Few who read these words will have proper appreciation for the shock and awe of this country boy when he visited Westminster Abbey. My Dad likes to say “I’ve been to two county fairs and a…….” well, let’s just forget what Dad would say. But for this extremely low-church Baptist / Pentecostal a trip to Westminster Abbey was a shock. These English boys take Catholic-style high-church to a whole new dimension. Wow!

Let’s start with the architecture. Wow! I’ve more often gone to church in prefab metal buildings than in 1000-year-old Cathedrals where every English Monarch dating back to William the Conqueror except for two were crowned and most are buried. Wow! I wish I could find words to describe this structure. Oh, here’s a word….Wow! Did I mention it was a sight to behold? Wow!

Honestly, I can’t find words to describe the place. The sense of eternity instilled in there was brought to bear when I couldn’t find the toilet. The docent insisted there was a sign directing me to it “over by poets corner” and when I lamented that I didn’t see the sign he said in dripping sarcasm “We’ve only been doing this for a thousand years.”

Of course, the place is filled with dead Brits of every stripe. Nearly a millennia of Kings are buried here, along with Chaucer, Handel, Charles Darwin & David Livingston. I’ve not been to Rome and haven’t seen most of Europe, so I never fully grasped---until this trip---exactly how pervasive the tradition of burial in the church building was. We low church folks build a main auditorium and then shed Sunday School classrooms off to each side. In these fancy places they build a main nave (that’s the high church way of saying “Auditorium” though technically it’s the long area between the main doors and the high alter) and then they attach numerous (dozens, in this case) “chapels” off every side in which marble sarcophagi are place to hold the bodies of all sorts of folks; Queens, consorts, Kings, poets, and the like. But then we Hillbillies do a low church version of the same thing back in the Ozarks. We build a “church house” and then put a cemetery outside. Same thing, only simpler and kind of appropriate in a “breaking away from England” sort of way.

To really get Westminster in perspective you’ve got to realize that when the American Revolution took place, the Abbey was already 400 years old. To walk on the grave stones in the floor of the church that date back to the 1600’s is a remarkable experience----and we think the American Civil War and the Civil Rights movement is “history.”

I honestly just can’t find the words to describe my encounter with the place. You just must go. It is worth the trip to London merely to see Westminster Abbey.

Now that the architecture and some of the function are out of the way, let me tell you about Worship at Westminster. We attended an end of the day service called Evensong. In fact, we were in the choir! Yep.

The building is cross shaped and the leg of the cross opposite the High Alter (just what it sounds like) is a set of risers and “wooden stalls or desks” called the quire, where the choir, the knights, the Cathedra (that’s the head bishop), and the various church functionaries sit, stand and kneel during the service. Unbeknownst to us, if you get there in the first 100 or so people, you become the choir and are directed to sit in the qwire. So while there were lots of folks sitting out in the main nave it became obvious to us that we were part of the choir when they handed us “scripts” of what we were expected to do (sit, kneel, stand, recite) and the folks in the main nave didn’t participate. So, there we were---up and down, kneel & recite, back and forth---and we did pretty well until the Apostle’s Creed offended my Baptist girlfriend’s sensibilities: she wasn’t going to say any thing affirming any kind of catholic (small “c”) church. (Apparently the narrow tribe of Baptists who raised her voted against John Kennedy in 1962.)

We sat in front of a high titled functionary of some type from Samoa who on this occasion read from the New Testament book of Acts. It was sort of a high church version of “Samoa Day” at Westminster. They then remembered and gave thanks for Justin the Martyr followed by a choral descant of Psalms 83; an experience that was new to my family. Syd asked me about it and I told her that at any moment I thought they might break out into “Shoutin’ Time in Glory” (that’s a location joke, if you didn’t get it, just let it go and move on).

As you might have guessed, this experience gave us a wonderful dinner conversation and another great opportunity to talk through what our relationship with Jesus means and about the difference between cultural words and motions verses our experience of personal enlivenment and engagement.

The experience at Westminster was wonderful. I wouldn’t give you 15 cents for it’s spiritual impact. In fact, it served to drive home in my mind the total irrelevance of the liturgy in the institutional church---even our own evangelical version of it.  The words were beautiful, flowing & sophisticated. They were worthy of a high God. Yet somehow my fear is that while the words expressed were theologically accurate, they were void of meaning. We spoke and sang of sin, the Virgin Birth and the Resurrection of Christ. But I wondered, who among those I worshipped beside really took those concepts to heart considering them more than mythical symbolism but instead embraced them as truthful reality. I’ll never know, and its not my place to know. But it is my place to be sure that I, my family, and those we influence understand that theological language---no matter how accurate---cannot alone move a person closer to God. It must be accompanied by a “quickening of the spirit” in which a God’s Spirit is infused with man’s; conception which produces a new birth.

Wow! I had a great day at Westminster. And did I mention they’ve got great architecture? You really need to see it.

From Central London its about an hours subway and train ride outside the city to Windsor, home of the famous Windsor castle and of Eton college where all the young princes go to school. Turns out “going off to college” is about a two block trip from grandma’s house for Will and Harry.

Windsor seemed an interesting community. Appeared wealthy and fairly expensive. Something I’ve noticed about London as well is all of the young people. Lots of different accents, but the majority of people we see out and about are very youthful.

Windsor Castle is a must see activity in England. The structure is imposing, set upon a hill with high walls and significant armaments. For some thousand years the Royals have lived here. It’s said that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth favors it among all of her residences, though she was not in residence the day we were there. The Union Jack was flying overhead instead of the Queen’s banner. There’s a guy whose job is to raise and lower her flag simultaneous to her imparting or departing the gates of the castle.

About 175 people live in the castle, all sorts of people who comprise the Royal Household---the Queen’s staff which actually numbers over 900 people. We visited with a Mr. Hall of her staff who interestingly told us he’d once been employed by the Hall family of Kansas City, Missouri, owners of Hallmark cards. Mr. Hall told us that the Queen greets and shakes hands with each of the household twice annually, once at Christmas and then one other time each year. He and all the staff seemed extremely proud to be working for the Queen.

In area of the castle leading to the private quarters I spoke with a young woman who told me she ran into the Queen regularly in her duties (of which guarding the hall was evidently one). She commented that the Queen knew her name and the names of many of the staff and said “you can talk with her about anything.” Hmm. Well, even a Queen has to have some people. I mean President Jeb Bartlett had Charlie!

One big deal in the realm of the Queen is the Royal Order of the Knights of the Garter. I don’t get exactly why that’s so big a deal. But the way it was explained to me is that Paul McCartney and Elton John are “just knights” and the five layers of knighthood above them are the Knights of the Garter. There are only 24 of them---because Henry VIII was enamored with the notion King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table and chose to bring them to life via this order of knighthood. There are 24 of them because that’s the number he needed to have in order to have a jousting tournament. SO, yes, apparently being a high end Knight is something akin to play on the company softball team.

Perhaps the most interesting thing at the Castle was St. George Cathedral. Wow! Quite an impressive structure. Really stunning in its beauty. Yet I couldn’t help but think “God lives in human hearts not in structures built by human hands.” It’s interesting to me how for thousands of years men have tried to build buildings for God.

A weird thing about the Chapel is that it is the burial site of all the royals. You walk into the Nave and there, among the chairs, are sarcophagus holding the bodies of the Kings. Some of them are buried in vaults under the floor, and most interestingly, Queen Elizabeth’s father and the Queen Mum who died just a few years ago are buried “in the ground like a common man” at a level below the rest of the Chapel.

Windsor Castle is definitely worth the effort! If you come to London you must see it.

Here’s a tip: Kelly bought something called a London Pass. It gets us into all of the attractions, and moves us to the head of the line. So you don’t want to fail to get a London Pass. Another key thing to get is a Travel Card. It allows you to board the subway and trains as many times as you like, so you can zip back and forth across the city without traffic problems or having to have car or pay a taxi. If you are going to sightsee London don’t fail to get a London Pass and a Travel Card.

That’s all for today. Not sure what’s up tomorrow----Westminster Abbey, Cathedral, Chapel, etc. Funny thing is that just a week ago, an acquaintance of mine, Ed Stetzer actually preached at Westminster Chapel. Kind of a small world. Wish it had worked out for me to have been in London that weekend. That would have been kind of cool.

More tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Arrived in London shortly after noon Saturday on an overnight flight which had left Dallas at 9:00 p.m. Friday.  It was 4:00 by the time we made our way to our hotel and were settled in. Hotels.com had cancelled our paid-in-full reservation (let that be a warning to you) but Marriott County Hall made good on it; read to the end of this blog article to see how. After a shower and supper we went to bed and didn’t see the light of day until 9:00 a.m. Sunday morning---must have been tired.

Saturday started with no seats at the hotel breakfast, so the lady made good on that with four vouchers to the buffet downstairs…….$90 breakfast tab, no charge. Thank you very much! We’re off to the Tower of London.

The Tower of London is really a fortification along the Thames with several towers. It was home to the English royalty for centuries. The first structure was built by William the Conqueror 1000 or so years ago. Today’s it’s the home to the Crown Jewels (kind of gaudy….not really that impressive, but what do I know) and has a number of historical artifacts complete with Beefeaters who giving tours which include details on all the beheadings carried out by the threatened Kings. Think of a cross between the White House and Plymouth Plantation and Silver Dollar City and you’ll kind of have it pegged. As the tour unfolded I came to understand why the British term “bloody” means damned, for apparently anyone who crossed the Monarch was just that. Bloodied.

Apparently the biggest stink over the centuries---at least the biggest I heard about---related to Henry VIII wanting a divorce which Rome disallowed, so he broke away from the Catholic Church at established the Church of England. Evidently Rome and its various authorities dispatched to England weren’t real keen on this idea and protested vigorously. Perhaps this is where the term “he doth protest too much” came from, because any notion of speaking out against the Monarch apparently earned you the designation “bloody.”

So, we saw the crown jewels, the guns, the cannons, the demonstrations of firepower, spinning, cooking pottage…..the pretend war was kind of interesting. Watching the soldiers line up in four columns of four rows with the front row firing and then running to the back so that row two could fire gave clear meaning to the concept “rank and file.”

I found the terminology around the Tower interesting. They spoke of the “bulwark”….a term you might have heard if you ever sang “A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing.” It means “wall.” The implication is that a wall is protection. Kings were quick to build walls. Apparently, being King makes you a target for people who aren’t so keen on being “subjects.”

It seemed that the Kings built their houses as towers. The top floor was theirs, underneath lived their servants, under that lesser servants, and in the basement……..well, that’s the dungeon where they kept their prisoners.  Back to the towers……there are lots of towers……..which brought to mind that more contemporary song we sing “The name of the Lord is, a strong tower. The righteous run into it, and they are saved.” Well, in rural Missouri the concept of a tower doesn’t mean a lot. (We’ve got the Hammon’s Tower in Springfield, but that’s about it.) But here in the land of castles and moats, you begin to understand the imagery in the songs when they speak of bulwarks and towers.

I was impressed by the close tie of church and state. The murderous Kings exhibited a lot of religious behavior. They had private chapels and Mass was offered regularly. Then they went out and had their wives heads chopped off. Hmmmm. Some significant inconsistencies----religion as a tool, not a demonstration of devotion.

From there it was on to the Tower Bridge……a really cool old drawbridge built next to the Tower and containing towers itself. I thought of my friend Stan Elmore as I toured Tower Bridge. It’s an engineer’s dream. Uh, to me…..it was……a bridge. But apparently England is proud of it. (Did I ever mention I grew up in Galena. We had the “Y” bridge---one of only two in the world. The other is in Ohio. I got to see it a couple of summer’s ago when I judged a goat show in Ohio. OK. That’s all I’ve got on bridges.)

Next stop: Hyde Park and Speaker’s Corner. If you have ever been to New York City and seen the goofballs screaming from the street corners on Time’s Square you have a little concept of Speaker’s Corner. If you want to make a public spectacle of yourself in London, this is the place to do it. There were probably six to 10 different speakers standing on their soap boxes (usually an aluminum step stool). Some were talking rather softly. Many were shouting loudly. I’d guess it was about half political speech---most seeming to be middle eastern in nature---and about half preaching, mostly Christian with maybe one or two Muslims mixed in.

• Nobody is arguing about Shakespeare or Napoleon, but when Jesus is injected there is instant consternation. I find that fact alone compelling. In all of history everybody has a “live and let live” attitude except when it comes to mentioning Jesus. His name alone sets people on edge like none other. I think that is worthy of attention.


• There was a lot of arguing going on about Jesus. I explained to the girls that I didn’t think the arguing was the most effective tool, but that instead just telling the story of what Jesus had done in your life was most compelling because no one can argue with your personal experience. “Jesus is the Son of God” is arguable. “Jesus changed my life in this way….” that personal experience can only be observed, it can’t be taken away.

The Devil doesn't really need an advocate, he's doing fine all by himself.