One of These Things Is Not Like the Other

Today, I had the most fortunate adventure of being able to go to church here in Oxford. Last time I came two years ago, I visited 3 EXTREMELY different churches -- a high-church, Anglican mass (loved the liturgy and music in Latin); a small, family-oriented, very friendly little Baptist church (the friendliest congregation ever); and a large, energetic, charismatic service (very much enjoyed the speaker -- one of my favorites, Ravi Zacharias). I enjoyed each one for very different experiences, so I was determined to make the most out of doing the same thing this time.

This morning, we set out with about 7 teachers and maybe 12-15 students to St. Margaret's, a little, tiny, Anglican church around the corner from St. Hugh's (the college where we are staying and having all of our lectures, etc.). It was about a 10-minute walk -- a little stone building with a cute steeple, stained glass windows, shiny relics, and a congregation of about 50. Needless to say, we increased the size of the group considerably. We had a woman curate/priest who was very kind, soft-spoken, and welcoming (in the picture above) -- her colleague, the vicar, was on sabbatical. Now, I don't personally believe in woman pastors/priests for a number of reasons (another blog for another time) -- however, when one of the male Anglican priests was asked, "Why are there so many women priests now in the churches?", he simply said, "The men in this country have dropped the ball, so the women picked it up." It was interesting to hear from his perspective. I was told today that only 5% of the British are Christian believers -- it is so associated with duty and something you had to be a part of that, essentially, it lost its purity and its personal importance to the individual. They weren't interested anymore.

The service was lovely -- I love the singing in Latin (we didn't, but the choir did), the liturgy, the formality, the well-thought out prayers and readings (they did have snippets from The Message Remix translation in their bulletin!), and the reverence. The message was on vision (specifically those of Zechariah and Isaiah), and she referenced Peter and Paul quite a bit because today is the day of The Feast of Peter and Paul (holiday). I love the tradition that many of the churches here have -- they have tea (and/or wine) together after the service and simply have fellowship together. They really pray together for unity within their fellowship (I love their prayers!) -- they've had several conferences as of late, and one upcoming, that have threatened the unity of their denomination, so it is very much of concern to them. And of course, we were invited to take communion together with them, which was so different from "the Baptist juice and crackers" way. :0) Eating round wafers that dissolve in your mouth, drinking wine from a common cup (some of the germophobes in the group couldn't handle it), and then being blessed by the priest -- everyone walks to the front and receives communion as a group.

It was just wonderful to worship with a group of believers who worship so differently than the way I have grown up (Baptist and Anglican are SO far apart in traditions and practice!), but to know that, on top of the vast amount of differences, we have so much in common in our faith. The God is the same, and we are one body. Even when it doesn't feel like it.