Mothering Sunday

In the UK, today is Mothering Sunday, also known as Mother's Day. Quite coincidentally, both my mother and her mother were able to spend it with me! They, along with my dad and my great-aunt Maxine, arrived yesterday afternoon for a week-long visit.

Because they arrived much later than expected yesterday, we had to nix several of the planned activities. Nevertheless, we were able to take them to eat at the Impy, a nice local pub conveniently located near the train station. We took advantage of the two meals for £7.20 deal and ordered various dishes, including fish and chips and three-bean chili. Because a rugby match was being broadcast when we first arrived, it took us a while to find an inside table where we could all sit together, so for a while, some of us sat outside while the others sat inside. Finally, though, we were able to all gather together and enjoy our meal. 

This morning, Dad went to the Cooperative Food grocery store and purchased eggs and pork and apple sausages which he then cooked for breakfast while the rest of us showered and got dressed for church. The group of us went to the morning service at our church, Mint Methodist. My family was pleasantly surprised by how friendly everyone was, including Rev. Sails. Following the service, we stayed for the tea and chatting time and then went to the Hog's Head for lunch. There, we enjoyed traditional Sunday roasts (chicken for Mom, Dad, Will, and me and beef for Granna and Aunt Maxine). The roasts were cheap, at 2 for £6.95, and terrifically tasty. In addition to the meat, the dish included carrots, mashed potatoes, and Yorkshire pudding (which in not "pudding" in the American sense but is instead a type of bread). In the middle of each pudding was a dark fried object which looked something like a hush puppy. When we asked a waiter what it was, we were initially told some random name. We then tasted it and found it tasted EXACTLY like stuffing. Hilariously, the waiter then came back and told us that it was actually a stuffing ball. Apparently, he didn't know what we were asking about at first. 

Following lunch, I had to go to work at Build-A-Bear, so Will took my family on one of the free Exeter city tours. Their tour, entitled "Heart of Exeter," focused primarily on the cathedral and the area immediately surrounding it and was led by a retired schoolteacher who reportedly did an excellent job. Importantly, she often spoke directly to Granna and Aunt Max, making sure they felt included. 

After the tour, my family enjoyed a Devon Cream Tea at No 21, a restaurant in the cathedral close. I am a bit jealous, because I have not yet had the opportunity to enjoy this local specialty, but Will has promised to take me next week. Following the tea, Mom and Dad met me at Build-A-Bear, and I took them on a walk down to the quay. Granna and Aunt Max went back to our flat with Will to rest. 

All in all, today was quite successful. Tomorrow, we are off to Stonehenge.

Fashion Show

Tonight, I went to Mint Methodist Church's "Off the Peg" Fashion Show, a fundraiser for the church's on-going building project. I wanted Will to go with me, but he had an on-campus event to attend, so we each headed our separate ways for the evening. Before parting ways, though, the two of us ate an early supper at the Chaucer's pub on the High Street. We have wanted to eat there ever since we first spotted it, and there is a 2-for-1 special on fajitas on Wednesdays, so we thought this was the perfect opportunity to check it out. The food was absolutely excellent, though the normal prices are fairly steep. We will definitely eat there again, though probably only when they are having a similar special. 

After supper, I made my way over to the Mint, and Will headed to campus. I got there a bit early, so I killed time by looking at the various shops on Fore Street. Since it was after 6 pm, nearly everything was closed. Only a small grocery store and a gaming hall were open. The doors opened for the Fashion Show at 7 pm, but when I got there, the only people besides the Mint volunteers who had arrived were Kirsty and Joe Mottram, a young married couple who have just moved to Exeter from Leeds. I am always glad to see them. 

Within a few minutes, numerous other ladies began to arrive. I say "ladies," because with the exception of Joe and one other male audience member, the only men there that night were Mint volunteers. Before the show began, there was time to look at al the articles of clothing which were for sale and to get some tea or coffee and cookies. 

The show itself began around 7:30 pm, and it was quite amusing. The "models" were members of the church, most of whom were dressed in clothing which was somewhat different from what they would normally wear. The commentator told us about each item of clothing, including its cost at the show and its normal in-store price. The items came from a variety of different shops, including some prominent High Street shops, but were all quite reasonably priced. The ladies in the show did a very nice job modelling the clothing. 

After the show, I stayed an talked with Kirsty and Job for a while until it was time for them to catch their train back to Dawlish. Though the fashion show was different from the type of events I usually enjoy, I had a good time and was quite glad to have gone.

Christian Unity Sunday

Today was Christian Unity Sunday at church. As a result, Rev. Sails was off at another church, and we had an Anglican priest in his place. The priest is an Anglo-Catholic, which means he is an extremely high-church Anglican, much in the vein of Henry VIII (who was ardently Catholic in all but name, and just wanted to be in charge). He reported that he asked Rev. Sails "What order of service do you use?" and Rev. Sails replied, "Use whatever you like." The guy wasn't a huge fan of that answer. He was even less thrilled when he found out that he was expected to preach at 25-minute sermon in addition to planning the service. Apparently, he typically gives a 15-minute sermon, and isn't responsible for planning much, because he is Anglo-Catholic, and just opens a book, and *poof*, he knows what to do.

Much of the sermon was concerned with how much the Methodists and Anglicans need each other. Apparently, back in the 1970s, there was a movement to merge the two groups; however, the Anglicans voted against it. There seem to be some limited efforts to that effect in the works now; however, the broader effort is to promote understanding between the groups (as evidenced by groups like MethAng at the University of Exeter).

Christmas Dinner

On Christmas morning, we got up, got dressed, and went to church. As usual, the service began at 10:30 am, although, as promised in advance by Rev. Sails, it lasted less than 45 minutes. It included everyone (under the age of 10) sharing their favorite Christmas gift. We had a boy (about three) sitting in front of us who came dressed as Father Christmas, and was none too happy to be wearing the hat when his mother tried to put it on him. However, someone else sitting nearby prevailed upon him to put it on, and Rev. Sails picked him up and showed him off to everyone, and commented to Little Father Christmas on how funny everyone looked (and noted that he got to look at us every week). About ten minutes later, Little Father Christmas escaped from his mother and went darting up the right aisle of the church, with mom in hot pursuit (she caught him about three rows from the front; they had been sitting about 15 rows back from there). One of the older ladies wandered over to mom shortly thereafter and offered to take him outside the sanctuary to play with him, which mom gratefully accepted.

Amanda, incidentally, refused to show off her Build-a-Moose, Chris Moose, arguing that she was over the age of ten. I was sad.

The sermon was about there being no circumstances in which there was no room for a particular type of person on the church, which we thought was rather fitting, given our experience of the night before at the cathedral. It was nice to hear that God loves gay people and that they should be welcomed in church. I gather that Rev. Sails and a lot of Baptist ministers that I know would not get along very well.

After the service ended (in under 45 minutes, as promised), we milled about and talked to people for a while as the Leas caught up with the people who were youth-aged when they first moved to Exeter. Most of those people now have children that are youth-aged, and Dr. Lea commented on how most of them look very much like their parents did all those years ago. After everyone had filtered out of the church, we walked back to the Lea's house, which is on the other side of the city centre. Our walk took us past the cathedral, through the (empty) back side of Princesshay, past the St. Luke's Campus, and very nearly all the way home. The Leas, it turns out, live all of about 10 minutes away from where we do. It's about the same distance from the Mint (25 minutes walk), so we got back to their house shortly before noon. We then set about talking with Dr. Lea, and discovered that we had all lived in Germany in the past. He lived there in the 1970s, and Amanda and I, of course, lived there two years ago.

Dr. Lea then had to depart for the lab on campus to "Feed the Rats their Christmas Dinner," as it's called. He notes that they don't actually have any rats anymore; however, as the guy in charge, he still gets to feed them on Christmas as part of a long tradition of lab animal care. While he was away, his sister and brother-in-law arrived. His sister is a former patent attorney turned Methodist minister, and his brother-in-law is a retired history teacher. We snacked on crisps, olives, and a few other appetizers as we talked with them and awaited the arrival of one of the Lea's sons. This is the one who is local; their other two children live in Germany and California. He was bringing the last of the food (the fried potatoes), along with his partner and her two children (as Mrs. Lea was careful to point out to us, they are not their grandparents).

One of the boys (the older one, if memory serves) went around lighting candles in the dining room, including lighting the incense cone inside the Smoking Man, who was purchased in (appropriately) Germany. After a while, he had to be relocated to the patio, as he was overpowering the assembled diners with his smoke.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, some other smoke was being produced. It turns out that one of the two figgy puddings that was cooking boiled off all the water in its pan, which led to quite a bit of smoke forming in the kitchen. Once the minor disaster of the resulting smoke had been dealt with, we began to eat the figgy pudding and other assorted desserts. The figgy pudding, we were told, is an acquired taste, and the recipie is passed down from mother to daughter-in-law (apparently, boys are picky about how they like their figgy pudding!). Dr. Lea told us that he was the only one in the family who really liked figgy pudding, and Mrs. Lea cut in and said that she had developed a taste for it. Amanda liked it, although I wasn't a huge fan. I don't expect it to pop up next Christmas, but she might surprise me.

Lunchtime Mint, Part II

Today, I went to the Mint's lunch at the pastor's home. It was a lovely lunch; it consisted of a Korean dish composed of rice, peppers, tomatoes, and olives (no idea what it's called, but it was good!), pasta, lasagna, and cheese and biscuts (ie, crackers). It was accompanied by wine, apple juice, and orange juice (and, of course, the obligatory tea and coffee). I spent most of my time lounging in a rocking chair in the office/library, talking to the other assembled students who gravitated to the library. One of the topics discussed was the recent Students' Guild meeting (see my post from 31 October for more details about that).

We also took a group picture, which was supposed to be in the living room. However, the living room wasn't large enough to hold everyone, as apparently more people had arrived than expected, judging from the shortage of plates, glasses, and chopsticks (which went very fast). Instead, we retreated to the garden, and lined up along the fence, where we were shot twelve times by five different cameras.

It was also announced that we would be having another Sunday lunch in the Common Room next week, which is to continue through the month of November. Apparently, the side that favored the extension of the October Lunch Programme won out, so we'll have to see how long these lunches last, and how frequently they take place.

In other news, Alabama is now rightfully ranked #1 in the AP and Coaches' Polls. I assume the BCS Standings will agree. Now, for dealing with LSU . . .

Lunchtime Mint

On every Sunday in October, Mint Methodist has had a lunch for its college students. Every Sunday except today, that is. Today, there was a lunch at the home of a couple of Mint's members. We, along with about seventy others, were invited to attend. About fifty of those invited showed up, judging from the number of plates used at lunch. Reportedly, thirty-eight were set out, and had to be supplemented with more.

The menu consisted of rice (lots of Koreans were there), a vegetarian curry of some sort, ham, cheese, biscuts [crackers in American English], nuts, crisps [chips in American English], fruit salad, and a wide selection of desserts, including cake, chocolate pie, brownies, a raspberry cobbler-type dish (Amanda says it was really good), and lots more that I can't remember. Amazingly, despite the number of people there, the food did hold out, and there were some (small) leftovers. Perhaps if all seventy of the invited guests had come, all the food would have been consumed!

The gathering was quite international, with those in attendance including people from the UK, the US, South Africa, Lesotho, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea! Conveniently, the lunch doubled as a baptism party for a little boy from South Africa who was baptized this morning. Most of his family lives too far away to attend the baptism, so the church made an extra-special effort to make this a special day for him and his parents.

In other news, we've been invited to another lunch next week, this one at the pastor's house. At least I guess that's what you call him . . . when one of the Koreans asked him what to call him, he said that just about everyone calls him "Andrew," he is addressed on letters as "Reverend," his position is "minister" (not priest, which was the question that started all this), and that in formal situations, he is referred to (though rarely addressed as) "Mr. Sails." Somehow, I suspect that "Brother Andrew" or "Pastor Andrew" or even "Reverend Andrew" would probably elicit recognition.

Church in England

In England, church is an intellectual exercise. Thinking is actually encouraged in sermons, with frequent admissions that the preacher does not know all the answers, and thus encourages everyone to ponder the issue at hand. Logic lessons (most recently, on false dichotomies) are also frequent features. This stands in very nice contrast to frequent sermons in the US (especially in Baptist churches) which are frequently just lectures on the way things "are," not why (and certainly not admissions that the preacher doesn't know the answer on a given subject).

I find I prefer it this way. Perhaps it's my being intellectual; perhaps it's my sincere desire to believe that Richard Dawkins is flat wrong (he says "Thinking is anethema to religion"), but it's nice to be able to think about religious issues without being smacked down by those you try to discuss with. And it's not confined to churches, either; the Exeter (University) Evangelical Christian Union frequently discusses philosophical issues in an intellectual way, which is also quite nice. I can't say that this is a European thing, because I went to a very American church in Germany (because my German wasn't good enough to go to a German one), but it's something that I approve of!