UK Diary, Days 11-12

In which we hit the pub and head to Shrewsbury for worship

Greetings from Northampton, my friends. We finished our time in Shropshire on Friday, and headed east to Northampton, where we will stay for the remainder of a time here. I write from a Holiday Inn lobby very early in the morning: 5:15 am. I actually got a decent night’s sleep here in the hotel, because we went to bed around 10 pm. I find that the early morning is the best time for me to write my diary entries. There is something about working before dawn that has long appealed to me and inspired me: my awareness waking up with the world, or something like that.

Before I get into the today’s diary, I want to share something from Bishop Thomas Ken (d. 1711). He was Anglican Bishop of Bath and Wells, an important voice in the orthodox-catholic tradition within Anglicanism, an ecclesiastical writer as well as advocate of hymnody. He is responsible for the words of the “Doxology” often sung during the Offertory in Anglican liturgy. What follows is a meditation on the Eucharist:

O blessed Savior, what more powerful motives can I have to persuade me to communicate [receive Holy Communion] than Thy command, and the blessed effects of this holy Sacrament?

I come to testify my sense of Thy love, O heavenly Father, in Thy so loving the world as to give up Thy only Son to die for me.

I come to testify my faith in Thee, and my love towards Thee, O blessed Saviour, and thankfully commemorate Thy wonderful love in dying for me.

I come, Lord, to testify my steadfastness in the communion of Thy Church, and my charity to all the world.

I come to Thy Table, O Lord, from a sense that I want to spiritual food to which Thou there invitest me.

Alas, I am soon apt to grow weary of well-doing; a few prayers tire me; every slight temptation overcomes me; but I know that Thy Body can strengthen my soul, and Thy Blood revive my drooping obedience; and it is Thy most blessed Body and Blood after which I hunger and thirst: O gracious Lord, grant that I, and all who communicate with me, may feel their saving efficacy. O Lord, feed, refresh, and nourish our souls with them to life everlasting and that for Thy own infinite mercy’s sake, which moved Thee to offer up Thy Body and Blood for us. Amen.

And now to the recap:

Immediately after posting the previous diary entry, my family enjoyed a wholesome dinner at the local pub in Lydbury North. It is a very nice place and the staff is lovely. Several of us had burgers, and the rest had bangers and mash or meat pie. English Cider was the beverage of choice for yours truly. We came away nourished on all levels (photograph by Izzi):

Our week began in worship. It being Sunday, the Lord’s Day, we headed to church in Shrewsbury, about an hour drive from the estate at Walcot Hall. We decided to attend the Orthodox Divine Liturgy (what the west calls the “Mass”) at the Greek Orthodox Church in Shrewsbury. Most of my family had never experienced Eastern Orthodox liturgy, and it is also the church of Twyla’s icon teacher, Aidan Hart. It was a rainy day and we had about a ten minute walk down cobble-stone hills in Shrewsbury (my feet are very sore from all this UK walking!) but we got there and worshiped with their community. Here is the church (the one in the middle of the photograph):

Orthodox Divine Liturgy very much features the choir, in a more central way than western liturgy tends. Almost the whole of the liturgy is sung or chanted by the choir, often with the congregation joining. The hymns are very theological and oriented to the Scripture readings for each specific Sunday. Also, the norm is to stand for the whole of the liturgy, which at this church was about 90 minutes. Of course we did not receive Holy Communion (one has to be Orthodox to do so) but we made our spiritual communion and enjoyed the very holy worship.

After the service we chatted warmly with a number of the parishioners, including the two priests. The older priest gave members of my family small but holy gifts which were donated to the church after the recent death of a longtime parishioner; the younger priest spoke with Twyla and me about iconography, and after he saw photographs of Twyla’s iconography, offered a blessing to Twyla in her vocation. All in all, we were grateful to worship God here.

After leaving the church, we walked around central Shrewsbury, popping in to shop at what places were open, and grabbing a bite to eat. Martin and Hilda enjoyed contributing to the art wall at the cafe:

Shrewsbury is very cool. An old medieval town, with tons of old architecture, including Tudor era buildings and older. Shrewsbury, like much of England, is conceived on a more human level than much of the cities and towns of the US. The spots and locales in the city are more tightly weaved together, most everything is walkable, and the towns have a certain “harmony” in how everything works. In this part of England, one definitely does need a car to get around, and (at least for these Americans) the winding, narrow roads of the countryside are by turns beautiful and dizzying. Several Dallmans have experienced motion sickness owing to the rural roads. Yet on balance villages, towns, and cities in England are a much more pleasant experience than those in America, and thereby are grounding and peaceful.

Anyway, I am going to stop here, because it is time to start to get ready for Mass today. We are headed to one of the two churches our friend Father Adam Burnham serves at: Ss Simon and Jude, Castlethorpe. The website is here. Then we are off to Oxford for the day. I still have to write up the other moments from last week, including hosting Aidan Hart for dinner this past Tuesday. Hopefully I will be able to post tomorrow. Being in a hotel does make that more likely, as far as I can tell. God bless!