Religion Chat thread number 1

[nickelbabyjesus]

I wanted to put some random thoughts and stuff regarding church, without it having to be a debate or a specific topic (and not prayers, either)

It's basically, a "what happened at church (or in my musical/spiritual life) this week" thread.
Please join me!

I'll start:

We had Midnight Mass (on Christmas Eve, would you believe!), and it was half past 11, everyone was sitting and ready for the service to start - I waved the organist to give me my notes: he was just about to plat them when:
" TAXI FOR suchandsuch " came blaring out of our speaker system.
There's a Wetherspoon's over the road and looks like the DJ's mike was on the same frequency as our radio mikes.
So, all the congregation started giggling and we had to wait 5 minutes until everyone was calm and collected enough to carry on.

he was ^just about to play them - just cos i started a thread doesn't mean I can type....

what a fab idea :)

I normally go to church with my two monsters children (3yo DS & 5yo DD). They missed going in the run up to Christmas as both were ill (as was I, so we all missed the Sunday before Christmas, the Carol service & Christingle :( ).
When we went last weekend DD said "I missed Church, I like going, it makes me feel better and happy inside". I thought that was lovely :)

Nice idea Nickel

I've had the same thing happen to me at a church service, except it was during a wedding! Really felt for the bride and groom as it took a good 5 mins or so for everyone to calm down and for the vicar to sort out the frequency!

I went to some lovely services over Christmas, although I did have an moment when we arrived at the Christingle service 30 minutes late (I thought we were arriving 30 minutes early!) It was not at our family church but at the church where I am shortly starting my new job as PA to the Vicar - how embarrassing!! I just got totally confused with the service times between the two churches - I will have to be more careful in future. Luckily he saw the funny side

Thats funny nickel :)

A vicar of my acquaintance once left his mike on and went to the loo during a quiet bit of the service. The rest you can imagine

Good thread idea.

madhairday that reminded me of the tale our last vicar used to recount - that at the start of every wedding etc he used to remind people to turn their mobiles off.

During one wedding a phone started ringing & he thought "what idiot has still got their phone on..." and then realised it was his... resulting in much fishing under his vestments to retrieve it & turn it off! Luckily the bride and groom (and the rest of the congregation) thought it was hilarious!

Not related to phone calls but had a lovely service this morning. We celebrated epiphany a few days early, sang we 3 kings and first nowell and it reminded me that Christmas isn't over yet. It was my first epiphany in church as I've only recently let god into my life. Loved today's service! Anyone else?

Hello :)

My new year's resolution is to be generally more proactive and less lazy and part of that is to get back into going to church on Sundays.

So yesterday I went for the first time in months. Twas very nice and we also sang 3 kings and first nowell!

well done. it is a discipline. i must admint i didn't go for a long time but have been going since September.

I feel it helps me for the week and it is good to talk to other people there after the service

Me too with the New Year's resolution! Have been going since September too, but not in the UK. Moved back here just before Christmas and haven't been here since ... er ... well, let's say decades rather than years .

(Irrelevant, but have to point out that you are named after my favourite flower, bucaneve!)

It definitely just becomes the "norm" after a while. I started going back to Church a couple of years ago after a very long time of only going to weddings/funerals/baptisms/carol service etc. It took a while for it to become an every week occurance, but now on the very rare occasion that I really can't go on a Sunday I end up going to a mid-week service, as alemci said, it helps to prepare me for the week & I really miss it now if I don't go :)

We have a special Epiphany service on Thursday so no We Three Kings or First Noel for us yesterday (although we did do God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen!)

Thanks Alemci :) I think the next step will be to try and get to know people at church/stay behind for the coffee bit afterwards, but am pretty shy so it'll probably take me a while.

They are one of my favourite flowers too TotallyUnheardOf, we used to have them in the garden when I lived in Italy

Where in Italy, bucaneve? There is a short story (I think it's more just a piece of description, but I can't find it here atm, so it must be at work) with that title by Giani Stuparich.

Do your children go to church with you? Mine came with me when I was in the US and were always keen to stay for coffee, as there were also cookies! So that was great, because I always had them to talk to if no-one spoke to me, and anyway having the kids there sort of encouraged people to talk to us anyway. Trying to persuade the dds to come with me over here is a bit of an ongoing thing (dh is an atheist and won't have anything to do with it, so they can always stay at home with him) but first I think I need to find a 'permanent' home church where I feel comfotable... then I'll work on the kids.

have to admit, I probably wouldn't go to church if I weren't in the choir - not because I don't want to - I always loved going to church - but because I feel awkward around people I don't know, and I can't talk to people in case they don't like me.

We had epiphany this Sunday. we three kings in the starring role. Too many verses, and far too low for me! still, I love it!

In the Alps near lake Como.

I don't have any kids yet, otherwise I would take them with me and use them as cute icebreakers--
I think the plan is to go along for a few more weeks just to settle in and then stay behind afterwards for a bit.

Ooh, lovely, bucaneve. Do you know anyone at your church? If you have just one familiar face, it helps, I find. I am also quite shy with new people though because my job brings me into contact with new people a lot I have got quite good at hiding it.

nickel... I like you... You were lovely to me on my 'take it and read' thread! :)

aw!

I really liked that thread. :)

I'm very excited about this Sunday's service, because we'll be admitting our one and only junior chorister into the choir (he's done 3 months' probation and will get a surplice).
I love being junior Choirmaster I feel really proud (even though I haven't actually done anything except retain a child for 3 months! ). I don't think i'd be able to cope with 2 or more junior choristers though!

I used to know loads of people growing up, as it was the church attached to school, but as we've all grown up/moved away/stopped going to church etc. there are only a few faces I sort of recognize now. Also, having checked the parish newsletter, tea and biscuits is actually after the Sunday morning mass not the lunchtime one I go to. Ah well...I love biscuits but not enough to get up early for them plus the lunchtime mass is much livelier with more hymns and a band.

That sounds lovely Nickelbabyjesus. I hope you have a really nice time on Sunday :)

maybe you could ask them to put some biscuits by for you for after the lunchtime service?

Does anyone else go to "Messy Church" sessions? Our next one is on Saturday (they are once a month at our church) and the kids love it, although that may be more down to the "party tea" afterwards!!

I've heard of messy church- tocc's mentioned it.

I found this website on messy church.

(looks a bit too prgressional for me, but great for kids! :) )

I must admit messy church isn't really "me" either, but we do seem to get a lot of new families venturing over the threshold because of it, not so scary I guess!
My church is a very "high" Anglo-catholic one so I'm amazed they do messy church at all! (some of the oldies are not too impressed when we get glitter everywhere from the craft activities... ) but the kids do really seem to enjoy it. It seems to be a formula that works, at our first session 15 months ago we had 14 children + adults, at the last one in December there were 47 children + adults

I was on holiday in the Cotwsolds last September and went to the church in the very pretty village where I was staying. I was greeted by people offering bacon rolls at the door of the church! They'd set up a grill in this very pretty old church and were making bacon sandwiches for everyone who went to church. It was absolutely great. I can't imagine that happening at my local church. Everyone was very, very friendly and I got chatting with quite a few people. It turned out that about 50% of the adults were on holiday like me! There were quite a few children, at least as many as the adults and it turned out they were there for messy church. The children did craft activities while the rest of us did a bible study. At the end the children showed us the things they had made and sang a song they had learned. They had been in the church throughout. It all had a great atmosphere and felt very, very inclusive. Now I'm wondering if any Mumsnetters were there that day!

I think the best thing about it, from your POV, then Betsy , is that it's only once a month, therefore it's bringing people in, but it doesn't overshadow the rest of what the church is doing.

win win all round!

jaffa maybe it's something you could suggest to your own church. Lots of village churches tend to do things that involve the whole village, not just the congregation, iyswim, and that's something that can be lacking in town churches. (ours too) It sounds like loads of fun (not saying every service! but one or two in the summer would be fantastic) :)

So, we admitted our junior chorister yesterday!

It was really good - he brought his dad and sister's family along (his mum was working ,unfortunately and couldn't come - we didn't know about this until the week before so we couldn't change the date :( )
It was all rather scary and exciting DH (as he is the real choirmaster) did the surplice vesting, and made a proper hash of it - he says he needs to learn how to dress children! [roll], but apart from that, it went swimmingly and now our junior chorister looks like the rest of us! He was so proud of himself. :)