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
:)

@ Grahamina! Love it! Many many congratulations, Nickel.

I love 'O come, o come Emmanuel' and also other Advent hymns like 'Lo, he comes' and err... one that I can't quite remember that has something to do with North, South, East and West or ... err ... something. (I'm a fat lot of good, aren't I?)

Carol-wise, I love 'In the bleak Midwinter', and I have very lovely memories of my childhood church and 'While Shepherds Watched' but sung to a much more lively tune than the normal one, which I've only heard in Cornwall... Another carol with lovely associations for me is 'A Virgin most Pure', because DD1 sang a verse solo last year in America at the Christmas concert of the choir that the girls were in.

Jaffa - that's a lovely comment about the world being in colour - very profound.

Ooh, look... 's 'While Shepherds Watched' in Cornwall to the 'right' tune! (Lyngham, apparently. Isn't the internet a wonderful thing?)

And I thought the "right" tune to while Shepherds watched was Cranbrook (aka On Ilkley Moor Baht 'at)!

www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/6809793/Carol-While-Shepherds-Watch-was-sung-to-Ilkley-Moor-tune.html

We've got our lessons and carols on Sunday evening, I've been asked to read the reading from John 1 :)

www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/6809793/Carol-While-Shepherds-Watch-was-sung-to-Ilkley-Moor-tune.html

There is a Facebook 'like' button on this thread as well. It means that if you click it the whole thread will be posted on your Facebook wall.

It's there on the prayer thread as well. MN say that there isn't one on bereavement or relationships so I have asked them to remove it from the prayer thread at the very least, if they are unwilling to remove the whole Facebook 'like' button.
This is what I would really like, so maybe other posters can add their dislike of this whole Facebook idea as well.

@ facebook button! Inappropriate!!!

Ah, Mary... 'Ilkley Moor' is the 'right' tune where I am now. But Lyngham is the 'right' tune where I come from... I haven't heard 'While shepherds watched' sung to 'Lyngham' for, probably, 25 years or so, and I was a bit teary googling for it last night! (Not that I am really homesick, but just occasionally, maybe...)

at you reading John 1.... Soooooooooo beautiful. (I was at a carol service the other day where it was read, though, and was a bit disappointed with the translation used, which seemed a bit prosaic. If I get to heaven [???], there will be angels to follow me around reading me John's gospel in the King James version...

Wishing everyone a lovely day. Have to go to work now.

I really don't like the facebook button at all anywhere as it really could compromise people's privacy and anonymity. Just because the relationship and bereavement threads don't have them doesn't mean that someone won't/can't figure out who some one is in RL and then come on the the website and start reading their posts on those and other threads. It's a spectacularly BAD idea.
Will go and complain on the site stuff thread.

i hate the idea of a fb like button on here.
how on earth can it serve a purpose?
esp if someone is your fb friend and likes it, but you didn't your other fb friends knowing you were a mner.

I agree about the FB like button - not great anywhere but definitely not on the prayer thread.

Nickel - congrats again :) Glad you came back and posted in the middle of the GK love in

Jaffa - lovely thought and shows a lot of depth and insight to your 7yo

Mary - I think John is my favourite gospel because of the first and sixth chapters. Hope all goes well with the service on Sunday.

MHD -
(I must go and check out and support the prayer thread again)

Hello everyone else! All been ok here just busy and full of cold!

Hello, can I join here too please? Lurked a bit for a while, now introduced myself on the prayer thread and will do here too. I'm not a Kendrick fan I'm afraid, favourite carol probably 'I wonder as I wander' - scrummy harmonies and a good words. Am a guitarist at church, mostly Townend type stuff. Struggling at the moment, faith is the only thing that gets me through. Lots of love to you amazing sounding ladies.

welcome mousie

Thanks everyone who broke their eardrums listened to the bad version of the carol I linked to. How odd that it's the tune of a Scottish nursery rhyme - I wonder if it's coincidence? Anyway I've found a backing track (better than the one on you tube I hope!) and the Mums and Babies will be learning it ready for Christmas Eve.

I'm feeling distinctly un-Christmassy at the moment, I think partly because it's not really celebrated by most people here until Jan and even then it's not really a big thing. Wanted to make mince pies this afternoon but I've run our of flour and DH has the car. I could walk to the shop but it's really muddy and cold so I think they can wait. I really miss advent

milly - that must be hard - can you just do family stuff like craft and stuff to make you feel more adventy? I know what you mean, because being unable to get out I feel like I'm missing out on advent (the family are off out carol singing round the streets atm :( ) It's hard. It's finding ways I guess to be creative and go for it anyway. Glad you found a backing track.

I'm busy researching cameras as getting a nice one for my 'big birthday' which is NYE. Scary. Think I have found the one I want. Looks fab and I'll finally be able to indulge my love for photography and make better videos with my own work (have only had crappy cheap Nikon point n click for years now which is fine but doesn't do anything special)

Welcome mousie! We like Townend stuff too on this thread

Morning everyone, I am sure that a busy day here will be reflected in everyone else's households too. 4th in advent - does it mean anything special to anyone or just another service? DD has been watching the first candle get ever closer to the wreath and I've been saying, no, Mummy doesn't think they'll let it set the holly on fire and we are getting progressively more organ and carol-ish in music. Someone needs to write a 2nd modern Christmassy song to go with 'From the Squalor', which I actually love but even I'm getting a bit bored of now.

I'm feeling really anxious about Christmas amongst other things but will probably spend the day doing that 'fine, looking forward to it' thing - and there will be probably loads of other people doing the same thing - why do we do it, especially at church, when we should be able to be ourselves? (not just a Christmas, other times too) It's not just me that thinks this, is it?

I am feeling tired and grumpy. Turned up at church (not my local church either) to take the 9am service, only to be told that the service had been cancelled due to lessons and carols that evening. How come neither I nor the vicar knew then???

Today we remember Mary, the mother of Jesus, and how she said "Yes" to God, and trusted Him, despite the very real possibility that if Joseph had denounced her, she could have been stoned to death. I pray we can all say "Yes" with such selfless abandon :)

Also a bit because our local shop is selling cream eggs and mini eggs. But also :) becuase DH's favourite chocolate is mini eggs and I can buy him some for Christmas :o

If anyone wants new words to traditional tunes, I can recommend a priest in our diocese's website:

sites.google.com/site/songsandhymns/

bit of an odd day today - church service (live nativity complete with donkey outside, followed by DIY christingles inside) not till 4pm. Our small group are meeting at 2 for Christmassy fun with friends - I've just made 14 Marys, Josephs, Jesuses and stars out of shortbread for the kids to decorate while we eat mince pies!

I'm going to attack the ironing pile this morning, while DD make Hama bead snowflakes to give to the GPs for Christmas. I've already been up for hours as DH has a heavy cold and woke me early.

Mary - praying that I could say yes with such selfless abandon, and knowing that I cannot.

mousie - is there no way you can tell the truth about how you are feeling to a couple of people? I know waht it islike to put on an 'I'm ok' front to the world.

Ooh, I like that Cornish "While Shepherds Watched." That's O for a thousand tongues to sing, isn't it? One of my all-time favourite hymns. Mind you, I'm a sucker for anything with parts and good harmonies. My favourite carol is In the Bleak Midwinter, to the tuneful tune... Darke, I believe it is. Beeeeeautiful!

Can't believe I almost wrote "for a thousand tongues to sin"!!!

I keep trying to remember the name of the author I read earlier this year - a story about Mary, which is why MaryBW has reminded me of it.

It was a book about 5 women in the Bible and it told their stories and imagined their thoughts and feelings. It helped me empathise with Mary (and the other 4) more than I have found possible with just the Bible's words. I think the author is Dutch, so perhaps DO will be able to tell me?

'Fraid not, but I am going to our christian bookshop in a moment and will ask around.

I'm afraid the information was too limited to identify the book.

Found it on Amazon! She's Francine Rivers - I shall probably find out she's actually American and look silly.

Anyway, it's a great book for thinking through the story of Mary amongst others...

Yup, she is American. Where did I get Dutch from?! Oh well, not that it makes any difference...

Ooh I've read Redeeming Love by her Lost and liked it very much. Tell us if it's any good

I went Christmas shopping today and had to get it all done (including food and presents for the DCs) in 3.5 hours . I got most stuff but failed on the 'something for Christmas lunch' front . I was aiming for a large chicken as turkey isn't very common here but couldn't find one. I now have to decide whether to do a 100km round trip on Friday morning to the nearest town or ask someone to kill one for me here. Last time I did this they plucked it but nothing else and it was really stringy. yuck.

I've read Redeeming Love and liked it too :)

welcome mousie - so gladto have an allie.... (GK love-in my eye )

We did Thorns in the Straw at 9 lessons and Carols on sunday - see, i have the most religious baby in the world ever - she went to church 2ce this week, and wasn't even a week old! (however, her mummy, who is a baaaaad christian, missed Choir practice on Friday, and therefore sounded like a very crap sight-singer for some of the anthems. I could blame DH - what's the point of being married to the choirmaster if he doesn't play the stuff for me at home, so that I can at least learn it before turning up to the service!)

I found a website with new words to traditional hymns once - some of them were rather good (but some had "convenient" rhymes)
we used one, and although it scanned nicely, it felt a bit naff singing it in the end (should have chosen a different tune from Hanover).
I'll try to find it - I know I pointed to it on that month's musis list from our choir website...