Christian chat thread continued

[Dutchoma]

A place to share and chat about our funny (and not so funny experiences) in and out of church.
Did anyone say coffee? That would be good

I'd go for Acts and Omissions Edd - I think you'll like it :)

Acts and Omissions. There are cameos from some characters from other books, but you don't miss much by not recognising them. Don't start with The Benefits of Passion because some of the sexual politics stuff is a bit disturbing.

Absolutely Acts and Omissions. If Armistead Maupin was English and an Anglican and was a bit more satirical ... then you would have the Lindchester novels.

I love Angels and Men but it's not an easy read.

MHD praying the pain eases soon, and that the publisher has good news.

You're spot on with the Armistead Maupin comparison. The same generous acceptance of human frailty.

I'm listening to The Days of Anna Madrigal on iPlayer at the moment. I don't want it to end. I couldn't bring myself to read the book because I grew up with those books.

Well that's pretty unanimous. Really looking forward to it now. I love Maupin. :)

I am reading Acts and Omissions at the moment, really enjoying it.

Yes, I'm re reading it after we mentioned it here. It is very clever, cutting in places and even a tad uncomfortable but much loveliness too.

Ashamed to say have no idea who Maupin is

Nor me MHD. Not sure whether I should own up, but I ordered one of Shirley Hughes' young adult novels after hearing her on radio 3 on Sunday. I am a big fan of Alfie and have a copy of Dogger that is falling apart.

I love Shirley Hughes. Only this morning I was thinking about An Evening at Alfie's (where there's a flood when Alfie's parents have gone out for the evening and the babysitter is in charge) as I mopped a flood on the floor of the hall where we hold our toddler group.

MHD he's the author of the Tales of the City series, which were originally published in one of the San Francisco newspapers starting in the seventies. They're very, very much of their time and place and follow the same group of characters through the ups and downs of their lives over the decades. Very readable, and you get to be very attached to all the characters. I think he's more sentimental than Catherine Fox, but then I like the way she mixes together love for her characters with cutting-ness about the Church of England and things generally.

Hello,

Would you mind if I join? I'm generally a bit more of a lurker on mn but have started to try and get a bit more involved more recently and it would be lovely to have some Christian chat

I'm from a more charismatic church background but am now very involved in my local CofE and loving it.

Yes Niminy and Maureen wanted to be a plumber. I loved that.

Hi squish. Welcome :)

Hi, Squish!

Come in and have some virtual after-service hot drinks and cake. Ooh! When I type 'cake' on my phone, the keyboard gives me a cake emoji. I don't think it will work on MN but I want to write it anyway.
🍰

I came on say that my copy of Realms of Glory has now downloaded, so I'll be spending this evening in Lindchester.

The cake pic worked!

🍰 🍰 🍰

I'm cheap so I ordered Acts and Omissions online and have now discovered it's not coming until after we leave on hols. Waaah.

I'm even cheaper so I got the Kindle version for 99p to read on my phone. Do you have a Kindle/kindle app?

Yes I do. But I was really hoping to read paper books on holiday. I can't face a full on digital detox (my MN FB and Twitter pals keep me sane) but I'd really like to limit screen time a bit... we'll see!

Tea, please. Inna mug. And cake would be lovely!

I'm not in anyone's pew, am I? Just let me know I know better than to sit where I'm not wanted

I didn't even know these threads existed -this is quite exciting!

Of course, as an Anglican, I'm usually at the back - .

Just reading the thread backwards (as Said - Anglican . . . ) - some fab ideas for outreach here. What is Death Cafe?

The no robes thing has a lot going for it, if you like that kind of thing. But for me vestments are important.

There are pros and cons to vestments/dog collars aren't there?

The collar can put many people off approaching a priest - but it can also signal to others that the priest is someone who is available to be approached.

In services, I like vestments - it's not "people in frocks" - it is (to me) a way of stepping out of the mundane and into the ritual which reflects the glory and the majesty of God, and is therefore so much more.

(I am a Reader btw)

I went to a knitting group this afternoon at a church whre the rector had been made an archdeacon. The quote from Acts and Omissions about an archdeacon needing a bit of a Rottweiler in her psychological make up went down a storm. I only got to it this morning

The o on my keyboard sticking; driving me bananas

Welcome Schadenfreude There is a Facebook group as well and if you want to join that you need to pm MHD and she will add you.

Thank you Dutch. I'm not on FB, but I appreciate the invitation.

Hi SP. Welcome. I went to a church last night where the rector made a point of telling me there were no 'own' pews - I was a little bemused - only 10 people on a weeknight after all. We're not the hogging-a-pew-for-50-years types here though so you're quite safe ;)

Here's a thing about Grave Talk which is the CofE's version of Death Cafe. I've never been to one but I know a humanist celebrant who holds regular death cafes and loves it. Seems like a very sensible thing for churches to get involved in. In my family some circles talking about death is completely taboo so it's good to give people opportunities to think and talk about it I think. Definitely a longer term project for us for now as I don't have time or energy to drive it forward.

How long have you been a Reader?