Not, you know, the university, but I attended church in Oxford.

I have to admit that this was one of the Sunday services I was really looking forward to. No, it wasn’t at the University. I didn’t preach in Christ’s Church Cathedral or anything like that, but for a guy from Boonville, Indiana to be able to say “I preached at Oxford.”…that’s pretty cool stuff. It at least sounds impressive.

And it was a great day. The United Reformed Church, called St. Columba’s (whom I admit I had to look up), is tucked into a little side street just off the High Street. For the Methodist nerds, it sits almost exactly halfway between Christ Church Oxford and Lincoln College Oxford, John Wesley’s two alma maters. The church is easy to miss on the outside, but very pretty on the inside. It’s a relatively newer church, having been built around World War I as a chapel for university students. At some point it was then spun off into it’s own church. I also got to fulfill a dream of preaching from an old-fashioned raised pulpit. It was only raised a few feet, but someday….

After church, we went to a pub that I’d been looking forward to for months. It’s called the Eagle and Child and it’s famous in literary circles. In the 1940’s and 50’s, a group of authors that included J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis used to frequent the pub for a weekly writers meeting. Early ideas that would become The Lord of the Rings would have been discussed here. The early draft of the The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe was distributed to the authors in this pub.

I’ll admit that it was a little underwhelming. It was kind of a typical cramped, dark pub. We were shoved into a corner, despite booking months in advance. I’m still glad we went.

After lunch, we walked back down to Christ Church college. It was founded as a school at Oxford back in the 1500’s by Thomas Wolsey, Henry VII’s friend (you know, before he had him killed.) While famous for many reasons, it’s most recently known for being a filming location for Harry Potter.

The steps above lead into the Great Hall, a dining room that was used as the dining hall in the Harry Potter movies.

Unfortunately, the Cathedral was closed for services as it was the First Sunday of Advent, so I couldn’t see the place where John Wesley was ordained.

It was a bit of a cold and dreary day. We’ve been invited back to preach next summer, so we hope to see a bit more of the city and get some better pictures then.