Hunting for the White Horse Inn, Dinner with a Hobbit WED. JULY 21

   Today we made the 2 hour drive to Cambridge, stopping at the American military cemetery where many of crewman killed in bombing missions over Europe during WW2 are buried, and the names of the missing are recorded on a special wall. Once in Cambridge during my exploration time I went looking for the site of the White Horse Inn.  It was a pub where a group of students and tutors met (secretly, in a back room) during the 1520's and studied the Bible in English and discussed Luther's writings.  It was the first English-speaking student small group Bible study, and all current ones can trace their spiritual ancestry back to it (except maybe for the fact that they met over beer).  Some of its members went on to be leaders of the Reformation in England, and several were burned at the stake under Bloody Mary.  The two most famous were Ridley and Cranmore—principle author of the Book of Common Prayer.  When I first visited Cambridge in 1994 I stumbled across a plaque in the sidewalk without realizing what I had found.  Upon discovering its significance I looked for it again on my next trip and couldn't find it.  This time I knew where it was supposed to be, but still couldn't find it for a while.  I discovered that because of a building remodel the plaque in the sidewalk was gone—a new one had been put on a near-by wall.  I had walked right by it several times without seeing it, because was looking at the ground, not the walls.  There is probably a sermon illustration there somewhere.
   We had dinner in the private Mountbatten* dining room in Christ's College with a hobbit.  Well, that was how someone described him… the Rev. Dr. Malcolm Guite—small, fuzzy, convivial over food and wine and a poet and poetic scholar.  He recited some poetry, some his some that was written by others that he loved (especially Seamus Heaney), and talked, and ate, and talked.  If Lewis and his friends talked and shared their writings like this, I can see why they had little interest in television when it came along.  Sherry before the meal, red and white wine during, and Port after all bore the label of the college's private cellar.  As did the after-dinner chocolates.  Dessert does not end a meal where conversation continues—cheeses and chocolates come after…  I wanted to participate in the whole experience, so I had at least a sip of each of the beverages—but it was probably wasted on me.  I savored the chocolates to make up for it, though.  It was like dinner at Rivendell…
  You can probably figure out which person in the picture is Malcolm.

*Lord Mountbatten was, among other things, the great-uncle of Prince Charles, and served as Supreme Commander Allied Forces South-East Asia during WW2.  The sword he received at the surrender of Singapore at the end of the war is mounted in the room.