Irony

Okay, so all of you know that I have been talking about people coming to our doors --- and how we respond to that. Well, yesterday I was over at the Church (which is across the street) and I was working on some stuff over there. And all of a sudden two guys come walking in wearing business suits. I knew right away they were either selling religion or selling stuff. So we cut right to the chase and found out they were sales guys for this company called Quill. Now I knew the company and I listened to their sales pitch --- and it was good stuff that the Church needed and it was a really good price. So I bought some stuff. And --- get this --- they have been in Roxboro for a week working and have had great success selling. So, I deduced from this example that people are open to talking with door-to-door sales people in Roxboro, as long as they have heard of the "brand name." Maybe by introducing myself as the Pastor of the Church up around the corner --- that will help with the "brand name." What do you all think?

Door-to-Door

The reason I asked all of you about people going to your door is because we are just about to start going door-to-door with WikiWorship. There are certain neighborhoods that are very close to Warren's Grove, where there is no one from that neighborhood that attends Warren's Grove. Actually, I am planning on this Sunday venturing out into these neighborhoods to gather questions for this WikiWorship project. So please be in prayer for me as I go out. You all will think this is funny, but right out of highschool I used to work for the Charlotte Observer. I was hired on with a bunch of young guys to go door-to-door selling newspaper subscriptions. And actually it was a very successful venture. I bet that 10% of the doors we went to people would buy the paper from us. I know that here in Person County it seems like there are fewer people that come to our doors. Maybe when I go to peoples' doors they will give me a chance. So please pray for me as I venture out into the door-to-door arena this weekend.

Holy Trinity Church

If you remember from a vlog that I posted about how we were going to this Church called Holy Trinity Church, this is a video of part of the service. The choir singing was from Sweden and the Church we were at was the Church that William Wilberforce went to. William Wilberforce was the main character in a movie called Amazing Grace. He was in parliament and worked tirelessly to abolish slavery in the UK. Also, at this same church John Newton preached at a number of times and he was the author of the song Amazing Grace. John Newton was William Wilberforce's mentor. Hope you enjoy.

Coming to your door

Hello all. I wanted to know what you think. When people come to your door, that you do not know, what do you do? Do you invite them in? Do you not open the door? Do you open the door and buy whatever they are selling? Do you act like you are not home? Do you get the gun? I am just wondering --- please post what you think you would do.

Back at Work

So, after arriving back from across the pond, I am back to work. I have to say that I love my job and so I was excited about going back to work. Now that I am back I will be continuing the emphasis with WikiWorship. If any of you are new to WikiWorship I suggest that you read a couple of the old posts first before continuing. Here are the links: Wikipedia, Community, and Beginning. While in London, I actually received a bunch of questions --- and in all reality they are too many to put up at this time. I know that some of the rest of you are beginning to receive questions as well. If you feel comfortable putting them up please post them in the comment section and I will gladly post them.
But, let me post one of the questions that I received and I would love your feedback on this question. How you can leave feedback is by clicking the link below this and then putting in your comment and then posting it. Here is the question: Can you be spiritual, but not religious? You know like the new age hippy stuff --- where they don't consider themselves religious, but they do consider themselves spiritual.
As you can see there is a lot of definitions that need to be formed in this question --- for instance, what is religious? and what is spiritual? But, what do you all think?

Oxford

This was our last day in the United Kingdom, so we decided to take a train to Oxford. I think people will commute into London to work --- it is about an hour train ride. The thing is --- we fought through morning rush hour and it took longer to get to the train, via the subway system, then it did to get all the way to Oxford. Below you will see me standing at the train station in Paddington. It kind of looks like I am on the island of Sodor getting ready to get on Thomas and his friends (that was for any of you Thomas the Tank Engine fans --- which I must let you know the author of Thomas was an Anglican Priest named Rev. W. Awdry, who lived in England.) What you will see below is a certain side of Christ Cathedral, in Oxford. Why this is so important is that at this cathedral John and Charles Wesley both attended while they went to Christ Church College. But, they also were ordained into the Anglican Priesthood at this Cathedral. Oxford is one of the oldest Universities in the world and some very famous people have graduated from Oxford. We were able to go to a communion service at the Cathedral at night. The preacher that night is an Anglican Pastor who is also a professor at Oxford. His specialty is on Fredrich Nietzche. The Priests name is Rev. Dr. Giles Fraser. Judging by the website that you can link to at his name, we can see he is quite the firery figure.
After visiting the Cathedral and wandering aimlessly throughout a town that is a big museum --- we went and had lunch. We had pea and ham soup. I had fish and chips (I thought one more time would be good), and then this apple and carmel and custard dessert. The custard was served warm and this was really good. As you can see I had to take a bite even before I could take a picture of it. During lunch there was a discussion at the table next to us by some older gentlemen. One of them was an American and two were Brits. There was one outspoke Brit who made the case that we Americans still have a great deal of Puritans in us. We still expect that our Clergy and Politicians should live moral lives. Then he said that we know that the Clergy and Politicians are liars in the UK and France. What do you all think? I would have to agree --- I expect the leaders in our country to be morally upstanding --- and when I find out that someone is lying (eg. Bill Clinton) I am shocked and disappointed --- rather than just thinking that is what they do.
I have really grown to enjoy seeing all the gargoyles around. This is one that I haven't seen before --- you can actually tell that this gargoyle was designed to be a woman gargoyle.
This was the end of our adventure --- and so we thought we would take a picture next to one of our last tube stops. This is the Waterloo tube stop and yes this is the one that Napoleon is well known for. Remember all of you people that have been to London "Mind the Gap."
I am just about to get on a plane and head on back to Roxboro. I am excited about heading back home. One thing I really miss about the States (and maybe this is just the South) is that strangers will actually talk to you. What I mean is that we would sometimes be standing at a Subway stop and there would be 500 people standing waiting and you could hear a pin drop. No one would be talking to each other. It is like you are unwilling to be bothered with getting to know another person --- to such an extent that you are unwilling to acknowledge their existence. Now this might be annoying to people from the UK --- but you know what --- I think it is great that we are so willing to welcome strangers into our midst, especially in the South. I hope that we never get so silent that we forget the strangers --- because we might be entertaining angels unaware (Hebrews 13.2).

Methodist Museum

Yesterday we headed out to the Methodist Museum --- which is at Wesley Chapel. This was a fascinating place --- to see where John Wesley lived for the last 12 years of his life. And also the place that he preached --- when he wasn't on horseback going throughout Britain preaching the gospel. Below is a view of the chapel from the front. An interesting note is that Margaret Thatcher was married here --- and all of her children were baptized at this chapel. Originally it didn't have the marble columns --- instead it had ship masts as columns.
This picture (sorry about it not going the right way) is the prayer room that is connected to John Wesley's bedroom. This would be the place that he would get up at 4am and go to pray and read the scriptures. In some sense you could say this is where Methodism began and continued.
For lunch I had a meat pie --- I hadn't been able to have one of these British dishes --- I had eaten fish and chips on an earlier day. Inside the meat pie were sirloin tips and of course you are to spread gravy all over it.
There is a famous preacher from London, named Charles Spurgeon. We got a chance to see his church that he preached at. This was one of the longer days --- we came back exhausted.

The Queen

Yesterday, I went to visit with the queen --- unfortunately, I had a previous engagement when she could visit with me --- so I will have to save that for another time. But, I have to say, I have got so much American independence in me that I can understand why we rebelled against the Brits. This is Buckingham Palace below here --- and notice the operative word, "palace," where as ours is the White "house." Not to say that justifies our gigantic house for our President --- but at least it is not called the White Palace. So we started off at Buckingham Palace and then went to the British Museum. At the British Museum I only went to the Enlightenment exhibit. If any of you know me rather well --- you will know I am facinated by the study of modernity and post-modernity. Well the Enlightenment was what sparked what we now call modernity. Below you will see a picture of catologuing plant life and their reproductive organs. This is a true example of Modernity --- where we try to categorize all life forms. The terrible thing that came about as a result of this is the cataloguing of humans. This espoused racism, where we said that some humans were more evolved then others and some religions more evolved then others. If any of you would like to talk further on Modernity, please let me know --- it is a subject that fascinates me. It can be summed up in Descartes phrase: "I think, therefore, I am."
Later we also went on a walk of the Millenium Bridge --- only because my sister said I had to. But I got this great shot from there. I am standing over the River Thames.
That afternoon I decided to go and watch a Cricket match. They play everyday in a park that is right across the street from where we are staying. I think I understand better how Cricket is played. I think it is a cross between Baseball and Hockey. Because the major thing you are doing with your bat is defending this wicket thing. That has the three posts. If your Wicket gets hit by the ball then you are out --- or something like that. As you can tell --- I don't completely understand the game --- but I think that you are playing offense at the same time you are playing defense.
Today we are heading to the Methodist Museum.

Westminster Abbey

Yesterday we started out by going to Westminster Abbey. Now, this is going to be some information for any of you that really like the history of the Church. Westminster Abbey is called an Abbey because it started out as a monestary. But after all Church splits this ended up being a Church in the Church of England. Now, the person that is over this Church is the Queen. All the other Anglican Churches have the Arch Bishop of Canterbury over them --- but not Westminster Abbey. We spent a whole bunch of time in Westminster and we went back for the Evensong service at 5pm.
While we were waiting for Evensong we went across the street to the Methodist Central Hall. This is a beautiful building that can hold over 2,500 people. It was built so around the beginning of the 1900's. It happens to be right across the street --- which I think is a wonderful testament of the Methodist Church. The reason I say that is it is right across the street from Westminster Abbey, the power of the Anglican Church --- which we disented from. Below you will see me standing next to a man named Mervin Appleby who showed us around. We are standing next to a book showing all the names of people that donated a pound each to help build this hall.
We were exhausted after this day. So far we have been to a Church service every full day we have been in England.

Speaker's Corner

We had a great day yesterday. We did go to Holy Trinity Church and it was awesome. There were so many children at that Church it was almost dangerous. They even had toy chests in the sanctuary and the kids were playing with toys and balls during the worship service. Yesterday afternoon we went to this place called Hyde Park. At Hyde Park they are well known for this thing called Speaker's Corner. Where anyone can get up on their "soapbox" and say anything they want. The first speaker that I heard was a Muslim who was arguing against the atheism. He did this mostly through arguing that it took a great deal of faith to believe in the evolutionary theory --- so why not put that faith toward the creator rather than Stephen Hawking. Here is a picture.
And then I proceeded down to another speaker that was drawing quite a crowd and he was a fire and brimstone preacher --- who seems like he mostly stuck to the King James Version when he preached. He was mostly arguing with people that were trying to prove there was no Jesus and he was trying to prove Jesus not only existed, but also was the Son of God.
We then met up with my sister in China Town and checked out one of the convenience stores. I am holding a bag of dried shrimp. I don't know if you are supposed to eat them like potato chips or add them as seasoning --- whatever it is supposed to be I am sure it is um, um, good.
This morning I went to mass at St. Mary's Clapham. It was just a normal service but what was really cool was the short discussion with the priest afterwards. He is of an order called Redemptorists. They are evangelical preaching priests who take a vow of poverty so they can share the good news of Jesus Christ with those who are poor. Click the link above to learn more about them.

Today we are heading to Westminster Abbey and then to Even Song at Westminster.

Holy Trinity Church

Canturbury, UK

I thought I would share with you all my trip to Canterbury --- and yes this is the place that the pilgrimage to Canterbury (in Canterbury Tales) was taking place.
You will see above the main door into the cathedral of Canterbury. This was a side view of the catherdral that dates back to 602 ad.
Here, you can see we did a great deal of time on trains going to Canterbury and then back to London. I'll keep you updated.

Former President Bill Clinton

Okay, here is the disclaimer: I wanted to put this picture up after the primary election here in North Carolina. The reason for that is that I am not endorsing any candidate for President. But, that doesn't mean I cannot go and see the Former President Bill Clinton at a campaign rally in Roxboro, North Carolina. This was so great and I was actually this close. The woman in the picture is Barbara and she asked me to take a picture of her and Bill Clinton. I was actually able to shake his hand. So I thought all of you would enjoy seeing this. If you want to comment on religion and politics you are more than welcome to, but I am actually just putting this up because I thought it was so cool.

This I Believe

I thought I would share with you all this link that a friend of mine shared with me. This is a segment of National Public Radio that is discussing what certain people believe. This is a segment by Sara Miles and you can listen to it or just read the transcript. It is very moving. Here is the link: http://thisibelieve.org/dsp_ShowEssay.php?uid=44482&topessays=1
It is less than 5 minutes long and it is well worth the time. Tomorrow I will tell you about how I got to shake Former President Bill Clinton's hand. But I didn't want to talk about that today since the polls are open.

Prayer..... cont.

Last Friday, at Piedmont Community College, I had a great visit with April. There were other people that took part in our discussions as well. I forgot to get a picture of April at our last visit so I got it this time. April is the one who asked this question. We were not really able to continue with the discussion from this question --- hopefully April will comment on this so we can continue with her question.

But, we have been having a good discussion on prayer. If you all are new to the blogging world you might not know that you can post a comment and read other people's posts. Just look below right here, and click on post a comment. There was a comment on the Piedmont Community College post that said this:
"When we ask God for things in prayer it's considered a relationship because he receives something in return from us as well. He has our faith in Him and the fact that we are followers of Him. I also believe that God can ALSO ask us for things in prayer such as our forgiveness, and giving our entire selves up to Him. The relationship starts with a person TOTALLY giving themselves up to God."
Bumptheviking makes a big claim and I would love to see what you all think. He says that this relationship, that is found in God, starts with a person totally giving him/herself up to God. Wow! That is a big claim. Does The Viking really mean that we are to give up everything and all of who we are to God? That seems huge. What do you all think? Please weigh in and put any other questions on the comment section that you might want to post.

Piedmont Community College

I wanted to share with all of you that I was invited to come back to Piedmont Community College, in Roxboro, NC, to talk about the questions those students are asking the Church and asking God. I am really excited about this and this is going to be at 12 noon this afternoon, Friday, May 2nd.

Also, we can see that there has been some discussion about prayer. The initial questions was: "What is the purpose of prayer?" And the response said: "I think the purpose of prayer is part of building/strengthening your relationship with Christ. We have conversations w/ our family and friends so it makes sense to also have a "conversation" with our Maker." This answer centers prayer on relationship --- which I think is clearly found in what we commonly call "The Lord's Prayer," --- you know "Our Father....." How relationship is found in the Lord's Prayer is that we are to address God as Father and that means we are a child of God.

Okay, so let me build on that question --- when we ask God for things, how does that line up with the purpose of prayer being relationship? On the flip side --- can God ask us for things in prayer?

End of the semester

I thought I would share with all of you that I completed my semester yesterday. Here is a stack of books that I read --- now that doesn't mean that I read them all cover to cover :-). But I gave it a good try.

Please take note of hidden message on the shirt.