Cat in England

July 4, 2018
Girton Parish, UK

Alas, my friend Blogger, I have returned with another entry.

In 2014, when I first met Diana, on Iona, in Scotland, we chatted for just a bit, "where are you from" (she from England) kind of stuff.  But, something made us trade email addresses, prayers etc.  Last summer, Bill and I met up with her again on Lindesfarne Island on the opposite coast at the place where Scotland and England come together.  She had just been ordained a deacon and we had just left our group from Iona.  It was then that she invited me to her priestly ordination.

Long story short/er, I came here to preach at her first Eucharist.  The twists and turns of our lives are never predictable.  I was to leave Heathrow Airport and take a couple of trains to Cambridge and hopefully arrive before midnight on the Saturday night before her first service.  I guess security is getting tighter everywhere because it took an hour and a half to get through.  I called Uber.

So after getting side swiped by a bus during my Uber ride, locked out of the guest house I was staying in, and sleeping on the Vicar's couch, Sunday morning arrived with great haste.  The vicar's family awoke to a strange woman with a strange accent wandering around the house.  They were delightful people and their Sunday morning drill of her leaving, while her husband got their little boys ready for church was warmly familiar.  In the column of "its a small church," they know Jesse Zink quite well.

Diana, me, Mandy

It was a beautiful day, Diana's sister and daughter were there, the parish showed up in a big way, and we celebrated the 67th wedding anniversary of Nora and Albert with a champagne toast.  That particular Sunday saw visitors from Kenya, Netherlands, Germany, and the U.S.  Diana broke the bread like she had done it  a million times before.  My sermon was well received.

Evensong at Ely Cathedral

Many people wondered where I was from and I realized that Brits are like other Americans who wonder where in Boston is Massachusetts located.  People are all the same.

Since I have been here Diana has taken me to Ely Cathedral for Evensong according to the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, we went punting on the river, I have wandered around Cambridge University.  But, for all you Granchester fans - we had dinner in Grantchester and then we went to the church where the fourth season is currently being filmed. Everyone was gone for the day, except the location director, who secretly let me in to see the church.  No, the Vicar was not there he is staying somewhere near Cambridge.

One last thing;  Last night I watched the FIFA game England against Columbia and had a great time with a few people I have never met.  I think I could become a fan. Go England!

Grantchester Church

Tomorrow morning I fly to General Convention in Austin Texas and  promise to write more about that experience.