose markings had been washed away by the
rain and wear and tear of centuries. J. S. Bach wrote a beautiful organ chorale
prelude based on the German hymn, Hark! A voice sayith all are mortal". This
expresses in music this great truth. Each of these individuals was born and
lived a life that was significant to someone. They had close friends and people
who did not regard them as friends. Each one of them died. That part we all have
in common. I hope that we all are making the choices in our mortal life that
will offer God praise and love and service to our fellow humankind. We see so
much turmoil in the world, I hope that each of us will make every effort to
bring love and peace to those around us.
May the Lord bless you and keep youbr>
May the Lord make his face to shine upon you
and give you peace.
Love,
Larry
Return to
London Trip Page
|
|
|
|
Copyright © 2008 Worship and Church Music
• Denver, CO |
|
|
|
|
|