First Contact – Part 25 – Anglican / Episcopalian

I combine Episcopalian and Anglican together in this one post for one simple reason. The Episcopal community is a part of the greater Anglican community. Here is a quote from The Episcopal Church Web site.

“The Episcopal church, established shortly after the American Revolution, has its roots in the Anglican Church. The Anglican Church, known as the Church of England, had a strong following in colonial America. But when the colonies won their independence, the majority of America’s Anglican clergy refused to swear allegiance to the British monarch as was required. As a result, the Episcopal Church was formed.”

When I started searching my brain for contacts I had had with the Episcopal Church I was amazed at how many there were.

My journey begins about 1981. I was still a fledgling member of the Church of Christ. A friend from church knew I was an amateur photographer so asked me to take photos at her wedding which was to take place at Trinity Episcopal Church. This church was built in 1894 and is a nice place for a wedding. I arrived ahead of time and talked to one of the church staff about any rules I needed to observe while photographing the wedding. I was told that I should not use a flash. This concerned me in that it was rather dark in the sanctuary. In those old film days, you couldn’t just dial up the ISO setting, you were stuck with the ISO of the film you had available. But I abided by the rules. Unknown to me, my friend actually had another photographer taking pictures also. Based on the equipment he had, I took him to be a professional. Apparently I was a backup photographer in case something went wrong. However, the real photographer was using a flash. I thought, “Does he not know the rules?” No one tried to stop him. Anyway, the bride just wanted me to give her the undeveloped film, which I did. But I warned her that my photos would probably not be any good because I had been banned from using a flash. I vaguely remember the bride telling me later that my photos had not come out well, but that was to be expected given the flash restriction put on me.

When my son Andrew was 4 years old, Kathy and I decided he would benefit from being in a half-day K-4 program. At that time St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church (St. Bart’s) had half-day K-4 and K-5 programs that were considered extraordinary. Sometimes they had a waiting list to get in. Interestingly, neither of the teachers were members of St. Bart’s. In fact, the K-4 teacher was a member of the Church of Christ congregation where we went. Fortunately we were able to get Andrew into the K-4 program where he had a wonderful experience. On a down note, many other churches and schools in our area started K-4 and K-5 programs, some of which were full day. Eventually, St. Bart’s shut down their program.

When Andrew was much older he attended a couple of services at St. Bart’s Church. One evening they had a guest organist visiting to perform a concert. If memory serves, the church was dedicating a new organ. As I mentioned in a previous post, I love organ music. The organ at St. Bart’s was not as majestic sounding as those in big cathedrals, but it was quite good and enjoyable.

By the way, if you are ever in Philadelphia and want to hear an amazing pipe organ without going to a church, be sure to stop by the downtown Macy’s. The infamous Wanamaker Organ is located there and someone plays it on a regular basis. The history of this organ is quite amazing. There are a number of videos on YouTube, but I guarantee you that your computer sound system can’t come close to duplicating what you will hear inside Macy’s atrium.

When Andrew was in the 6^th grade, his class took a bus trip to New York City (where apparently all non-Pace picante sauce is made) and Washington DC. One of our stops in NYC was The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, which is an Episcopal Church. This was indeed a cathedral as evidenced by its extremely high ceiling. The tour of the cathedral was quite enjoyable. It seems that every large church and aged church building I visit has repair work going on outside. St. John’s was no different.

    Andrew Outside St. John’s

 

    Inside St. John’s

In 2013, Kathy, Andrew, and I took a trip to Scotland, England, and Wales. We saw a lot of churches and cathedrals, some very old. In York, we were able to tour York Minster cathedral. This was an amazing building. Given how magnificent it is and the fact that it was completed in 1472, my guess is that aliens had a hand in its construction.

    Outside York Minster

    Inside York Minster

 

In London, we saw the famous Westminster Abbey, which is an Anglican Church. Wow! The architecture behind this building is incredible, which again indicates aliens were involved. Fortunately, we were in London on a Sunday, so Kathy and I decided to attend Westminster Abbey’s Evensong that evening. And yes, we were able to hear pipe organ music. Unfortunately, photo taking was not allowed during the service and that was the only time we were actually inside the building. I thought the service was a bit odd. We were sitting there along with a lot of other people listening to the organ with no organ or organist in sight. The minister preached, yet he was nowhere to be seen either. After the service was over, a bunch of people began filing out of another section of the church building. I then realized that we had been relegated to the visitors’ section while the members had been in the main worship hall.

    Westminster Abbey

 

Britain From A to Z: W

War

I was originally going to devote the letter W to Weather. You know, talk about how Britain is known for rain and fog, and how we encountered little of that during our visit. But recently I have been watching a documentary series on TV entitled “The World Wars” on the History Channel. If you haven’t seen it, you need to. It is very informative and very well done. Because of it, I decided to make this post different from the former ones. Rather than talk about our travels across Britain, I will be talking about something that occurred over 70 years ago that made it possible for me to even make the trip.

One of the things that really struck me was how much of the world the Axis (Germany, Italy, USSR, and Japan) took over during WW2. It had to have struck terror into the Allied nations. In 1940, Hitler decided to strike Britain with an intense bombing campaign. Many cities were attacked over many days. 60% of London was destroyed and thousands of people were killed, not to mention all the injured. It was Hitler’s intent to break the will of the Brits so they would ask Churchill to back down and surrender to the Germans. It had the opposite effect. The Brits were not about to cave in to a ruthless dictator. But, what to do about it?

Although England had a large naval fleet, they knew it could not stop the bombers. So, some fast, agile fighter planes were commissioned to take the battle to the air. Also, advances in radar allowed tracking of the German planes from the time they took off. The counterattack was extremely successful, with the RAF bringing down a large percentage of the bombers making their way to England. Hitler was so distraught over the situation that he decided to call off the British attacks and go after one of his allies, Russia. This ended up being one of the worst decisions he could have made.

One of the commentators on “The World Wars” show said he felt that England’s successful counterattack saved Western Civilization. I think perhaps he is right. And I’m so thankful for the resolve of the British people and their leaders, especially Winston Churchill. I really like Western Civilization and am glad it was saved.

In conclusion, let me symbolically take my hat off to the British. Thanks for being the stopgap during WW2 while the US was still contemplating what to do. It’s good to be your ally.

Here’s a few photos from London in WW2 that I found at http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/london-blitz.htm . I can’t imagine the horror those people felt as they were being attacked night after night during the German blitz.

Britain From A to Z: U

Unsung

As are many countries, including the US, Britain is enthralled with heroes. Usually these heroes were a part of the military, but they can include political leaders and others, also. And in many cases, there are memorials and monuments built for those unknown heroes, or UNSUNG HEROES. During our trip to Scotland, England, and Wales, we saw many statues and structures built to honor both the unsung and the sung heroes. Here in the United States, the most famous memorial for an unsung hero is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery in Virginia. Here’s a photo of some students paying tribute to this unsung American hero. That’s my son on the right.

Here’s a photo from each of the three countries we visited showing a memorial, either to sung or unsung heroes.

Commando Memorial, Scotland

The Commando Memorial in Scotland is in memory of the men of the Commandos that died in World War II. It is located in the middle of nowhere, but is apparently near the Commandos training ground.

Nelson Column, Trafalgar Square, London, England

The Nelson Column is dedicated to Admiral Horatio Nelson, who was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy and known particularly for his service during the Napoleonic Wars. Obviously, he is “highly” thought of given how high they placed his statue on the column.

Rhayader Clock, Rhayader, Wales

The Rhayader Clock in Rhayader, Wales, is dedicated to the men of the city who were lost in both World Wars. It is considered to be sitting on the dividing line between North Wales and South Wales.

There were many more statues and memorials all across Britain dedicated to individuals and groups considered to be worthy of recognition. There is a human compulsion to honor those who sacrificed themselves for a worthy cause. Scotland, England, and Wales are no different. One difference with the US is that they have existed far longer than we have. Thus, there are many more people to memorialize.

Britain from A to Z: E

Eyes

Everywhere I went in Britain, there were eyes. Deep dark staring eyes watching my every move. Well, not really. The eyes I am talking about are what we in the US call Ferris wheels. And, actually, in Britain they are mostly called simply “wheels”. But the biggest and boldest of them all is the one in London, which is called the London Eye. It stands on the edge of the River Thames (pronounced Temz) keeping watch over the good citizens of London as it rakes in huge amounts of money from tourists wanting a bird’s “eye” view of England’s, and the United Kingdom’s, capital city.

Wikipedia says that the London Eye has about 3.5 million visitors each year. Based on the crowd that was there when we arrived, I can believe it. Regular adult tickets were about 20 GBP each. If you didn’t want to wait an hour or longer, fast track tickets were available for an extra 10 GBP. These shortened the wait time to about 10 minutes. With the limited time we had in London, we opted for the latter. For the three of us, the final cost was about 140 USD, given that the exchange rate was about 1.55 USD per GBP. (With 3.5 million visitors each year, you do the math.) For your money you get to take one rotation on the wheel. That’s a 30-minute ride. And it was one fascinating ride. Since the passenger capsules are all glass, except for the floors, great views were available in every direction as you ascend to almost 450 feet above the ground. When the London Eye was completed back in 2000, it was the largest in the world. It has since been superseded by wheels in China and Singapore.

Typically, the Eye never has to stop. The rotation speed is slow enough to make that unnecessary. At the base of the wheel are three stations. The first is for unloading passengers, the second is for the clean-up crew to sweep out trash, and the third is for loading passengers. Quite efficient if you ask me.

The London Eye is not the only wheel in Britain. Other larger cities like Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool, York, and Cardiff also have them. Apparently, UKers like their wheels. We saw a few of these, but not all. The London Eye was the only one we had an opportunity to ride.

If you ever get to visit Great Britain, be sure to keep an eye out for the eyes.

London Eye on the River Thames

 

Britain from A to Z: D

Driving

Let me address the obvious first. In Britain, people drive on the wrong—uh, I mean left—side of the road. Whichever way you want to look at it, they drive on the side of the road opposite to right. When we were trying to decide whether to take a tour or plan the trip ourselves, one of the considerations was our lack of experience driving on the side of the road opposite from what we have always driven on. I didn’t think I would personally have a problem on country roads with little traffic, but I could easily see myself getting confused in a place like London. And then there are those roundabouts. I’m not used to doing these on the right side of the road, let alone the left/wrong side. Needless to say, I was a bit concerned. But we ultimately decided to take a tour for many reasons other than the driving. So, for the entire >2-week trip I didn’t touch one steering wheel. It was a nice break.

I thought it would be weird just riding on the left side of the road, but sitting up high in the tour bus, it really wasn’t. It was on the final day of our trip that Kathy and I got a real taste of left-side riding. We had a chauffeur drive us to the airport in a private car. This was included in the tour price. Then it seemed strange. From the car, we could more easily see the other vehicles whizzing by us on the right side. Andrew had already experienced this as he had ridden a London taxi to the Sherlock Holmes Museum while Kathy and I walked to Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square.

At one point in our tour, our guide explained why the left side of the road was the right side of the road to drive on. Back in the day when people mostly used horses for transportation, a person would occasionally run upon a hooligan that had to be fought off with sword or spear. Since most people were right-handed, it was only natural for the horses to pass to the right of each other, meaning they were on the left side of the road. So, as motorized vehicles made their ascension, people just naturally stuck to the familiar side. I guess that means that either roadway sword fighting was rare here in the colonies, or most colonists were left-handed.

We had two different bus drivers while on our tour. The first driver, Mark, quite a friendly ole chap, drove the first week as we made our circuitous way from Glasgow, Scotland, to London, England. Richard then took over the second week, taking us to Wales and looping back to Windsor, England. I was amazed by these drivers. Much of our trip was on narrow country roads where the great scenery was. Sometimes it seemed that we were on a one lane road. And sometimes we met another tour bus or a large truck. Each vehicle had to get off the side of the road to pass. Sometimes our left windows were scrapping tree limbs while doing this. I was just glad that I wasn’t the one driving.

Britain has a lettering system for its roadways. The larger highways are M, such as M1 or M40. These were typically divided highways with multiple lanes similar to the US’s Interstate system. The next level road, which could be four lanes, but more typically just nicer two lane roads are lettered A, such as A2 or A9. The major A roads are based on radial patterns from London and Edinburgh. The local roads are lettered B, such as B1091 or B4343. For more information, see this article.

Just in case you were thinking it: No, I didn’t see any wild drivers cutting off people or weaving in and out of traffic. But then again I spent most of my time sitting up high on a bus where other vehicles were hard to see. There’s no telling what was going on below.

A59 Kingsway Tunnel in Liverpool