Bath Abbey

Last week, our family went to the city of Bath.  We drove through the green hills of England, obscured as usual by a light misty rain.  Bath is a very old city, blending the ancient with the modern, a place where Roman Baths are situated across a courtyard from a Subway or Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream shop.  I loved the Roman Baths, dated to about 60 A.D., but my favorite site was the Abbey.

The Roman Baths were a religious sight for pagan worship from the first century, but even to the early fourth century, there is evidence that Christians lived in Bath as well!  The Abbey itself was founded in 676, long after Roman rule ended in Britain.  A Norman cathedral was built in Bath but fell into disrepair.  In 1499, the present Abbey church replaced the Norman ruins.

The Great Window, which you can only see part of from my picture above, contains 56 scenes from the life of Jesus Christ.

Perhaps my favorite part of the visit to Bath Abbey was thanks to the Chaplains and Stewards.  The Chaplain of the day asked all visitors to take a seat in the pews and remember that this was a place dedicated to God and to prayer. Daily, they request that everyone to pause in prayer. He read several scriptures and blessings and then prayed a beautiful prayer over us.  It was wonderful to know that the staff do not view this as just a historical site, but also part of the living and active community of believers.  In their brochure, they state that "The good news of Jesus is the reason this Abbey exists.  More importantly, it is the reason why all over the world there are Christians who know what it means to meet the living Jesus, and who believe that he alone has the key to human life."