Bell Harry

Wednesday proved to be a heavy and intense day - we started with Bible Study in All Saints Chapel, a remote, upstairs side chapel in the cathedral... one of those rooms that most visitors don't see.

The door that leads upstairs to All Saints chapel

The tough part of the day was the morning's teaching session on authority and cultural context in the church.   While I appreciated hearing the complexities of the African culture, having to listen to a discussion on polygamy and how the church in Africa is handling it sucked the energy right out of me. I have a hard time wrapping my mind around the notion that it is still acceptable in many parts of the world for women to be treated as property, and only useful for the whims of men.  And from their perspective, they had a hard time wrapping their minds around the notion of me as a priest, unmarried and without children.  And when one of them pushed the point to remarry my ex and have kids, I reminded him that God has called me to ministry same as him, and that that's my priority right now...

After lunch, we received yet another "insider's tour" - this time up the spiral stair case to the top of Bell Harry tower.  We got a great view out across the city of Canterbury.

The door leading into the tower

The treadmill part way up that was used to hoist the stones to build the tower.

(and it still works!)

The view from the top

Looking down at the Lodge at my room

Afterwards, Monique from Jamaica and I decided to check out a couple of the local used bookstores.  Professor Owens gave me another good idea - read TS Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral while sitting in the cathedral, so I've been looking for a copy, and today was my lucky day!  The bookshop whose proceeds go toward assistance for the homeless had an old hardback copy.  We will have a candle lit vigil on Friday night, so maybe I can read it then.

We ended the evening as intensely as we began.  We viewed the movie Andrei Rublev, about the Russian icon painter of the same name.  This was my first time seeing this movie, and is definitely on my repeat list.  I'm betting it's also a great precursor to my upcoming pilgrimage with the Serbian Orthodox later this month....