English Cathedrals: I'll Take a De-Caf with that Organically Grown Whole Wheat Communion Bread

I have faced down my greatest fear and come out on the other side.

In other words, I tried a true "English Breakfast"...which includes eggs, bacon, sausage and baked beans. It has been stated elsewhere by me that I cannot look at baked beans before 12:15 pm. But I have done so and I must admit is is not bad at all. I still prefer yogurt but in a pinch, I will go "English" and furthermore, I am now calling soccer "football" and have memorized the names of the grandchildren of the Queen, even though I do not like some of their hats. I know all the arcane rules to Cricket and prefer to drink my drafts outside of the pubs...even in the rain....like a good Brit.

Here is one I was not expecting. We had dinner the other night at a Punjabi Jazz Restaurant. Punjabi food and American Jazz. Surprisingly it works. The British Indian guy wanted to impress this American with his knowledge of jazz (he had Sinatra and Billie Holiday and Miles Davis pictures onthe walls. Was not expecting that.) So he unveiled a jazz CD by Luka Mammutza. Very nice. Italian jazz and Chicken Tikka. It's a whole new world out there.

Time to track down those Christopher Wren Churches.

The great fire of 1666. London was 80% burned to the ground. With lots of wood and thatch, it was only a matter of time, I suppose. But this gave the King and Parliament and the great achitect Christopher Wren the opportunity to redesign London.

St. Paul's Church is one accomplishment.

This is only the roofline of the great St. Paul's as seen from a nearby shopping complex. And Wren redesigned something like 80 churches that had burned down. Some, still stand today and so we went exploring.

Most of them had a similar look outside like St. Magnus the Martyr.

Magnus was killed by his cousin in a power struggle but he was a devout man. He was declared a saint and several hundred years later appeared to Robert the Bruce in 1314 to promise victory at the Battle of Bennockburn. Like so many other saints, the brothers or monks hid his bones in the 1500's when Henry VIII was persecuting the Roman Catholics. They were no doubt good and devout men, but their short term memories were lacking and so the bones of St. Magnus were lost.

Were there really so many bones of saints to hide that they would actully forget a set or two? Apparently there were...it was 1950 until someone found them. Seeing as how much stuff of graves, markers, candles, pictures and statues and the like clutter the church sanctuaries, the bones could have been hidden and no one would have discovered them for centuries.

Which is apparently what happened.

St. Mary Abchurch was heavily bombed in WWII and rebulit.

Look at this ceiling...

And a couple blooks away, right next to the cemetery and and the acheolgoical dig was St. Stephen Walbrook. There have been buildings here since Roman times. The Romans walled up the brook and diverted it a bit. (Hence: Wall-brook...Walbrook) When they built the current St. Stephen Walbrook after the great fire, no one thought much of the underground water...but Mother Nature never forgets and as a result the church is collapsing on one end. But its current structure is stunning.

St. Stephen Walbrook

Many call it Wrens Masterpiece after the great St. Paul just down the street. It has a Henry Moore altar in the center.

Henry Moore Altar

No stained glass, just light and very little decoration; relatively speaking compared with other Christopher Wren churches. (It is said that Wren himself was a secret Puritan. Were that true, and were that known, I doubt he would have been given the task of redesigning Church of England Churches, but judging from this one church, St. Stephen Walbrook, I'd be inclined to believe he had some Puritan in him.) In London, this is considered non-elaborate.

St. Stephen Walbrook

Down the street we go.

Want Coffee with your worship? Try St. Mary Aldermary. Cappucino with your prayers.

And if you are not enough awake after the caffeine, just look at the Gothic details. Wren's only re-working with Gothic.

St. Mary Aldermary

How about contemporary stained glass windows to complement the redesigned after a WWII

bombing?

You will find it at St. Michael Paternoster Royal nearby.

Along with an elaborate Baptismal Fount at St. Michael Paternoster Royal (just like the Fount at St. Stephen Walbrook, which I'm sure you noticed)...but one more Christopher Wren Church

Count your blessings that you are not a cheerleader on the church basketball team..."Give me an S and an A and an I and N and T. Give me a P and an A....and ....oh, the game is over."

Many of these Anglican churches have behind the altar, three writings. The Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandment, and the Apostles Creed. Yet all of this church architecture and walking and craning of necks to see the details in the ceilings can make one hungry.

Problem solved at St. Mary Le Bow. Mass in the sanctuary.