Two Blokes and a Birdie

Since the last post we've been to the tomb of Beren and Luthien (Tolkien and his wife Edith) and Stratford upon Avon. The Cotswalds were gorgeous on the way and the mortarless stone walls were quite a curiosity. 

I bought a briar at Stratford and had my first pasty. Yum! Then for an adventure at the King Edward School. After being turned away at the locked 16th century door, I proceeded with a partner in crime to ask students to let us in. They were more than happy to oblige but the fascists in school office were not about to let in a Reformation scholar writing an article on the Reformation and Education. In their defense, I guess I forgot to mention that. Oh well!

We then went to Cambridge where we saw the pulpit where Robert Barnes preached the opening sermon of the English Reformation. We also stood outside St. Mary's where Luther's books were burned and Martin Bucer, John Calvin's mentor, later preached under King Edward VI. He was buried in the church, but when the Catholic Queen Mary Tudor came to power, she exhumed poor Bucer's bones and had them burned. Not to be outdone, the Protestant Queen Elizabeth, Mary's successor and cousin, gathered his ashes and had then re-interred. Let's hear it for the Elizabethan Settlement!  

Let's also hear it for Cambridge, who recognized C.S. Lewis' contribution to Medieval and Renaissance literature and brought him over from Oxford at the end of his career. It seems the Magdalen snobs at Oxford resented the fact that Lewis wrote for the common man as well as the literary and was an unapologetic apologist for the Christian faith. They decided to punish him by withholding the chair that was his due, so Tolkien helped convince his friend that a prophet could find honor at the bridge on the river Cam. 

From there we went to our hostel which was emitting horrible fumes and black smoke. So we proceeded to a nearby bed and breakfast and bangers and mash with a best bitter at Prince Albert's pub. Who said the English can't cook? We all agree they can brew! We woke up to ham and eggs and I made it to two services. King's College Cambridge had an astonishing ceiling of laced stone and twelve beautiful stained glass windows and a full grown male choir that filled our ears with glorious song. The sermon at St. Mary's expounded the Trinity. Did you know that God is what happens when the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist in a loving personal relationship from all eternity? It's not just two bloke's and a birdie. Now that's theological nourishment for the soul!  

Now we are in London where we have toured the Abbey at Westminster, the British Museum and its incredible holdings which include the Parthenon Frieze. By the time we were done we felt like we had not only been to Greece but Rome and the Viking Burial at Sutton Hoo. Hoplites, Emperors, and Viking Warriors? I think my spinning head broke the sound barrier! Just to cool our brains we went back to that Abbey I mentioned earlier for an Evensong service. More Later. Now it's off to bed and on to Glasgow airport for more research tomorrow.