Day 12: Church at Westminster, Lunch with the Barber's and Westfall's, and The British Museum

Today we were blessed to be able to attend a church service in Westminster Abbey itself. There is no charge to come for worship on a Sunday morning in arguably the most famous abbey in the world. We came in the front hall and proceeded to walk through to the seating area to the left and right of the altar. I had goosebumps from the moment I walked in the door, with the wonderful choir and soaring ceilings. The style of the service was obviously very different than I am used to at our church back in Boone, but it was a wonderful experience. One of the verses that the minister read during the service was Isaiah 45:9-22.

 “Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker,

 those who are nothing but potsherds
    among the potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the potter,
    ‘What are you making?’
Does your work say,
    ‘The potter has no hands’?
10 Woe to the one who says to a father,
    ‘What have you begotten?’
or to a mother,
    ‘What have you brought to birth?’

11 “This is what the Lord says—
    the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker:
Concerning things to come,
    do you question me about my children,
    or give me orders about the work of my hands?
12 It is I who made the earth
    and created mankind on it.
My own hands stretched out the heavens;
    I marshaled their starry hosts.
13 I will raise up Cyrus[b] in my righteousness:
    I will make all his ways straight.
He will rebuild my city
    and set my exiles free,
but not for a price or reward,
    says the Lord Almighty.”

14 This is what the Lord says:

“The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush,[c]
    and those tall Sabeans—
they will come over to you
    and will be yours;
they will trudge behind you,
    coming over to you in chains.
They will bow down before you
    and plead with you, saying,
‘Surely God is with you, and there is no other;
    there is no other god.’”

15 Truly you are a God who has been hiding himself,
    the God and Savior of Israel.
16 All the makers of idols will be put to shame and disgraced;
    they will go off into disgrace together.
17 But Israel will be saved by the Lord
    with an everlasting salvation;
you will never be put to shame or disgraced,
    to ages everlasting.

18 For this is what the Lord says—
he who created the heavens,
    he is God;
he who fashioned and made the earth,
    he founded it;
he did not create it to be empty,
    but formed it to be inhabited—
he says:
“I am the Lord,
    and there is no other.
19 I have not spoken in secret,
    from somewhere in a land of darkness;
I have not said to Jacob’s descendants,
    ‘Seek me in vain.’
I, the Lord, speak the truth;
    I declare what is right.

20 “Gather together and come;
    assemble, you fugitives from the nations.
Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood,
    who pray to gods that cannot save.
21 Declare what is to be, present it—
    let them take counsel together.
Who foretold this long ago,
    who declared it from the distant past?
Was it not I, the Lord?
    And there is no God apart from me,
a righteous God and a Savior;
    there is none but me.

22 “Turn to me and be saved,
    all you ends of the earth;
    for I am God, and there is no other.

It was absolutely amazing, sitting there where services have been performed for a thousand years, surrounded by the graves and tombs of great rulers' past, listening to the words of scripture and the songs of the choir reverbate off the ceilings and rafters. 

We were sitting in a row of chairs that were set up about 8 feet to the left of this picture.



The choir was absolutely amazing, and to hear a bit of what they sounded like, check out the links here and here.

I was also excited about today for another reason: I FINALLY got to meet Maribeth! Victoria knows her from back in Louisiana, and I did an online book study with both of them a year or so back. When we found out that Maribeth, her brother TJ and Grandparents would be visiting London too, we decided we had to meet up at some point. After the service, we met them outside and chatted before heading off to The Volunteer for lunch together. It was lovely to finally get to meet them and talk about our experiences in Europe thus far and swap stories. :) A big thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Westfall for our fabulous lunch! All too soon, it was time to part ways. They headed to Madame Tussaud's, and we headed to the British Museum.

We took the tube and walked the rest of the way to the Museum, which is free to the public and a worthwhile stop. When you go in to an exhibit and the first thing you see is the Rosetta Stone, you know it's a good one. They had Greek and Roman artifacts, Tapestries, Egyptian relics and Mummies, and an area I particulary enjoyed: the King's Library, a huge building that used to be King George III's library. It was practically lined with the books in his collection. I'm assuming this collection was amassed before he went crazy.

On our way home, we decided to make like Londoners and do some Sunday shopping. While we walked, we happened to walk by the Street that Charles Dickens lived on, Russell St. Geek moment!! He's one of my favorite authors so of course, I had to snap some pictures.

The first place we stopped was at Thomas Farthing, a fantastic hat, suit, and accessory shop. It felt like stepping back into the early 19th century. With swing/jazz music playing over the speakers along with top hats, suits, cloches, and ties sitting about, it was easily my favorite store we have been in so far. Well, maybe second only to that bakery in France.

Naturally, Galen was drawn to the hats, and he sat down the Fedora he wears almost constantly to try on a new one. There were a few people in the shop at the time, one being a older guy and his wife who were also looking at hats. We walked over to the mirror, and they walked over to where we had been and picked up.....you guessed it....Galen's old hat he had left on the stack next to the top hats. We all looked at each other and tried not to laugh as he looked in the mirror, his wife saying, "Oh, it looks good! You should get it honey!" He shook his head, sat it down, and went on browsing. Galen was going to go get the hat right then but got distracted. When I saw the couple coming back to the hat table. I poked Galen and said, "Galen, you need to get your...." and just as I got out the words, "Hat!" the man put it on once again, and this time, he looked ready to buy it, his wife encouraging him all the while. Galen stepped in and explained "Sorry, that was my hat." They looked a little confused, and then realized what he meant. We all had a good laugh, and Galen ended up buying Fedora #2. If had a choice of a hat to buy there, I would have gotten a top hat. I look good in top hats, but they don't look good with the clothes I wear, and I don't ride horses. Too bad. :)

We also got some tea at a little tea shop and I got some socks printed with the underground tube route on them. Because what could be handier than having the tube map on your socks? Are you Lost in London? Pull up your pant leg and just see where the next underground station is. :)