Where To Now?

Today has been much more leisurely than some of our days. We started with a short drive from our hotel to Kingswood School in Bath. John Wesley originally founded Kingswood in a poorer area outside Bristol (Kings Wood) for the purpose of educating the children of coal miners, and providing a boarding school for Methodist preachers who were moved annually. He thought that there was no purpose in the ever-mobile preachers being weighed down by their children, and what better place for the children to be than getting an education! After all, he and his brothers were sent to boarding school at an early age after their home-schooling. Plus, the miners and other poor workers didn't previously have access to education for their children. So, the school was founded to fill these needs. Over time, however, the industrious and frugal Methodists became quite successful in their work and edged up into the middle to upper classes of society. By the mid-1800's they were moving away from the ...

Today's plan was to spend a couple of hours at Christ Church College at Oxford, then head to Gloucester where we'd have lunch. Christ Church opened an hour later than we'd planned, so already we were delayed. However, we still had a nice visit. In my opinion it's really kind of a shame that Harry Potter fame seems to have overshadowed the historical significance of the college. I really couldn't care less about Harry Potter, but half the gift shop and all of the questions I heard people asking were related to that rather than related to the school and the many historical figures who attended there. Of course, our main concern was that the Wesley brothers attended there and were ordained in the cathedral there. Side note: Jesse has taught us that the definition of a cathedral is that a bishop is seated there. It has nothing to do with the grandeur of the building, but rather with the office of bishop. In many of John Wesley's writings, he talks ...

We set out this morning as Wesleyan pilgrims in search of Francis Asbury's childhood home in what is now Great Barr, then Staffordshire. The gentleman who took us through the house said that most people around there didn't know or care much about Asbury, as he was of primary significance in America. He was the first "Bishop" (although intended by John Wesley to be called "Superintendent") of the Methodist Church in America. The time period in which he grew up was a time of change in the area, with people working in factories and "poorer" citizens treated as inconsequential to the Church of England. Asbury and Wesley's Methodism brought religion to the people, meeting them where they lived and showing them that their faith is of consequence, even in what might seem like a humdrum life. When John Wesley instructed that Francis Asbury should be named to the post of Superintendent to the Methodists in America, he insisted that he would only take th...

Wednesday was a day of adventures,  stunning scenery, good food and great company. Our first quest was to see the Wesley Chapel at Newbiggin ... teeny tiny little place, which we arrived at via a road that barely accommodated our coach. Had we approached another car, it would have been quite an impass. When we got to the village, we drove right past the Chapel without noticing.... Jesse was accustomed to arriving at it from the front side via a main road, not the back side via barely-a-road. However, our accomplished driver, Phil, backed out the way we'd come and placed us handily at the Chapel doors. The significance of the place is that it's the oldest Chapel in continuous use as a place of worship for Methodists. We had hoped to look inside, but none of the keyholders responded to phone calls and messages left. The primary item remaining from Wesley's days was a pulpit he used, and the rest has been renovated.  It's lambing season in England, and as we...

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 ...

The first stop on our Wesleyan Tour was the small town of Epworth, where John Wesley was raised, baptized and became the man he was. I'm not sure how this town would be if it hadn't been for the Wesleys... it's almost as if they loved to hate Samuel Wesley and his family when they were living, but when they died or went away and became "famous" they became hometown heroes. I guess this would just be any-old little town if it weren't known for the Wesleys. We visited the rectory that was John Wesley's home (rebuit in 1709 after being destroyed by a fire that John himself barely survived). Among the displays there was a listing of what Susannah Wesley's day typically looked like... That's a lot more time for spiritual reflection than I would have thought. I wonder how many mothers of 10 children have a schedule that looks like this? A simpler time perhaps. So far, what I've learned of John Wesley makes me wonder whether I would ha...