Canticles, charisma and chat (Religion thread number 2)

[BaroqueAroundTheClock]

the first one is nearly full.

Anyone welcome, it's basically a "what happened in church/spiritual life/anything else you want to chat about that's vaguely related (or not) to churchy stuff.

That sounds encouraging - like the idea of an after school slot.. mummyrev may I ask, have you ever took it out on the raod so to speak - a monthly slot in a venue away from church/church hall?

Yes, our current monthly Messy Church is in the village hall and the church is in a different village. It works well out on the road. Just think carefully about who you are aiming for. Are you sowing seeds or are you hoping to attract people who might transfer into the more formal congregation? Hope that helps? Anyway, busy day tomorrow so off to bed now.

Thanks mummy rev - night night.

Hello essenceofSES - I'm a sporadic poster but we're a friendly bunch :)

Welcome from me too essencesSES

Am off to church this morning naturally. Cannot believe that after all these years of dormant spirituality I am going to church AND a catholic one at that. Am loving it.

The Nuns are lovely, the Priests are lovely and our Parish is blessed to have them.

Skipped church this morning - too much packing to do (for a whole 2 nights???) - or rather, unpacking the million and one toys DD2 had put in her bag. It's just 2 nights!!!!

Hello all and welcome thread newbies!

I did the Lords Prayer thing with the actions at Sunday school today and it went down very well. I think I might actually have learnt the prayer in Romanian now after practising it so many times to get it right

nickel I did say we try to make sure our newsletter isn't too much like a roundrobin! If anyone wants to see it PM me!

Just checking in - only an occasional poster due to dcs "helping" with the computer but enjoying reading posts - the previous thread has given me a few things to think about/motivate me. I was in the creche at church this morning so am going this evening on my own

Following my posting last night about Messy Church I realised I hadn't asked to join the thread. So is there room for another newbie? Just off to do Messy Church so will report back later.

of course you're welcome. you don't need to ask.

Welcome newbies, always good to chat to different people, no need to ask :)

Also do Messy Church once a month, there is some discussion about it somewhere up on the other thread. It's working well so far and bringing in fringe families, husbands who don't come to church etc and getting families to play together which is great.

Have enjoyed church this morning - quite a few new people, was a buzz about it. We did all the songs on the piano this morning (sorry nickel) and it was lovely,people did seem to be singing up, the organ tends to drown voices somewhat as it's really built for this huge church with 500 capacity or something and 30 people can't quite compete

welcome to all the newbies :)

we do messy church once a month on a Saturday 4-6pm. We do the worship bit in church & the food bit in the church hall. We've been doing it about 18months now & regularly get 40+ children

We do lots of crafty bits too, but most of the boys seem to enjoy it as much as the girls (particularly any "food" crafts as they get to eat it!

As has been said before, it attracts those on the "fringe" but we have had a few who have started coming to the Sunday children's groups as well & occasionally to a "full" Sunday service.

We had our monthly under 5s group this morning (which I run), which was chaotic and noisy fun as usual! We seem to be averaging about 30 kids now, which is great :) I miss my quiet time in Church though...

That's good Betsy, but yes can be draining when you don't get your own space. Worth keeping at though, great that you're getting families into church through Messy Church.

Great to hear about all the exciting Messy Church stuff. But I also long for a bit of peace and quiet in church. Plus I worship in our local church, which I love, but isn't really my preferred worship style. I feel in need of a big charismatic 'bless up' iykwim. Difficult to find the balance between doing and being. Do other people struggle with this too?

Hello all and welcome newbies. Just marking my place.

Feeling a bit at having missed church today for the first time this year, although we had a fab weekend with some friends who live a long away away and whom we only see sporadically. DD2 was too, though she did make me laugh by suggesting I could make up for it by getting her some cake... The service we go to is quite early (well, early for a Sunday - 9.15) and so we often go to Greggs a cake shop afterwards for a spot of brunch. So she thought that perhaps some cake without the church bit would be almost as good!

Mummyrev (with apologies to those who've heard all this a gazillion times already), I started going to church quite recently while living abroad. When I came back to the UK I had a bit of a dilemma, as I like quite a traditional style of service, though I am pretty liberal in my beliefs. My local church is a bit too charismatic/evangelical for me, and the next nearest one is Res. A-B-C/too conservative for me. I've ended up going to our nearest cathedral, but I am a bit dissatisfied that I'm missing out a bit on the church-as-part-of-the-community aspect. No... that's not really fair. I'm sure the cathedral is part of the community, but it's in a city close to (but not part of) the town where I live, so it doesn't quite feel like part of my community. I'm not sure how to resolve this. But at the moment I'm just enjoying being back at church again and liking the fact that DD2 loves it so much too (and am working on DD1), and I'm hoping that the rest will fall into place eventually.

Sorry for going on, Mummyrev. Sounds like you have the opposite problem. Could you do one Sunday a month in a different church or something? Or would that just be disorientating all round?

Sorry - am too tired to try and catch up properly.

TUO - don't be about missing church - I'm always being told (by the vicar, the church warden, the lay reader etc etc) I should have a weekend off.........I rarely do

I made a MAHOOSIVE blooper on the notice sheet this week. I forgot to change "which" service was at 10am this morning..........I'd left on that it was the All Age Worship led by Leapfrog..........it was actually Education Sunday and Holy Communion (a totally different service ).

I'm shattered, can barely keep my eyes open........yet when I lie down to try to sleep I can't keep my eyes shut and feel wide awake again

Urgh! Not being able to sleep is horrid Baroque. Have you tried counting backwards from 100 slowly? Works for me every time (though admittedly my problem is usually just too much 'stuff' buzzing around my head, rather than proper insomnia). Hope you get some sleep soon.

was perhaps a bit too strong for how I feel. I am kind of liking how 'wrong' it felt not to go... I like that it has become so much part of my life, iykwim.

BAroque, dont worry about the newsheet blooper. I have done so many, its just annoying that when other people make mistakes no-one would notice, but ours is in print for everyone to see!

One time, in September, I had 1st APRIL blazoned across the front of it. , which "had" to be pointed out at the beginning of the service that it actually WASNT April!!

I hope you have managed to get some good quality sleep.

mummyrev I think that most people struggle with the being/doing balance. At the mission college we went to it was their favorite thing to say that we're human-beings not human-doings and cheesy as that sounds it is true. It is important to find the quiet times with God

It is hard getting a balance and since becoming a mummy it is even harder. What I should do is go and find a more lively evening service somewhere and go every now and then. That would have been easy in London but less so here in rural south west.

Interesting about the cathedral totally. I do love cathedral worship, particularly the choir but I've always seen them as places of anonymity rather than community. Must be tricky to feel part of it. But as you say, feeling like it is a good place to be and somewhere your daughter enjoys has to be a blessing.

Right, enough lounging. It might be half term but everyone is up and wants breakfast.
Have a good day all.

ahhh but PA - this was a huge blooper as

a) I was sat at the wrong instrument when I got into church if it was All Age (I use the Piano for that one)

b) I help to lead Leapfrog so would have been doing stuff if it was right

I knew full well we did all that last week and forgot to change it

And as there were several people in church who wouldn't usually have been there (because it was education sunday the 2 Church school heads were there and several others people too) they may well have been rather at looking at the newsheet they were given when they came in

Though I'm sure the infant school head was probably chuckling to himself - he knows what a dizzy blonde I can be at times.

Last week when we went into the school to do the Leapfrog Assembly we were signing the visitors book and my BF said "I've just put your first name".........head said "oh that's fine we know who Baroque is"

Well I did sleep - kind of. Took over an hour to fall asleep and woke up loads of times taking ages to get back to sleep each time

Baroque

I'm glad you got some sleep last night, I will pray for more for you. do you have good "sleep hygeine?" That is supposed to make a big difference, like it does for babies and children. it involves having a set routine in the evening that leads towards bedtime and cuts out anything stimulating, especially anything with a screen (i.e. mn, tv, computer games etc.), even exciting books and includes stuff you find relaxing like a hot bath, milky drink, prayers, whatever works for you. You have to be pretty rigid about it if you want it to work. When I've struggled with insomnia in the past, I've cut out taking or making phone calls after 9pm as I tend to spend ages talking and then worrying about other peoples' problems. Just an idea. I find anti-histamines make me sleepy, maybe you too?

Morning all

Yes newssheet bloopers - also been there done that. I do ours monthly and use the find/replace thing in Publisher to replace say 'December' with January. Only I did 'Dec' with 'Jan' so ended up with things happening in 'Janember' somehow! Didn't notice it either til dh pointed it out

Have friends up for the day I only see a few times a year so very excited, have a good day everyone. :)

BTW mummyrev yes am with you on needing a different style of service sometimes, I get round it by going to stuff like New wine (going to the women's day next week) or the occasional evening service at another church, alsl take retreat time at a local house of prayer which is just gorgeous :)

lyra41 - yes I've tried all of that stuff. I found myself sitting awake for hours bored, and my mind racing and even more fed up as a) I still couldn't sleep and b)I couldn't actually do anything I enjoyed.

'tis a PITA.

MHD - I love Janember

Baroque have you tried the anti histamines? only one type make me sleepy, and it's cumulative, so after 2 or 3 days taking them, they make me really sleepy. Cirtraline work for me.