London Report Number 5: The Other Stuff

Okay . . . if you're like me then you're weary of these London reports. I will put this series to bed with this post. You are, of course, free to read, to skim, or to find a more interesting blog. I will understand.

Firstly, some of you have asked if I got to see the grandson of A.E. Whitham. I did not. That's my one disappointment from the trip, but we did get to chat on the phone.

Now for the rest of the things: We began our Oxford visit with a stop at The Eagle and Child, a pub that is famous for being a regular meeting place for the likes of C.S.Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Bryan and I sat (briefly) in the seats that must have been occupied by these two giants at some point (the bottle you see a mango soda of some kind. . .the ethos statement was not broken at the Eagle and Child!).
We went on to sample the Oxford community. Below you can see me trying to look deep while walking around Christ's Church College.


This is a statue of Fred Norris when he discovered I was going to be the senior minister at Grandview (get well soon, Dr. Norris!).
This is the Martyr's Memorial--a monument to the ability of Christians to be brutal to each other. This is very near the spot where Thomas Cramner was burned at the stake. This is the home where Wesley live toward the end of his life. We were given a nice guided tour from a woman who was reared as a Methodist in England. She knew her subject and was an excellent guide.Below is one of the first pulpits Wesley occupied once being asked to quit coming around to Anglican churches. It's in a museum now.This is closet-sized room where Wesley prayed each morning from 4am-8am. This is known as the "powerhouse of Methodism."Below is a picture of Wesley's grave. It is directly behind his house/church. Interestingly, because of the damage after WWII and the scarcity of money, the church had to sell the ground surrounding the back side of the grave to a corporation (can't remember which one). The glass/mirrors you see all around the grave are part of the building that the corporation built on their newly purchased property. . . kind of sad, really.Below you can see Dr. Tory Baucum talking to the group as he stands in front of a statue of Wesley that was erected on the grounds of St. Paul's Cathedral. This surprised me. I knew Wesley was an Anglican priest and intended to stay that way, but I never would have guessed that the Anglican church would take pride Wesley's achievements.

Here are the Methodists+1 paying homage to Wesley just outside of St. Paul's Cathedral.We went to a play one night. It was fantastic. The play is called "Wicked." It has only just come to London. We were fortunate that Elphaba (The Wicked Witch) was played by Idina Menzel, who won a Tony for this role on Broadway. She is an amazing singer. For those unfamiliar with the play, it is an explanation of why the Wicked Witch (in the Wizard of Oz) became wicked.

Matt Scholl and I went running on three different mornings while we were in London. The coolest run was on our last morning there. We headed west, planning to run just a couple of miles, but suddenly we looked up to see the Tower Bridge in front of us and we knew that we had to run across it. It was soooo nice. I started the day by running across the Tower Bridge and ended it by hugging my wife and daughters back home in Wilmore.