How was church today?

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Nice service today. I was supposed to be projecting, and got traded weeks with rather arbitrarily. Which was fine, as the slides were a bit of a mess and I'm glad it wasn't me back there panicking. Got roped into serving communion, then laughed at, for being directionally challenged... Worship Team leader is smart enough not to use Left and Right with me, but when Mike and Storm and I first arranged ourselves, we had it "basket, juice, bread" instead of vice versa. It was one of those days. 3 offering baskets ended up in 'my' section of the sanctuary, instead of the 2 which were supposed to, so that caused some comedy as well. The highlight was a solo by a tenor in the choir, who's also in "show choir", so he used his performance voice, not his choral voice, and treated us to Florence + The Machine's "You've Got the Love".
 
I almost always say: "My message isn't very good" as I head out the door to lead worship somewhere. I always put effort into it, pray about it, practice it, research etc. But at the last minute, I decide it could have been so much more, but it's too late; I have to deliver it as is. I certainly felt that way today. But you just never know how someone will receive the message, or whether or not it is just what they needed to hear at that particular time. My preparation is only one part of the triangle of a message: God and the person listening are the other two parts. Anyway, a fellow said : That was the best message I've heard in a long time! It took me a minute to realize that he was serious (not sarcastic). So, you just never know...
 
BetteTheRed said:
The highlight was a solo by a tenor in the choir, who's also in "show choir", so he used his performance voice, not his choral voice, and treated us to Florence + The Machine's "You've Got the Love".
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I am trying to picture this being sung by a tenor and it sounds very good indeed. I need to live closer to your church I think. Seems more suited to me than anything around here.

For those not familiar with F+M:

 
Nancy said:
I almost always say: "My message isn't very good" as I head out the door to lead worship somewhere. I always put effort into it, pray about it, practice it, research etc. But at the last minute, I decide it could have been so much more, but it's too late; I have to deliver it as is. I certainly felt that way today. But you just never know how someone will receive the message, or whether or not it is just what they needed to hear at that particular time. My preparation is only one part of the triangle of a message: God and the person listening are the other two parts. Anyway, a fellow said : That was the best message I've heard in a long time! It took me a minute to realize that he was serious (not sarcastic). So, you just never know...
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I wonder what might happen if you were able to be less judgy about yourself ... find a new statement ... might be a good experiment :-)
 
Carolla said:
MEndalla - I think we may need to develop a Sunday morning Wonderbus route - to Bette's church & Hillhurst in Calgary too! I'd join you on that.
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Well, I'd say Bette's will be a bit easier to manage than Hillhurst. Little M used to muse about going to U of Calgary but chickened out and decided to stay in Ontario, else I probably could have managed it at some point.
 
Carolla said:
MEndalla - I think we may need to develop a Sunday morning Wonderbus route - to Bette's church & Hillhurst in Calgary too! I'd join you on that.
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While swinging in Toronto, be sure to be warmly welcomed by the Evangelical Baptist Church.
 
Nancy said:
I almost always say: "My message isn't very good" as I head out the door to lead worship somewhere.
Click to expand...

I was a mix in my lay preaching days. Sometimes I was all "yeah, I got this one" and other times I was "F..., why am I doing this again?"
 
Yes, sometimes it is a mix for me as well. Usually, while I am preparing the message I am excited about it and think it is pretty okay. But then, when I'm about to deliver it, I get those negative feelings.
 
Today Rev. John was out with the flu and Rev. Sheena is off for the month recovering from surgery so Susan Cooper stepped in and did the sermon. Susan leads the Contemplative Worship service on Wednesday mornings. I can never attend these services as I am at work on Wednesday's, but I'm thinking these services would be quite interesting. Anyway, back to today, Susan's message was on how we can rise above our circumstances and become something more. She spoke of folks like Martin Luther King, Maya Anjalou, Malcolm X and Mother Theresa. Also, included a video clip of Maya speaking of how even hate filled people like members of the KKK are still children of God, they may not know it, but they are still children of God. The idea being that you can't hate a child of God even if you hate how they express themselves. Susan also spoke of how we can take a deep breath rather than reacting to people who may be attacking us. This resonated with me with the work situation of bullying that has been going on for the past 3 years, not just to me but to my co-workers. One of my co-workers is a middle age woman and she told me she goes home every night and cries and cries. She still has a child at home so it must be distressing for her child as well her husband to see her like this. Myself I wouldn't shed a single tear over these people at work who don't seem to know the difference between managing and harassing. I just internalize it, but that's not good either as I've had chest pains a few times at these stupid daily so-called safety meetings. One day last week the topic at the workplace safety meeting was extension cords. We are office workers and none of us use extension cords at work. The person doing the "safety" talk nonetheless felt it necessary to drone on for over 15 minutes. This sort of thing combined with being forced to do mandatory stretching exercises just leaves everybody drained. Not sure how to apply Susan's message to the negative situation at work, but will try to "rise above" or at least take some deep breaths at work this week.
 
I think I would have enjoyed Susan's message...sounds both inspiring and helpful. As for the workplace stuff, I sympathize, empathize. I went through it (and blabbed about it on this site a long time ago) and it sure does stick with you, even after one is long retired!!! I continue to look to my faith to help me with the disgruntled part of my human nature that has a hard time thinking of my former boss with anything resembling love. I hope Susan's message does help you....Let us know.
 
Memo in the church bulletin about us not wanting to dig too far into the darkness of self ... as it could be excessively (polity) distressing ... to actually see who we are ... one must have a different strength to face this ... negative energies as "v" in the Niche ... chez arrives at Don ...

Tis a mind cranking missal ...
 
Nancy said:
I think I would have enjoyed Susan's message...sounds both inspiring and helpful. As for the workplace stuff, I sympathize, empathize. I went through it (and blabbed about it on this site a long time ago) and it sure does stick with you, even after one is long retired!!! I continue to look to my faith to help me with the disgruntled part of my human nature that has a hard time thinking of my former boss with anything resembling love. I hope Susan's message does help you....Let us know.
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In psychopathic belief systems the work system must support Taurus and all that crap ... BS? Perhaps mire satyrs ... men of clae ...
 
Mendalla said:
I was a mix in my lay preaching days. Sometimes I was all "yeah, I got this one" and other times I was "F..., why am I doing this again?"
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and sometimes when I think "I nailed it' with a message I'm proud of, I get litle feedback; and those I think 'Well, maybe better than nothing", ssomeone tells me "that's just what I needed to hear today."
 
Beautiful message today from the minister at my real church. And, as always, it was so good to see everyone. My sister and I sang one line of our choir anthem in unison, and it was fun to sing with her. We don't do that very often, but when we do, we enjoy it. (People say we sound like one voice).
 
Nice service. I was projecting. No glitches except for some unfixed hymn words, and I didn't prep the slides, so... Rev dared to preach on John 3, which was quite interesting; it was clear she had taken some inspiration from the Wednesday morning lectio divino group, which was fun. Also, the children's time was a little skit based on the story in Numbers about the snakes during the Israelites' wilderness journey with Moses. Audience participation was prompted by two young fellows with sign posts that said "Grumble, grumble" on one side and "Slither, slither" on the other. Also, there was an Amnesty International signing after church, so I dashed my signature off on six letters and a petition. Also, also, and most important to my children, I got two homemade cream eggs from Grenfel United Church (they are the sweetest things known to humankind); one will wing it's way off to Salt Spring Island...
 
Church today - during discussion of the lectionary before church we related John 3: 16 to the situation in Palestine 2000 years ago, and our situation in the world today.
The worship service was one of our minister's best - she isn't the most exciting preacher in the world but she has something to say. Music was great - for children's time was sang 'This little light of mine' with the words printed in the bulletin. This is not in VU, but I remember it from VBS in my childhood. I even did the hand motions. By the end almost half of the congregation were holding up a finger to indicated the light and swaying as they sang. Not exactly how most UCC hymns are sung.
After fellowship we were invited to stay for a discussion on poverty but Seelerman and I had commitments and didn't stay.
 
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