Today was the last non-travel day of the Bede travel devotional, and because of the long drive the day prior, we got a late start. That was fine with me, but by 1:30 p.m. it was time to make a move, and I had settled on Dorchester-on-Thames.

The inevitable rebellion of the GSB team

I called Ann, who was out walking around Cliveden House — our home for the last two days of this travel devotional. From the lounge we could see Ann at the edge of the back yard and gardens, a half mile away. I told her we needed to leave in about 15 minutes. She cited her distance from the house as a reason we should go without her.

The Wife had been feeling sick since the day before and was willing to go but began insisting on conditions like, “I’ve got to get something to eat if I go.” When she finally decided to stay at Cliveden House, I suggested she might enjoy a walk like Ann in the garden. She said, “I’ll do what I want.”

The Wife, like Ann, is a free spirit. When she feels she is being compelled to do things, she can push back. There are various terms she and Ann have coined for this condition such as “being yanked around” and there being “too much pressure in the system.”

It’s what Moses had to deal with when he came down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments, and it is inevitably what I have to deal with late in these trips after I have exhausted all my leadership skills to keep the rest of the team on mission. I had come down from the mountain and my time with the Lord (and ChatGPT) and this was the reaction I received to the itinerary. So, I decided to go it alone.

Bede on Dorchester-on-Thames

Dorchester-on-Thames is the site of the conversion and baptism of King Cynegils, an Anglo-Saxon pagan, in 635 A.D. Cynegils’s conversion to Christianity came in response to the preaching of Bishop Birinus, and opened this area of England up to the Gospel. Here is what Bede says about it:

At that time, the West Saxons, formerly called Gewissae, in the reign of Cynegils, embraced the faith of Christ, at the preaching of Bishop Birinus, who came into Britain by the advice of Pope Honorius; having promised in his presence that he would sow the seed of the holy faith in the inner parts beyond the dominions of the English. where no other teacher had been before him. Hereupon he received episcopal consecration from Asterius, bishop of Genoa; but on his arrival in Britain, he first entered the nation of the Gewissae, and finding all there most confirmed pagans, he thought it better to preach the word of God there, than to proceed further to seek for others to preach to.

Now, as he preached in the aforesaid province, it happened that the king himself, having been catechized, was baptized together with his people, and Oswald, the most holy and victorious king of the Northumbrians, being present, received him as he came forth from baptism, and by an alliance most pleasing and acceptable to God, first adopted him, thus regenerated, for his son, and then took his daughter in marriage. The two kings gave to the bishop the city called Dorcic, there to settle his episcopal see; where having built and consecrated churches, and by his labor called many to the Lord, he departed this life, and was buried in the same city; but many years after, when Hedda was bishop, he was translated thence to the city of Winchester, and laid in the church of the blessed apostles, Peter and Paul.

Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Bk. III, Chp. VII.

Dorchester-on-Thames is a 50-minute drive from Cliveden House, and without the normal distractions of the GSB team chatter in the car, I was able to make it without any wrong turns.

Like many old towns in England, the centerpiece of Dorchester-on-Thames is an ancient church, in this case Dorchester Abbey, built on the site of the original church that was constructed when King Cynegils became a Christian here.

Dorchester Abbey

The abbey is impressive on the outside but apart from stained glass windows a bit disappointing on the inside.

With some trouble I was able to find the shrine to Bishop Birinus, but the stained glass representation of Cynegils’s baptism is only a small round piece of stained glass affixed to a larger church window, where it doesn’t appear to belong.

There was no plaque or hand-out I could find that referenced the story of the birth of Christianity in this region mentioned by Bede. This was what put them on the map, at least for the Bede travel devotional tour to Chatsworth-on-Thames, and it turned out our only information for the story was from the Venerable Bede.

There were a few tombs in the church as well, with with a short chronology on the tomb of Sir John Stonore, a 14th century Chief Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, but no information regarding the other tomb near Stonore’s. There was stained glass on the south wall depicting scenes, that seemed out of balance with the lack of any stained glass on the north wall.

There was also a small room with stone remnants from different iterations of the church, but I wasn’t interested in the architecture of buildings but God’s architecture of the kingdom of God in this part of England.

Before I left, I wrote a polite suggestion in the guest book about improving their dedication to Birinus, who was the real hero here, besides Jesus of course.

The site to see in Dorchester-on-Thames

My favorite part of Dorchester-on-Thames was not Dorchester Abbey but a spot, and it more than made the drive to the town worth it.

Upon leaving Dorchester Abbey, ChatGPT was able to guide me by foot to the place near the banks of the Thame where Birinus baptized King Cynegils.

I walked the 150 yards from the church to the bridge where I could see the place where King Cyngils professed his obedience to King Jesus, changing the course of history in this part of England in the early 7th century

I took some pictures and wondered if those present at King Cynegils’s baptism possibly could have imagined in real time how important that moment was in history.

So, often we don’t know in the moment the significance to the Kingdom of the events we participate in daily. Only the divine and sovereign Architect knows.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Jeremiah 29:11

When the Lord spoke the words above to Israel in exile in Babylon, they couldn’t have known from the natural or political circumstances that they would ultimately return to the their homeland, but the Lord knew. Likewise, we do not know our own future; we only know that in submitting our lives fully in obedience to King Jesus that we will fulfill the destiny He has for us in His kingdom, and that is more than anyone can hope or ask for.

After I returned to Cliveden House, I walked the grounds around the magnificent garden and then the team enjoyed our last dinner together of this travel devotional. GS