Magdalen Cloisters

Reminiscing about the rainy visit I made to Magdalen College...

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"Even Oxford's infrastructure was conducive to contemplation, revelation. Its walls seemed infused with mystery... It was tempting to think that resting my head against its stony chest would betray a heartbeat, or by putting my ear to this shell, I could hear the distant but undeniable advancing and then retreating of whispered wisdom." - Carolyn Weber

"The spirit of the elder days found a dwelling here, and we delighted to trace its footsteps." - Mary Shelley on Oxford

"I tended, indeed, to feel that God Himself dwelt in Oxford, His holy city, where He could hear the bells." - Sheldon Vanauken

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All photos courtesy of Cami :)

Vaults & Gardens

[original photo source]

Oxford to Hogwarts

I've been missing Oxford a great deal lately.
It's been interesting having now read Harry Potter and wept through watched the first two movies to recall all the HP connections to that trip.
I couldn't appreciate them then, but that's ok.  I still have their memory,
now mingled with my own reading experience.

 All that to say... I was particularly struck the other day when I saw this pin:

The funny bit is that I was at that premiere.  Well, not "at it" as in attending it.  But my very first night in London, the group I was with sort of ran right into it on the way to - get this - the Palace! 

[Trafalgar Square - thousands of Potterheads...and me]

We could hear the cheers from several London-blocks away.

I had never come across or been a part of a crowd this big

[and wouldn't be again until the Seahawks Superbowl parade].

[Bellatrix, Hermione, and Harry]

[They had these jumbotrons they were projecting the arrivals onto - so big, so so insane!]

And then we were off to Westminster, Parliament, and the Palace:

[Buckingham at night]

  The Harry Potter connections continued in Oxford,

the most notable being the "sorting stairs."

The scene in the first HP film where the Harry and the other first years

are greeted by Professor McGonagall before entering the dining hall and being sorted

was filmed at Christ Church College.

We made a visit... and ran into young Harry:

But seriously, it's such a majestic location. 

Hogwarts definitely has it's "Oxbridge" roots and I love HP all the more for it!

So... fun memories blended with new reading/viewing experiences.

Been thinking of this place lately.

Someday, I will see it in its fall colours.

aching for this place.

I have so many friends in England right now, several more falling in love with Sherlock, and I get to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee with some British friends this weekend. It all makes me feel... connected. 


A woman I greatly appreciate told me something priceless after I got back from England last year. She said, "I've realized, some people are threads that make up a piece of fabric. They are the foundation to community. But some people are the threads that hold two different pieces of fabric together--and they feel the pull. They are woven into one community, then another, but without fully belonging to just one. It can be painful, but without those threads, we wouldn't have the interwoven, interconnected Body of Christ."
I've realized I'm one of those threads. I hope that doesn't sound arrogant--its more heavy than it is enjoyable. But I do feel the pull of a far off place... and I don't know when I'll be able to return. But like I said, receiving post-cards that have made the journey and talking with other "threads"--some who feel the pull much stronger than I do!--it helps. It sometimes feels like a workout for my heart's capacity, but it helps.


Even with feeling like an interwoven thread, I hold onto a promise that becomes more real, more pertinent everyday:

"My dear Sam, you cannot always be torn into two. You must be whole and one for many, many years. You have so much to enjoy and to be and to do."

I'm waiting for that wholeness. And I know its coming. But until then...

God save the Queen!

[Magdalen Window]

One of my photographer friends, Cami, was in Oxford this October. Her photos are gorgeous, so I thought I'd share: 

[one of the many little lanes]

[Vaults and Gardens Cafe - cutest cafe--in a Cathedral--and one of the spots I miss the most]

[Radcliffe Camera & Bodleian Library - where a majority of my time was spent this summer]

The Lord keeps bringing me back here. This is the entry gate to the Magdalen deer park - yes, for hundreds of years, Magdalen College has boasted a deer park. [You can also glimpse Magdalen Tower between the trees on the right side of the picture... I just noticed that haha...] 
It's part of the Addison walk loop. I took this picture the first of many times that I took that walk. And here was this girl sitting on a bench reading. What a beautiful moment!
To me, this means peace. And Jesus often brings me back to this beautiful, precious place to sit peacefully on that bench with Him.