The jet lag is finally gone and I have a fully functioning brain again. Well, as good as it gets anyway. I had an amazing day and I don’t know how to explain how inspiring it was. We stood in a church that was literally built in the year 1200. John Wesley had preached there while at Oxford and the church asked him not to come anymore because they thought he was too “enthusiastic”. (They used to use that term to mean fanatic.) We saw the school he attended for university and where he tutored other students. We saw the churches where he had preached and we climbed 137 steps up a bell tower to have a view of Oxford that was breathtaking. It was shocking how busy the city was and how many people where there. In this city of revered scholarship and church steeples, modern day retail chains inhabited buildings that were older than our country.
On a side note to all the Harry Potter fans, the dining hall at Christ Church was where they filmed all the Hogwarts dining hall scenes and I was there today and walked through it.
My favorite site today was the Castle prison that has now been converted into a luxury hotel. It was where Morgan convinced the Wesley brother’s to accompany him to do ministry with prisoners. That one visit turned into a mission or ministry that infected everything John did from that day onward. His passion for the lost and the lower classes was evident after that fateful day. This heart for the common man was completely counter cultural in England at that time and got him in some trouble. Not just being asked to stop preaching at St. Mary’s church. This belief in the value of every living man and woman is something that the United Methodist Church still believes in today. This heart for those who are suffering and need help is so evident in everything we do. I am so pleased and proud to say that I visited this ex-prison and got to stand on stones that they walked across to help others. I can only hope that our ministry can be as relevant and worthy.
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