Thursday, June 1, 2000

Today we packed a bit in the morning, and then went to Cambridge to visit Michael Meeks, a GNOME hacker and a fellow Christian, for an informal tour of the University and fun talking together. It's amazing what the words "I'm a member of the University" do when walking around... Of course, a few hours is not enough to see more than a smattering of the University, but we got to see a few treasures, particularly (for me, at any rate) the Wren library at (oh, my, it all flows together too quickly, and I'll probably get this all wrong...) Trinity.

We went to evensong at King's College Chapel; a sung eucharist. It was beautiful in several ways. The choir was small but good, and the acoustic space was sweet, I think primarily because the chapel, while large, is much longer than it is wide, and this relatively narrow construction avoids making everything sound muddy like really large churches can do. The chapel itself was intricately carved in profuse variety, and the ceiling was made with fine stonework that probably contributed to the rich but clear sound. It was altogether peaceful and I found that the fact that the songs were Latin helped me concentrate on the message; I know English well enough that my mind involuntarily wanders a lot when listening to it, but to follow the Latin involved just enough mental effort to keep me thinking about the message and reality of what was being sung. (I don't know Latin, but I know some roots and have learned in choir and elsewhere what most of the words of the Latin mass mean.)

We were Michael's guest for High Hall at his college, Downing. That's the first time I have ever heard the prayer for a meal given in Latin. It's hard for me to describe why that was so interesting. Probably because nothing was new, but the combination was, to me, novel. I never before sat at long, dormitory-style tables to eat a good meal with wine, necktie required but not a particular celebration. And, of course, participating in age-old tradition (even though the president (of the meal, I don't know what his position was in the college) mumbled the benedicitus so quietly that we didn't realize that it was time to return thanks at the end and stood in silence as the head table filed out).