We drove into London today and had program at St Botoloph’s in the East End, the poorer end of town, where immigrants often first settle. St Botoloph is the patron saint of pilgrims which of course was quite fitting.
Today’s program was on contemporary worship and fit in well with the worship style that I have been used to for the last many years. The best part was having the hymnwriter Fred Kaan and his wife Anthea join us. It was neat to meet this man after having sung his hymns and requesting his copyright permissions. And it was so clear how good friends Fred and Gerald are. The holy moment was at the end when LaDonna was trying out the organ and playing his hymn “For the healing of the nations”, Gerald and Fred sang it to each other at top voice and expression and emotion all off by heart. It was very wonderful.
Helen and I then traipsed through London and had a beautiful day which included seeing the Tower of London and Bridge and the Globe Theatre and St Paul’s where we participated in Evensong. Except it was said because the choir’s on holiday and so we sat right up at the front. The bizarre thing was that they paused for quite a long time at each colon in every line. And the colons were just randomly placed. Apparently this was how the monks did it back in the olden days so that they wouldn’t just rattle off their prayers. But it sure made for choppy sentences that were difficult to feel.
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