The Cathedrals

Ok so one of the most amazing things about this trip so far for me has been the incredible chapels, churches, and cathedrals we have seen along the way. It started out here at Merton with what I thought was just an amazing chapel that though dark has a hauntingly spiritual feel to it that I find myself sneaking off to to take a break in the day. Then there were the churches at the Cottswalds which were just saturated with history and mystique. On Saturday we experienced the grandeur of Westminster Abbey and then on Sunday the interestingly different service at Christ Church down the road in Oxford from Merton. By far my favorite has been the Catholic Cathedral we found in London though on Saturday. Construction began on the church in 1895 and was completed eight years later. The style though is like nothing I have ever seen before. The architect, John Francis Bentley, styled it after the Early Christian Byzantine style which resembles little of the Western Roman architecture seen in most Catholic churches. The high domes in the nave were enough to make anyone's jaw drop and the nine chapels that line either side, each with its own distinct and intricate design, was phenomenal. We attended half the mass though I imagine we all would have stayed had time allowed. The service was so similar yet so different to that that I grew up in. The grand scale to which it was all done is like nothing I have ever seen before in the United States and the organist was well...he rendered you speechless. Every emotion set out in the song was poured into his playing and at times you literally felt the earth and heavens would just open up. His playing though eccentric to say the least brought life and meaning into the words on the page which is something little seen in churches today. The service at Christ Church on the other hand was a polar opposite almost. The formality of it all follows very closely in the feeling you get in the Catholic mass but the service we attended Sunday morning was spoken with no choir. Recitation of prayers and responses was the main body of the service and differed about as much as possibly it could from the contemporary worship services you might see in Joplin. No less meaningful though. After the long day in London the day before though it was more difficult to stay awake in. At least during the sermon. It went on and on and on and though I tried I could not make much sense of what he was trying to tell us. I found myself looking around which is easy to do when you are in a church as big and ornate as Christ Church is but:

1. After Westminster Cathedral Christ Church was really not as grand as I thought it would be. The college is incredible but the cathedral just did not match up.

2. I found myself in charge of elbowing a certain member of our party who has been struggling with insomnia and finds he can only sleep during important things like church, lectures, and class. But gave up entirely when I noticed that not only was half the congregation asleep but most of the clergy were also thorugh the sermon. Oh well.

Each experience has had its memorable points though and I must say have been a big highlight of my trip here.