How was church today?

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When I was young, our church service (a small country church, part of a two-point charge) was at 2:00 p.m. It worked for the farmers as it was in between chore times. Today, I attend a service that begins at 10:00 a.m. and is never longer than 60 minutes.
 
We have a start time of 11:00 with coffee for a half hour before the service. I have never the fellowship time done this way but it is surprisingly effective. Some people linger and chat for a few minutes after the service.

In the summer the start time is 10:00.
 
We have a 10:30 start (well, actually, 10:35 usually) with coffee both before and after the service. The Rev aims for 60 minutes, but 75 is the norm with any additional element like baptism, communion, etc.
 
BetteTheRed said:
We have a 10:30 start (well, actually, 10:35 usually) with coffee both before and after the service. The Rev aims for 60 minutes, but 75 is the norm with any additional element like baptism, communion, etc.
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That's kind of my approach. It's an aim, rather than a hard number and I don't mind going over unless I see people getting restless or nodding off.
 
Just picking up on something Seeler said- You called it "your pew" several times. Is this where you usually sit? How would you feel if a newcomer or visitor sat in Your pew?

Years ago when we started attending a different church we inadvertently took a pew another family thought of as theirs. Well me, my friend and our combined 5 kids filled that first pew in the balcony. If it was full we took the second.

It wasn't until several years later that another mom told us that she used to try and beat us to get her pew back!
 
Tabitha said:
Just picking up on something Seeler said- You called it "your pew" several times. Is this where you usually sit? How would you feel if a newcomer or visitor sat in Your pew?
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My family used to sit in roughly the same place every Sunday but I don't recall that kind of possessiveness about it. If someone else sat in our usual place, we could usually find a similar spot one row on front or behind.
 
My pew is where I sit most Sundays. It is up front because before my eye surgery I was extremely near-sighted. Also when Grandson was young it was nice for him to sit up front where he could see. I continue to sit there.
Pews in this church are box style. I sit at the left side of the pew so I can lean against the side wall. I rest my hymn book on the back of the pew ahead so that I don't have to hold the heavy book. I've discovered that VU balances nicely in this spot. The backs of some pews where I've occasionally sat seem to be more rounded and it's harder to balance the book. I have a small stool on the floor in front of me to brace my feet if they get restless. Pews in this part of the church (left-center) have space for four adults and a child. Five average sized adults in winter coats are crowded.
The other end of these pews have space for two, or perhaps three. The woman who sits beside me on the other side of the partition is quite short and she also has a foot stool that she provided herself and leaves in place. The couple who sit in front of her, kitty-corner to me, sit there because she has hearing problems and it is in direct line with a speaker. Their adult daughter sits directly ahead of me with a partition between her and her mother. She doesn't attend often. A nearly-blind woman also sat in this pew, but she died - so this pew is often empty or occupied by visitors.
I could tell you who usually occupies the next few pews behind me and nearby.
A good friend and her family almost always sits on the right side of the sanctuary next to the south-side wall.
And the balcony crowd is pretty constant.

Seelerman and I usually arrive early. Our church has very little parking so he likes to get there before all the street parking nearby is taken - and we leave the small parking lot for those who need it more than I do. So there is seldom anyone in our pew. If there is one or two people, and our family is not expected, we ask politely and crowd past them to my corner. Otherwise I take the next pew back, and everybody after that moves one pew back as well. I might ask for my stool to be passed back to me.

So, long answer to short question. Yes, I usually sit in the same pew each week.
Our church is large, with lots of empty or partially full seats. The ushers have no problem finding seats for visitors or newcomers.
 
Ah I am beginning to understand. I have not been to a service with ushers (vs greeters) for a long time. It sounds like you have a plan if your usual seat is full, but that you also "claim" it quite early. Thanks for responding Seeler.

This is a bit of a sidebar but I recall reading Rudy Weibe in my 20s. The mennonites had been evangelizing the Indians (now First Nations) Several believed and wanted to know more and so started attending church. Services were in High German as was the Mennonite tradition. I've always been amazed at that. That the congregation-who also spoke English- wouldn't/couldn't adapt to the newcomers and offer a service in an understood language.

It's about how we welcome the "other" into our space.
 
I have only ever seen greeters at Sunday worship. Ushers, in my experience, are found at weddings.
 
We used to have greeters & ushers every Sunday. Now just greeters & people generally make their way to any seat of their choice.
 
Anyone remember the "welcoming elder and his wife"? This was the norm at my church in the 60's.

How times have changed!
 
Seeler's comments about sitting in the same pew each week is interesting. I was in Victoria last year on holiday and went to worship at First Metropolitan United. The church was not full so I went and sat down in a pew that was empty. A few minutes later a woman came by and asked if I would move since her family was coming this day and they liked to sit in this pew. I said sure and moved to a different empty pew. Then this woman came by the new pew I had moved to 3 more times to apologize for asking me to move. Ha ha I wasn't giving it a second thought but it was worrisome to her that she had asked a stranger to move. For myself at my church I usually like to sit near the back, but don't sit in the exact same spot each week. I can see Seeler's point though if she has a stool and if the VU book rests well then it does make sense to sit in the same spot each week. They do have greeters at some of the entrances and not at other entrances to our worship space. Have not been a church with ushers since the 1970's.
 
Maybe . . .

And yet, I belong to the Reformed Christian tradition through my Presbyterian forebears. While I am clergy I also am regarded a Teaching Elder within the congregation and other courts of the Church.

It is my personal practice as clergy to greet at the door all who enter to worship. Or at least one of the doors I cannot be all places at once. So . . . This Teaching Elder also greets making me a Greeting Teaching Elder. I have a wife and on occasion she is present with me at the door to greet.

So the concept is not alien to me.

I do thank you for affirming my youthfulness. Or at least that which raising three kids did not suck from my marrow.
 
The church I attended in my childhood had one of those balconies you see in old churches. It always seemed odd to me that if you sat in balcony you missed the greeting from the welcoming elder and his wife.
 
Ushers?
At my church many of the regulars enter by a side door, coming in past the kitchen and gym. They pick up a bulletin or get one from an usher and find their own pews.
Other regulars, visitors, and newcomers enter by the big main doors. They at met by a greeter. The balcony crowd run up the stairs and presumably find their own places. The others enter the sanctuary by one or three doors, are met by ushers who give them a bulletin and escort them to their seats. Since the pews are gated, the ushers unhook the doors, open them as the people file in, and then close and hook the doors (gates). Otherwise newcomers sometimes fumble, looking for the hinged side or the side that opens, the hooks, etc. Most people seem to like having ushers, but if the usher is busy some of the regulars seat themselves.
 
In my family church, greeters were at the doors (none of the outside doors went directly into the sanctuary) while ushers handed out bulletins, guided people to seats, made sure that if a some pews were reserved for a purpose (e.g. on Scout Sunday) that they were roped off and that people who were supposed to be there found their way there, and that sort of thing. They also collected and counted offering.

In my UU church, we just had greeters. One at the outside door as folks came in (to direct visiting families to RE and stuff as well as to greet) and a couple inside the sanctuary to hand out bulletins and help anyone who needed assistance. The inside greeters took up collection and the treasurer or another member of the finance committee counted (most people were on PAC so there wasn't much to count unless there was a special collection).
 
No church for me again. I think I'll wait until Fall at this point. With Little M (probably) out of the house after Labour Day, Mrs. M and I might feel more comfortable being away for the morning. Still no sure where I'll go. Maybe Siloam United Church. It's close by and they seem like a nice, fairly progressive, bunch. My only beef is that the minister runs some interesting study groups but they are all in the daytime and not amenable to a 9-5'er like me.
 
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