A Palace Beautiful

For the uninitiated, the Palace Beautiful is one of the places described in John Bunyan’s “A Pilgrim’s Progress” where some of the pilgrims stop to rest and are greatly refreshed. Not all stop here, for not all are called to be members of every church that God has established. Yet there are some times in our Christian walk when we are privileged to stop for a time at such a gathering of believers and to be refreshed and re-envisioned once more. It was my privilege to stop at just such a Palace Beautiful whilst in Washington D.C.

Capitol Hill Baptist Church was not always such an encouraging God focussed Church and sin being what it is amongst us humans it may not remain such a place till Christ’s return. But for now, at least for the time that I was there, God made it such a respite for my tired Christian heart that I can have nothing but praise for Him who has made such a gathering for me and others to be so nurtured and spurred on in our Christian walk.

I was there from Thursday afternoon through to Monday morning, visiting with 100 other ministers for a “Weekender” (essentially a guided tour and a fly-on-the-wall view of an 800+ member Church in action). During this time I was billeted at a member’s home and then together with the other ministers attended closed pastoral & member’s meetings, open Church services & teaching seminars, specialised exposés of the inner workings of the staff and life of the Church, and had countless hours and opportunities to question them on what they do, why they do it, and what are the results. During this time the staff and members of CHBC showered us with food, books and Christian hospitality. Their desire was to comfort and bless other Churches with what God has comforted and blessed them (2 Cor 1:4), to urge us to follow them only in-so-far-as they are following Christ (1 Cor 11:1) and asked our forgiveness and patience for all errors we might find along the way.

In all my experience as a Christian I have never yet been amongst such a large group of Christians who were seeking so transparently, earnestly, humbly & honestly to follow Christ in unity together. I commented on this to one of the leaders at the end of the 5 days, adding that I had expected such good Christian behaviour from the leadership, but that I had seen it amongst the body of believers where ever I went. Firstly he was greatly surprised by my report for he knows his own sin and the sin of many others. Second, his response was a tearful request for me to pray for them, for if this is indeed true in any measure at all, then it needs to continue and to deepen and they must never stop striving to live to the praise of God and that they must remain teachable for all errors that are present now and will arise later. Such a heartfelt humble response is proof of the pudding. Strive to live for God’s glory and a holy & godly life will be the result. And when a whole Church full of people are transparently helping each other to do it together … then a holy & godly Church is the result.

Not only was I amazed by such an experience of God’s grace in his Church, I was spurred on to continue my own place in that same race – not to try and remain there at this Palace Beautiful called CHBC – but to take all I have learned and then strive longer to make God’s palace in Shellharbour City beautiful also, beginning with me and my own family; with God as my helper.

And what did I learn through all this? Actually nothing new at all in terms of technique or professional churchmanship, rather I was reminded that the right things done the right way over a long period of time are still right, irrelevant of how hard it feels or what results are seen. This dovetails well with a comment that impacted me, which came from one of the older members, “A young man always overestimates what can be achieved in a short period of time and underestimates what can be achieved over a long period.” Godly perseverance is the order of the day leaving the results to Him who is over all and through all in all.

To God be the glory for all he has shown me at this palace beautiful.

Michael

Wonderful Washington - some photos which didn't make the other posts!

Look who we met ;)

A very excited birthday boy

The Washington monument

It was freezing! I've moved to 'don't care how I look, I just wish I could be warm'!!

At the Lincoln memorial

Karen

Wonderful Washington Day 4, by Ethan

15th March 2011

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

First we woke up and did presents. I got a snickers bar, M n M's, Reeses peanut butter cups, a watch, a teddy mascot from the snowtubing park, a wand from Ollivanders, a Jedi Training Academy jacket and a Gryffindor bag tag. Then we had breakfast, packed our bags and left.

We hopped on a bus and went to Union station and left our bags there. We then walked to the old Post Office tower which is the second highest building in Washington. We went to the very top. On the way there we went past a memorial to all the police officers from the US who have been killed in action. There are more than 19 000 of them. Some were killed by Billy the Kid and some on September 11th.

Then we had morning tea. I was allowed to have a hot chocolate and mum and I shared a red velvet cupcake and a cinnamon scone. Then we went to a bookshop which was huge. I bought a book with some birthday money from nana and grandpa.

Then we went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. At the M.N.H. we saw: a giant squid, an elephant (it was stuffed, like in Night at the Museum), the Hope diamond and other jewels, dinosaur bones and even some Australian animals.

Next we walked back to Union Station, hopped on the train, went to Richmond, hopped off the train, went to the supermarket, picked up our RV, drove to a pizza place and had dinner for my birthday. We had a cake too. Dinner was very funny, we all laughed and told jokes and everyone said what they like about me. We drove to our campsite and went to bed.

Wonderful Washington, Day 3, Part 3

Have you guessed yet that this was my favourite day in Washington (if not our whole trip so far)?!

We left the Art Gallery and walked down the Mall to the last stop for the day, The Smithsonian Museum of American History. After a quick refuelling stop in the cafe for afternooon tea, we were off! We had 2 hours before the museum closed. We decided that dividing was the best plan to see what each person was interested in seeing. Some of the exhibits we saw....

Mike and Karen- Julia Child's kitchen

Mike and boys- old cars, trains, boats, bikes etc

All of us- the original C3PO, Kermit, Michael Jackson's hat and Dorothy's red slippers

Karen- First Ladies' inauguration gowns, also photos, paintings, china, jewellery, shoes, bags etc from every first lady from Martha Washington to Michelle Obama

Mike and boys- Thomas Edison's original lightbulbs

All of us- the first star spangled banner

Karen- a quilt made for a newly wed missionary going to China in the 19th century

by her friends who had handwritten bible verses and messages in every square

It was another fantastic museum, and another one we could have spent all day in ('next time...' became a recurring phrase between Michael and I!)

After they shut the museum doors on us, we caught the bus back to Union Station, then back to the flat, and ate Checkers burgers for dinner once more - 6 very tired but very satisfied Willos!

Luke with an early racing car

Jacqueline Kennedy's inauguration ball gown

Michelle Obama's Inauguration jewellery (all real diamonds!)

'there's no place like home...'

Julia Child's kitchen

C3PO and the gang

Karen

Wonderful Washington Day 3, Part 2

After we left the Capitol Building, we walked down to the National Gallery of Art. This has 2 main parts - the west building and the east building - east is post 20th century art, west is pre 20th century. We went west.

There was an exhibition on the ground floor called 'The Chester Dale Collection - from Impressionism to Modernism'. Dale and his wife collected and then eventually donated an enormous number of significant artworks to the nation, and they are usually spread throughout the gallery but have all been brought together for this exhibition.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing! Monet, Degas, Cezanne, Picasso, Renoir, Gaugin, Matisse, Cassatt, Toulouse-Lautrec, Manet, Dali, Braque, and multiple paintings from each artist. I had seen some of these artists' paintings before and most of them in books but to see the real thing, and so many all together...it was amazing. Even more amazing was that we were able to take photos of all the paintings - in fact security seemed rather casual given the priceless artworks! (not that we tried to take one from the wall... although Michael was tempted!)

Mike channeling Thomas Crown

The boys loved it too. They do a lot of art at school and so had studied quite a few of the artists represented there and could point out features and characteristics of different artists and their paintings. Poor Max (who had an unhappy relationship with Picasso in Year 3) had to confront some more paintings from his 'blue phase', luckily it ended up better than it did 3 years ago! My favourite painting was Picasso's 'Madame Picasso' (I've never been a real fan of his before either but it is a beautiful painting). Aidan preferred Monet's 'The Houses of Parliament, Sunset' (with Mike, above) and Luke loved Monet's Venice paintings.

Madame Picasso

After seeing that exhibition (which was free, too - everything we saw in DC was), we headed upstairs and each borrowed headphones and an audio device and did a children's tour of the gallery - where select paintings have a number on them and you type the number in and hear about the history, artist, themes etc of the painting. The children's tour was excellent - they had actors voicing different characters in the paintings and pointed out things the boys were interested in. We saw some renaissance paintings (in fact, something by each of the ninja turtles, as Ethan pointed out!) through to the early 20th century. The gallery's most famous work is by Leonardo da Vinci called 'Ginevra de' Benci'- he painted it before he did the Mona Lisa and it's in a similar style.

Ginevra

We had a very happy couple of hours there (I could stay all day, if not a whole week and still not see it all!) and reluctantly left -there was one more Museum to fit in that day!

An atrium at the Art Gallery (there were a number of spaces like this inside the gallery)

Karen

Wonderful Washington Day 3, part 1 - the Capitol

Monday, 14th March 2011

We had booked a Capitol Building tour this morning - our admission time was 9.20am so we had to be at the Capitol for our security checks at 8.30am. It was the most thorough check yet (actually, no, I had a full body scan at LAX - but second after that one!) We weren't allowed and food or liquids, nor backpacks - Mike and the boys had their pockets packed with cameras, hankies, pens, rainjackets, etc etc - we looked like sherpas! I had forgotten I had deodorant in my handbag and so there was a brief security conference to see if I could keep it or not - they must have decided I wasn't a threat to national security and let us through.

Emancipation Hall - the visitor's centre

We entered under the Capitol Building through a new visitor's centre, a huge, airy space filled with statues of famous Americans. We saw a 15 minute movie about the history of the building and then joined Brandon's tour group. Brandon was a great tour guide - think dry wit, history buff, passionate American with a touch of camp - and he led us for about 30 mins through the building. We went in the rotunda (under the dome), the statuary hall (also full of statues and where the President hosts a meal after the inauguration which occurs outside on the steps) and the crypt.

looking up into the dome

After the tour we went to get tickets to go into the House visitors gallery - after checking our passports and identities we were given some - we felt like Charlie Bucket! More security (they took everything we had with a battery - phones, cameras, even Mike's binoculars) and we went through winding corridors to the House chamber. Site of the State of the Union, an impressive room with plush carpets and statues and quotes everywhere. We were sitting near a knowledgeable young man who pointed out lots of features to us. It was Mike's favourite part of our day!

with our House Gallery tickets!

Back in the visitor's centre (actually called 'Emancipation Hall'), we shopped in the souvenir shop, had lunch in the cafeteria and emerged after an amazing 4 hours.

a statue in Emancipation Hall - each state is allowed to display 2 statues- this one is from Hawaii

Karen

Wonderful Washington, Day 2

We have just had 4 days in Washington DC. We left our RV in Richmond, Virginia, caught the Amtrak train to DC and stayed in an apartment. Over our 4 days here we’ve walked for miles and began to get a hang of the buses and the street layout. The security is a bit of a drag, but then that’s the case everywhere we go in the U.S. In fact it all feels strangely familiar, which would have to be due to the countless hours we have spent watching West Wing and reading Tom Clancy novels.

Luke has blogged about our first day (and just updated it with some photos) so we won't go over that again!

On Day 2 we found our way to Capitol Hill Baptist Church for their morning service.

It was a great experience, and very different to Shellharbour City Centre Anglican Church! Some differences: church went for 2 1/2 hours, the sermon was 1 hour of that. Children only go to Sunday School up to year 3, after that they stay in church for the whole service. We sang about 8 hymns, many of them very old songs. The church is a traditional building with a balcony and seating for hundreds. Everyone was very formally dressed - we were the most underdressed family there (and all my boys were wearing collared button shirts!)

But they were the externals - of course there were many similarities too! They included: a warm welcome from a lovely lady who saw us standing before church with no idea of where to go; the bible was read, taught and prayed about; we prayed for local and global issues; we stood to say the creed; the service was thoughtfully led; morning tea was great and we met some very nice people (including the service leader who is from Newtown and now on staff here! He had actually met Michael before and heard him preach about 8 years ago!) We also met Mark Dever, the senior pastor (Michael knew him already from a Sydney conference). Mark invited us back to a meeting at 5pm that afternoon.

After we left church we walked two blocks to the Capitol building. It was a beautiful, sunny day and there weren't many people about. We were able to take heaps of photos with blue sky in them (as opposed to the grey of the day before!) We then walked down the the Smithsonian Museum of Air and Space. It has an amazing number of aircraft, old and new, suspended from the ceiling, also various other exhibits of related things. We spent a couple of hours there then walked back to the apartment, dropping Michael off at the church meeting on the way.

Burgers for dinner - the easy option - and early to bed in preparation for the big day tomorrow!

Karen

We go to Washington DC by Luke

12th March 2011

Today we woke up at about 6.00am because we had to catch a train really early in the morning. After getting dressed, eating breakfast and getting what we needed from the RV, we said goodbye to K and she took us to the station. There we caught a train to Washington DC.

The train trip took 2 hours, and we entertained ourselves by talking and reading. At 9.45am we arrived at Union Station in Washington DC. We hopped out, and set off.

The first thing we did was to check in our bags so that we didn't have to carry them everywhere, and after that we went onto a tour bus. On the tour bus we went past many famous sights and places, and our bus driver told us about them. We hopped off the bus near the Smithsonian Museum of American History and from there we walked to a street corner where our walking tour was going to start. It was absolutely freezing, and the strong wind didn't help. Soon enough, our tour started.

The first thing we did on our walking tour was to go to the Washington Monument which is a really tall white tower of stone. As we walked there our guide told us heaps of stuff about it. The Washington Monument is for George Washington, who was the first President of the U.S.A. The tower was actually planned before George died but was not begun until much later. The monument is actually 2 different colours, because of the different coloured stone they used over the many years of construction. You can see the monument from heaps far away because it is so tall.

We then spent time looking at the White House from there. The White House wasn't always white though. It was originally sandstone in colour. It was painted white much later (after the English burnt it down in 1813 and it was rebuilt), it was then called the White House. After taking lots of pictures we walked further along the Mall to the WWII Memorial, which had heaps of water fountains and even a wall filled with more than 4000 gold stars (each star represents 100 Americans who died in the war).

We walked on further through the parks on the Mall to the Vietnam Memorial. When this was built there was a competition in the USA for what the Memorial would look like, 2500 people entered designs. In the end a college student won, even beating her own teacher who had only given her a "B" for her design in class. The memorial was a smooth polished black wall with the names of all the Americans who were killed or "missing in action" during the war.

We kept on walking and next was the Lincoln Memorial. Inside there was a huge statue of Abe Lincoln sitting in a chair. The Lincoln Memorial is the place for many rallies and the "I have a dream" speech was said there by Martin Luther King Jnr. The memorial is directly across from the Washington Monument, and from the Memorial you have a perfect view of it. We took heaps of pictures, and walked around looking at all the detail on the memorial. There are 56 steps, to signify the 56 years of his life.

Our final point of the tour was at the Korean War Memorial. It had 19 men "creeping" through the forrest. Behind the men there was a wall with lazer etched photos on it of the American support services who went to Korea. This wall was also reflective so when the 19 men are added to the 19 reflections it becomes 38 symbolizing the 38th Parallel. Our tour then ended.

After having lunch we kept on walking around. In the distance was the Capitol building with its statue on top of the dome. We had learnt that the statue was Lady Freedom and no other statue in all of Washington is allowed to be taller than it (19.5 feet) so that freedom is never overshadowed. As we moved around we saw Police and FBI and CIA officers everywhere - police with guns were on top of the White House because the President, Barack Obama, was home.

After catching a tour bus back to Union Station we had Subway for dinner and after a long wait in the absolute freezing cold, we caught another bus to the apartment where we were staying. We went to bed as soon as we could because we were really tired. Daylight savings was due to change overnight so we all switched our watches forward one hour.
Here are some photos I took :

The White House with 2 snipers on the roof

The Korean War Memorial

The Washington Monument

The Lincoln Memorial

The Capitol Building