Taking in Bath

Saturday dawned grey and overcast but... that is not to be a deterrent when traveling in England, just makes it more difficult for pretty pictures. Francis and Robert (my hosts) were off to their home in Cornwall and offered to drop me off in Bath for the day. We rode through beautiful countryside and places that Francis had never been so it was extra nice. I had them drop me off at the exit of the motorway as traffic was really backed up and I didn't want them to spend their driving day sitting in traffic. So I walked in and when taking a picture a confusing sign at the local pet shop I met Patrick who was surprised to find a tourist off the beaten path. He was local and on his way to work so we chatted and he showed me a quieter way to enter the city.

Once in the city I was overwhelmed by the number of tourists. I realize now that I have gotten spoiled by having access to Oxford at various times during the day so I can avoid some of the crowds. Bath is a beautiful city set on the side of a great hill along the river Avon. (What I learned on the bus tour I took was that Avon is the ancient word for river so when the Romans asked the locals what the name of the river was they said "Avon", hence several River Avon's in the country.) There are Roman baths here that might be enjoyable on a much quieter day. I did go up to the Royal Crescent to see the architecture but in my mind's eye the buildings were to be sparkling white and elegant. Against the grey sky they were dull and worn - just wait till I get home and have access to photoshop - I will be able to make it look just the way I imagined. I also saw the Circus which is a smaller circle of houses built about the same time (early 1800's I think) and because of the smaller radius of the circle the curvature of the buildings was much more apparent.

Then to visit one of Bath's most famous residents, Jane Austen. I went to the Jane Austen Center and took the tour. It was interesting particularly because I finished Persuasion that morning. The photo here is of her writing desk. I did she her traveling desk in the British Library last week. I enjoyed hearing about her life and her perspective on the society in Bath and was interested to learn that although she started life solidly middle class after her father's death the family had to move to smaller and smaller accommodations giving her new insight into the society.

I returned home to finish a sermon and spend a sleepless night in anticipation of preaching at St. Columba's. Carla (the pastor) told me that she is always really nervous about preaching there so the anxiety levels were ratcheted up a few notches. I prepared my best, resisted the temptation to put in every great line I could think of, resisted the desire to cover all the scriptures and stayed focused and in the end gave an adequate sermon. It will be interesting to come back here in mid-July/August and preach again. The afternoon activities at the church were to a workshop on Carbon footprints and FirstSunday, a worship services/community for LGBTQ folks and others. This week is Pride Week in Oxford and there was a special blessing liturgy. What was interesting to me was that a new man came and when Carla was describing the flow of the afternoon she used the word "liturgy" which is very common to those within the church. This man attended church but didn't know what liturgy meant. This highlighted for me the challenge to speak the vocabulary of faith without it becoming a barrier to understanding and participation. The desire of this group is to be open to all regardless of sexual orientation and yet they sort of forgot about the "regardless of church experience." It is a great group and I honor their ministry and it is believed to be the only such ministry in the UK.

So today, Monday a day off to explore all the free museums in Oxford and then to make travel arrangements to go off to Bury St. Edmunds on Sunday.