A Visit to London

Journal Entry 5

I spent today exploring London with two other girls from Azusa Pacific. Our day began with a service at St. Margaret’s Church next to Westminster Abbey. I love the more traditional form of worship. A music professor once told me that he feels that modern Christian worship services with contemporary music are missing an aspect of connection to the past. Hymns and spoken verse that have been used for hundreds of years tie modern Christians in with the community of Christians throughout the centuries as we share the same words and traditions. It was wonderful to participate in this time-honored service and join in with worshipers throughout the ages. I was surprised, however, at the vacancy of the church. I attended several services at the National Cathedral in Washington DC this past summer, all of which were attended by hundreds of worshippers. In contrast, the service at St. Margaret’s was witnessed by about thirty people. I would have expected more for such a long-established church in a city as large as London. This illustrates the statistics given in previous lectures regarding low church attendance in England.

After visiting Westminster, walking through St. James’s Park, viewing Buckingham palace, walking through the Green Park, and visiting Berkeley and Leicester Squares, we spent three hours viewing the National Portrait Gallery. The Gallery is arranged chronologically with informative plaques that give an excellent narration of the story of England and made our lectures on British history come to life. I wish that we had visited the Portrait Gallery before our first test! I was amazed to see portraits of so many figures who have shaped our civilization in so many ways, from monarchs and politicians to scientists, artists, and authors. When surrounded by such a vast number of portraits and the legacies they represent, one cannot help but feel small in comparison. The Portrait Gallery gave me a greater sense of England’s heritage.