A Glorious Sunday

 

Sunday, May 8, is a day I had looked forward to for at least a month before my travels began.  That is for two reasons: first, it would be my only full Sunday in London, and I knew I wanted to worship at St. Peter ad Vincula in the Tower of London, and, second, I had purchased a ticket to a matinee showing of Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing at the Globe Theatre.  A third plan was to participate in evensong at Southwark Cathedral.  I've been interested in the chapel in the Tower for a very long time due to my interest in the Tudors, but also, when I was here in 2020, I visited the Tower on a Sunday and could heard the congregational singing coming from the chapel, and it was so beautiful that I decided next time I was in London that I was going to worship here.

It turns out that worship services are the only events that I've had to queue for in England.  Apparently they are very popular.  People keep telling me how Christianity is dying in England, but from what I can see it seems pretty robust.  And these aren't just tourists trying to get into the Tower for free.  The ladies in front of me were from London and genuinely wanting to worship, and in the service itself it was very evident that many there worshipped regularly and knew each other.  The chapel holds about 180 people (I think), and it was very nearly at full capacity.

It was pretty amazing entering the chapel -- a building that dates back to the time of Henry VIII, though there has been a structure for worship on this site even before the building of the White Tower in the time of William the Conqueror.

Having participated in my college's 100th anniversary graduation ceremony just before I left, I've really been noticing regalia.  The British clergy have got us beat all to pieces when it comes to regalia!  As to the service, although it was "high church," it was amazingly personal, almost to the point of being casual in some parts.  The minister told a wonderful story about having opportunity to visit a nuclear submarine and learning from the men there how much trust they have to have in each other to be stuck in a sub underwater for 6 months at a time on such dangerous missions.  The minister then made parallels to our faith and trust in Jesus and also in other members of the body of believers.  There is always so much in an Anglican service that makes me sense the oneness of all believers.  They are very gracious about other denominations and really display a spirit of oneness -- rather being focused on "we're the most right, and everybody else is dangerously wrong."  It's really refreshing to worship in such a spirit of unity and grace.  They also use shared creed, confessions and prayers.  We said the Lord's Prayer together, and we also recited the Apostle's Creed, which are things I grew up with (but seem to have disappeared  as I've gotten older for some reason).  There was a choir, and some music was sung by the choir alone, but there were at least 5 or 6 congregational hymns, each of which was familiar to me in some way (same tune with slightly different words or whatever).  It made me feel like a part of the Body of Christ in all times and all places.  It was very reverent as well.  There was quietness and respect.  The congregation stood and was silent as the clergy and choir processed in and then again as the clergy and choir processed out.  At the end the congregation sat again and listened in silence to the organ postlude as an act of worship.  If I could worship here every Sunday, I would do so.  In fact, if I ever get to London again in the future, this is where I will be worshipping.  It has deep roots yet was modern.  It was profoundly respectful yet very loving and welcoming.  I was in tears more than once during this service, absolutely moved in my spirit, and have rarely felt so close to God.  The service was over an hour long, and I would gladly have spent twice that or more worshipping here!  

To the side of the chapel is a memorial to those who lost their lives to execution in the Tower (mostly by decree of Henry VIII) and who are now buried in St. Peter ad Vincula -- including Lady Jane Grey, Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, etc.  There is a quote circling the memorial: "Gentle visitor pause a while: where you stand death cut away the light of many days: here jeweled names were broke from the vivid thread of life: may they rest in peace while we walk the generations around their strife and courage: under these restless skies."

I was able to grab a couple of other quick shots of the Tower (including the wall of the Tower with modern London directly outside!) as I rushed off to the Globe Theatre - nearly running at times to get there in time.  (No, of course I wasn't thinking I might need lunch!)

The Globe!

Entering the Globe - this was amazing, and my camera absolutely could not pick up the color and detail that was going on here.  This "open air" format was pretty different for me - hearing all the airplanes and helicopters going over, and having a talkative crowd, but then I remember it would have been rowdy in Shakespeare's day, and I began to enjoy the whole experience.  The play, Much Ado about Nothing, was spectacularly well-performed.

The dispenser for the hand sanitizer was quite appropriate for the Shakespeare venue!

After this I rushed off again immediately to try to get to evensong at Southwark (why do I never think about leaving time for meals?).  It turns out that there was not an evensong service, but I was able to get into the cathedral, which was much larger than I had anticipated.  It has a particularly long history - figuring in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales - and a couple of hundred years later having been the parish church of Shakespeare when he lived in London,  (Of course, it goes back far longer than that.)

What drew me to this area is that this is where, in 1552, "my mathematicians" Girolamo Cardano and John Dee met.  Of course pretty much everything has changed in 470 years, but there are parts of this church they would have been familiar with.  I'm going to try to post a few more pictures, but I'm in kind of a crazy situation.  I'm posting 5 days after this happened, and I'm in Oxford now, which means I have more time, BUT the wifi here is so RIDICULOUSLY slow that each picture is taking about 3 minutes to load, which is nearly untenable.  (For only about $30 per night I can updgrade to wifi that is 10x faster  .  .  .  what a racquet!)  So, without further commentary, here, if I can get these up, are pictures of the Thames, modern London, St. Paul's Cathedral, Millennium Bridge, and the Tate Modern Art Gallery.