Sunday, June 13th: From Jason's Diary

We worshipped at St. Adlates which is across the street from Christ Church. St. Adlates has been a worshipping Christian community for over 900 years. I was struck with its live and vitality, a thoughtful blend of tradition and contemporary mediusms.

The floor was carpeted (they had to pay historic specialists 200,000 pounds to have the original floor prepared for carpet. Around one pillar they found six graves, all facing east awaiting the resurrection. Rather than worshipping longways, facing east, they have turned the worship to make the seating wide, a semi-circle (which emphasizes immanence over transcedence) They use powerpoint on one large screen, and numerous tv screens that have been placed on the pillars.

The church was alive with children. There must have been 400+ in the service. The 10:30 service is made up of mainly families, the 6:15 of urban professionals (singles, married without kids), and the 8:15 service with more a focus on college students/grad students.

The minister preached from Romans 12: "Never be lacking in zeal, keep your spiritual ferfor, serving the Lord." He referred to the zeal and spiritual fervor of Whitefild and the Wesleys. I had forgotten, but Whitefield was a student at Pembroke College; he had been struggling with works/faith, and when the "penny dropped" (of justification by faith in Jesus) he ran into the sanctuary of St. Aldates church, threw himself on the floor and wept. He refers back to that day as the "day of his espousal to Christ."

He referred to the challenge of Wesley which I'll butcher but went something like this: "Do all he good you can, with all the means you have, at every moment, to all the people you can, for as long as you live."

Michael Green, a former rector, who has written elequently on evangelism was honored at the service. It is encouraging to see the life and work of God's Spirit, as we have, throughout the UK.

After services, we walked back to our B & B. Then Judah and I sat out for Blenheim Palace, one of the largest palaces in England, the birthplace of Winston Churchill. It was a grand adventure. First we grabbed lunch from McDonalds and ate it under the statues to the martyrs Cranmer, Ridley and Latimer. Then we rode a double decker bus to Blenheim.

All I can say is that it was amazing.

Judah and I were so moved by it all that we both made resolutions...