Last day in London....

So i worked on the dissertation a bit this a.m. and then went to tour Westminster Abbey and got there a bit early so I could be early for their evensong service. For you non-liturgical types, Christians used to have six hours of the day reserved for prayer they are: matins, lauds, terse, sext, none, and vespers. Most monastics still keep this. The Church of England has combined a few of them so they only have matins in the a.m. and evensong at night. It goes back to the days when the Church calendar both yearly and daily marked how we lived our lives. It was only disruptive in the sense that it caused us to stop and remember God.

So I went to evensong. And tonight was a special one because it is the day that we celebrate the Ascension of our Lord into heaven. And Rowan Williams the current Archbishop of Canterbury presided and preached. I got there early and had an awesome seat. He preached on the ascension but talked about how in many ways our humanity which seemed ugly to us at times, Christ still took it on himself, even the ugly parts, and when he ascended took that humanity with him for fellowship to God. It was good.

They had a boy's choir which was awesome and then we took the Eucharist (communion). I actually was served by the Arcbishop himself. Then on the way out I was able to shake his hand. He is a great man of God and of peace and works for peace amongst the different faiths and tries to hold the Anglican communion together which is not easy.

Is it bad that I noticed he really needs to trim his eyebrows? I mean why would that be wrong they were huge! Someone needs to tell him. Maybe next time.

Tomorrow night I will be with Kristen and Eliza. Can't wait.