Cambridge is Oxford's rival institution here in England. Both are great universities, both teem with tourists (Connie and among them!), both are expensive. But they are meccas for artists and intellectuals. This evening as I sit in my room at Robinson College (on the Cambridge campus) I can hear the sounds of a Shakespeare play being presented just on the other side of the lawn. It's a performance of Much Ado About Nothing, presented for free by a troupe of professional actors. The next three nights will see three other plays on the same stage. There's stuff like that going on all over town. Musicians are everywhere, playing all sorts of "English" sounding music. There's classical musical available in various venues. Last night Connie and I went to a performance of modern dance sponsored by the C.S. Lewis Conference that we're attending. Culturally it's just a very rich environment.
We arrived here Saturday afternoon and immediately plunged ourselves into the Cambridge scene. There's a small river that flows through campus, the Cam, on which people "punt." Punts are long, narrow, flat boats guided by young men or women who stand on the stern, using long poles to push the punt along the surface of the water. It's like riding in a gondola in Venice. Anyway, there were dozens of these punts out on the water and it was like Grand Central Station but we got on anyway and took a forty minute ride through campus. Among the highlights of the tour is Cambridge's pre-eminent school, King's College. It's best known as the place from whence the "original" Nine Lessons and Carols are broadcast on Christmas Eve.
On Sunday we attended a Bible-believing Anglican Church in Cambridge. Interestingly, it supports financially the Anglican Church we attended the first Sunday we were in Jerusalem. There is a great deal of theological liberalism in the Church of England, but it is by no means universal. This particular congregation is a gathering place for Cambridge students and has quite a lively ministry. The sermon was excellent: textual, practical and well-delivered (about praying in times of crisis, based on Acts 4:35ff.).
In the afternoon we all boarded buses (there are 300 of us at the conference) for a ride out to the small town of Ely. The country around Ely is flat (known as "the fens") and the purpose of our visit became evident as we neared the village: out in the flat country, in this small town, stands a giant ancient cathedral, first begun in the 1100s and known as one of the "7 wonders of the medieval world." It's like Notre Dame or Westminster Abbey, but it's not lost amid the tall buildings of Paris or London; it towers over the countryside. People call it "The Ship of the Fens," and it has been the focal point of life in that region for centuries. Right now it is best known for the fact that scenes from the movie The King's Speech were filmed there. The coronation scene, to be specific, which is to say that Ely served as a stand-in for Westminster Abbey. They had on display that "throne" Colin Firth sat on; Connie tried to get me to sit in it for a picture. I refused. Anyway, it is a magnificent structure, like the other great cathedrals we've seen but with its own unique character. One is simply agog at the craftsmanship, the technology and the massive scale of these places--together with all the effort that went into giving God the very best.
We were there for a special evensong service. Our guest preacher was a man named John Polkinghorne, who is President of Queens College at Cambridge. Polkinghorne is a theoretical physicist turned theologian; a few years ago he won the Templeton Prize, the religous world's equivalent of the Nobel Prize. So it was interesting, although I must admit that I'm growing a little weary of high church services. Afterwards we walked down the street a short distance to the birthplace of Oliver Cromwell, who in the 1600s led a revolt that resulted in the deposing and beheading of England's king, Charles I. For a few years after that, Cromwell ruled England as "Lord Protector." After a time, though, England's monarchy was restored. It was during Cromwell's protectorate that The Westminster Confession of Faith and its accompanying catechisms were written.
The C.S. Lewis Conference has an extensive schedule of events every day. We try to take in as many of them as we can. This morning, for example, we heard a sermon (by someone whose name I can't recall), then heard an address by Jonathan Aitken, a former member of British Parliament. Lastly, there was a message by Randy Alcorn (from Gresham!), who has written extensively about heaven and gave a good talk on that subject. This afternoon I attended a 3-hour seminar on faith and politics; Connie attended something of similar length but differing subject matter. This evening there is a play based on Lewis' book Till We Have Faces. Connie, whose energy and curiosity are unflagging, went to the play: I stayed home to blog.
There are many accomplished people at the conference. The first day I met a man named Tom O'Boyle, who teaches journalism at a college in Pittsburgh. A few years ago he wrote a best-selling book called At Any Cost: Jack Welch, General Electric and the Pursit of Profit. It was reviewed in The New York Times (a big deal if you're a writer). The book was quite critical of Welch. Tom told me he was frustrated by the reactions he got, mostly because they were so predictable: pro-business types disliked it; liberals loved it. He told me he didn't have an axe to grind; he just wanted to find out what made Jack Welch tick. Turned out it was pretty much money. So if you happen to pick up Tom's book, just remember it was written by a conservative evangelical who prays with his wife at every meal (I sat next to them at dinner tonight). He came to the conference because he has another book in mind: about the friendship of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis in the 5 or so years leading up to Lewis' conversion (in which Tolkien was very instrumental).
I think the Shakespeare play is over.
We had warm weather today, at least by English standards. We're just a few days from returning to our home in beautiful Oregon. It's been a great trip and of course you don't like to see such things come to an end, but we are ready to sleep in our own bed and be with our own family. Give me another month or so and I will be ready to return to my calling as a pastor. In the meantime, I will need the next few weeks to sort out everything I've seen and how the Lord is speaking to me through it.
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