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

Hello newbies and everyone. Been off MN for a while so just popping in, reading through, catching up. I think about you all often even when I'm not here.

It's all go here as usual. Back to school. DP and me tentatively reconciled (I know, so boring). I have been exercising and have now hurt my foot - gah! All life is DC, parents, new manic boss etc. And all I want to do is go on retreat and run away from it all.

In church news I am leading bible study on Ecclesiastes in a few weeks' time, who'da thunk it, eh?, so if you know any good resources please let me know!

I've heard of Marcion. What do you want to know?

I tend to lurk here more than post as life is a bit hectic. My mission to improve the church coffee is taking heart from this thread. We have great cake bakers In the congregation so why we have to put up with stale biscuits I just don't know. Real mugs would be nice. As would real coffee. I can dream.

We have very good coffee (one of the members runs the last call fair trade shop and keeps us in supplies) but only a 6 cup cafetiere to make it in.

I'm glad for you both Edd. Maybe you need a quiet island to relax.

There's nothing boring about reconciliation EDD; it is at the heart of the Christian faith. I'm glad that it is not stopping you in your tracks. Ecclesiastes eh?. We are doing 1 Peter in the new housegroup I have been persuaded to join. It may be enough to keep me attached to the current church, however loosely.

Hello newbies! all round.

I've never heard of Marchion, so I'm no help there (sorry)

I'm glad to hear you're working stuff out Edd - I hope it's a good reconciliation.

greenheart - maybe you could suggest using proper coffee/tea and better biscuits. PCC maybe?

I could suggest proper coffee, tea in a decent sized pot, homemade cake and proper cups but that would be seen as a criticism of what is done at the moment. It would be simpler and less painful to,wrestle alligators or suggest removing the pews.....

hahaha greenheart surely nothing is simpler than suggesting removing the pews....

Hello Edd, good to see you again . It sounds a bit of a grind at the moment, not surprised you want to go away on retreat (again?). Ecclesiastes is quite a chewy choice for your Bible study. It's a long time since I looked at it, but I seem to recall that Marcus Borg's Reading the Bible Again for the First Time has quite a good discussion of Ecclesiastes - he does a comparison with Proverbs. Might have some pointers in there anyway.

Nothing bothers me so much in the whole area of church refreshments - not Value Tea, not stale biscuits, not instant coffee (though I never drink coffee so this is a bit theoretical) as these

Hello Edd! Great to see you, and glad you and dp are doing OK at the moment. It's been so hard for you. Hope the Bible study goes well, it's a heavy one though a great book.

In the area of refreshments, I do think churches should use fair trade tea and coffee at least. Hold up some integrity and all that. It irks me when it's value tea etc, but I'm aware it might be my issue. Just thinking about how churches should be leading the way in buying habits and in supporting the poorest. Plus value tea is naff

I am recovering slowly. I went out yesterday but was only out half an hour before I felt shocking and had to come home. It's very annoying.

Y Y to fair trade tea and coffee, also to the naffness of value tea.

That sounds an achingly slow recovery mhd. Annoying is the mildest word I can think of!

Yep, can think of more descriptive words

It means I've plenty of time for editing which I really need to get on with - I have to cull 10,000 words - but my head is still so foggy it's not really working right now my editor is lovely, though.

we nearly had a

...and the body of christ...

incident last week at church.

had just returned to seat when it went off.

her's hoping no more bones are broken!

Sorry haven't been around much, life got busy when I got ordained! Got my first solo funeral today so would appreciate prayers this afternoon.

Yey Tiggles!

First solo funeral is scary but you will be great.

Hey everyone! Went to the new church for the fourth time on Sunday. Came away feeling a bit meh about it, which is a shame because the time before was good and I had a really nice chat with someone. But this time nobody made much effort. Feel like I should power through until Christmas and hope people start being friendlier and invite me along to something. Sigh. I've spent years moving house and having to start afresh and it never gets easier 😞

Thanks thegreenheart. It went well.

Loobylou praying you start making some friends there.

Greenheart I've been part of 2 churches that have removed the pews 😀

I run the praise band practice sessions and we have one this weekend - away on business until tomorrow and not fully planned yet, so please tell me your favourite 'new' praise song - for a band (guitars, keys, drums, bass, violin and 2 or 3 singers). It might just give me the inspiration I need.

Loubyloo I have found a few months in it gets easier.

Dragon we're loving this one at the moment, it's just beautiful.

Thanks niminy and mhd. No, the retreat before didn't happen because I was planning to go when DP was to take the DC to see MIL in Sept, but obviously that was all re-arranged and we went in August, so no Sept trip for them and no retreat for me. There is also a diocesan vocations retreat coming up this month which I would have liked to do. But hey ho. Going to Greenbelt has used up all my passes for the next year it seems!
I must get round to reading the Borg book so thanks for the tip - I've only read the kindle free sample so far!

I feel obliged to check out what tea we use now. I'm obvs very slack because I don't even know. I do know the coffee is instant though.

loobylou it took me months to start to feel really at home in my church - partly because i didn't go often enough (for reasons some here will recall!). What eventually tipped it was me being brave enough to just butt in. I'm pretty shy normally and it was a struggle but I'm very ok there now. there are still people I don't know after 2 years and it's not a big church though! prayers for keeping at it, and being bold

tiggles good to see you. glad all is well.

I'm trying to be more open to worship songs and have been listening to some, but why are they always so breathy?!

Thanks Madhakrday we do that one often, I led it at the prayer n praise service last week 😀
I'm loving Yes and Amen just now

Madhairday even - sorry phone typo

Dragon not a new one, but one that I've been listening to a lot lately