To Ambleside

I have finally made up my mind to post a free-verse narrative poem describing my experience walking the five or six miles over the fells from Grasmere to Ambleside. It's mostly poorly expressed stream of consciousness, but it was a good bit of fun to come up with as I was walking. Consider it an experiment. You may expect tedium and a lack of logical flow. Just don't expect anything of genius. Also, the spacing is entirely messed up because of the blog formatting. C'est la vie.

Journal 3: Lewis and Eliot on the Limits of Words

I must confess from the outset that I take a profoundly mischievous delight in writing this journal, for I intend to bring a strain of ideas in the work of C.S. Lewis into conversation with T.S. Eliot’s poem, “Little Gidding,” in the full knowledge that Lewis would likely have been quite disgruntled by the similarities of thought I will find there.

Journal 2: Modernism and The Abolition of Man

My second effort to engage with the texts for class. I enjoyed it a great deal.
In this journal entry, I want to examine in what way the philosophy which Lewis criticizes in The Abolition of Man relates to the modernist struggle to recreate metanarratives for their lives, how it mirrors the reigning philosophy in our society, and how likely the consequences which he predicts will arise from this view of the world are to occur.

A Few Thoughts from an Oxford Don

Thinking about passages from two wonderful essays by C.S. Lewis in The Weight of Glory today.
The first is from a sermon entitled "A Slip of the Tongue," which is about our own desire to only give part of ourselves to God. It convicted me so much as I read it during my devotions this afternoon, because I detect in myself the overmastering desire to remain in control of my life, to keep some part for myself, to avoid anything embarrassing or uncomfortable that God might ask me to do. Lewis so truly points out that God does not give us this option.

"An Everlasting Love"

It's been a while--sorry for that, but I had no internet access in Helmsley. Which was actually a wonderful thing. Our whole group seemed to take so much joy in the time of rest we had there.
To fill you in, we left London Thursday morning, and drove north for about four or so hours (I don't really remember how many, I slept a good bit) to York. On the way, we passed through Nottinghamshire, which, in case you didn't know, is the home of the Robin Hood legends. So I silently freaked out in the front of the coach, and took random pictures of the countryside.

"I have bought your soul for God"

If you know me at all, you know I like musicals. If you like musicals enough to have bothered even a passing conversation with me about them (or if I have subjected you to it whether you like them or not), you know that "Les Miserables" is my favorite. This afternoon, I attended a matinee performance of said show at the Queen's Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue. It was the third time I had seen the show live but the first professional performance.

The Ball and the Cross and the Light of the World

Today was very busy and very draining for a variety of reasons. I will start with this afternoon, and then I'll get around to the morning because that's what I want to talk about the most. This morning was our tour of St. Pauls, and we were there for about an hour and a half before grabbing lunch in a square near the cathedral and hopping the Tube to explore a couple of museums.

"An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered"

This morning, everyone in the program arose bright and early to meet our coach on time. The coach was supposed to arrive at 9 and transport us first to Penshurst Place and thence to Hampton Court. At about 9:30, our program directors were informed that the driver had encountered traffic and would be fifteen minutes late. So we waited. For about four hours. At 1:00, we finally gave up, and the coach company canceled the ride, ending our hopes of reaching either site at all. Our poor directors were considerably out of sorts.

"For peace comes dropping slow"

Wow, I am behind on blogging. To put it simply so much has happened that it's hard to keep track of it all, so I'll try to go over some highlights of the past few days. First off, Wednesday night, Rissa, Lauren, Emily, and I had the privilege of watching "Much Ado About Nothing," which featured Catherine Tate and David Tennant of Doctor Who fame as Beatrice and Benedick. Tennant was simply incredible in his role, definitely the best interpretation of Benedick I have ever seen. It was a delight.

Pygmalion and Other Wonders

Hello all,
The past two days have been somewhat overwhelming but such a tremendous blessing! Yesterday morning, we set off for Greenwich led by one of my professors (whom I leave persistently unnamed for privacy's sake) leading the way. It was my first trip on the London Underground, affectionately known as The Tube, also my first trip on light rail in the country. I have to say, the Tube is efficient, but the light rail made me feel rather ill, and that detracted from the fact that I got to walk across the Prime Meridian several times through the course of the day. Learning the seafaring origins of Greenwich Mean Time was fascinating, though. If you get a chance, look up the story.

"Cry God for Harry, England, and St. George"

That quote doesn't have anything much to do with what I am going to say, except it includes the word England, which is where I am (!!!), and I read it in "Henry V" last week, and it reminds me of "Sherlock Holmes," which puts me in a good mood.
All that to say, good evening (or rather, in your time, good afternoon), friends. I write this from the narrow stairwells of my hotel in London. I am in the stairwell because the wifi in the rooms is atrocious, and for some reason, it's better out here. England is not terribly good at internet, it seems. So, a recap of the past two and a half days:

"I journey forth rejoicing"

Tonight is my last night in the United States for the next two months! I am thrilled to be returning to England. I am also nervous about being away from home, about the plane ride, about missing everyone while I'm gone. Tonight we had a prayer meeting open to all students in the program. A group of us gathered and presented our fears and excitements before the Lord, and I definitely feel more at peace about everything. This fellowship is going to be amazing. I felt God giving me the last four verses of Ephesians 2 to pray for this group. I love the idea of a group of people being built into a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit, and I truly pray we may experience that this summer.

U.S. Classes: "The Darkling Thrush"

Campus is so quiet and beautiful during the summer. It's strange to eat in a cafeteria that is mostly empty, sit in class buildings full of empty halls and unused rooms, and stand in an English department empty of professors. It was bizarre to visit the library today and not see students camped out at the inumerable study carrels, brows furrowed over heavy textbooks. Perhaps the oddest thing is the total lack of commitments this week: all I have to do is show up to meals and class. No work, no small group, no floor events, no evangelism team, no harp studio or symphonic band rehearsals. I'm having a difficult time believing that I actually have to do homework. Granted, the reading is so delightful, it's difficult to think of it as work.

A Dangerous Business

"'It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,' he used to say. 'You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.'" -J.R.R. Tolkien

Well, going by Mr. Bilbo Baggins' wisdom, this summer is going to be very dangerous for me. I will be spending the next seven weeks of my life exploring England with about forty other students from my college. We will be taking literature classes from two of our English department's incomparable professors along the way. My course load consists of C.S. Lewis, Shakespeare, and Modern British Lit. If you know me, you know how thrilled I am. England is the home of my imagination, and I am over the moon to be returning.

Love is Action

About a week ago, I was sitting on my dorm room floor, praying for God to show me how to love someone that I don't like at all. For quite some time, I have struggled over the question: how do we, as followers of Christ, deal with feelings of envy, animosity, or disdain, let alone, love people as Christ did? I think God is beginning to show me that answer.