Beware! This post is much longer than the previous ones.
Today was much more laid back than the last few have been. In some ways, that was a relief. It’s been nice to slow down and try to catch up on some stuff, although the internet has been off and on all evening, meaning I can’t actually use this free time to work on the website. That’s also why I don’t have many photos today.
Anglican Church Service
I started the day off early by walking to CS Lewis’s church, Holy Trinity Church, for their 8am service. It fit better with my schedule and I honestly couldn’t tell the difference between a Communion (BCP) service and a Eucharist service. Aren’t those terms synonymous? I found out after the fact that BCP stands for the Book of Common Prayer, a service guidebook written for the Anglican Church in the 1600s. Because Anglican services are completely scripted, this made the early service the “traditional” one and the later service the “contemporary” one. I found that funny because the contemporary service still consists of traditions older than any church in Kansas.
It ended up being a very nice service. I walked in and sat down in the back row before one of the old women there informed me that they only sit in the chancel due to the low attendance for first service. The chancel is the sideways-facing benches on either side of the altar at the front of cathedrals and medieval churches. Perhaps it’s that way in every Catholic and Anglican church — I’m not sure. There were only 6 of us total, 5 elderly women and me, plus the priest (also a woman). They were all very kind and supportive, helping me through the service. The entire service was a collection of prayers and readings of scripture that built to culmination in the taking of Communion together at the altar. Communion felt particularly significant because of the ceremonial buildup and the blessing from the priest. She spent several minutes carefully laying out the elements, praying over them several times, and blessing them with various rituals that seemed important.
If you’re reading this and it sounds legalistic or unnecessary, I can understand that. Especially if you come from an Evangelical church background. Though to that I will say, this was my very first experience with a liturgical service; It didn’t in any way feel superficial or as if it were designed to help you “earn” anything. Everything we did was highly participatory, relying on personal responses from everyone for every prayer and scripture read. The blessing of Communion was all done in a way that felt extremely reverential, giving weight to the elements we were about to take. In many ways, the service actually made me feel more aware of God and His authority and my reality. Where Evangelical church services emphasize our personal feelings/relation to God and trying to learn things about Him, this service was obviously designed to guide you into awareness that He is a great God. He cares about each of us for sure! But the things of Christ and the Lord are also very serious, significant, and holy things. Both churches and both services absolutely have their place, but after only one experience, I can say I certainly wouldn’t mind some more liturgy in our Evangelical churches once in a while. Jeremy and Todd did a wonderful job with this on Good Friday with our Tenebrae service this year.
All in all, it was a wonderful and nerve-wracking experience. I would love to come back. It was neat to worship service in CS Lewis’s church, but even moreso to forget that fact by the time the service was going. If you’re interested to read the transcript of the service today, you can do so here. The BCP service used almost the exact same transcript, albeit without any songs and with far more “thys” and “thous”.
On to Olney!
I spent a good chunk of the morning trying to make my way to Olney. It required an hour-long train trip North (standing room only), then a 45 minute train trip Southeast. Because I failed to finish my research for this part of the trip, I found out that Sunday is the only day of the week that there’s no bus to Olney. Go figure. I took a cab to the next town over, then walked the remaining 3 miles into town. I’m pleased to say that I must be getting into better shape, as the 3 mile walk didn’t leave me aching or exhausted.
Olney is a (of course) a beautiful little town. It is far busier than I expected. To the best of my knowledge, the dozens of little restaurants, pubs, and shops make the town a market hub for other small villages in the area. Just like in small town America, many of the buildings here have a date stamp at the top, although the dates here are often in the 1600s or 1700s. The Olney Church, where John Newton wrote “Amazing Grace”, has a foundation that dates back to the 1300s. I’m hoping to check out the interior tomorrow.
Obviously, a trip to Olney wouldn’t be good without checking out the Pancake Day racetrack. There’s not too much to it this time of year. It was still pretty cool to see where it’s run though. I wonder if the people of Olney don’t emphasize the competition as much as we do in Liberal. During lunch, I was speaking with the waitress about my trip. I told her where I was from and she stated that she’d never heard of it. Talk about a dagger to my heart! That’s okay though. I might ask around to see if anyone else knows about Liberal or if she was just an odd one.
Onward
Tomorrow, I hope to be able to eat at the Olney Pancake Parlour for breakfast. I’d like to see the interior of the church as well, then it’s on to London again.