Choirs, worship songs, after service coffee - the all new religion chat thread

[niminypiminy]

A new place for us to share the lovely, silly and annoying things that happen in church life and share our great love of Graham Kendrick.

[nickelbabeinamanger]

signing in!

i'm not so enamoured by the choirs thing at the moment.
I'm also not sure where I'm safe to talk about it anymore, because I'm being spied on on FB. (rather more a public forum than this, though)
I don't know if my christmas namechange will be that effective at subterfuge either

i know you'll all gouge it out of me, though

i'll get the chairs set out, shall I?

[thegreenheartofmanyroundabouts]

Choirs - mine are lovely but some can barely hold a tune in a bucket.

Coffee - part of my new year plan is to get decent coffee in church served in mugs rather than the muck they have been serving for years in tiny plastic cups.

Worship songs. See above comment on choirs. They do a good Taize chant though.

Anyone got any biscuits?

[Dutchoma]

Oh I think you will be safe here Nickel we all know where your allegiance lies. Even though you have made admissions to me on FB I will not betray you -much-.

[nickelbabeinamanger]

strike out fail Oma


It's all gone totally pear-shaped back there.
I mentioned on the prayer thread that we've both left this time - I have brought it up a few times with DH and he is absolutely insistent that he won't go back, no matter what happens. 48 years down the swanney.
There seems to be complete oblivion as to what has happened - obviously we've left at the worst time of the year for the church.
But stuff has kicked off since we've been gone (all 2 weekends of it...)
firstly, the two CWs randomly went to choir practice on friday (for the first time in about 2 years for CW2 and 5 months for CW1 (who normally only came for Evensong practice anyway), and Choirmaster (CM) said that not many people had signed up to go for the meal and did anyone else want to go. Both CWs put their hands up as yes.

1. it had already been booked and desposits paid
   
2. both have special diets that would definitely need to be pre-booked
   
3. DH and I (and DD) are going - both CWs are not even talking to me!!
   
4. Bass said that he and Sop (wife) wouldn't go if either of them did.
   So, Bass rang DH to tell him (on Saturday), because CM hadn't bothered to! (heaven knows how she thought they were going to just turn up on the night!), and DH texted CM to say no, they can't go because it's been booked.
   CM went proper arsey about it and sent DH a snotty text telling him he was being rude etc and that because Bass and Sop weren't going, she wouldn't either.
   humph.
   so on sunday, she announced to the choir that meal was cancelled.
   It hasn't been at all.
   Bass and Sop hadn't been at church on sunday because Bass had been losing sleep over the stress and his blood pressure had risen (he's had a stroke in the past and that panicked him even more), so he didn't know - DH found out last night from Alto-who-also-is-in-other-church-singing-group t a service. So he had to ring the restaurant to check CM hadn't cancelled the booking (DH made it), and then ring everyone else to make sure they knew it was still on.
   What a palaver!

[nickelbabeinamanger]

This will be the proverbial "the whole place will fall apart if you ever leave" that i'm always saying to DH

[nickelbabeinamanger]

greenheart - we have ours in paper cups now and it does taste better.
but I agree, proper mugs would be much nicer - so what if someone has to wash them up afterwards? It hardly takes forever does it!
Other church down the road serves in mugs and it just feels more friendly.
How I wish other church down the road would entertain the idea of a choir. I'd be there like a shot after all this.

[niminypiminy]

Is there an inverse ratio between mugs for coffee and having a choir? (If there is I will all it niminy's law).

We have cups and saucers but now the people who do the coffee have started having a few mugs hanging around for people who need a full mug (ie me) not just a mimsy cup. I'd love it if they started having proper assam tea bags as well, but that's probably crying for the moon.

At one of the other churches they serve gourmet after service snacks. Last time I was there I was offered home made cheese scones, fruit cake, chocolate cake and shortbread. Kind of glad I don't have to take a service there that often! I'd be in the market for a new cassock quite quickly.

Even without that I have three bring and share meals and a cake-tastic knitting club to go to. I may have to not eat for the whole rest of the week...

[Dutchoma]

Strike out fail indeed Nickel. Better watch out or I''ll tell

I there anybody else who 'hates' Light of the World? It seems obligatory in every service in our church.

[nickelbabeinamanger]

nim you might be right. Maybe there is.
Which means all churches with choirs must be wary of suddenly being served coffee in mugs!

maybe an after-service apron for your cassock might be in order.

Oma Funny you should mention it - DH had to play it at the Christingle last night. Thankfully the other church, and there's no way he wuld entertain it at ours (except not "ours" anymore. He's never going to be DoM anymore, or Organist anymore, and he's not as upset about that as I seem to be)
I need a new name for "ours" now. "ex-church" doesn't seem right. "traitors and betrayers" might be more apt. "skating on very thin ice regarding betraying the person who has the knowledge to report them to the diocese over disability discrimination" is even more apt, but rather wordy.

[nickelbabeinamanger]

All i ask for in after-service refreshments is fair trade or local (as in, everything you buy should be local first, british next, fair trade after - i don't lke people who put fairtrade over british, like as if our own farmers are a protected species who don't need to earn a living. Equally shocked am i about people who buy out-of-season produce when it costs more and reduces the amount of in-season stuff that is sold.)

[niminypiminy]

Oma I can't bear Light of the World. We never sing it at my current church though. The person who chooses the music loves obscure Victorian hymns. I tell myself I am getting a thorough grounding in the traditions of Anglican hymnody.

[nickelbabeinamanger]

maybe we should move to be with you nim

[niminypiminy]

[amammabear]

This looks interesting! I'm in a choir, and we have mugs at our church...

[Dutchoma]

So mammabear these are the questions as far as I remember them
Which do you prefer
1 Choir or singing group
2 Guitars and drums or organ
3 Overhead projector or hymnbooks
4 What do you think of Graham Kendrick

Have I forgotten any Nickel

[niminypiminy]

And of course- very welcome, amamabear! Draw up a pew/chair, have a cup of fair trade tea or coffee and a slightly stale basics digestive (or maybe that's just my church) and join our merry band!

[nickelbabeinamanger]

i'll see if i can find them

welcome to the gang, amamabear !
lovely to meet you.

in my exchurch we used to have mcvitie's on occasion, but normally the biccies were supermarket basics brands
But the key thing being that the Ginger Biscuits were stored in a separate tin (which I'm tempted to remove as I'm the one who donated it - the church has a good habit of moaning about stuff but never actually doing anything about it. Clanging cymbals mean anything to anyone?)

[ExcellentWorkThereMary]

May I join? My church has mugs! And a rota for washing them up, obvs.

[nickelbabeinamanger]

Here are the original questions

happy clappy or traditional?
choir or singing group?
organ or keyboards/bands?
hymn books or screens?
and the important one: do you like Graham Kendrick?

[nickelbabeinamanger]

ExcellentWork - fab username! :)

welcome!

[CaulkheadupNorthStill]

Our choir led a new song on Sunday. Can you guess what it was?

[nickelbabeinamanger]

erm.
dunno.
I'm guessing it was either GK or light of the world?

[ExcellentWorkThereMary]

To answer the questions... more traditional than happy clappy, music group throughout the year and choir at Christmas, organ when the organist is there, keyboard when he isn't, hymn books in the pews but words up on the new clever screens!
And I bloody love Graham Kendrick! Shine Jesus Shine is awesome, I always sing it REALLY loud (and try to get one of the tambourines from the kids musical instrument boxes)

[CaulkheadupNorthStill]

It was. Light of the world.

She also go to the church TH leads but he hasn't sang it there yet.

[CaulkheadupNorthStill]

"She" doesn't go anywhere. I go to his church!