03 March 2010

Day Two - London, 3 March 2010

Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness *
and cleanse me from my sin

For I acknowledge my faults *
and my sin is ever before me.

Psalm 51:2-3, From Morning Prayer in Lent, Common Worship - Daily Prayer

St. Katharine

So began my morning, with these words from Morning Prayer.  Not to say that I was feeling especially like a sinner today, but that the day (which was mostly cold and grey anyway) was covered with a scrim of regret, shame, and anxiety about being unemployed.  In all that I did to get away, it was there as a smudge, or smear over the wonderful things that I did and saw.  Chesley (my psychiatrist) will not be happy to hear this.  

Breakfast followed in the refectory - and I think that most Brits are more shy than I am.  Finally someone broke the ice, and we spoke - albeit briefly.  I took the Tube to South Kensington, a station that brought back memories of my visit here with Joanne in 1974.  Not much had changed at the station.  One nice thing was the pedestrian subway that connects the station to the Natural History Museum (which I did not visit) and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A).  I read somewhere that after all of these institutions were built, including Royal Albert Hall, the locals called this part of London Albertopolis.  I believe it.

Ceramic mullion at the V&A

At first I found the museum un-engaging.  I suspect that after experiencing the Uffizi in Florence, and the Bode in Berlin last Fall, the casts and assorted Della Robbia didn't seem quite right.  I did give it my best, however, wandering through room after room of stuff.  The V&A must be Britain's attic, much like the Smithsonian is ours.  What was utterly fascinating was the Theatre section, with costumes, photographs, videos, etc., of all the London stage productions.  Truly marvelous!  I avoided all of the Orientalia ( I may go back), and around 11:45 found myself hungry and wandered off to the CafĂ©.  Here is where I began to understand the V&A.  Having picked up my Steak and Mushroom Pie (what?  no kidney?!) and a Limonata, I went to the three indoor rooms, all of which are splendid in their Victorian decoration.  I wanted to take photographs, but didn't want to disturb the people around me.  It was then that I understood why I wanted to be there.  After lunch I photographed some architectural details including the fabulous ceramic staircase.

The Ceramic Staircase at the Victoria and Albert Museum

Taking a pause, and looking at the map, I realized that I needed to go see at least two paintings, one by Byrne-Jones, and the other by Dante Gabriel Rosetti (who's the Italophile?).  The painting, The Day Dream, is absolutely stunning, and I found myself taking a considerable amount of time with it.  

The Day Dream by D.G. Rosetti

There were Tuner's an Constable's in the next room - but my aesthetic receptors had all been blown.  It was time to go.

Out onto Brompton Road I took a few steps to John Cardinal Newman's Brompton Oratory.  Jo and I had visited here in 1974, and I recall being very impressed.  That was, however, before I had been to Il Gesu in Rome, or Einsiedeln in Switzerland - that is before I had seen real Baroque buildings.  So this visit was spiritual - I took in the good cardinal's faith, and noticed that the oratory was perhaps 3/4 size of what I had seen in Italy, France, and Germany.  

Up to Knightsbridge, and I avoid Harrod's, instead taking the Tube over to Euston Station.  My goal is to see the Sir Flinders Petrie collection at the University College - London.  This is not a museum.  One runs up a flight of stairs to a very ordinary looking door, having gone into one down on the street, where one is cordially greeted by some graduate assistant who tells me that I can photograph, but without flash, and to enjoy myself.  I pushed open a door and went into a wonderland.  You have to understand that I have been an Egyptophile since I was 8 (one of the first books I borrowed from the Library in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was a book on "the heretic king - Akhetaten").  



From right to left: Ahketaten, Nefertiti, and daughter Meriaten

And here he is, with his wife, Nefertiti, and daughter offering praise (see the hands of blessing coming from the obliterated sun) to the sun god, Aten.  As you can see from the photo, all of these treasures are propped up in rather ordinary cases of wood and glass.  There was glass, pottery, beads, pieces of sculpture, stelae, and a cast of the Palette of Narmar.  This was all stuff that I had read about as a kid - and there it was in front of me.  Especially wonderful were the pieces from Tell El Amarna, Ahketaten's abandoned capital.

As my daughter Anna reminded me once, as we travelled through the Colorado Rockies, "even splendor can become boring."  I wasn't bored, but I had taken in about as much as was possible, so I headed around the corner to a huge gothic revival church, The Church of Christ the King.  I was first aware of a small chapel on my way to the Petrie Collection, but when I actually got there, I realized that it was a huge building.  Someone was playing the organ, which was nice.  It was nothing that I could identify, but I liked it all the same.  



The English Chapel at the Church of Christ the King

I naturally thought that this was a "redundant" Anglican Church, since a sign stated that the church proper was not in regular use.  It wasn't until I got into the chapel that I read about what this building was really all about.  It was built as the "Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church" by a group in the late nineteenth century who followed the teachings of a Scottish Presbyterian pastor, who was not beholden to Romans, Orthodox, or Anglicans, but who believed in the catholicity of the church.  He ordained 12 men, who ordained others, but when all of the original 12 died, there were no more "new apostles" to ordain pastors, and so the movement died out (ca. 1910).  The trustees for this building rent it to the Church of England to serve as a chapel to the University.  The windows in the chapel are truly unusual, and I sneaked an illegal exposure of some of them.

I walked down to Tottenham Court, looking for either tea or an underground, which ever came first.  The underground won, and I train back to Knightsbridge.  The foodcourts at Harrod's are wonderful, but not as easily used as the ones at Ka Da We in Berlin, so I retreat across the street and have tea at Richoux (wonderful sandwiches, scones, clotted cream, fruit cake, and a pretty dreadful strawberry thing) which must serve as supper.

Thence back to Harrod's, perhaps to buy a hat, but way too expensive - so no to that.  Selfridges?  I am tired so I get back on the tube, which is really slow because of an "illness" at Westminster.  I get off at Lymehouse, and go to Cost Cutter and get some snacks.  

I think I've forgotten the scrim for a few moments, so off to dreamland.  Perhaps the Rosetti lady will help me.




3 comments:

  1. Interesting -- didn't know you were laid off, I must have missed that bit of information somewhere along the line. You appear to be coping with it in a way that will enhance your spiritual and emotional wellbeing.
    Here's a footnote on the "Catholic Apostolic (Irvingite) Church": they had a congregation in NYC on W. 57th St., founded I think in the 1870s -- they built an elegant church there which still stands. Altho I think the last "apostle" died around 1905, they had numerous "priests" who functioned for years after that. I believe the priest of this NYC church died in 1948, but the parish continued to exist sans Eucharist (altar draped in a white sheet) with sermons of the "founding fathers" read from the pulpit. They finally went out of existence in the 1990s as parish and denomination, and after some negotiations with David Benke, GAVE the church to the Atlantic District LCMS for the purpose of starting a new mission, which continues today as the Lutheran Church of All Nations. All the basic appointments have been kept intact (such as a sedilia for the "archangel" in the chancel, etc.)According to the ethos of this group, no money could change hands in the transferral of this house of God, so Atlantic Dist. got a real bargain there. It was to be stipulated that no woman could ever attempt consecration of the Eucharist at the altar, or the altar would have to be destroyed. Benke balked at this on the grounds that "this is what the LCMS is now, but we don't know what it will be in 50 years."

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  2. O Well-born-one, thanks so much for the commentary on this group. Why am I not surprised that you would know all about them. And how wonderful to have David Behnke left with a conundrum. Does this group still have trustees that are living? The London group apparently does, although they accept rent from the COE. The church is stunning, however, and it is largely used as a chapel for the students.

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  3. Ah yes, O Godlike One -- thoroughly enjoying your trip vicariously,as I may never see these sights. -- The men that Benke dealt with were already quite old in the 1990s, I have no knowledge whether any of them are still alive. In any case, they totally relinquished the building to Atlantic Dist. LCMS, and my understanding is the denomination as a corporate entity ceased to exist, at least in the US. -- There's no real conundrum for Benke, as the likelihood of LCMS ordaining women in our lifetime is exceedingly remote.(I can almost see Rome ordaining women before the LCMS does -- tho that too is extremely remote). -- There were lawyers involved with the negotiations with this group, and they succeeded in persuading the "Apostolics" to tone down some of the more extreme stipulations. Here's another amusing one: they wanted to stipulate that the facility be used only for "purely spiritual" purposes, that no "activities of an eleemosynary nature" be carried on. In no way, much to his credit, was Benke willing to barter away the Lutheran commitment to ministries of human care. I believe the current parish carries on a flourishing day care/pre-school, probaby also ministry to hunger-related needs, etc. -- I believe the main reason this group approached Atlantic Dist. was because of LCMS not ordaining women. My impression was Benke found them pleasant to deal with, in spite of their eccentricities. -- It makes me happy to hear of the spiritual nurture you are finding with your colleagues in the C of E, as well as all the cultural enrichment in London. -- Interesting how the Church of Rome has been reaching out to disaffected Anglicans, based on the purely negative factors of opposition to homosexuality and female clergy! I cannot see anything healthy in the ecclesial relationships being thus forged. Peace and Blessings as you continue your strong witness in and out of the blogosphere!

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