hideous hymns, vocal vicars and theatrical thuribles. Religious Chat Thread Number 6!

[nickelbabe]

Welcome to the Religion Chat thread.
We're mostly Christians, but all are welcome.
a lovely soace to talk about church life, spiritual journeys and stuff in general.
It's not about debate, it's about chat.
Come oldies and newbies!

this is the previous thread

have fun niminy!

ooh, today's anthems did not go well!
two members were off sick, two members randomly didn't turn up (never helps when it's families)
so we were down to 5!
we planned to do 2 hymns instead of the anthem, but unaccompanied.
dh played the notes, but dd started to kick off and someone offered to take her. by that point, we were all distracted and didn't have the note, but dh started us off singing! daft sod didn't even think to give us the notes again .
so the first one was a total mess.
then we were all a bit jollted so although the second one was better, it wasn't great!!

never mind.
dh might have come round to the idea that it's okay to be accompanied sometimes! he's always refused because he thinks it means we've failed somehow

With five people, singing 4 parts unaccompanied is a big ask, I think. Sorry it didn't go well.

I know!
except 4 parts is a bit ambitious.

Alto2 sang soprano with me, the 2 tenors always sing the tune .
Oh, there were 6 including DH!!
Asst Organist sang tenor and DH sang Alto.
no bass part.

(it was basically unison with DH and Asst organist doing quiet harmonies )

I reckon you did well to sing the Lord's praises.

very diplomatic

we tried really hard :)

Ahh you dropped off my threads I'm on. Sorry not been around much - will be back more in the next few days

Hellooooooo! Is anybody there?

Back from the residential, which was great but really exhausting. It's taken me most of the last week to decompress, and now I'm on my way to spend a week with my mum, who's out of hospital (wonderful) but now needs a lot of care. DS2 said sadly as I left, 'why do you always have to go away, mummy?'

One of the things I did this week was pop into church holiday club - the church I'm leaving because I'm going to be attached somewhere else for training. It was an odd moment, because I realised that as far as everyone is concerned I have already left. Such a blow to my self regard to find out that me moving on is a bigger deal for me than for other people

I am here, a one eyed bandit after cataract operation I see less than before. There is a great deal of room for improvement.
Glad you enjoyed your residential, I was wondering how you were getting on.
And glad to hear that your mum is out of hospital.

Oh no DO! Is your sight expected to improve as your eye recovers?

Yes everybody says it will be a lot better in time. Trouble is, it will probably take about six months in all to be completely over (other eye needs doing as well) and six weeks before I can begin to get back to normality again. Bob will be back in a fortnight. Not much point worrying about it.

No, but it must be a real trial not to be able to see properly -- or even as much as you were before the op.

Hello! DO - I hope your sight improves soon. Niminy - it is great that your Mum is out of hospital.

you know what?
I think I'm just about to give up on church and become athiest.

I got very upset and angry yesterday that NV, who is supposed to UNDERSTAND tradition and EMBRACE it, put the NEW version of the Lord's Prayer into his new communion service book.

the one thing that i thought was the last bastion of tradition, the one unchanging and permanent thing in the church service at our church, the one thing that meant that i didn't have to whisper the old words under my breath, the words that I was comfortable with and didn't have to "accept change" or "get used to", that i didn't feel like i was being awkward and different from everyone else. and he's taken that away.

i had a proper rant about it, then spoke to him at great length about how upset, angry and disappointed, that it didn't even occur to me that he would change that thing, because it was the one constant, unchangeable thing.

spent the whole day trying not to think about it (only revisited it about 80 times)

then this morning, member of congregation who I thought would be on the same page as me (being a STAUNCH traditionalist) came in the shop nd I asked her about it.
"well, I thought it fitted well with the modern service and quite liked it"
(adding that she prefers the old version, is happy she'll get it at evensong and isn't too bothered)
FFS!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm just fed up to the back teeth with all this bollocks!

Why can't they just do church PROPERLY and stop mucking about with it!

I have to cope with so much change, I bloody hate it!
this was the one thing that wasn't supposed to change

i was hanging onto it - the most important prayer a christian can say and it's just GONE.

I fee like my whole church world has just fallen down and no one else even cares.

and with everythin gelse in my life changing right now - having to shut the shop, all of that upheaval, i really really really needed this consistency.

Oma - i'm sure you'll be better-sighted soon - it's hard to start with, and it will make life a bit harder, especially with Bob to look after when he gets back, but you'll be so glad when it's all healed - it really does make such a difference to life :)

even knobhead previous incumbent used the old lord's prayer!
and he wanted to rip out ll of the pews, and the organ and replace the choir with robots!
(happy clappy guitar playing drumming robots)

Oh Nickel I am sorry. Don't know what to say.

Feel miserable about my loss of eyesight Even though I am told it will be temporary, six weeks seems an eternity and then we have to start over with the other eye.
Not much help to you I know.

6 weeks is a long time, but i promise you'll feel better - my grandma had both of hers done and the change in her eyesight was amazing.

Oh, Oma six weeks can feel like an eternity - and then you will have to go through it all again! Sight is so vital to us it's dreadful not to have it, and it must be hard to keep holding onto the faith that it will improve. Does it mean that you can't knit? I will be keeping you in my prayers.

Nickel I can see that changing the Lord's Prayer is incredibly upsetting for you, and feels like it's the last straw when so much else is changing. I can see also that NV has to do what he thinks is right - he has to as the incumbent. But could it be that your feelings are really to do with the shop? It sounds like such a difficult time, full of changes that you have't sought and don't want. It may be that in the fullness of time you find that the changing of the Lord's Prayer isn't quite as terrible as it seems now. Anyway I will keep you in my prayers too.

he did it because it didn't occur to him that it would be a problem.

and the new lord's prayer will always always be a bad thing.

i've been going to churches using the modern wording of the communion service for most of my adult life, and i still say the old words to the creed, and all other said prayers (quietly). this was the one that i didn't need to mutter, but could say it with everyone else properly, without feeling like the odd-one-out, without feeling like i was the awkward one, always at odds with the rest at the world.

I can knit and do quite a few things. But it is all so hard. Once it is all done it will probably be amazing. Just at the moment I am a grumpy old Oma.

It's okay to be a grumpy old Oma.

:)

Thank you. Somebody from MN is sending me three balls of 2 ply Stylecraft and I'm quite pleased about it even though I don't have a hope of knitting it up for a while.

Do you think it will change Nickel? I only ask because they tried to change it her,e but the changes weren't huge eg saying "your" instead of "thy" and most people just tended to go on auto pilot and say the old words anyway. Some folk that have learned it by the new words say them instead.

It is amazing what you can get used to though. My DSis defected to the CofE and found it odd saying trespasses instead of debtors for ages. Now she says she prefers it. Traitor.