Crying on church

[Walkingtheplank]

Since lockdown, I think I've cried every time Ive gone to church. Not sobbing, all very self-contained due to mask wearing.
Is this normal? Does anyone know why it happens?

Sorry, meant crying IN church.

I'm not a church goer but have often thought about things differently since the pandemic started. Was it maybe the first place you got back to when things opened up again, perhaps changing your association with it?
What's your church experience like?

I used to when I first started going to church. Especially during the songs. I think it was kind of cathartic. Got negative emotions and negative past experiences out of my system.
It’s been some years since I cried in church now. I think I feel much more at peace with my issues of the past.

When we first went back to church after lockdown, I did have a proper cry - couldn't speak to the vicar afterwards. Since then I tear up everytime, although not to same extent.

I'm not thinking of myself when I do it. We're still masked up at the moment in church Because of my work, I'm often 'on display' for want of a better phrase, even when not actually at work. Perhaps the combination of spirituality but not being seen behind my mask helps me let go. Perhaps it's the only time for reflection I have.

Very confusing. I'd like to ask the vicar why it happens but wouldnt want to draw attention to myself. I dont imagine anyone has noticed fortunately.

I cry in church occasionally, especially when I feel God's grace. Could that be what you are feeling?

I cried today at school Ash Wednesday mass. I was already emotional from talking to a Ukrainian colleague and when the choir started singing I cried.

I don't think it's bad that you cry. I think it would be an idea to talk to the vicar. Otherwise how can you work through it? Perhaps he would pray with you.

Vicar's wife here. People cry in church all the time, particularly during the songs/hymns. This happened even before the pandemic. I have had a couple of people say to me that they feel really embarrassed but it's so so normal. Reasons I think this happens are:

• feeling God's presence can make us feel weepy at particularly joyful times as well as at unsettled or unhappy times. At the moment many people have been crying with joy that they are back in church or back to a bit of normality.
• I think all songs, religious or not, can raise an emotion in us I think they can connect us back to a time in our past very easily.
• Songs can have some truths in them which are difficult to express in normal conversation, or in sermons, the power of that truth can bring us to tears.
• Sometimes when I have found a particular song emotional in the past I keep finding it emotional in the future even though that moment has passed.

Your vicar should totally be able to handle a conversation about this, and you definitely shouldn't feel embarrassed. There also might be someone else you could speak to, who you feel more comfortable with. But you don't need to necessarily talk to anyone if you are not concerned about it. Sometimes it can be good to embrace the release that getting weepy in a song can give us.

I do it sometimes, think it's just the having space to be completely honest with oneself, with God, feel "held" etc, plus the music etc as @Flowersinamilkbottle said.

I’ve done this twice. The first time was not long after the death of mg grandmother. The second time was the first time I went to church after it became obvious that our DC had serious SN.

I think it is having peaceful, authentic space around me that does it. All the emotion comes out as there is suddenly space for it to go into. I am not a massive believer, but it did really really get to me and once I started I just couldn’t stop.

I had a few tears at my first Mass back in church after the closures. It was happy emotion at being back but also sad for the loss and mourning.

It’s definitely a ‘safe space’ to cry, a sign that you feel safe, loved and able to ‘offer up’ what ever is troubling you. I silently sobbed in church when my DB and DSiL lost their first daughter. There was only one other person in there, after a while, she moved next to me and held my hand. She didn’t say anything, after a few minutes she started murmuring the Hail Mary and it was just right.

Thank you everyone who replied to share your thoughts.

I don't notice anyone else becoming emotional at church so it's a comfort to read other thoughts here about it being quite 'normal'.

Perhaps I should just embrace it!

It's very normal to cry in church. The presence of God is very overwhelming. As for it being since the pandemic, could it be that the pandemic has made you more aware of your own mortality or the vulnerability of all people and ultimate total dependence on God? For a lot of people the pandemic has made them realise quite how much we need God, a lot of people have converted since the pandemic for this reason. Could this be why you're feeling more moved than usual in church?

I can barely listen to a sermon, pray, make it through any worship song, or read a single chapter of the bible without blubbing like a baby.

When my dc were small, so I spent a lot of time in the church porch, I often shared it with people who’d left the service in tears.

Christmas Day services ALWAYS have several people howling in the porches. I’ve been one of them on a couple of occasions.