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.

oh - and my striking out didn't work

Found it because that's what I was searching for!

Yes. Seems that David (site owner) intends writing a summary of other religions. Dick (the poem author) has written some Christian articles.

Myself. Not sure if I believe in any of the formal religions, but I do believe there is some sort of 'force' in control of things, and that this force is in each of us and in everything created. I also believe that life is what you make it and I believe in reincarnation.

Looking at Dave's site, looks like this makes me a Hindu!

Well - lets not forget that's it's an agnostic (who has been a Chaplain - so therefore a Christian), and also a comedian, and an authro, and a policeman, and a social worker, a civil servant (blimey the list is endless) who wrote the information on those articles. So it's not exactly an unbiased viewpoint.

shame he missed off his writing of songs, poems and lyrics from his comedy page on Facebook

TBH - I'm going to come straight out and say it either you're dick/david/richard, you're his wife/friend - or you've been fooled by a "jack of all trades"

lol my Google search missed all that. Just done a search on Facebook.

[Ignoring website discussion, cos can't really be bothered... Sorry.]

MHD - Yes, you're probably right and my thoughts are conditioned by my own trajectory, which is not (obviously) the same for anyone else.

Also... I wonder... if I hadn't had good experiences of going to church as a child (to the point of making a positive commitment to my faith as a teenager when I was confirmed), would I have come back to it at all?

I'm glad I can come here and mull these things over, as I don't really have anyone in real life...

Going back to the confirmation thing, in the Methodist church there is the being 'received into membership' which IIRC is done instead of confirmation but also when you change church/start going again. Personally I never liked it because it felt a bit too much like the individual church being a club and needing to be initiated into the club - but then I'm more post denominational and happy to be wherever best 'fits' at the time.

But I'm sure Baroque that it's worth speaking to your vicar. I would think that there is a liturgy that could be used for this, and if not you can always write one

BTW Baroque I spent all day being confused as to why my being in Moldova would make it come up on Youtube for you, thinking that you meant when you searched for things or something like that, and then realised that you meant showing on your (most excellent) video . If you're interested in seeing what we're doing here I can PM you our website...

haha - sorry to confuse you over the Moldovia thing thanks - I'd noticed it quite early on on the "insight" bit that there was Australia, US, UK and Moldovia and thought - wow that's a bit random - it was only when you mentiohed it this morning I twigged

oh yes if you could PM me........would love to see

got your PM and replied (x2)

morning all!

Did i tell you about my Tuesday evening?
Pretty sure I didn't....

I was going through the Hideous Orange Hymn Book to look for hymns for something and happened to mention to DH that they do loads of mass settings at the back - was surprised to see Dom Gregory Murray's A New People's Mass (although they've just called him Gregory Murray...)
was lovely. I went to the piano and played it through for DH who hasn't heard it before. (when i say played, i mean just the top line cos i can't sight-read)

then i ended up going through all the prayer stuff- Hideous has got loads of Taize stuff, and as I knew Baroque, you use those loads, I played a few of them.
They're all a bit samey, aren't they/ lovely, some of them, i have to admit, just right for prayer time, and meditation/lighting candles, that kind of thing, but we don't have that kind of thing in most of our services - they wouldn't work as a choir piece or as responses, because we say responses to the prayers, and sing set settings. I told DH it would be nice to do something like that in Memorial services when candles are being lit. Not the same one over and over again (we did that in our old church and it was hell!), but to maybe 3 or 4 with the same key, that we could repeat.

nickel going back to yesterday (this thread has moved so fast!) - I was taken regularly to church (traditional CofE) as a child and when I was confirmed I didn't really understand the significance - it was seen by my parents as something you did at that age and I went along with it - I didn't think at the time that I wasn't a Christian if you know what I mean. I went to a church youth group later on when we moved to a new area where I realised that there was more to being a Christian and that you could have a personal relationship with God.

I think that's pretty common newlark, especially with CofE confirmation. But if you think of your faith as a journey and the confirmation as part of that, who knows what impact it had, even though you might not have understood it fully at the time.

It seems like it's a fairly common experience so maybe there does need to be an alternative service recognising a more adult or mature committment.

nickel Taize definitely needs the right atmosphere. I think the best version that I've heard was when there were 4 or 5 instruments (and good musicians!) who kind of wove around the melody so it wasn't too samey.

ahh - nnow "oh Lord hear my prayer" works beautifully as a response between (intercesion) prayers. We don't use it often, but sometimes we will and it's really actually quite popular (even among the Taize haters).

Most of them work much better sung unaccompanied, or with a large group (have heard recording of proper Taize services (from the actual place) where people sing them in rounds, and harmonize, and sing in their own language too.

I don't mind them - they're not really that different to plainchant (which I really DO find samey as most of it's in Latin so I can' understand what they're singing )

"O Lord hear my Prayer" [shudder]

yes, it does work beautifully as a prayer inbetween responses.

What ruined it for me forever, though, was using it as the background to a memorial service at my old church, where everyone lit candles.
WE had 3 verses (same words, but unison, then 2 different harmonies) and we ended up singing them about 80000000000000000000000 times.
I can't hear it anymore.

I was pleasantly surprised by all the Latin ones.

newlark - thank you for your explanation - I figured it would be something like that - there's so much more than just doing the actions, isn't there. :)

oh, further to your post thanks - I did a couple of the more simple harmonies in the book, and DH said "there are some good chords in there".
I assume he was talking about the writer, rather than the player.

oh some people are so finicky drives me mad.

Someone at church (a known PITA lol) emailed me last week to ask me to change the date of one of the "dates for your diary" events. Which I duly did.

I've just had a phone call from him.

"You know I asked you to change the date"

oh but HOW exciting - my Christian Unity Video (the one I was really chuffed with)

Is 2nd on the featured videos on a search for "You Raise Me Up Selah" (I wondered why after getting one or two hits every 2 or 3 days I'd suddenly had 6 while I was at nursery pick-up)

Grr Baroque I do our notice sheet and get similar all the time so feel your pain.

We do 'Oh Lord Hear my prayer' sometimes as intercession responses too, it's lovely but yes can be and has been overused. Love Taize stuff, my parents have been there and say it's an amazing place. Isn't 'O Adoramus Te Domine' Taize? Can't remember but do like that one as well as a simple response song.

lol at hideous orange book, is that the Cof E hymnal one with the lectionary readings at the back? If so - agreed :D Mind you we have Mission Praise and it really annoys me because they have changed some of the words in the old hymns (so 'Yours is the glory' rather than 'thine be...') and have messed up entriely the last verse of 'Crown Him' - love love love that ineffably sublime, rolling spheres etc but they've taken all the good words out and come out with some mundane pile of crap. Huh. Leave em alone - they have such a poetry about them - just don't get it!! (And yes this coming from a contemporary worship fan )

So frustrating the news sheets as I was never actually asked to put a "Dates for your Diary" onto the notice sheet. I realised it was printed in the monthly parish magazine and decided it would be good to have it on the notice sheet as well for advance (weekly) warning for people (especially those that get the Magazine on the 1st of the month, read it over coffee after church and then don't look at it again). Did I get a thanks - did I heck

Oh Mission Praise altering of words is nothing on The Hideous Orange Book. Not only have they changed words in just about everything, they've changed harmonies, and put stupid tunes with some of the hymns too.

The Hideous Orange Hymn Book is Complete Anglican Hymns Old and New.

If you think Mission Praise is bad for changing words, then Hideous beats it!
Onwards Christian Pilgrims because Soldiers is too violent (but Fight the Good Fight is fine ) etc etc .....

oh, yes, the harmonies!!
Blody awful!

and Be Thou My Vision - completely mucked up - to the extent that you can't sing it, even to the old arrangement, because to their arrangement, they've had to take some words out!

have you tried make me a channel of you peace as presented in the organe book? 'tis rubbish - doesn't fit properly at all, or scan or anything.

I've not had too many issues with fitting Be Thou my Vision to the arrangment though

And they've put a RUBBISH accompaniment for Seek Ye First in there as well. I point blank refuse to play it from there and ALWAYS use Mission Praise for that one.

oh, yes - make me a channel, they've joined verses together, and then do chorus after 2 verses.
it doesn't work well at all.
again, it's printed like that, so yo ucan't really change it - but we always have done verse chorus verse chorus, so the congregation is used to it( i hope!)

haven't you with Be Thou?
they've missed out words
having googled, i see why : you must be used to this version
whereas we have this version

the cyberhymnal one misses out "be" at the end of each verse, so it doesn't flow right.