Oxford

Just briefly to all my millions of fans out there ... arrived 24 hours later than expected due to a flight from Grand Rapids (Michigan, not Minnesota) to Toronto being cancelled.  Finally got a decent night's sleep and am now coherent.

Oxford, England
I do not expect that the postings for the next 10-15 days will be very coherent or very orderly, so I apologize in advance.

I have shared a small amount with you about John Wesley, a clergyman in the Church of England, which is the official church of England.  John and his brother Charles (also a C of E clergyman) were amazing men who founded the Methodist movement.  John rode 250,000 miles on horseback and carriage and preached 40,000 sermons.  Charles was a fabulous hymn writer, with hymns now in every Christian hymnal.  His most sung hymn is probably "Hark the Herald Angels Sing."
A part of John's life that not many people realize is that he wrote and revised a book called "Primitive Physick," which offered simple and cheap remedies for (usually) poor people due to his concern for those who were poor.
Today we went to Christ Church College and its church, which are part of Oxford University. This is where John, Charles and their brother Samuel (not to be mistaken for their father Samuel or Charles' son Samuel) went to university and were ordained as clergy in the Church of England. There is a memorial plaque in the floor near the pulpit stairs (both shown in photos). (Charles and John's memories, not Sam's.) The carved griffin is at the end of a pew in the church. 
You remember I have told you that Church of England clergy got some medical training? It would have been taught to them here. John also apparently studied how to care for the sick, since he writes in 1748, "For six or seven and twenty years [since the age of 18], I had made anatomy and physic the diversion of my leisure hours; though I never properly studied them, unless for a few months when I was going to America [he was a failure as a missionary there], where I imagined I might be of some service to those who had no regular physician among them." (Wesley, John. 'A Plain Account of the People Called Methodists: in a Letter to the Rev. Mr. Perronet' in "The Works of John Wesley" (London: Wesleyan Methodist Book Room, 1872. Reprint Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2002, vol 8, 263.)
While they were at Oxford, Charles started a group derisively known as "The Holy Club" and later, "the Methodists," because of their methods of reading spiritual classics and doing good works. They visited prisoners in Oxford Prison, for example. The Prison is now a luxury hotel, and you can stay there for 200 British pounds a night, or about $360.
Our bed and breakfast for the Pilgrimage is based at Sarum College in  Salisbury, which has a wonderful cathedral built 1220-1320.  Think of a town spending the equivalent of  lifetimes to build such a grand monument to God!  Think of working on this cathedral all of your life, your father's life, and your grandfather's life, and your greatgrandfather's life.  We can see the cathedral out our window.  For good photos go to www.salisburycathedral.org.uk/gallery.php.