A lot has happened since my last posting. Jeannie and I finished out our anniversary trip to Austria by going to Salzburg. Salzburg is a beautiful city with over 70 churches – most of them Roman Catholic because the city was ruled by archbishops for hundreds of years. But the main attraction to us was seeing the scenes from the movie The Sound of Music (see pictures). We went on a Sound of Music tour that allowed us to see many of the places that were used in the movie and then when we got back to Oxford we rented the movie and watched it again. We had a great time in Salzburg and seeing the churches and artifacts prompted more questions about the difference between form and function in Christianity. All of these beautiful but empty churches are proof that what a church does is infinitely more important than how they do it and if we get stuck thinking there is only one way to worship and do church, we will end up being a museum not a church.
When we returned to Oxford, we were excited that David and Matt were coming soon. Jeannie and I always enjoy time to ourselves, but both of us found ourselves really missing the boys after this long! I spent a couple of days doing some research at the world famous Bodleian library and we prepared to say good-bye to Oxford. We very much enjoyed our time in Oxford. We enjoyed participating in the life of the college and we enjoyed the relaxed pace of our days that allowed us time to read and listen to the Lord.
On Saturday May 31, we took a train to Edinburgh, Scotland and began a time of exploring new places with David and Matt. We are staying in an apartment right next to Edinburgh Castle – you can actually see the castle out of our window! There are a lot of castles in Scotland and we have visited three so far. The most elaborate was Edinburgh Castle that is rich in history of Scotland and all of Great Britain. We also visited a place called Stirling Castle. It is located in a small community near Edinburgh and is most well known for being the place where William Wallace defeated the English in 1297. If you’ve ever seen the movie “Braveheart” you know the story of William Wallace. We watched the movie Sunday evening and then the next day went to the very place where William Wallace lived and fought. It was pretty cool!
The other castle we visited is in a place called Doune. It is a remote little village and the only reason we knew about this castle was it was the one used in the movie, “Monte Python and the Holy Grail.” We had a great time laughing about scenes from the movie and the people at the castle even loaned us coconuts and a helmet like the black knight so we could do some fun movies and pictures.
As much fun as it was to visit sites of history and movie significance, I was impressed by the example of integrity and courage in two men of Scotland: William Wallace and John Knox. Both were men of great integrity and courage. It was said of John Knox after he died, “there lies a man who had no fear of any man.” Of course, William Wallace’s nickname was “Braveheart.” But the thing that clinched these impressions for me was finding out the name Abbott comes from the Scottish clan of McNab whose motto was “let all fear be absent.” May that be true of all of us as we follow God’s will.
2 comments:
You know when I read that last bit about our name I totally thought about two things. First, Psalm 27; "The Lord is my light and salvation whom shall I fear?" Second, in my roleplaying games there is a class called a paladin. They are basically holy warriors. In the game they get an ability that makes them incapable of feeling fear. I always thought that was one of the most amazing concepts; that one could have such strong faith in ones God that you couldn't even feel fear, no matter what you faced. Wouldn't that be an amazing thing to be able to say?
Steve and Jeannie: I just found out about the blog yesterday and was delighted and have enjoyed reading your experiences you are having. I laughted when I read the part about the Baptist College and them offering you Sherry and Wine. My next question is, did you partake??? Keep the pictures and the blog coming and I can hardly wait to view pictures and here all about it when you return. Your experience will be the closest I get the Europe. Enjoy and looking forward to see you in July.
Post a Comment