Britain's Methodist Heritage

22 January 2018 Because of a late bus, we made an impromptu trip across the street from our hotel to the ruins of the Temple Church. This church was famous because archeological digs proved that it was originally round. The church was built in the 1130s and was refurbished once. It was destroyed in World War II. There are some interesting parts about this church; in particular, the tower of the church is not straight. While his church was not scheduled on our itinerary, it was cool to see another historical place on our own time and guided by our own interests. Our bus eventually arrived and it took us to The New Room. This building has become a center for Methodism in England and it includes a chapel, a brand new museum, and a tour of Charles Wesley’s home. We first gathered in the chapel to learn about the history of the chapel. Then, we all went to Charles Wesley’s home and saw many replicas of furniture that was in the house while he lived there. It was cool to se...

21 January 2018 Today began with a bus ride from Salisbury to Wells Cathedral. Once we arrived, we entered the cathedral for an Anglican Eucharist service. The service began with a welcome, a hymn, and a few prayers, which were no different from the usual Methodist services at Duncan Memorial Unites Methodist Church. Then, the choir sings a prayer followed by another spoken prayer; the choir was different because it was only young girls versus a group mixed with college students and older men and women at Duncan. Before the sermon, there was a New Testament reading, another hymn, and a gospel reading with sung responses. This was different because there was a lot of formality with the Gospel book, as we all had to face the book as it was being processed down to the middle of the cathedral. After the sermon, we recited the Nicene creed, said another prayer, and sung another hymn before the Eucharist began. When everyone took communion, I decided instead to just receive a blessing beca...

20 January 2018 January 20th has been quite an adventurous day for me for the second year in a row. On this day in 2017, I was in Washington, D.C. eagerly waiting to watch Donald Trump get inaugurated as the next President of the United States. Fast-forward a year later and I find myself on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean beginning my day at Stonehenge in Salisbury, England. Stonehenge is one of those things that is hard to describe other than it was a bunch of rocks. But it’s more important than that; it’s a bunch of giant rocks that have been standing there for more than 5000 years. It was really cool to see this up close in person, as ever since I saw the classic SpongeBob SquarePants episode that parodied the structure (“SpongeHenge”), I have wanted to see it in person. I also got to see a couple of other prehistoric relics, such as huts and what looks like a platform used to roll the rocks to make Stonehenge.  After some lunch and some free time aro...

19 January 2018 Today began with a visit to Christ Church College of Oxford University. On the bus, we learned from Andy, our tour guide, that this College held some inspiration for the Harry Potter films and there was also a little Easter egg regarding Alice in Wonderland, so I was ready to look for those. Once we arrived, we saw yet another old and beautiful campus. We soon went upstairs and saw the Great Hall. The stairs leading to the Hall were actually used to film a scene in the first Harry Potter movie, but the Great Hall was only inspiration for the iconic dining hall scenes in the movies. We also saw a field that was inspiration for Harry Potter’s famous Quidditch scenes.   In the Hall, we also saw a stained-glass window with Alice and the White Rabbit! The author, Lewis Carroll, attended the College, so it was cool to see this little feature. We also took some time to go to the cathedral that was on campus. It was yet another beautiful with many di...