...to think that bringing your morning coffee to church is a bit inappropriate?

[NannyPlumsSnarkyWand]

I'm pretty sure I'm just being a judgy old gimmer - thought a Sunday morning AIBU thrashing would be in order.

Just passed a group of school mums as they were coming back from church. They were all carrying portable coffee flasks and sipping from them.

I mean, yes I understand the need for coffee in the morning, but part of me thought - is there really such a pressing need to bring your coffee to a formal church service? Can you really not go a whole hour (less actually) without coffee? And then there's something just a bit odd about it. You're going to church, not the theatre, I don't know - my experience of church services is formal. It would have been seen as inappropriate to bring coffee - you have your tea and coffee after the service - but then as I say, maybe I'm just an old gimmer. Is this normal at church now?

So just to caveat this - no, it doesn't occupy a great deal of my thoughts; yes, I do have other more important things to worry about; yes I do have friends; no, I'm not judging their worth as people based on whether they drink coffee during the service or not, I just had a passing thought and wondered what others thought.

@Summerfun54321

Jesus himself invented the flat white to save Christians from that awful instant church service coffee. YABVU.

Church service coffee is bloody awful and the tea not much better. I think it's a genius move by the church I know to open a proper coffee shop next door.

I and many others wear jeans to go to a Catholic, which I assume is one of those formal legalistic churches you're talking about. Are we not supposed to?

We have the full range from denim minishorts to long dresses and veils all in the same congregation

Church service coffee is bloody awful and the tea not much better.

Our coffee cart has proper barista machines just like coffee shops and the people who serve have done a barista course. These were all considered essential items to be purchased/funded with church funds.

@HoppingPavlova

Church service coffee is bloody awful and the tea not much better.

Our coffee cart has proper barista machines just like coffee shops and the people who serve have done a barista course. These were all considered essential items to be purchased/funded with church funds.

I applaud them for that, but doesn't it take ages to get served? The church I mentioned probably had a congregation of around 500-600, if not more. I'm only judging by how long it takes to make a coffee in Costa.

I think God would just be happy to see them 🤷‍♀️

#WWJD 👍

This in spades. I want to go but have put it off for years as I've always had a baby or a toddler. It would be nice to bring a babe in arms like marge Simpson but getting them to sit still for an hour and a half is hard. impossible

You shouldn’t be put off. You would be welcomed at my local church. We also have services specifically aimed at parents with children, including babes in arms, where practically anything goes. It can get a bit like a zoo at times but nobody minds.

Incidentally, at those services food and drink is served/eaten/drunk/dribbled throughout.

I will be asking my group members to being a drink with them when we meet hopefully in August.

Maybe church had asked members to bring a drink. We used to stay for a coffee etc after church before COVID. Maybe it’s a way of carrying on with normal things in difficult times.

[quote HaplotypeK]@Bumpsadaisie
You passed a group of people coming BACK from church at 9.30am?

It happens. I went to communion at 8am and was back home by 9.

Fair enough, I'm a Jew married to an agnostic Methodist so I have no idea. Gosh you people start early [/quote]
Gets it over - done and dusted by 8.30!

[quote TellmewhoIam]@RichardMarxisinnocent both sexes are expected to dress respectfully but this varies according to communoty and climate. In the RC Cathedral here I've seen long sleeves, high neck, with a micromini skirt.[/quote]
I suspect it varies by country, every Catholic church and cathedral I've been in in the UK (from Westminster cathedral to a tiny church in a small town) has had people in jeans, and when the weather is hot in longish shorts, mini skirts and strappy tops. There is also often at least one woman wearing a veil.

By contrast, in Italy (and possibly Spain and other countries?) I am aware that bare shoulders and shorts aren't really acceptable in a Catholic church so would always cover shoulders and never wear shorts there. I find it interesting that expectations /norms are so different even within the same Church.

I take a thermos of coffee to church as do lots of the other parents - the kids play outside while the parents have a catch up after the service. I don't drink it during the service!

I applaud them for that, but doesn't it take ages to get served? The church I mentioned probably had a congregation of around 500-600, if not more. I'm only judging by how long it takes to make a coffee in Costa.

The scriptural reference point for mass catering after preaching is 5000. Organised by sitting down in 'groups of hundreds and fifties. '.

@BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou

She does, @Confuzzled12345, she does. (Hint: it’s in OP’s first post)

I’ve read and re read the first post. I don’t think the OP is a churchgoer, it certainly doesn’t say she is - unless she was taking her dog….

More churches should be dog inclusive!

@Fairyliz

I never quite understand the need for people to have a drink with them constantly whether it be coffee or a water bottle. I have adult DC’s who have to have a water bottle with them when they are going on a car journey. Fair enough if it’s a four hour journey but this is for 20 minutes to their grandparents. It always looks infantile to me like a toddler with a sippy cup.

"People hydrating themselves in a way they find convenient is infantile"

... oh Mumsnet, never change.

I haven't been to a church (apart from for weddings etc) since I was about 12, but I can't imagine my chill hippy 'cool' vicar from childhood being bothered by this! Church of England though, anything goes. Catholic churches always seem a bit more formal to me haha!

@RichardMarxisinnocent yes, 'acculturation' (the Church sticking to doctrine, but changing socially to be part of the local culture) can be a bit of an RC buzz word.

Pre-covid, you were greeted at the door to my church with 'tea or coffee' and then presented with a full mug to take with you to sit down. Post-covid we're actively encouraged to bring our own drinks in insulated cups. How does sipping a drink stop you participating in worship?

I was thinking this too. God should probably cure sick children and help desperate people rather than worry about coffee!

This is why the church is dying a long slow death. Outdated, too uppity opinions on what other people should or shouldn't be doing. Church has to move with the times. No wonder young people don't regularly attend if they're worried about getting judged left right and centre!!

@Looneytune253

This is why the church is dying a long slow death. Outdated, too uppity opinions on what other people should or shouldn't be doing. Church has to move with the times. No wonder young people don't regularly attend if they're worried about getting judged left right and centre!!

Except that the OP, holder of said opinions, didn’t actually attend the church service. She says that she happened to be walking past.

The vast majority of churches are much less stuffy and formal than most people assume, especially during family worship services. Churches will often offer more formal worship for those who prefer this but it will be a separate service.

That's ridiculous. I wear jeans, leggings, shorts to church.. In my experience, people just wear their normal casual attire.

YANBU. I was at boarding school as a teenager and compelled by parents (not school) to go to Sunday morning mass with a few other Catholic school kids to a church in the nearest town.

To ensure compliance, they would send a (I am assuming atheist) boarder teacher to chaperone us. By this time, I was well over believing and God and wanted to be anywhere but in church. However, I was still scandalised by the fact teacher would bring his fecking MARKING (!) to do whilst we sat in church. 🤯🤯🤯

This was nearly 30 years ago too so indicates some people's standards have been poor for a long time.

Lots of churches in the states here have coffee and baked goods Sunday mornings for attendees-could that be happening?

They were drinking it on their way home. Hot drinks are offered after service so perhaps they had theirs poured into a flask and decided to drink it on the go instead? Your judgement is misplaced here.

As I said, no judgment from me, not really.

It's based on the fact that I would feel slightly awkward sitting and drinking coffee in a service, as if I weren't being respectful enough - more of an "audience member" than an actively worshipping participant. But I can see from many (but not all) of the responses that lots of people wouldn't feel that way. But then I am an old gimmer. That's why I was asking - I was just interested what people thought.

For all those suggesting that they might have "filled their cups after the service, rather than drinking during the service" I would be interested to know then that had that not been the case, had they been drinking coffee through the service, would your opinion change?

I mean, yes WWJD - quite! - had the preaching taken place in the synagogue of Capernaum while holding a flat white in a non-disposable cup who knows where Christianity might be today!