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

A most Happy Christmas today to you all! X

Happy Christmas! We've had a lovely and very busy couple of days. All good though. Everyone shattered and looking forward to a quiet day tomorrow.

Belated Happy Christmas to all, and I'm now on holiday for the rest of the week - hurrah!

Rather a difficult and tearful time yesterday Church-wise, so I am so so happy to be getting away from it for a bit.

Belated Happy Christmas all.

We have a slow day today with just one relilie coming over for lunch with her dogs and then we go for a walk. I'm on holiday now until Saturday when I have to find another sermon as I'm taking my Sunday off at the end of the month when I go away with girlfriends. Most of my congregation go away at Christmas so it is really odd having all these new people who are visiting their relatives. Nice but odd!

Hope you're ok today, niminy

Lovely couple of days here, church was great and have had the ILs staying. Dh off for the week so we'll get some good rest time with family.

Hi everyone. Belated happy christmas :)
I sobbed through midnight mass but the kids excitement kept me going through christmas day. Hope you are all recovering now. Esp you Niminy. Rest well. x

I planned to go to midnight mass, but did not feel well enough to wander round the neighbourhood in the middle of the night. Then my son phoned at 9 asking whether I would like to go to a church near them which started at 10, so shot out of bed and we just made it. We all went up to communion and even Rose’s teddy got a blessing, which was so lovely.

That sounds nice Dutch,
I missed a message on the evening of Christmas Eve, eve, so on the morning of Christmas Eve saw it, from our minister asking if I'd do watch night service prayers. I said yes then had a wee panic as I've only done informal prayers at P&P. He is very laid back and said just do as you think. Anyway I spent some time on the afternoon and wrote them.
It turned out fantastic as my prayers fitted perfectly with the sermon. God must have given me the words.
Only now the minister said that he needs me to do prayers more often.

That sound very exciting A&P. Glad it all went so well.

Hey guys. 😊

I hope you don't mind me bursting in on this thread but wanted to hear some advice.

DH and I are born again Christians. DH only recently though (a month or so). We absolutely love our Church and Christian community. We are all a big family and it's amazing.

Our church is closed over Christmas and New Years though and I feel I really need to worship in Church. I have been thinking about a service at our local Church while my Church is closed. It feels strange though. Is that silly? What would you guys do?

Hi ParcelPop, seems a bit odd to me that a church would close at Christmas - second biggest Christian festival of the year and all that - but in your situation I would definitely go to another church. From the little you've said you might find a more evangelical church would suit you best but the range available will vary depending on where abouts in the country you are.

Having said that it can really eye-opening to encounter God in a completely different type of service from the one you're used to so perhaps as it's just a short-term thing you could just pop along to the nearest church and see what it's like.

To find a local C of E church go to AChurchNearYou. Other denominations will have their own websites too I'm sure.

Hi Parcelpop! I should think any parish church would be very happy to welcome you over Christmas and New Year. We never close and are open to all!

Oma I hope you are feeling better, but so glad to hear you managed to get to church on Christmas Eve. I'm enjoying having a rest though I wish my atheist BIL could leave the topic of religion alone!

(It's ParcelPop but I NC last night)

They did a Christmas concert on the 23rd Dec on a Saturday night, which was lovely. Our services stopped from then until the 7th Jan though.

Our Church is an evangelism Church. We love it.
At the moment however, there's a little turmoil in the leadership. Our pastor was made to retire due to controlling the Church's leadership and it's people way too much. (Ie wouldn't allow relationships to form etc) so the other leaders have stood up to him. Our Church then needed to take this break I believe to see where we can go from here. They're trusting in God's guidance.

Thanks guys.

When I was a new Christian I tried out lots of different styles of church. I had a home church which was my family but I tried out everything from academic university church with its erudite sermons to smoke and bells high Anglican to charismatic evangelical with praise bands. There was always something I loved and always something that was less than perfect but it helped me get to grips with the idea that God can be a encountered in many ways.

If you google mystery worshipper ship-of-fools you might find some ideas of places to try.

Happy new year, all

Happy New Year everyone. Glad you had a good Christmas MHD, hope lungs behaving.

Happy new year all!

Welcome, godsgoodgrace. It sounds like the church you're at is in some turmoil right now, hope it all gets sorted out with little damage. I think going along and experiencing other churches and forms of worship can be enriching and deepening for your faith, so hope you have found somewhere to go :)

We've had a good few days rest, now back to the grindstone with work and school. Love to all.

Hello all ...
How are you all? I've been out of things for the first two weeks of 2018 due to a rubbish infection. I've been feeling quite low, partly due to the heavy meds. So haven't been to church in weeks, either, and feeling really detached from everything.

Just heard a sermon about how you shouldn't beat yourself up if you don't do/say the right thing, because god loves you anyway.

All fine, but I was listening thinking that I don't feel like that. I generally feel that I do the best I can, I self-reflect a lot and process where I've not done the ideal thing. But I never feel that god wouldn't love me because of this.

Does this make me arrogant? Over confident?

I used to go to a church (now disbanded) where you could discuss ideas and thoughts like this but now in this church it's not up for discussion (or seen as criticism).

Hope you are feeling better soon MHD. You must be looking forward to better weather.

Itscurtains - I'll come back to you after I've had a chance to think.

Oh, MHD that sounds so rubbish! This time of year can be hard enough at the best of times, what with it being dark and grey and cold and the world being run by lunatics, but having to stay in and not see people must make it so much worse. Sending love and praying that those bugs get beaten into submission by the meds, and that you'll be better enough to get out soon. And I hope you know how much you mean to all of us, and how much your generous sharing of your own dark times has helped others to get through theirs. I wish I could come and visit you, but that wouldn't be a good idea as I've got a lurgy!

Itscurtains I know what you mean, that you can definitely go through life not having that sense that you are not loveable or that you've done something to forfeit God's love - and that's a really wonderful thing. But so many of us struggle with very deep-seated feelings that we're not good enough, and that God would love us if we deserved it rather than being the not-good-enough, not-loveable-enough people we are. So one thing to think about is what that sermon might have meant to other people.

The other thing is that the more I follow Christ, the more I truly want to be like him, the more I can see how far I fall short. It's not that I think I'm the greatest villain on the earth; it's more that I can see what a huge gulf there is between what I am and what I aspire to be. When you look at it like that it's very easy to start seeing yourself as unloveable and not good enough. So another thing to think about might be about what are your ideals, and how do you meet them?

Thank you niminy. I really value your words and needed them today

Hello folks. Gosh it has got quiet around here lately; I've been crazy busy, I guess many of us have.

MHD I'm so sorry to hear you've been so poorly still. It completely sucks. I'm praying, and sending much love. I'm not around on here very often but I'm nearly always around on FB/ messenger if you want to rant /chat / pass the time.

I've been feeling a bit crap tonight. I am only 3 months in (to being 'single') and already the thrill of going to bed alone has passed. So I've been feeling a bit lonely :( BUT coming on here has reminded me that actually until now I've been feeling really positive about this year. Hope and trust are my watch words of 2018, and a lot is going to continue to change in my life. So thank you all of you who helped carry me through last year. Who knows maybe by the end of this one I'll have learned to stand on my own two feet. :) unlikely

Dear Edd, I'm not surprised you're feeling crap and lonely, you've come out of a long relationship and it must be so very hard for you. I love your watch words - praying that you will be filled to overflowing with hope. Thinking of this verse for you with those words in mind;

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13 NIVUK
bible.com/bible/113/rom.15.13.NIVUK

❤️ mhd Thank you x