Christ Church, Oxford

Skip, etc. This picture required me to use my brain and tour information from 2000 when our oldest daughter-husband, took his mother and me to England. We mostly stayed in the Cotswolds region. We rode the train from London out as far as our Main St.Townhome in a small quaint town Moreton-in-Marsh, where the next day the younger two people went back on the train to Oxford and rented a car and then the rest of the trip we took day trips in & out our old but beautifully redone leased upstairs town home on Main St. with the ancient wooden stocks staring us in the face, and with a business down below our living area.

On one of the days we did sight seeing in Oxford–checking out what to see, and on a Sunday we went back to Oxford to visit in a worship service directily across Aldates St. facing Christ Church–that you photographed so beautifully & posted today– (where no one has yet mentioned that Harry Potter’s movies did some of its scenes in certain areas of the actual Christ Church Catherdal.)
WELL, THERE IS ANOTHER “ANCIENT” PLACE OF WORSHIP- IN OUR AMERICAN TERMS- JUST ACROSS THE ST. IT IS NAMED ST. ALDATE’S ANGLICAN CHURCH AND PARISH CENTER, OXFORD. ” Meeting in the city centre on a site where Christians have worshipped for 1,000 years. In everything we do, we place a high emphasis on community, Bible reading, worship and prayer.” “IT TOO HAS A LONG HISTORY STRETCHING BACK TO ITS ORIGINAL FOUNDATION, PROBABLY IN THE 9 TH CENTURY. Yes NINETH C., ACUTAL WEATLTH PATRONS HAVE BURIAL PLACES LABELED IN THE WALLS BACK TO AT LEAST THE 10TH. —- PARTICULARLY DURING THE LAST 150 YEARS, IT HAS COME TO EXERCISE A MAJOR MINISTRY IN THE CENTRE OF OXFORD.”- — Some of this iNFORMATION isTAKEN FROM A BROCHURE FROM OUR VISIT TO THE WORSHIP SERVICE. WE WERE ALL ABLE TO APPRECIATE EVERY PART OF THE WORSHIP SERVICE. Historically, I find : THEIR RENOVATIONS ALONG WITH WHAT WAS/IS STILL BEING DONE WAS FASCINATING. A BUILDING ADAPTED FOR 21 ST c. WORSHIPPING COMMUNITY, TO BE USED SEVEN DAYS A WEEK, A COFFEE HOUSE, STATING, ” THE PUBLIC WILL REALIZE THAT GOD IS ALIVE AND ACTIVE IN OXFORD TODAY AS THEY SEE US MEET AND WORSHIP”.—–( THEY ARE CONNECTED WITH LARGE NEW hi-rise MODERN SHOPPING CENTER PARKING LOTS)
— ONE OF THE PROBLEMS THE ENGINEERS OF ST. ALDATES CHURCH HAD IN ARRIVING AT A FINAL DESIGN FOR A NEW HEATING SYSTEM TO BE LAID UNDER THE STONE FLOOR & TO LEVEL THE FLOOR, WAS THE EXPOSURE OF SO MANY GRAVES UNDER THE CHURCH-WHAT TO DO WITH ALL THOSE BONES— MOSTLY LABELS GONE. —- —
” A VIBRANT ANGLICAN CHURCH IN OXFORD– ON SAT. 3, DECEMBER 2011; 7:30 P.M-12 MIDNIGHT–IF YOU ARE AGED— ( GIVES YOU THE REST ON THEIR WEB SITE. i GOOGLED IT IN–SEVERAL , BUT TRY THIS http://www.staldates.org.uki
So much to learn, and so much to give thanks to the Heavenly Father for! I am thankful among a million other things, for the Brits– the English language with all its lacking–its kings and Queens– some flat crazy, most ruthless– its Catholics, Church of England (Henry VIII & the reason for the church to exist) , John & Charles Wesly, with all their faults– and of course, now we can see them so clearly, & they are so numerous!
But look what we can learn from all of them! Let us pray that we will not commit the same sins but will be always fresh in God’s power, and the Holy Spirit that was sent at Pentecost—let us have the Full Council of God– and not think because of the education & High-tech living & the wealth that allows people to travel, to study around the world, and on line, that has so accumlated in our recent times, that we are so much wiser than we actually are.
—- God have Mercy, on us , & “Oh Lord, help us to see ourselves as Others see us”.
— the old Scottish poet, Robert Burns wote that I recall, as he saw a louse crawling around in a rich lady’s elaborate hair and hat that was sitting in front of him during the church worship service.–
Burn’s last part of the entire poem, “To A Louse”– “O wad some Power the giftie gie us
to see oursels as ithers see us ! It wad frae monie a blunder free us, An foolish notion: What airs in dress and’ gait wad leae’e us, An’ ev”n devotion! ( The dialect of a poor Scottish Poet who lived from 1759-1796– died as a young man that was very old) From my own College English Literature Book. Thanks for allowing us to write comments Skip! I so appeciated getting to travel, live abroad in a Third World country, AND MY WORLDLINESS SHOWS UP WHEN I SO APPRECIATE HISTORY– PERIOD, BUT ESPECIALLY MY OWN ENGLISH ANCESTORS. LaVaye Billings