Europe on 5-10 Nervous Breakdowns a Day (38)
DAYS 44, 45 – SATURDAY & SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 9, 1974 – “WHY DID I PICK SUCH A CONTROVERSIAL SUBJECT?”
On Saturday, I had decided to do some adventuring on our Britrail pass—take off and see Chester and Wigan which are prominent in British restoration history. Jo hadn’t felt well yesterday and the cold weather hadn’t helped, so she decided not to go. Angi stayed with her. Cindy and Debbie weren’t excited by my itinerary, but decided it was better than doing nothing.
We arrived at Wigan about 12:00. I started with the church building on Rodney Street. At one time, this was the largest church of Christ in England. A group of kids were getting ready for a Sunday school outing. Also members from several congregations had gathered for study session, so I had a brief visit with them, including some I had met in Corby.
We caught a train about 2:20 and arrived in Chester around 3:40. After I found what I was looking for, we checked out the city. Chester was originally a Roman city.
Like York, it has walls entirely around the old city—two miles in length, but older than those in York. We walked to where the Roman ruins are.
Among other ruins, an old amphitheater has been partially unearthed plus other ruins.
I will use slides of this when teaching Revelation to show the extent of the Roman Empire—how invincible it looked when John wrote Revelation, at a time when the Empire was directing its forces to destroy Christianity.
It was almost 9:00 before we got back to the motel room. Most of the day had bored my poor daughters, but I was fairly happy with what I had accomplished. But the next day was Sunday. I wrote: “I speak three times tomorrow plus answering questions. I hope I’m not too tired.”
Sunday morning, we were up before 8:00. Alan came by to pick us up at 9:15. Classes started at 9:45. I taught a small adult class.
They had rented an overhead projector and painted a wall to use as a screen. During the worship hour, I presented a sermon using transparencies on “No Energy Crisis Here.” (I had decided to capitalize on “hot topics” of the day. This was basically a lesson on the power of the gospel.)
They had a speaker set-up in their building over which they played Scripture readings and religious songs before and after the services. That evening before the service, one of the young men stuck a cassette in the player. When I came into the auditorium, wild secular music was bouncing off the walls. I told the young lad how inappropriate that was. He did not appreciate it.
We had several visitors that night. The movie The Exorcist was another “hot topic” so, using the overhead projector, I spoke on “The Exorcist.” During the question-and-answer session that followed, the unhappy young man peppered me with weird questions. Then two others brought up every strange episode that had made the news (including alleged UFOs). Alan thought it went okay, but I doubt that the visitors were edified and brought closer to the Lord.
