To start with, allow me to eat some humble pie. I was so wrong to compare the Oriental buffet we had been promised to anything we have in Millbrook.
We ate at Tiger Lil’s Flaming Woks in Islington. The idea is that the restaurant is supposed to resemble an Oriental street market. We picked all of our ingredients from a buffet and piled them high on our plates. The choices were vast… from the normal stuff like noodles, sprouts, pork, beef, and chicken to exotic things like edible flowers, baby octopi, and squid. Once we had piled our plates as high as possible, we proceeded to the cooks and chose one of nine different sauces. (A lot of the kids stayed safe with teriyaki, but I chose Lil’s Special Sauce, which is hot tomato and garlic.)
After dinner, we took a walking tour of London. We made our way through Soho, Chinatown, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, and Covent Gardens. By the time we finally made it to Covent Gardens, my group was wiped out. We decided to head back to the hotel and call it a night.
Wednesday morning, we had our first London breakfast, or fry-up. We ate at our hotel each morning, and the selection was okay. We had eggs, sausage, bacon (which was a little different from American bacon, more like ham), toast, hashrowns, coffee, juice, cereal, bagels… and baked beans! Apparently, baked beans are a typical British breakfast food. Who knew?
After breakfast, we met our tour guide for the day, Linda. She struck me as being the typical urban Londoner… and I am not sure I can explain what I mean by that. She was very knowledgable of the city, and took us all over. We saw many sights from the coach… the heart of the City of London, the houses of Parliament, Big Ben, the American Embassy, the office of the Mayor of London (which looks like a giant glass egg), the outside of the building used as Gringott’s Bank in the filming of the Harry Potter movie (as well as the area used to film for Diagon Alley). We saw St. James Palace, which was the former residence of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana. (In fact, it was at St. James that we made one of the Queen’s guards drop the F-bomb… you’ll have to ask me about that one!)
We had a tour of St. Paul’s Cathedral, and I was particularly moved by that experience. First of all, seeing such incredible splendor that had been built for the glory of God was just awe-inspiring. The architecture of many American churches, especially newer churches, seems to be strictly utilitarian in nature. God may be glorified by the work of the church, but the architecture doesn’t seem to be be saying much.
After we had toured the upstairs, we made our way downstairs to the crypt, and eventually, the gift shop. In the gift shop, I saw a poster that was made from a photo taken during World War II. Much of London was devastated by the blitz, but St. Paul’s received minimal damage. I know that many volunteers did all they could to protect the building, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but believe that God also played a role in protecting his own.
As I stood there staring at the picture of the dome of St. Paul’s surrounded by the smoke and haze from the bombing, I was left speechless. God may come under attack, His Bride may come under attack, but He will protect His own.
That afternoon, we went out to Windsor. More on it later!
We had a tour of St. Paul’s Cathedral, and I was particularly moved by that experience. First of all, seeing such incredible splendor that had been built for the glory of God was just awe-inspiring. The architecture of many American churches, especially newer churches, seems to be strictly utilitarian in nature. God may be glorified by the work of the church, but the architecture doesn’t seem to be be saying much.
FLIG,
You need to take a trip to Hanceville to see the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament for an awe-inspiring American church built for the glory of God!
I haven’t made that trip… perhaps I will have to do so.
Part of me struggles as I see such a beautiful place as St. Paul’s. I am so glad that it is there, and so glad that it exists, but at the same time, I have to wonder if building such an edifice today would be the wisest use of the funds. Sure, it would be a standing testimony to the greatness of God, but would it be the best way to reach and impact the world?
Maybe those utilitarian-looking churches are having a greater impact through ministry than through architecture. Maybe the legacy of changed lives is more important than the legacy of architecture. I know if I have to choose between ministry and buildings, I choose ministry.
At the same time… I am really glad that those who went before us have left such incredible edifices. I hate that the contemporary church now trails behind the world when it comes to the arts rather than blazing the way as in years past.
Interesting thought…granted, I’m not very familiar with this “emerging” theology thing, but it seems to me that it’s looking for…what would you call it…a “big bang” approach to ministry. By that, I mean it’s looking to reach the most people in the shortest amount of time.
Think about that.
The King of Kings, Lord of Lords humbled Himself to spend 9 months in His new Ark – Mary; He spent 30 years in domestic life; He then reached the people within a radius of, say 100 miles, of Jerusalem.
From there, He sent out 12, who sent others, and so on.
My point? The greatest impact we Christians can have is to live our lives as He has called us. To quote Mother Teresa: “Do small things with great love.”
Hey, remember, St Francis said, “preach the gospel always; if necessary, use words.”
Imagine worshipping in a temple of God such as St Paul Cathedral or the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament…the point of these structures, aside from showing great glory to God, is to be an aid to us in living our lives in Christ. Everything we say and do should reflect Christ; we need to see Christ in those we meet, too. In the perfect world, every object we see would reflect Christ. That’s obviously not the case. But our places of worship should speak a sermon to us through our other senses, not just hearing.
OK, enough rambling…
London sounds AMAZING. I can harly wait for Italy! I’m glad you had a good time! You’ll have to tell me about the whole f-bomb thing.
Later!