THE FIRST BRITISH MARTYR

After having a wonderful English Breakfast at the home of Doris and David Cheetham, I went again to Morning Prayer at St. Mary's. Will Gibbs, the Vicar met me there and brought me to St. Albans where I spent more than an hour with Archdeacon Jonathan talking about the challenge of providing pastoral ministry from the perspective of the Bishop and his staff.

I went from there up the hill to the Abbey where I attended a Roman Catholic Mass in the Lady Chapel. The Roman Catholic priest, Brian Reynolds, and the Anglican priest, Kevin Walton, led the service for about 60 people at noon time.

After mass I went to lunch in the Abbot's Kitchen as a guest of my ecumenical colleagues where I learned about the ministry going on in the cathedral, the oldest plsc of continuous pilgrimage in Britain, dedicated to Saint Alban who was the first British martyr, beheaded by Romans at that site in the 3rd Century. A shrine with his remains is in a chapel next to the Lady Chapel where the mass was held. Alban was a Roman who was converted to Christianity by Amphimbulas, a monk who reached out to him. The Romans were putting Christians to death, and Alban persuaded Amphibulas to let him wear his monk's clothing, and he was beheaded in place of the monk who had shared his faith with him and led him to Christ. The remains of Amphibulas are also in the cathedral somewhere.

After lunch I went on an hour-long tour of the Cathedral, learning about this wonderful place of worship. Then I walked down the hill to see some of the ruins of the ancient Roman settlement.

Back up the hill I went into the chapel where Evensong would be held and spent the time I had reading. The Evensong was sung by the girls' choir (which included two of Kevin's daughters) and Kevin presided.

I finally went over to fetch my luggage and check into the Comfort Hotel at the bottom of the hill. Even though the computer had reserved a room for me on May 19 rather than April 19, I persuaaded the clerk that I was really here now, and he found me a very nice room and chatted with me about my sabbatical journey.

I called Bishop John Holbrook to set up plans for meeting him tomorrow morning. He just got in five minites prior to my call from Okinawa and has a bit of jet lag. His body clock is 9 hours ahead of mine here (and 14 hours ahead of yours). Tomorrow we will meet and head over to see a football (soccer) match.

I have lots of pictures which I want to display once I figure out how to upload them by Eye-fi through my Ipad. Stay faithful.