York and Newcastle

Today we drove north on the A1 through York and on to Newcastle. Although York had no particular Wesleyan connection (other than a couple of historic Methodists being from York), we stopped in the city for lunch and some time to see York Minster, the Shambles, and walk the city wall. We didn't have enough time to do everything, of course, so the Ernsts, Judy and I chose to peak inside York Minster for a moment, walk by a few of the shops, then climb atop the city wall for a better view of the Minster. We made a quick stop for lunch at Wacker's.... potato and leek soup and fish and chips.









Then, back in the bus and headed to Newcastle on the Tyne. This is the northernmost point of the triangle of cities that made up Wesley's "home territory" so to speak... the southern points are Bristol and London, which we'll get to later.

Jesse talked today about the significance of Wesley's social justice work. His "classes" of followers were tasked with going into jails to minister, supporting the children of those in debtors prison and other orphans, building hospitals, and caring for the poor. It's very touching to hear Jesse's voice crack with emotion when he talks about how John Wesley's motivation for this social outreach changed over time. In his early ministry, he was focused on doing the work that he thought would earn him heaven. After his conversion experience at Aldersgate (his heart strangely warmed), his motivation was love and gratitude... no longer a sense of doing good work to earn God's favor.

Here in Newcastle, an orphanage was built and also used for the other work and meetings of the early Methodists. We wandered with map in hand, shot past it by a bit, and then figured out that the shoe shop where the marker was had changed to a Barclay's. But sure enough, in the end, we found it... just around the corner from Brunswick Methodist Church as we had been told.

That little bitty blue circle about halfway up is what we were looking for. It says: "Orphan House Trust - John Wesley erected on this site 1743 "The Orphan House" headquarters of Methodism in the North."


After a nice walk, we returned to the hotel to rest, then ventured out for a nice Italian dinner at Pinocchio's. We had a nice chat with Phil, our coach driver, comparing British and English terminology and promising him that he would, in fact, enjoy biscuits and gravy if he had it our way. How do you describe a buttermilk biscuit to someone who has never had one?


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