Today, 25 April, I visited the Great Hospital for the third time. I attended the weekly 10:30am church service at St. Helen\u2019s church, which I discussed in my previous post.
\nThis week\u2019s service was again from the Book of Common Prayer, and was therefore nearly identical to the last one I attended, with the exception of new hymns, so I will forgo another discussion of the service. However, one detail of the service which I hadn\u2019t noticed the first time I attended (I must have zoned out; it\u2019s easy to do) I do feel bears sharing. One of the lengthier prayers includes a paragraph which specifically asks God to bless the Queen, her magistrates and other political figures, and to guide them in their civic duties. Perhaps England is not so secular, after all (Divine Right, anyone?).
\nAfter the service had ended and the parishioners began to slowly shuffle (literally) out, I stayed behind to speak to the priest, Judith Wilson, as did a dozen or so others. They exchanged \u201chello\u201ds and \u201chow was your holiday?\u201ds and \u201chow are you feeling?\u201ds, etc, and when it was finally my turn to speak with the priest, I shook her hand, told her how much I enjoyed the sermon (surprisingly, I wasn\u2019t lying, either) and asked if she had a few minutes to sit and chat. She obliged, asked me to wait while she finished her goodbyes and changed out of her formal garb.
\nI waited in the now empty church as a woman locked up and shut off all the lights. Several minutes later, Judith came from a room at the front of the church dressed in mostly (save for a white clerical collar) casual clothing. She invited me to her home for tea or coffee, and lead me through the hospital grounds to a wooden, gated fence. The gate led to Judith\u2019s garden (which is maintained by the Hospital\u2019s groundskeeper) and the garden led to Judith\u2019s back door. Judith put on the kettle as we discussed pets (cats, specifically), holidays, and how convenient electric kettles really are (very).
\nAfter getting settled in the living room, I began our conversation by asking Judith how long she had been preaching, and how long she had been at St. Helen\u2019s. Judith, originally from Tottenham, London, came to the Great Hospital in December of last year, and had previously worked as a chaplain in a nearby prison. She was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1995, but had been preaching in the Free Church since the 1980\u2019s.
\nShe enjoys working at the Great Hospital because it is unique and \u201cforward-thinking\u201d, and offers services that similar care facilities do not. She cited, in particular, the fact that the Hospital will follow its residents to the end: an eldery person can move into general housing for the independent residents, then to Prior Court when s\/he becomes older and more frail, and finally to the Elaine Herbert house, which is a nursing house for those nearing the end of their life. This is unique because most other care facilities only offer one of the previously mentioned types of care.
\nShe also mentioned that the Great Hospital is much larger than most other facilities, and because there is a larger population of residents, the Hospital feels more like a small village than an assisted living facility. It is also unique in that it has a spiritual community within St. Helen\u2019s, and about one quarter of the population is a member there.
\nHaving a spiritual element, Judith believes, is essential when caring for others. \u201cWithout Christianity, or any other faith, the world is in black and white rather than in color,\u201d she said. She cited St. Augustine, who had said that those without God in their lives have a \u201cGod-shaped hole in their hearts.\u201d Judith went on to tell me a story of a friend of hers who is paralyzed, and finds it difficult to maintain her faith in God now that she is \u201ctrapped do in a body that won\u2019t do what she wants it to.\u201d The woman was a schoolteacher for many years, who loved reading. \u201cWords were her life, and now she can\u2019t read because she has gone blind and can\u2019t hold a book.\u201d This story contrasts starkly with another one she told me, of a woman who was confined to a chair, and later her bed, but maintained a steadfast faith throughout her life. She was a matriarch of the community who consistently kept a positive attitude and relied on her faith. \u201cThat\u2019s the difference,\u201d she said. \u201cWithout faith, life is lacking a vital element.\u201d
\nThe conversation shifted, as I asked Judith a question about something she mentioned in her sermon: Judith had shared that her cousin once told her that she had wasted her life and all her opportunities by becoming a priest, and Judith claimed that his values were much more secular than her own. This idea of the shift from a spiritual England to a secular England has always interested me, especially for a country whose monarchical tradition is so deeply rooted in the principle of \u201cDivine Right.\u201d I asked Judith if she believed that England was, indeed, shifting towards the secular, and if she could mark a transition point.
\n\u201cYes.\u201d She said. \u201cAbsolutely.\u201d The time period which Judith identified as being the transition point was the 1960\u2019s, when there was a \u201cshift in values, outlook.\u201d She also believes that Margaret Thatcher\u2019s term in office exacerbated the effects, and \u201cput the nail in the coffin.\u201d According to Judith, she \u201cbred selfishness and materialism\u201d in the English culture, and led society away from God.
\nWe ended our conversation with a discussion of Christianity\u2019s role in present-day society. \u201cChristianity is being put to the side. We aren\u2019t persecuted, but we are ridiculed or ignored,\u201d she said; an interesting observation.
\nMy time with Judith was informative and interesting. She is a very warm person, and extremely welcoming and easy to talk to, and I look forward to further interactions with her and other parishioners at a Coffee Morning\/Bake Sale next weekend.<\/p>\n
10:15am \u2013 12:30pm
\nTime: 2.25 hours<\/p>\n
Total Time: 6.25 hours<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today, 25 April, I visited the Great Hospital for the third time. I attended the weekly 10:30am church service at St. Helen\u2019s church, which I discussed in my previous post. This week\u2019s service was again from the Book of Common Prayer, and was therefore nearly identical to the last one I attended, with the exception […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[736],"tags":[1009,2296,2295,2497,2498,916,2258,2021],"class_list":["post-2431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anya","tag-church","tag-church-of-england","tag-church-of-st-helen","tag-divine-right","tag-margaret-thatcher","tag-religion","tag-the-great-hospital","tag-volunteering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2431\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}