Day 02 - London: Christian Heritage London City Tour, British Museum

We began with a question - What’s something you learned today from the past that resonated with what you are going through in the present? Was there a person who had a struggle that you identified with? Or a victory you’ve experienced? Or an artifact that strengthens your faith? Reflections at the end…

For the morning, Christian Heritage London guide Dr. Ken Brownell led us on the London city walk. Ken has degrees from Harvard and St. Andrews, and served 36 years the pastor of the historic East London Tabernacle Baptist Church, founded in the 19th century by minister recommended by Charles Spurgeon. We began in the courtyard of St. Paul’s Cathedral (where Charles and Diana were married) where in 1377 John Wycliffe was accused of heresy (in the chaos that ensued he was rescued by supporters). We passed through Paul’s Cross where William Tyndale’s New Testaments were burned by Bishop Tuntsall in 1526 - though this large purchase turned out to have the opposite effect, funding Tyndale's next edition! We walked through Paternoster square - the  historic site of centuries of Christian publishing into Christ Church Greyfriars, where famous Puritan William Baxter is buried. Ken told us stories of how King Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries and took the money for personal use, but his son King Edward VI used it to serve the vulnerable, including founding Christ’s Hospital School for the poor, a precedent for the later St. Bartholomew’s Hospital.  

We entered the medieval church St. Bartholomew’s the Great founded 1123 and still running services! We passed through Postman’s Park and by St Botoph’s Aldersgate where we recounted the story of the conversion of John Wesley - who after returning from a failed mission to America, entered a worship service and encountered God, and as if for the first time felt his heart “strangely warmed” and believed in Christ for His salvation, leading to partnership with George Whitefield and the First Great Awakening both in Britain and the Americas. Other stories included John Rogers, Lord Shaftesbury, John Newton and William Wilberforce. 

In the afternoon CHL guide Mark Hendley (also at thestonescryout.org.uk) led us on a Biblical Artifacts Tour of the British Museum, where we saw artifacts related to the Jews exodus from Egypt, the Assyrian king Sennacharib and his description of his campaign through Israel and Judah - which exactly mirrors the Biblical account. Except one detail was different - and formerly used by critics to discredit the Bible: the Assyrian relief says that Hezekiah paid their king 30 talents of gold and 800 talents of silver, while the Biblical account says Hezekiah paid 30 talents of gold (same) and only 300 talents of silver (different). So this appeared to be a contradiction. Until University of London Assyriologist Don Wiseman discovered that the two countries weighed silver talents differently, and accounting for the different “exchange rate” - the sums were in fact identical amounts. We also saw clay tablets referring to international trade with the “Yehudi” people that were time relevant to the period of the Kingdom of Judah. As a bonus - saw the original Rosetta Stone and many other artifacts - but our primary interest was in Bible artifacts - and there were plenty! 

We reflected as a group on the ride home - what stories of struggle and challenge from the past did we resonate with in our present? or what artifacts strengthened our faith? A few thoughts: One team member reflected that hearing of the martyrs who died to give us access to the English Bible made him wonder - what am I willing to die for? Am I passionate about the things God loves? Another noted that hearing the background and testimony of the Wesleys was sweet, as his late wife loved the Wesley’s hymns, and they played two of them at her memorial service this past year. Another was delighted to see the actual physical artifacts in the British Museum that the Assyriologist at Tyndale House had described for us the day before! Another reflected on being challenged by the story of John Rogers’ wife and eleven children - encouraging him on to faithfulness on his way to execution for preaching the gospel, so that we would encourage those around us to persevere through their suffering.” (fact - John Rogers wife gave birth to their 11th child while he was in prison, and she held up the baby so John could see him before he passed into glory, to see him again only in eternity.)

So many incredible stories and lessons and encounters with God, His Word and His people. And tomorrow we continue to trace the ancient roots of our modern faith, as the gospel spread from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria, and all the way to Oxford - seen in the lives of the Reformation martyrs and in the modern “most reluctant convert” C S Lewis…