Graham, Gloria and Gossip! Religion Chat thread (part 4)

[nickelbabe]

I know we've not officially finished the last one, but I wanted to get the link in before we ran out of room!

Everyone welcome - the aim of this thread is to generally chat about church life, or just gossip in general!
You don't have to be a regular church-goer, nor do you have to know what we're going on about!
It's not about debate, it's just about chatting
:)

oooh nickel even more excited now

mhd any more news on event plans

we still don't have a moving date landlady was going to phone her solicitors on Monday and let me know what was happening, haven't heard anything... trying to stay patient, but it's difficult...

but ginger - we haven't explored your feelings on Graham Kendrick or organs!

feel free to lurk, that's fine, and feel free also to pipe up any time you like (it doesn't have to be deep or pondering!)

it's due on the same day as the MN meet-up, so they've promised to have a live-feed from MN to the pub!

very odd just happened - friendly man came in and was asking questions about the shop etc, then he asked for my number! (he said he would like to get to know me more etc...) obviously didn't notice the huge bump!)

< de-lurks momentarily >

Nickel, I'm a real mongrel in this sense. In my ideal church, I'd really like a mix of BOTH and in the same service*! But, I've come to the conclusion that it's more important to me that the music is played/sung/led well rather than is of a particular style. I am ashamed to admit that I've been known to visit a church and never return because I couldn't stand the organist massacreing the hymns rhythmically by skipping beats and/or by consistently failing to hit the correct keys so in the end you don't really know what you are singing or because the person who led the praise sounded like a cat. Both make me cringe and it is not very christian of me .

i promise our organists don't do that....(well, DH might, but he'll blame me because apparently I never let him practise) I can assure you that I too, am a bit of a snob when it comes to music and how well it's played. I can't stand it when you're stuck wondering when you're supposed to start singing, or even what the tune is supposed to be. It's not un-christian - my theory is that if you're performing for God, then anything less than your best just doesn't cut it. :)

Oh the un-Christian thoughts I have during 'worship'. Ought to be truly ashamed of myself.

Don't we all DO. We're only human.

I hate bad music too, it can be excrutiating. GK played on the organ simply doesn't work

oh, god, and DH has chosen Restore O Lord for Advent sunday, too.

look down there
oooooh dear.
and it's so dirgy on the organ (well, it's dirgy anyway! )

Oh I have a real soft spot for Restore o Lord.

Could be dirgy on the organ tho

i think it sounds hideously wishy-washy on a guitar or piano.

Hmmm....sort of agreed. Needs a good few instruments to do it justice I reckon. And doesn't need to be v slow like it sometimes is. It's quite a strong song so I guess it needs either a booming organ, good band or full orchestra!!

ah, but if you have guitars, bass, keys, drums, maybe a flute or a fiddle depending on who's on worship that week, it sounds great. I want the honour of the name of God to be restored and the church to be revived. I want the world to know that he is reigning, and I rather like singing it!!

oh, god, let's not make it worse than it already is!!

xposts MHD! I just love full band to worship along to. Either that, or a Pete James CD turned up loud to worship while doing the cleaning!

DH says you've got it bad panda

Hello you chatty lot

Gingercurl - I had a mini crisis of faith about 10yrs ago which left me struggling to trust God. I've found that trying to accept that God loves me for who I am and that is enough helps. It's not often always easy but I find the more I persist, the more I can see God in my life, even if I don't always fully feel it (because I struggle to give 100% over to him).

Nickel - Can't wait for the live birth thread! Please make sure in the middle of other exciting things like being in labour, you post a link on here to your labour thread!

PandaG - LOL! It's ages since we've sung Restore O Lord. I may have to find a youtube version to sing along to

Hello everyone else and is it too late to join in the ((((group hug)))) ?

Thanks for good wishes for my scan. I am so relieved that all went well on Monday and there was one very wriggly little baby in there, measuring spot on for my dates. EDD is 27/05/12!

Delurking in honour of SES

I am not really here. I'm just back from two days away for work and need to prepare for a meeting tomorrow. I am chairing it, so not preparing and attempting to busk it on the day is not an option.

BUT I have to just say a HUGE yay to SES. I am so very very pleased for you.

Can't wait for the live birth thread, Nickel.

Finally plucked up the courage to chase up the cathedral about dd serving. They asked if she'd like to do it back in September and then we heard nothing more. So in the end I sent an email and they phoned me right back and we're having a chat about it on Sunday. It'll be after Christmas now, though, as they've done the rota till January. She is very pleased with me for chasing them, though, as she really wants to do it, but is too shy to ask for herself. I am also exploring organising an event in the cathedral linked to my work, so have been in touch with the Dean and the Bishop's private chaplain this week, so I really feel like I'm getting stuck in a bit more, which is both (very) nice and (a bit) scary. The Dean described my event idea as 'really exciting', so I'm all now!

Hello everyone
Can't wait for the birth thread Nickel! Just make sure DH knows we're over here so he can notify us .

And yay SES! Fantastic news.

Can I join in the group hugging - for warmth if nothing else as it's now really cold here (-5 last night . We're still busy with the youth centre which has now been open for two weeks and is very popular. We're employing 5 local young people to staff it so DH has been busy bedding them in as a team. It's exciting though (except I hardly get to see him). We're pretty much done with visitors now until the spring as no-one wants to come in the winter .

Hi everyone,

Just popping my head in so that I dont lose you all again!
I have been following your conversations on and off, but if I am at work I dont really have the time to add into it, so just read and always think I will pop back later and say something, but then life gets a bit busy once I am home, so I dont!
ANyway, I love to read it all.

Sounds exciting with the youth centre Thanks (and very cold)

Congratulations SES and another one joining in the group hug.

Looking forward to the labour thread Nickel

Oh SES that's such fantastic news, smiling for you here!

Hope you get some warmth milly, it's v chilly over here as well, misty this morning, although sun is shining now :) Youth centre sounds so exciting!

TUO, great news re getting stuck in and planning events etc, and the server thing for dd, sounds like you're really starting to feel at home there.

Hi PA, nickel, Mary, DO, Blue, ginger, Panda and everyone else.

Panda you know I am right with you, and that's the reason I| love that song, v strong words about reviving the church, restoring the honour of his name - yes!
I'm going to a New Wine/Fresh Expressions conference in a couple of weeks - just can't wait, love the worship and freedom at these things and we really need it at this moment as we're just taking tentative steps.

We are planning a Carol event - just not sure yet the form it will take - poss round the streets with mulled wine in someone's house, or maybe on village green - we will consult everyone at our prayer meeting on monday and pull something together.

Nickel - not far to go now! The homebirth sounds really exciting. Do keep us updated.

SES - wonderful news.

MHD - like the sound of carols round the village. Very festive.

TUO - you must be very proud. Something to look forward to in the new year.

Millie - And I thought it was cold here! I don't like the sound of -5. After 2 hard winters here I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we don't get much snow this year.

I don't mind mistakes in the music during worship - I get ridiculously nervous when playing in public and just put anyone else's mistakes down to nerves. Or assume that maybe they've got an awful lot going on in their lives and they haven't had as much time to practice as they'd like.

Feeling a bit flat at the moment. I usually get excited about family birthdays and Christmas preparations at this time of year but at the moment I just feel as though I just want to pull the duvet over my head and forget about it all. Wish I knew why, then I could do something about it.

I can't imagine that there are any christians in the world who haven't had a crisis of faith at one time or another.
Mine was mainly put upon me by other people - I got bullied at school for being a christian (even though cos I'd gone to church my whole life, it was just part of me iyswim), and eventually I just decided it wasn't worth it.
Even went as far as mocking friends I made in 6th form for being christians ( not something I'm proud of).
my faith kept niggling at me from underneath, though, and in the end I just accepted that I did believe in God, that I was a christian, and that I would do it all in my own way. (which is probably why I'm a bit fixed in my ways about how I like my worship!)
There's a passage somewhere about not boasting about your religion and that your worship means more if you keep it private between you and God (sorry, can't reference cos I can't remember where it came from!), and that helped that part of my "journey" loads.

There isn't a youtube version of restore o lord - the only thing that's on there is 3 recordings on the organ by the same guy in different churches.
I think they're too slow.

SES - your due date is exactly 6 months after mine!