Today was moving day. We headed off towards Cambridge early in the morning. A group of us at the back of the bus had decided that today, to keep our boredom of sitting on the bus at bay, we would sing. The back of the bus is now a more popular place to be! We sang for well over an hour and though it was hard to tell from where we were sitting I think a large part of the rest of the bus joined in. Request numbers were being called from all sections of the bus. I was playing my recorder to accompany and lead and I’ve heard reports that it could be heard at least to somewhere past the middle of the bus. (Hilariter should appreciate that report!!) It sure helped pass the time and it was great fun. I’ve also been playing it during worship time, often playing the alto line as descant. Many people are appreciating it. It feels good to be able to add that. I wish I could be more improvisational like Martin Fay though.
Our lovely visit today was in Olney. We stopped there on the way to Cambridge. Hymn writers and poets John Newton and William Cowper lived there. We visited the little museum there and their beautiful English gardens. The women giving us the tour were most enthusiastic and interested in their knowledge. Particularly interesting were the first “flash lights” and how they made lace. The flash lights were important for the lace making!
We had program time in the church where John Newton was curate. He wrote “Amazing Grace”, amongst other hymn texts. I’ve never been a big fan of that hymn but have gained a different appreciation of it having learned the background behind it. It basically speaks of Newton’s conversion experience. He had been a slave trader and at some point realized the injustice of his occupation and ended up becoming a minister and began to work towards the abolition of slavery in Britain. We of course sang “Amazing Grace” in his church along with some other hymns that he and also William Cowper wrote.
I’ve enjoyed our group work. Often during program time we’re given a question to discuss in our small groups. It’s nice to share with the women in my group on a more personal level. In some cases it’s a bit of healing time, I think. Today was a particularly good moment, a God moment.
We’ve begun settling in to our university dorms here in Cambridge at Fitzwilliam College. There are also many students here from Taiwan as well as others. I got those of us who like to check our email regularly set up on how to use the conference computers. There are only four of them and some of the other conference students (maybe those from Taiwan) were using 3 of them for a while. One student I noticed was looking at pictures of guns which we found disturbing. I tapped him on the shoulder and asked him why he was looking at guns. He got all flustered and embarrassed, said they were replicas and that it was a hobby and he’d get off the computer right away. I told him it was frightening. He almost tripped down the stairs in his hurry to get away, I thought.
Night prayers tonight were quiet and moving. We mostly have them every evening. It’s a nice way to end off the day. Kind of like bedtime prayers. And this evening too it’s been nice to just come back to my dorm room (no roomie this time) and have some me time and get caught up a bit on my journal writing.
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