Attending service at Westminster Abbey a memorable experience

William the Conqueror was crowned there in 1066, and Westminster Abbey has been the scene of every English coronation since then. It’s been the backdrop for royal weddings and the final resting place of more than 3,000 people, including 17 monarchs.

I attended church services there, sitting next to the choir, on June 2, when I stopped for a day in London en route to the Channel Islands. Westminster Abbey is an active church, along with being a repository for 1,000 years of British history.

Services take place every day, and anyone can attend. It’s a Church of England service, familiar to Americans who attend an Episcopal church, but unfamiliar to me. I was the guest of my friend Beverly LeBlanc, a one-time News-Herald writer who has lived in England for more than 30 years. Her mother continues to live in Painesville, and Beverly and I catch up when she visits here or I go there. St James Episcopal in Painesville is their home church.

Because Beverly has volunteered at Westminster Abbey for more than 10 years, she knows the right people and was able to get us seats in the quire, which is another way of spelling choir.

Both men and boys comprise the Abbey Choir, and they file into the church once congregants are seated.

Choir members stand at tables illuminated by small lamps with red shades.

No photography is permitted inside the Abbey at anytime.

Because of the arrangements made in advance by my friend, we did not have to stand in line (or queue, as the Brits say it), something that is the fate of those with a London Pass, who get in for free. Those who buy a ticket (21 pounds) online get fastpass entry but also can come back the same day for a tour of the Abbey.

Painesville native Beverly LeBlanc poses for a photo in the Medieval cloisters at Westminster Abbey in London, where she volunteers. Janet Podolak — The News-Herald

Most of those coming to services will be seated in the Crossing, which is in front of the High Altar. If you’ve watched a Royal Wedding on television, you’ll recognize it.

President Donald Trump would be visiting Westminster Abbey the day after I was there, and he and first lady Melania would lay a wreath on the Grave of the Unknown Warrior, honoring those falling in both world wars and more recent conflicts.

Beverly and I attended the 10 a.m. Matins service, which is sung on behalf of those in attendance. “The words and music become a prayer within us and lift us to contemplate God’s beauty and glory,” says the program distributed to help congregants know when to sit and when to stand and what will be sung when they do.

The choir consists of 12 professional adult men and a 30-voice boy choir. They sing at three services each day.

My friend recommends the 3 p.m. Evensong service as the perfect antidote to a hustle-bustle day of London tourism.

The service opens with everyone singing the National Anthem, “God Save the Queen.” I think I was the only one who needed the words.

The program noted this was the Seventh Sunday of Easter, and it marked the anniversary of Coronation Day 1952 — things I didn’t know. Easter anthems were sung, and the program referenced 1 Corinthians 5:7, Romans 6:9 and 1 Corinthians 15:20.

The music was purely wonderful.

“The service always includes one or more psalms,” the program stated. “These ancient prayers, taken from the Old Testament, reflect the full range of human emotions and experiences; from the depths of anger, resentment and abandonment to the heights of ecstatic joy and praise.”

We heard Psalm 84 during the Matins service.

Everyone turns toward the east and says the Apostles Creed, which was familiar.

The collection, taken during the singing of a hymn, goes toward the Abbey’s support of charities combatting modern slavery and human trafficking, the program noted.