Hemmed in by the Tide: Love in York, Live in Newcastle

4/10/13, 4/11/13

A nice surprise was getting to spend a free day in York. It is an old, old, old walled city. It's lovely. I'd been there once in February of 2008, and that's one of the coldest times I have spent anywhere. I wore extra clothes because I couldn't shake that memory. Fortunately, the weather belied my expectation.

Mary and I chose to strike out together. We walked the walls on our way to the quilt museum. The lady at the museum told me about a café next door, as I did not wish to purchase entry. Café may be an accurate word, but it is not what I expected. It was extremely posh, located in the back of a shop that sold imported cheese, olives, and wine. I was the youngest and least wealthy person in the shop, by a very long shot. But I did not realize this until I had already ordered a pot of tea. (I guess the waiter's confusion at my entrance should have tipped me off.) At least I had Oliver Twist to keep me company. (I am a slow reader.) I also met an American archaeologist named Elizabeth. She had been living there since the 60s or 70s and gave me some tips on places to go, including a free art exhibit.

Mary and I made our way to the Shambles. It is just an old commerce street; I find the name amusing. The buildings are kind of tilted in, or overhang the street. I found out that it was because they used to sell meat there, and that kept the meat out of the sun. These days, they sell things like local Shetland wool (Mary's souvenir), and porcelain egg cups painted with the Union Jack (my souvenir).

Since I was the navigator, I decided to go through back streets to get to the Shambles. It took us through a residential area, where we saw a blind man walking with a friend. Says Mary, "Do you want to go pray for him?" Says I, "OK," though I had no faith for it. As I followed her, though, I thought, "Why wouldn't I?" and began to believe for good things. Mary approached him politely, and asked, "Has anyone ever prayed for your eyes?" "No!" he said, with an expression of awe and wonder and hunger and love and I don't know what else. The sense he conveyed was, "I can't believe someone cares!" It turns out he lost his sight in a surgery that saved his life. He thought it would come back, but the doctors couldn't say for sure. Mary and I prayed for him, and then talked to him for a while. His name is Gordon, and he was SO sweet. He just overflowed with love. He kept kissing our hands, our heads, and hugging us (in a very pure way), asking us what we looked like, asking us what we were doing, etc. His caretaker took a picture of us all together, so we told Gordon that he would see what we look like someday.

Gordon didn't receive his sight immediately. I believe that he will, but Mary and I realized that that's not necessarily the point. We were able to share God's love and compassion for this man, who was obviously so starved. Isn't loving someone supernatural sometimes?

After some shopping, we went to the free art exhibit, which was not interesting despite the hype. The very old church it was in was interesting, though. There were people entombed beneath the floor. One gravestone, still somewhat readable, dated from 1692.

We got a pasty (Mary's first), then went to Yorkminster. I believe it is the oldest gothic cathedral in Europe. It's gigantic and indescribably beautiful. The full tour is quite dear, and we didn't want to pay for it; but we did get to stand inside and marvel. If we had the whole evening, I would have stayed for evensong. I'll bet it sounds incredible. They did pray the Lord's prayer while we were in there, which was a cool experience.

We found a bookstore with beautiful English books. We found a music store, which specializes in traditional instruments, and has loads of ukuleles. I got a book with 1001 Irish dance tunes, and two tin whistles in unusual keys (F and Bb). Highly successful day.

On the way back, I saw a horse in the hills. I may forget to look up the origins of it before I post this update, but I think it's an ancient sculpture type thing. Look at the pictures to get an idea. I was pleased to be the one in the bus to discover it, and I enjoyed it alone for a while before notifying the others.

The next day, our worship team got to play at Grey (as in Earl Grey)'s Monument in Newcastle. They played for an hour or two in the chilly square. There were lots of people around, and the rest of us got to mix with the crowd, and go out looking for more people to share God's love with. Misty, Adam, and I met a young man who was really hungry for truth. Adam got to share his testimony with him, and we prayed for him. He was excited to hear some of the things we shared with him. I also prophesied over a group of three teenage girls, basically just encouraging them in who they already are. It's kind of cool to prophesy over teenagers and children.

Newcastle's university is quite lovely, by the way.

For dinner, we went to the home of this awesome couple who has provided most of our meals for this trip. (Yes, our outreach has been catered!) We have two vegetarians, four gluten-free folks, and the rest are meat eaters. Jim and Marna have been so gracious. Our vegetarian meals have been exquisite. So they cooked us all a load of curry, and vanilla ice cream served in cored pineapples. (Are they shells? What are pineapple shells called?) Their house is on the river, and they have dogs: two things that are good for my soul. I have had precious little time to process my thoughts on this trip, so it was healthy for me to spend this God time by the river.

Now look at some pictures, while I start writing about Blackpool.