How was church today?

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Continuing church shopping in Hawkesbury. Went to St. Paul's Presbyterian. Minister is quite personable. Old fashioned service except no prayer of confession. I reading and sermon were at the end of the service. The musician was excellent playing the music at a good beat. The reading was from Daniel, Daniel in the lion's den. The message was about the connection of the story to remaining faithful in difficult times, especially in the face of persecution. I plan to ask him at the men's prayer breakfast in three weeks if he thinks the church is being persecuted.

Next Sunday I plan to visit the United Church in Van Kleek Hill.
 
jimkenney12 said:
Continuing church shopping in Hawkesbury. Went to St. Paul's Presbyterian. Minister is quite personable. Old fashioned service except no prayer of confession. I reading and sermon were at the end of the service. The musician was excellent playing the music at a good beat. The reading was from Daniel, Daniel in the lion's den. The message was about the connection of the story to remaining faithful in difficult times, especially in the face of persecution. I plan to ask him at the men's prayer breakfast in three weeks if he thinks the church is being persecuted.

Next Sunday I plan to visit the United Church in Van Kleek Hill.
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My church hopping ventures took me to the local Assembly of God church. The sermon focused on Jesus' healing of the man born blind (John 9). The sermon made helpful points of the purpose of a life filled with physical infirmity, I couldn't get past 4 distractions.
(1) The pastor kept shouting "Woo hoo!" throughout the service and sermon, I guess, in an effort to appeal to the younger congregants.
(2) To show that he was hip, he used the word "cool!" a couple of times, which I found annoying.
(3) He was joyful and witty, but had a maniacal loud cackling laugh befitting a horror movie.
(4) He made some mistakes in pontificating about the historical background of the text. As an ex-Theology professor, I find myself automatically critiquing the merits of a pastor's sermon preparation. I hate that about myself because I need to expect a blessing from the service, but I just can't silence that inner critical voice!
 
It is hard as a retired preacher or theologian to avoid critiquing services. I appreciate services like a previous service at a local United Church led by a lay person. She stayed with what she knew and did not do anything that distracted from the message she was sharing. It felt like a worship service.
 
Church was very good today. The rev did a lovely job of Reign of Christ Sunday, which is not an easy one. I was the slide projecting person, and there were a couple of little glitches to work around - a video whose sound was way too low, and a refrain to the psalm where I had to find the refrain to practice it first, then flip back to the beginning of the psalm.

And the bake sale yesterday went well, and there were a few leftovers for sale today, so I don't feel awful for skipping my baking contribution this year.
 
I listened to church online at Hillhurst in Calgary - thinking of YouJustNeverKnow as well. I like the relevance of their services to what's occuring in life. Right now they're doing a series on aspects of "the Hero's Journey". On Sunday, John included an interview he did recently with the CEO of West Jet on the way in which he responded to an unexpected situation by acknowledging & taking responsibility for it when addressing the very disgruntled passengers on the plane. It was a good interview, and ended with the CEO commenting that might just have to drop by Hillhurst to see what's going on there. :-)
 
A powerful and moving sermon by John Pentland this morning - on hope, and Ted Lasso. Excellent music and thoughtful readings as always. Thank you Hillhurst United.
 
Excellent cantata today. One of the narrators was yours truly.

Link below. If you just want to listen to the cantata (it was done electronically by two local choirs, then narrated "live), it starts at about 29:50.

 
Watched the service for Deep River Community Church last evening. Amanda's message fit Epiphany perfectly with a focus on veils while taking a helpful angle on the transfiguration. It fit well with some of the presentations of the EOORC Winter Meeting Saturday morning. One key point was the call to congregations to identify and remove the veils either held by the congregation or by the community that block people in the community from seeing the congregation is open to connection with thme.
 
Did not watch service today. I have been absent from the online gatherings for a while now. There is a brief outdoor ritual for Ash Wednesday this week. Will attend if weather allows.
 
As mentioned in Room for All, I went to a very chilly service this a.m. Next year, I will forego a winter outdoor service. I'm not sure I'm totally warmed up yet.

We're having an Ash Wednesday service this year. Not sure if I will attend in person or on-line. I dislike going out in the winter in the evening...
 
BetteTheRed said:
As mentioned in Room for All, I went to a very chilly service this a.m. Next year, I will forego a winter outdoor service. I'm not sure I'm totally warmed up yet.

We're having an Ash Wednesday service this year. Not sure if I will attend in person or on-line. I dislike going out in the winter in the evening...
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Ours is at 11:00 a.m.

Agree with you about going out in the evening.
 
I watched @GordW and his congregation this morning. We really appreciate the live streaming of the service since we were part of the congregation for a couple years.
 
I heard Hillhurst mention they are having an "Ash & Dash" event on Wed evening - 7 - 7:30 - come in the back/side door, get ashes & a blessing, proceed to leave by the front door :-) Upgrade from last year when they did 'drive through".
 
Redbaron said:
I dunno, there’s just something amiss in an ‘upgrading’ in imposing ashes…
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"upgrading" was my word, not theirs - just to be clear. It's a step forward I guess is what I wanted to convey - this year to be able to walk into the sanctuary for this, rather than remain in one's vehicle as was done last year.
 
I have to confess that Ash Wednesday amuses me. The Rev always seems to be on the verge of setting the sanctuary on fire.
 
It is really hard getting the dried palms from the previous year to burn to make the ashes. I had to use rubbing alcohol and vegetable oil last year to get them to burn. I prepared the ashes earlier that I mixed with a little olive oil for the annointing and had extra palm strands for people to add to the fire with their prayers. We did the service outside with fewer than 10 people present.
 
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