Girl's Outing
Last night, Charlotte and I spent the night with Gemma in her lovely flat. We enjoyed chatting, eating homemade pizza, drinking wine and the fabulous chick flick, Princess Bride. It was a perfect, typical girls night in with cute pajamas, fluffy socks and lots of chit-chatting! I also thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Sooty, Gemma's pet rabbit.
I've always had pets growing up and have thoroughly missed not having the companionship of a little furry friend this year. Perhaps it is my ignorance of "other" pets, but it seems that back home most people have cats or dogs; there are people who have other pets such as hamsters and birds but those stay in cages. Here, I have loved seeing and learning about people having less typical pets in more typical situations. Such as the tortoise that came to visit the classroom a few weeks ago who wanders around the house and the back garden. Gemma's rabbit has a cage that she stays in most of the time, but when Gemma's home, the rabbit has free range to hop about. She said that most people who have rabbits have them out in their back gardens, hopping freely about! Growing up, I never really wanted rabbits or hamsters simply because they had to live in cages - but what fun would an animal like that be if he could just live in the back yard! I wonder what a kitten and a rabbit would do if they were raised together? Hmmm... :)
This morning, Charlotte and I headed back towards home but decided to stop for a big brunch in the cute little town of Olney. I must admit that I am very sorry I had not learned of Olney before because it is a truly beautiful little town about half an hour away. Our full English breakfast was lush... I'm not really sure if I'll ever be hungry again. It was in a little courtyard through an alley way off of the main village square. So quaint and beautiful!
As we came back onto the village square, we spotted a little museum and decided to have a peak into the shop just to learn what was so special (besides the beauty) of this little town. As it turns out, the town has an incredible claim to fame! John Newton was once the vicar in the Olney Parish Church. It's alright, I wouldn't have known his name either, but you most certainly know his writing.
John Newton was born in London in the early 1700s. His growing up years were difficult with a father off at sea, a mother who died young and a difficult stepmother. Although his parents had been Christians, he was never really raised in the church and had no real faith. As he grew up, he followed his father and became a sailor. He spent time in the Royal Navy and then became part of the slave trade. Apparently, he was so fowl-mouthed that even the captain of the ship was horrified by the words John used and the profanity that he created. His ship was caught in a very rough storm in 1748 where several of the crew members were washed out to sea. It was during this storm that he truly began calling out to God, and it was at this point that his life began to change.
He changed his language, but continued in the slave trade for a couple of years. Afterwards, he became a tax collector in Liverpool where he began studying ancient languages and showed interest in the church. After some encouragement, from John Wesley and others, he went into the ministry. He was given a position in Olney at the Church of England there.
Here he met and befriended William Cowper, a writer and poet. Together, they began writing hymns which were typically chanted at the time rather than set to music. John was known for being very close with the people, telling personal stories from the pulpit unlike many priests at the time who seemed to preach from a distance, never admitting their own temptations of sin. For a new year's day prayer service in 1773, Newton and Cowper composed a special hymn inspired by Newton's own call to the faith. "Amazing Grace" has since been used in churches worldwide.
I made a small purchase in the museum shop and enquired about the hymn. The older men there were thrilled to share with us about their town and their claims to fame. The music that the hymn is now set to was actually written in the States, as they said, "in the deep south." After doing some research, it appears the tune is called "New Britain" and was written by a main from South Carolina. It seems that even though the hymn remains popular here in England, it is even more widely used in America. Newton and Cowper were responsible for writing nearly 300 hymns, of which surely I know at least a couple more, but writing a hymn that almost all Christians know by heart is a pretty great achievement on its own! (And as a side note, Newton later in life was an abolitionist, working to end the slave trade that he had once been a part of!)
We decided to stroll around the village a bit more, roaming by the old vicarage where Newton once lived and to the church where he once preached. As we had walked into breakfast, Charlotte and I heard the church bells ringing, but not just chiming the time, actually ringing. When we came back out, nearly an hour later, they were still going full force. When we made our way to the church, they were still going! It was a mesmerizing sound that resonated through the town.
Wandering into the church, built mostly in the 1300s, we were overwhelmed with the ringing. A man from the parish was in the church and he told us that the bell ringers were doing "an appeal to the Queen" which would take about three hours. I'm still unclear of exactly what this means, but being in church steeples before and seeing how large those ropes are and how heavy the bells are, I cannot imagine continually pulling them for three hours!
We popped in a few little unique boutique shops including an old house now a furniture shop. The building had obviously been there for generations as the ceilings were low, the floors were uneven, the stairs were worn and there were a few points where I felt the house was actually leaning, and yet, it still stood strong!
The drive through more lovely little villages on our way home was such a treat! It was a glorious way to spend Friday evening and Saturday morning - enjoying time with friends and so many of the little treasures that this country has to offer!
John Newton was born in London in the early 1700s. His growing up years were difficult with a father off at sea, a mother who died young and a difficult stepmother. Although his parents had been Christians, he was never really raised in the church and had no real faith. As he grew up, he followed his father and became a sailor. He spent time in the Royal Navy and then became part of the slave trade. Apparently, he was so fowl-mouthed that even the captain of the ship was horrified by the words John used and the profanity that he created. His ship was caught in a very rough storm in 1748 where several of the crew members were washed out to sea. It was during this storm that he truly began calling out to God, and it was at this point that his life began to change.
He changed his language, but continued in the slave trade for a couple of years. Afterwards, he became a tax collector in Liverpool where he began studying ancient languages and showed interest in the church. After some encouragement, from John Wesley and others, he went into the ministry. He was given a position in Olney at the Church of England there.
Here he met and befriended William Cowper, a writer and poet. Together, they began writing hymns which were typically chanted at the time rather than set to music. John was known for being very close with the people, telling personal stories from the pulpit unlike many priests at the time who seemed to preach from a distance, never admitting their own temptations of sin. For a new year's day prayer service in 1773, Newton and Cowper composed a special hymn inspired by Newton's own call to the faith. "Amazing Grace" has since been used in churches worldwide.
I made a small purchase in the museum shop and enquired about the hymn. The older men there were thrilled to share with us about their town and their claims to fame. The music that the hymn is now set to was actually written in the States, as they said, "in the deep south." After doing some research, it appears the tune is called "New Britain" and was written by a main from South Carolina. It seems that even though the hymn remains popular here in England, it is even more widely used in America. Newton and Cowper were responsible for writing nearly 300 hymns, of which surely I know at least a couple more, but writing a hymn that almost all Christians know by heart is a pretty great achievement on its own! (And as a side note, Newton later in life was an abolitionist, working to end the slave trade that he had once been a part of!)
We decided to stroll around the village a bit more, roaming by the old vicarage where Newton once lived and to the church where he once preached. As we had walked into breakfast, Charlotte and I heard the church bells ringing, but not just chiming the time, actually ringing. When we came back out, nearly an hour later, they were still going full force. When we made our way to the church, they were still going! It was a mesmerizing sound that resonated through the town.
Wandering into the church, built mostly in the 1300s, we were overwhelmed with the ringing. A man from the parish was in the church and he told us that the bell ringers were doing "an appeal to the Queen" which would take about three hours. I'm still unclear of exactly what this means, but being in church steeples before and seeing how large those ropes are and how heavy the bells are, I cannot imagine continually pulling them for three hours!
The drive through more lovely little villages on our way home was such a treat! It was a glorious way to spend Friday evening and Saturday morning - enjoying time with friends and so many of the little treasures that this country has to offer!
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