London Then to Cambridge

I'm finally in a place where I can connect to the internet in my room, so it will be easier to write.

Yesterday (Monday?) was spent in London and it was pretty neat.  We started at Buckingham Palace, where we saw the Changing of the Guard.  They spend an hour doing what could be accomplished in ten minutes, but it's fun to watch the red coated soldiers march precisely and listen to their officers shout out commands in their British accents.  Buckingham Palace is big but not so impressive architecturally.

Then it was on to the British Library (not to be confused with the British Museum).  The Museum is about historical artifacts, the Library is about historical documents.  We spent our time in just one room.  Without question, it contains the greatest single collection of historical documents anywhere in the world (not copies, not photographs, but the actual pieces of paper themselves).  Just to mention a few:

1. G.F. Handel's original score (full orchestration) of Messiah.  All the notes are scribbled there, together with the words, and you wonder "How could he write this whole thing  in 24 days?"  But he did.

2. Captain Robert Scott's journal from his Antarctic expedition in 1911 when he and his companions froze to death in their tent 11 miles from a food depot.  Scott's handwriting is in pencil; the little volumes are in amazing condition considering that he carried them with him the whole way. 

3. The Magna Carta, written in 1215, the first written attempt to limit the rights of kings in relation to their subjects.

4. Codex Sinaiticus, the oldest complete copy of the New Testament, dated to the 300s.  Found at a monastery on Mt. Sinai.  An absolutely priceless document and extremely important for New Testament studies. 

5. Just for fun: original copies of lyrics to several Beatles songs, handwritten by Lennon and McCartney themselves.  Including Michelle (McCartney), A Hard Day's Night (Lennon), Yesterday (McCartney), Ticket to Ride and Help! (both Lennon).  One of the Lennon songs is scratched on the back of a birthday card he had given to his son Julian for his first birthday.

This room was probably the most amazing single thing I've seen on our trip.  My eyes nearly popped out of my head.  Multiple times.

I figured everything would be downhill after that, but it was a great afternoon.  Just up the street from 10 Downing Street is an underground warren of rooms that served as headquarters for the British government during much of World War II, especially when the Germans were bombing London every day.  Rooms for cabinet meetings, Mrs. Churchill's bedroom, etc.  Attached to these rooms is a large museum devoted to Winston Churchill.  If you are ever in London, this is a place you won't want to miss.  I think we paid 12 pounds to get in but it was worth it.

Then Connie suggested we ride over to Abbey Road and she would take my picture in the intersection where the cover photo for the Beatles' Abbey Road album was snapped.  It was pretty funny.  The street was busy with traffic and there were about 20 people trying to do the same we were: get their picture taken at the Abbey Road crosswalk without getting run over.  But the drivers were patient; they knew why people were there.  So we got some pictures of me crossing the intersection.  They're not at all like the photo on the album cover, but it's the same place. 

By the way, the Abbey Road Studio, where the Beatles did much of their recording, is immediately adjacent to the intersection and still functions as a studio today.  In fact, the neighborhood looks pretty much as it did when the album cover was shot back in 1969. 

Today was a travel day, but not a big one.  We took the tube (subway) to Paddington Station and traveled an hour north to Oxford and its university.  It is just as you might imagine: medieval buildings all over the place; spires and churches and university buildings.  We are here for the C.S. Lewis Institute Oxbridge Conference.  Four days at Oxford, four days at Cambridge University (Lewis taught at both schools).  Our "digs" are at Keble College (one of the many colleges that make up Oxford University), in a dorm room on the 4th floor.  We had dinner tonight in a place that looks very much like the Hogwarts dining hall in Harry Potter.  Afterwards we attended a worship service at a beautiful Anglican church down the road a few blocks.  There was a reception on the lawn afterwards with canapes and beverages in champagne glasses (although there was no alcohol).  Connie and I felt a little out of place due to the fact that we didn't pack any dress clothes.  Oh well.

The preacher for the week is Dr. Earl Palmer, who until his recent retirement was senior pastor at University Presbyterian Church in Seattle.  He was quite effective and I enjoyed listening.  But it's the first real sermon I've heard in many weeks and it reminded me of my vocation, which is to preach in my congregation.  Believe me, I miss it and will be ready to begin anew once September rolls around, d.v.