25 January 2011

A Short Visit to London

We recently had to make an emergency trip back home for a family funeral so on our way out we decided to see some of London's most famous sights knowing that we would be back for the museums before too long.

London is a bustling and busy place, but seemed friendly as we set off on our adventure.  Of course it took some time to get used to the flow of the underground stations and double-decker buses, but we eventually got the hang of it all.  It was a cold, but thankfully not a freezing day and the brisk pace that we set did much to stave off the chill.  

The girls enjoyed just looking around in wonder at all the things that they had heard about: The London and Tower Bridges, the Tower of London, and the spires of St Paul's and Westminster Abbey.  We climbed all 311 steps of The Monument built by Sir Christopher Wren in commemoration of the Great Fire of 1666.  The view of the city was spectacular.  After that rigorous climb none of us were of a mind to walk the rest of our way (our goal being evensong at Westminster Abbey at 5 o'clock).  We could see the tower of Westminster in the London skyline and it seemed quite a healthy distance away.  We walked to St Paul's and then hopped on a bus (red double-decker of course) and rode all the way to Trafalgar Square.  The girls enjoyed the lions and the fountains.  We had to drag them away, but Westminster was finally in sight.  

As we made our way toward it Big Ben and the Houses of Parliment were on our left. They were so beautiful in the gathering dusk.  Finally our destination was before us.  The door were opened for evensong at 4:30 so we were able to surreptitiously look around before the service began.  There was a beautiful creche at the front of the Abbey and it is quite an education in itself to see all the famous names of people who have been buried there.  

This evensong was a traditional sung service and it was so beautiful and worshipful.  The girls sat quietly (indeed I think they were too tired to do anything else). It was a beautiful close to a beautiful day.

30 January 2011

A Christingle Service

This past Sunday on January 30th we had the pleasure of being part of a tradition that has been in England since the 17th century.  A Moravian pastor while ministering in England shared the Moravian idea of the Christingle with the people of his congregation.  The idea began as a way of sharing the gospel with children; to put this spiritual reality into something tangible.  Many churches here celebrate it during the Advent season.  Our church celebrated it on Candlemas which is the celebration of the presentation of Jesus in the temple.

There is an orange to represent the world, four skewers stuck into the side of the orange filled with fruit and sweets to represent the four seasons and the good things they bring, a red ribbon around the middle representing Christ's shed blood and finally a candle in the center to portray Christ as the Light of the World.

It is a service dedicated to children and all the children of the church took an active part in the service by helping to build a large Christingle and then to pass out all the small Christingles to all those in the congregation.  Our girls enjoyed it so much to the making of the Christingles on Friday evening to passing them out on Sunday.  It was a tradition that for us was as beautiful as it was meaningful.