How was church today?

[Nancy]

Considering what some people here have done to.my name in hilarious attempts to insult me, the common misspelling is nothing. Been dealing withe that my whole life.

People have mispronounced my married surname for years. It's a name that was made up when my husband's family came to Canada from Poland. Apparently anyone in North America with my last name is related. Sometimes I politely correct the mispronunciation; and sometimes I just leave it. My maiden name was so common that I never had to deal with that.

 

[Jaebius]

People have mispronounced my married surname for years. It's a name that was made up when my husband's family came to Canada from Poland. Apparently anyone in North America with my last name is related. Sometimes I politely correct the mispronunciation; and sometimes I just leave it. My maiden name was so common that I never had to deal with that.

So often people write "Jay" instead of "Jae."

 

[Luce NDs]

My name is unpronounceable to some who don't know Runic Code ... so they don't get it ... thus the Din !

 

[revjohn]

At 3:10, I'm trying to figure out why atheism leads to despair. What a massive non-sequitur.

Don't stay up that late. It will only bring you down.

 

[revjohn]

Considering what some people here have done to.my name in hilarious attempts to insult me, the common misspelling is nothing. Been dealing withe that my whole life.

My Surname is constantly misspelled or mispronounced as Mash.

Best spelling ever was Ma3ch. I have decided that is my Star Wars Droid name no matter what the instructions say.

 

[Seeler]

There are probably a half-dozen spellings for our last name in real life. The two most common end either 'oie' or 'oy'. There are also two ways to pronounce it. While we answer to both pronounciations, we always use one. And for spelling we use 'oie', although some of Seelerman's documents are spelled 'oy' - his baptism, SIN, passport are all 'oie'. It can get complicated. I was told once by a snooty check out girl that if I used the 'oie' spelling I had to use the other pronounciation.

 

[Luce NDs]

If you look after an ancient cemetery ... you soon find the variants in spell(NG) are due to lack of knowledge in the English grey mere ... and some mean scot spooks will kick the dirt off them in reaction to loss of the ancient Celt Pix of names ... some so rising in mood as to drift of with Jainism Eire ...

Powers beyond the mortal are suspected to giggle over how some isolated beings do naïve things in the deprivation of wisdom ... an ephemeral essence ... quite flighty like passions ... comes, goes and calms ...

If outlanders laugh with exertion ... could they suffer fallout ... drops of shining nature? Far q'lues ...

 

[Mendalla]

There are probably a half-dozen spellings for our last name in real life.

My family name has two accepted spellings in common use so I often get the other one. However, it is also not the most common of names and isn't said the way it is spelled (it is anglicized Welsh) so it frequently gets mangled in original and interesting ways.

Ironically, my wife chose to change her surname when we married (following Western custom rather than Chinese, where women keep their birth family name) because she thought people would have trouble with her Chinese name. I did warn her. And even at that, my aunt and some of my friends still mangle her given name even though they've known her almost as long as I have.

 

[Seeler]

Today I feel somewhat ambivalent
- none of the hymns stood out for me as favourites, even though we had the handbell choir play just before the service and a cello accompany a guitar for special music.
Mothers' Day was recognized and the 'talk with the children' told the story of a girl baby born 99 years ago, growing up in a village without electricity or modern conveniences, helping her sick mother look after a household, including five siblings, marrying, raising a family, and volunteering in her church and community - something she still does. And Lola was asked to stand up (she attends a UCC across the river by was invited for today. She still lives in her own home (alone now) and drives her own car. Incidentally she was my Sunday School superintendent 70 years ago.
Hard to follow that up, but the minister did an excellent message on John 14: 1-14.
Unfortunately Seelergirl was unable to attend. She hosted a sleepover for her son's 13 birthday. I told her that the invitations should have read, "pick up by 10:00 am or your child will be taken to church." She laughed and wondered why she hadn't thought of that.

Two changes that might be taking place about our worship service.
Today we were asked to fill in a questionaire regarding changing the time of service from 11:00 am to 10:30. I gave the reasons I'm against it.
and
Instead of sitting in the choir loft behind the pulpit, the choir sat in the front two rows of the sanctuary and stood to face the congregation during the singing. Choir director's idea. I liked it. I imagine it was nicer for the minister to have everybody in front of her during her message and prayers, rather than 20 or 30 behind her. Nice for them too. They went up to the choir loft after the message for the offering music, closing hymn, and choral blessing. I hope that they try it again for a few Sundays and then review whether it would work as a regular occurence.

 

[Tabitha]

No church for me today. Mother's day elicits mixed reactions form me. I treasure my sons (youngest is quite ok these days) but have an ache for my middle. and I'm emptying the guest room for a co-op student from today until Sept. 1

 

[crazyheart]

Why did you not like an earlier time @Seeler

 

[Jaebius]

Today I almost didn't go to church. Working here with the others in the store, I felt like just keeping on working. However, I deem it important for me to gather with others for worship, so I did so. I attended the worship service of a local Anglican church - "higher" than that which I'm used to. Tons of symbolism going on. The special guest at the service, who preached, was some kind of Bishop. For his children's story, he talked about his garb, including his pointy mitre hat.

 

[Pinga]

Attended church, and will attend again this evening. Agreed to participate in a service, not recognizing it was mother's day. Dang. Not my top thing to do tonight, but, i made a committment.

 

[Mendalla]

Why did you not like an earlier time @Seeler

I think she mentioned it before but I forget the reason. Most of the UCCan congregations here start at 10:30 unless they have two services and I prefer that time. I find later times get too close to lunch and I distract easily when I'm hungry. The UUs start at 10:45 and I wouldn't like to go later than that, really.

 

[Jaebius]

I think she mentioned it before but I forget the reason. Most of the UCCan congregations here start at 10:30 unless they have two services and I prefer that time. I find later times get too close to lunch and I distract easily when I'm hungry. The UUs start at 10:45 and I wouldn't like to go later than that, really.

We start at 10:30 with a prayer meeting, followed by worship 11-12:15, then fellowship time 12:15-2.

 

[Tabitha]

Our congregation just changed it's time of worship. It was at 10 am for it's first 5 years but changed as we called our new minister (.8 us .2 the next church down the road). 930 and 10 did not work for services so they switched to 9 and we switched 11. They let the minister go due to budget constraints. We voted one sunday on pieces of paper that went in the offering plates. 10 won by a landslide and so after Easter we switched back to 10.

 

[Carolla]

Our service starts at 10, which seems to work well. Enough time prior for choirs to rehearse, mics to all get set up etc. Enough time after to not have everyone rushing off to lunch, so more stay for coffee & conversation. We moved to an earlier start time many years ago, to accomodate another congregation who came in to use the church at noon. They have left now, but we've stuck with the earlier worship time.

It was an okay service today. Reading on Moses' mother ... I'm not terribly inspired by the preaching these days. Music was good - anthems by all three choirs - loving our new choral director who is young and energetic and technically excellent (according to those in choir!). Coffee, bake sale & book sale followed.

 

[Luce NDs]

Institutionalized peoples find change hard ... Murphy's Law ...

 

[Seeler]

Why do I not want a change in time of service?

Partly it's tradition - for most of my life I've attended worship at 11:00 am on Sunday morning.

Partly it's resentment of the way it was changed at my previous church. The minister at the time wanted to get an early start on her Sunday noon to Tuesday noon 'weekend' so she could drive home to another province. She claimed it was for young families, but the only three young families (including my daughters) that I know of were not consulted and told me that they preferred the 11:00 time. One woman came to church in her work uniform. 11:00 oclock service gave her just enough time to slip out during the last hymn and arrive at work on time while her husband took the kids home and fed the. 10:00 oclock gave her time to rush home, prepare lunch, check on the kids, and rush off again. We lost several families from that small congregation when the time changed. I don't believe we picked up any.

So partly it's because 11:00 seems to be good for young families. It is also good for seniors who might need time to get going in the mornings, take medication, bathroom time, etc. And for working people who like an extra hour or so to sleep in. For me it means time to make the bed, have a leisurely breakfast, tidy up the dishes before leaving the house. I hate rushing off with chores not done.

Partly it's because there is a small but devoted adult Bible study group that meets faithfully from 9:30 to 10:30 on Sunday morning, before the choir runs through their anthem before the 11:00 am service.

Partly it's because the other downtown UCC that we sometimes share services with meets at 10:30. Wouldn't it be nice if we both met at the same time? (sarcastic) Sure, let them be the ones to change.

Another reason given for changing is that some people are hungry for a meal at 12:00 noon and therefore don't stay for coffee and conversation. I've suggested a gathering time for coffee and conversation between 10:15 or so and 11:00 - before the service.

I am quit sure that, now that it's been brought up, the change will go through. I can live with it but I won't like it. And it will put more pressure on Seelergirl to get her son up and out the door a half hour earlier than he's used to.

 

[paradox3]

Coffee before the service works well where I am hanging out these days. This is the first church I have seen do it this way & it has some advantages.

When we have discussed this on previous occasions we have heard that an earlier time works best for folks who come by bus from retirement homes.

11:00 is still my preference because I grew up with this time for church. And church was always an hour long with the service running a little longer when we had baptisms or communion. I find myself still in favour of this.

Lots of factors to consider!