Christian Coffee House - Prayer/Chat thread. No rubbish church coffee allowed.

[Madhairday]

With the latest prayer thread coming to an end, we thought we would create a new thread for prayer and general chat too - we had chat threads running for years alongside prayer threads, and we thought it would be great to combine them. I try and collate some of the prayer requests from the last thread in the next few days. In the meantime, dive in! Lurkers/newbies - you are welcome to post. Feel free to start any chat subject about Christianity, church, worship etc, and do share any prayer needs.
Would love to hear from those who were on previous threads and haven't been around for a while, too. Come and let us know how you are.

How's everyone today? Really enjoyed our livestream this morning, highlight being dh dressing up in various household items to represent the armour of God (we had an apron, a squash racquet, an avengers surfboard and a bike helmet among other stuff)😂 and then others taking up the challenge and sending pics of themselves in their armour too. Love the community of it, missing them all very much.

How are you all doing? I was thinking about you @BlackeyedSusan and wondering how you are getting on and how the kids are and how about you dear @Dutchoma?

Keep us updated everyone with how you're doing in these strange times. May you know the blessing of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and the peace that passes all understanding.

I too enjoyed our digital morning service with messages from our own rector, Jun and bishop Donald and the Archbishop of Canterbury. The cup of our sermons runneth over. I do miss proper choir singing though, very much.
I’m so grateful that you are keeping relatively well MHD and yes, BES, how are you?

Hello I got to attend first ever live stream mass today. There were only 25 watching live. My priest hasn't got the hang of it yet and so the view was mainly of a computer screen but he kept getting the clips of people reading/ psalms/ prayers wrong, plus you could see him in the background byt only from his nose down!
I found my attention wandering a bit as a result.

Other than that it was nice to have a set worship time on a Sunday again. Last week I didn't get to watch until 9pm due to kids being demanding.

The other big plus to online mass is I can now attend mass most days which is great.

I'm glad to see you had a lovely time on VE day MHD. I hope afternoon tea and time with the family in the sun lifted your spirits. I want to know if @StrawberryJam200 led the singing of Vera Lynn songs without undue nerves!?

We watched our online service this morning but had technical difficulties with our wifi for half of it - the screen would freeze for about 30 seconds for no apparent reason. It improved hugely though once we logged out and then logged back in again.

I'm really missing singing too. I was reading on the BBC website last week that even when we can meet again in churches it'll be unlikely we'll be allowed to sing. I wonder if there are any online choirs or groups? I'm not sure what I'm looking for, but it'd be great if there were something that could fill the gap.

I am loving all the online services. I watch 3 different churches on a Sunday, sometimes more in the week! They are great for introverts like me. I prefer them actually. I really hate the dreaded 'give your neighbours the peace handshake' of a normal service, it always makes me feel awkward and uncomfortable. Online service you can get up 5 min before and watch in your pjs with a cuppa.

@applesandpears33 there seem to be loads of online choirs, some formed for lockdown some made from existing choirs. The only specifically Christian one I've come across is the National Methodist choir which was just starting as lockdown happened I think, so decided to go online. Do a search online. Gareth Malone started one when some were starting to isolate.

Well I didn't need to lead the singing because my slightly bossy neighbour was outside with his WiFi speaker before everyone else and started anyway! A relief in a way though. Am so glad we did it.

Our church was good today and we tried coffee by Zoom which was nice but a bit complicated.

Yes I really miss singing too and heard that about singing being forbidden even when churches do meet :( we'll still have some kind of worship with the band and one singer or something, or recordings, and people can hum and just pretend they're singing, there will still be a great sense of togetherness in that I think.

This has encouraged me loads this morning, thoughts from Pete Greig.

m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10219435784460035&id=1075328494

Pete Grieg link says Link broken @Madhairday ?

The link worked for me, but try this one @StarwberryJam200. Its certainly a good read.

Sorry, was possibly because I posted the mobile link? Both those links work for me so hopefully you'll be able to see it on Rose's link :)

Got it now, thanks both. Wow, yes Pete.

Although I wonder if the stats on church attendance are the right ones, you do have to take into account that it was Easter in the last month, when more people normally attend church, so maybe higher than 5% population attending normally?

But it is amazing, praise God!

Praying for all the shielded tonight, including you @Madhairday, there's certainly no end in sight is there? That the church would find very real ways to demonstrate Christ's love to both those within and those without the Kingdom.

Thank you. I'm just done with it tonight. Feel like I can't do this anymore within my own home and have to go back to normal. But dh is out there doing covid funerals and so seeing people in contact with it possibly. I just don't know what to do but can't go on like this :(

I’m trying to establish my faith in Christianity. I have been reading the bible but not being able to go and find a church that suits me is hard at the moment.

Hi @Hippopotas what kind of church do you feel you might be looking for? I'm sure someone on here could point you to an online service and/or a minister or friendly church member who'd be happy to chat with you on the phone or something,

Now is a great time to take an online peek at lots of different churches, anonymously!

Welcome here

@Madhairday can I send you a sisterly 🤗?

@StrawberryJam200 I’m not too sure. Growing up I went to Methodist churches but that was just because that’s where my dad went. I want to be part of a loving community but not enforced attendance. Some traditional hymns and non traditional too.

History of a building and the feeling it gives me is all important. When I visited Italy and France the feeling that washed over me in the historic churches was amazing. I got the same feeling in sagrada familia too.

MHD, how terribly hard for you. Have there been a lot of COVID related funerals for your dh? So hard for him as well. The only plus point I can think of is that you have been keeping well so far and that in true MN terms, ‘this too will pass.’
Hippopotas Welcome to the thread. Are you able, when all this is done to attend one of the cathedrals? I think quite a few are doing online services which are very beautiful and you could choose the one that is closest to you. They have the advantage that it is easy to be as much a part of the core community as you feel able to without being pounced on as a newcomer as there will be a number of ‘casual’ attenders too.

Hi MHD I hope that was just an outpouring of frustration and that you are feeling more positive. Hopefully you are renewed in your purpose to shield yourself. It's a tough time for all but certainly more extreme for you. I hit a wall with it all today. I need to not be stuck here.

The word "renewal" jumped out at me from mass tonight. I think many will be getting to the point in lockdown when we need renewal. We need to reaffirm the strength and good grace which many of us started lock down with. We thought we could do it all those weeks ago. We can get through this. With God's help.

Praying that you find the strength to keep going and that God grants you some peace. Is it too much to ask for a measure of joy? Seems a little thin on the ground lately.

Hippopotas welcome. Lots of love on this thread for the lectio365 app for daily devotion and bible readings. Something to try? Takes 10 minutes and is relaxing as well as prayerful.

Hello, please can I join this group? I sporadically attend a fairly evangelical church in my nearest town but found the pastors wife slightly over bearing. My children attend a cathedral school
So I also spend time most weeks at school services in the cathedral. I hadn't realised how much I would miss both these churches. How lost I would feel? How coronavirus puts doubt about my own faith in my head? How anxious I feel if I spend too ice time thinking about this current situation....

Welcome whattodo. What you say about not realising how much you would miss church when you can’t go strikes a chord with me. How much we rely on each other to keep our faith alight and alive. How easy it is to lose the joy, especially for MHD who has to cope with more than most and who is always an inspiration to us all. We are not made for this isolation and the struggle is very real. even when we do find new ways to keep in touch.
We’re doing our first Zoom choir practice tonight.

Our church is doing live stream Sunday and midweek services and short check ins. Plus smaller groups are doing zoom meetings. Its amazing and has really helped to feel connected with church family. You wouldn't believe how bereft I feel as the screen goes blank at the end of each one and how much I miss people I didn't realise I felt so close to.

Thank you everyone so much for your prayers and hugs. Much appreciated. I did hit a real low the other day but dh and friends helped me work it through a bit more and more resigned to staying shielding until things change. Could be in for a long haul.

I sent off my new book proposal today, very frustrating process with an online form that kept crashing, but it's done now. However my editor told me the publishers are really cutting back on taking on new books so not holding out much hope. Do feel the proposal was good and tight though so can only hope and pray. It's so good to have writing to do in the midst of all this.

Love to you all and welcome to newbies :)

Happy to talk more about God and Coronavirus - I know it's tough to reconcile. But I find God so present in the midst of suffering, sometimes even more so, and the joys are more joyous through the pain. But these times are strange and tragic and hard.

Rose you are lucky to have zoom church meetings. Do you just chat, pray or do bible study? Its a shame to feel bereft after the meeting is over. Do you have family at home or do you rely on them for company? My church doesn't organise anything like that even before lockdown. Catholics!

Also loving the sound of Dutchoma's zoom church choir. I hope it went well. I really would love to join our church choir but they dont meet at a time that suits. I'm also in a workplace choir that's doing zoom meetings but again they've schedule them in the middle of the day which was fine when I was in an office. Doesn't work now I have to feed the kids.

Welcome @whattodo2019. The start of this crisis left me really confused as I was praying to stop the spread of covid and it wasn't working. It wasn't a case of doubting God as feeling helpless. I dont expect God to grant all my prayers (as I'm sure you dont too) but it was a wake up call that bad things happen all the time. This time it's closer to home. The more this goes on the more I feel that God can use this evil for good. It's scary because the world is changing so fast but I hope that in the long term the changes will be for the better.