Old dart

Since late Dec I've been in the UK. Here's the low down on the past couple of weeks, along with a couple of photos (and with a tip of the hat to all the fun and games which happen over at Byron's blog, I've decided to award points - see text for details):

The flight:
Flew to Tokyo then over Siberia into the arctic circle then down again into the UK. Amazing scenery. I had a stop over in Japan, and on the morning of my connecting flight I was having breakfast in the hotel (wearing my free RICE t-shirt ... thanks Steve!) when an Australian woman and her husband started looking at the logo and asked "What's that about...is it Christian?" I said "Yeah I'm studying theology etc", then she said "my son went to Moore...you might know him...Justin Moffatt!!!" Crazy small world we live in. The Moffatt's were coming back after visiting Justin in NY. So it was nice having breakfast with them. Jet lag was minimal. But I did crash at 10pm on NYE. Bummer. First points will be difficult...Appoximately where on the north Russian coast was this photo taken? Hint: it's near a coloured sea.

London:
What a town. I could definately live in London. The buildings are big, the pulse is ... pulsating (?!), the pace is frantic. It was cool to see some of the stuff that I've studied at uni and at college; codex siniaticus, various paintings from the old masters etc. People really know how to dress here...everything is very stylish. People also seem taller. Is that beause all the short convicts were sent to Australia? Saw Henry VIII's suit of armor. He was a fat dude. Only disapointment was the Wimbledon tour. No access to centre court (they are rebuilding) and limited behind-the-scenes moments. I was also soaked.

Old friends in London:
Had a fun afternoon and evening with Erin King And Fiona Macfarlane (Evan's sister for all you MTC people), two old friends from Sydney Uni BA days. Erin (she's the one on the left) is in publishing and Fiona is a Cambridge PhD grad in English currently working on her first novel while living in a writing commune in the US . We had really bad chinese food, but lots of laughs.

Church:
I have been to church 6 times since arriving (Gosh...that's a lot!). Maybe its because I have deliberately sought out some different experiences while over here but the English church seems to be a much more complex beast than I originally thought. An extra element which we don't seem to have a lot of back home are the charismatic evangelical Anglicans. They seem to be really moving and doing impressive things. When they find out that I'm from Sydney they all ask about Hillsong. Some even think it's an Anglican church...HAHAHAHAHA!!! Hillsong...a Sydney Anglican church...oh stop it!!! Notes on my church visits are as follows:

All Soul's Langham Place (2 visits): Rico Tice spoke both times, he's really good. Music was very professional with strings and brass sections. Perhaps a little too reserved? But I liked it nonetheless.

St Nicholas' Tooting: Smaller evangelical church in the south west of London (Erin King's church). Incredibly warm welcome. Nice mix of nationalities and ages.

Holy Trinity Brompton: The famous HTB. High energy with a real buzz around the place. I was impressed with the amount of different ministries that they carry out and the high level of lay participation throughout the church in all their activities. They also produced a very slick information brochure.

St Paul's Cathedral: Attended evensong on NYE. An unusual experience to say the least. The worshippers were at the front, while at the back many many tourists would wander in and out as the service progressed. The sermon was on the incarnation, and had a discernable evangelistic tone ("This Jesus has come into our existence to lift us out of darkness") So that was refreshing. Unfortunately the moments of clarity were accompanied by more unhelpful comments: "As Jesus came into the world in weakness, we search for him in the weak things of this world." Hmmmm...not sure those two dots are connected. Aside from the service, the building is absolutely breathtaking. This left me in two minds. Sure God is worth our architectual best, but is such building a distraction???

Oxford:
At first Oxford seems a little disapointing. Sure there are lots of old buildings but if you walk around the main streets no great vistas jump ot at you. To see the charm of Oxford you have to go searching a bit and hear some of the stories. To this end my old friend Tom Hanna wasa great help (see next section). Oxford is also a little creepy. The church were Cranmer was tried was a little sobering. It's quite dark and cold looking, and when you know that evil things transpired there it kinda gives you the creeps. The colleges look really old and in disrepair. One thing I have noticed is that in Australia we are quicker to restore our physical heritage. Perhaps we take it less for granted? More points...and I'll make you work for 'em. Which two Oxford collages can be seen in this photo? Hint: the photo was taken from Christ Church meadow.

Old friends in Oxford:
Tom Hanna (pictured with his girlfriend Sophie) gave me an entertaining and and informative night-time tour of the centre of town. It was good to see him and experience his humour again. We also had some Chinese that was much better than the stuff I had in London. Mike and Catherine Jensen have also been very hospitible. On one occasion I went shopping for long sleave shirts with Mike. HAHAHAHAHA, that's so metrosexual of us (those who know MPJ will know how funny that is, he is a well dressed man).

Cambridge:
Cambridge is much prettier on the eye than Oxford, and smaller too. The evangelical heritage in Cambridge is much more prominent than in Oxford; the Round Church have a display which focuses on the reformers and later evangelicals and they also run religious history tours around the city. The people also seem to be more relaxed. It was fun to ride a bike around the city, but my bum got really sore. Points for this famous Cambridge landmark

That's it for the first half of my trip. The second will see me move further north into Yorkshire, Wales and Scotland.

As a postscript here are two signs which I found on St Edward's church in Cambridge, a building which served as the cradle of the English Reformation. The first one shows how far we've come. Also I would have loved to have attended the 'Goth Eucharist'...how very emergent!