Tonight I decided to attend Christ Church Cathedral for Evensong worship. Now, I have been anticipating my first trip to Christ Church College, mainly because it is the place were the Harry Potter Dining Room scene is filmed....so I expected it to be grand. Even though it was near dark when I entered the courtyard, I was in awe at the magnitude of the cathedral and the surrounding college building and courtyard. In the center of the courtyard was a large fountain...everything was so picturesque. 
Inside the cathedral was equally as impressive, as the arch ways and details in the architecture were just amazing. Next to the place I sat was the Tomb of George Nowers dating to the 1650's! I'm truly finding it difficult to describe the images of my surroundings...
Even more indescribable is my impression from the choir. The choir was all boys, and though I've seen the children singing on t.v. for certain occasions I have never heard a choir like this in person. There are 16 boys or so and 12 men the choir ranging from maybe the age of 7 to 18 maybe...when I found this picture of the Christ Church Choir it said they were one of the best cathedral choirs in the country, and I believe it. The sound was purely angelic. The younger boys of course sang soprano, making for the perfect harmonic blend of voices.
The service was rigidly structured consisting mostly of prayers and a couple of Bible readings. Most of the service was sung by the choir. I just cannot express the beauty of the sound as their voices echoed throughout stone cathedral- you can only imagine how the acoustics would sound.
I found the service uplifting. And as we closed with the hymn "How Great Thou Art" I thought of the universality of Christianity...even in extremely different forms of worship- this one much more orderly and ritual based than what I attend at home- some things like the Greatness of God are just not bound by practices and geography...or even time.
The church I attended last week was St. Aldates. Directly across from Christ Church, however completely different in it's worship style. It was much like the contemporary services at places like Hillcrest. The most exciting part was the Baptism, which they conducted in the middle of morning worship. What impressed me the most was the fact that each person shared their testimony of salvation before their baptism....and after each baptism a flood of family members, and church members would surround the person to pray for them- while the next candidate shared their testimony.
The stories were sometimes emotional and I thought made for a great witness to people who may share similar experiences in the crowd. I had never seen this done before, but hearing the excitement in the new believers made me all the more excited for them! Another memorable note was the fact that these people were from so many different places...3 of them from Poland...and I know that that is more likely to happen in Europe simply because there is movement from one country to another here...but again, it was neat to see people from the various background worhiping together and celebrating the greatness of God.
Inside the cathedral was equally as impressive, as the arch ways and details in the architecture were just amazing. Next to the place I sat was the Tomb of George Nowers dating to the 1650's! I'm truly finding it difficult to describe the images of my surroundings...
Even more indescribable is my impression from the choir. The choir was all boys, and though I've seen the children singing on t.v. for certain occasions I have never heard a choir like this in person. There are 16 boys or so and 12 men the choir ranging from maybe the age of 7 to 18 maybe...when I found this picture of the Christ Church Choir it said they were one of the best cathedral choirs in the country, and I believe it. The sound was purely angelic. The younger boys of course sang soprano, making for the perfect harmonic blend of voices.The service was rigidly structured consisting mostly of prayers and a couple of Bible readings. Most of the service was sung by the choir. I just cannot express the beauty of the sound as their voices echoed throughout stone cathedral- you can only imagine how the acoustics would sound.
I found the service uplifting. And as we closed with the hymn "How Great Thou Art" I thought of the universality of Christianity...even in extremely different forms of worship- this one much more orderly and ritual based than what I attend at home- some things like the Greatness of God are just not bound by practices and geography...or even time.
The church I attended last week was St. Aldates. Directly across from Christ Church, however completely different in it's worship style. It was much like the contemporary services at places like Hillcrest. The most exciting part was the Baptism, which they conducted in the middle of morning worship. What impressed me the most was the fact that each person shared their testimony of salvation before their baptism....and after each baptism a flood of family members, and church members would surround the person to pray for them- while the next candidate shared their testimony.The stories were sometimes emotional and I thought made for a great witness to people who may share similar experiences in the crowd. I had never seen this done before, but hearing the excitement in the new believers made me all the more excited for them! Another memorable note was the fact that these people were from so many different places...3 of them from Poland...and I know that that is more likely to happen in Europe simply because there is movement from one country to another here...but again, it was neat to see people from the various background worhiping together and celebrating the greatness of God.
2 comments:
Ah, the wonderful breadth of the Church of England. :0) I'm glad you're being edified...
Hey Jen,
Your pictures are amazing. If I weren't in the second most beutiful place on earth (horse country) I'd envy you. But it really does make me want to travel to England. I can't say that I've read your blog everyday, but I do enjoy looking at it. You're a very well-written writer...I like the way you speak. Well, see ya later.
sam woodall
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