And so I got to the meeting about 20 mins late, which you might have thought would be a bad thing. Not really the case, in this case. As any Christian knows, a meeting which is due to start at on the hour, can in reality start any time from quarter past. This one actually started at about 7:50, which meant I had plenty of time to get myself settled, have a cup of tea (of course), and chat to a few people before anything important happened. Loudly. Let me be absolutely clear that two guitars in a small space (one electric) will, without doubt, demand your attention. They used the same set-up for the church service on the Sunday, and the main difference between the two was that more happened in the church.
After starting by worshipping (loudly), we moved on to the main business of the evening-praying for people. It was originally supposed to be praying about what people are getting involved with back home where they are, but apparently God had other ideas. People came up to ask for prayer about what was going on in them, which was both powerful and moving-to know that they trusted people with what was going on with them, and that people obviously cared. I don't really want to go into any more detail, as I don't feel it would exactly be appropriate. It's not my things to share. And then more people arrived shortly before the end of the meeting, but to be fair, they had come from Chesterfield. A rapid tidy-up followed, and then we decamped to a pub-the one where the gig would be held the next evening. And then another. And much merriment followed.
The next day was very busy, but thankfully didn't start too early. I got up at about 9:30, which was actually a fair bit later than I would normally get up on a Saturday, so that was good, and I had a relatively leisurely journey to Islington where I was meeting a friend-and on the way discovered that my phone battery was almost dead. Which would make things tricky to keep in touch over the weekend if we separated. Oh well. The event we were attending during the day was a celebration of 30 years of Workshop. It was an interesting and fun day, but although for my friend it felt like coming home, I had a distinct feeling of not quite fitting. So, for that reason, I don't feel that I should really say more; as I definitely wouldn't do it justice. I enjoyed it, it was fun and interesting, and it was good to spend the day with him; we shall leave it at that. Apart from to say it gave both of us plenty to talk about later, and we are both fully agreed that Universalism is not true Biblically. And then we came to the evening, where we had a bit of a problem-there were two gigs to go to, D-Fest and a gig connected to the Workshop 30 day, and we both wanted to go to both. We decided to do a bit of travelling between venues, and see what we could see. So we missed the first bit of D-Fest and saw the first guy on, and I for one wished we hadn't. I fell asleep during his set. Let's say he was brilliant at what he does, it's just not for me. Or it could have been that I was really tired. Or maybe something else. Anyway, we got to D-Fest, and I was quite happy to stay where I was from that point, so I did. And definitely feel I made the right choice, if only for Seventh Angel-their first UK gig for 20 years. I thought they were brilliant; something I wasn't alone in thinking, I'm certain. I look forward to hearing more from them here....
And so, after finally getting to bed at some ridiculous hour (our hostel had a bar that stayed open until 3a.m.-though we weren't there quite that long), we had to be up and about in time to check out at 10. I'd discovered that didn't mean we actually had to leave the building, just hand over the keys, so I went to have a shower after that. And I felt so much better after that-almost awake, in fact. Anyway, we left and grabbed breakfast in a nearby pub, and then went to check out the British Library, cos we're cultured, like-and it was basically just across the road. I definitely recommend it-it's a striking maze of a building, and you never know what you might see around the corner. Or who. In this case, it was a fellow D-fest attendee, who we both knew. Which was nice. And we saw some very old Bibles. Which was interesting. And then it was time for us to leave and go back into the real world, as my friend had to catch a coach back to his life. I still had 1 1/2 hours before the D-Fest closing service, and once again, I managed to be late. Which appears to be a real skill I have. Anyway, I got there and celebrated with all. It was a very informal (and, obviously, loud) church service with people wandering in and out, and then people drifted around and chatted for a while-apparently a more or less typical Glorious Undead service, by all accounts. Which was generally just really relaxing and really nice, as well as worshipful-I will definitely remember it and the people for a long time to come (definitely the people, as I'm keeping in touch with several, so I won't be able to, even if I wanted to). And then I had to make my way home. I had thought that a 5:30 coach would be fine to catch, but as I didn't leave Camden Town until almost 4:50, the journey to Victoria was a bit fraught. Especially as I realised that my return ticket was on my phone, and I didn't know what the battery situation was like. Well, you'll be pleased to know that for basically the first time that weekend, I managed to get somewhere on time...
And so I caught the coach, and got home. And just generally relaxed after an absolutely stupendous weekend. I won't forget the people I met, and I look forward to meeting up with them again at some point. maybe the next D-Fest, whenever that may be, but hopefully sooner. Who knows what might happen..?
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