How was church today?

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Carolla said:
Didn't go to church this Sunday, having returned home from vacation the evening prior. Sorry in a way to have missed it tho, as all three of our Syrian refugee families attended and spoke during the service. Afterward there was a BBQ in their honour, with our neighbour church who were also great financial supporters of the refugee sponsorship.

Last Sunday, I was in the small town of Val Marie Saskatchewan. In the morning, before leaving, we stopped by a stone labyrinth that our hosts had built on their property this summer. We had passed this site several times in our comings and goings, wondering what that big stone thing was down in the field. Then by chance the evening before we left I learned it was a labyrinth - and I do love labyrinths. It was quite wonderful - such a peaceful and silent setting. They plan to plant some trees around it and open it to their wider community in future. It must have been quite an effortful construction project for them.

Hopefully I can upload a photo -
View attachment 1031 View attachment 1032
Yes! that worked! The second photo is the centre stone - there was a tiny rose quartz madonna figure, some large iron links, other bits of stone and crystals that people had left, a few small puddles from the rain on the night prior. Loved it.
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It does look nice, but must have taken some time to put together. A true work of love.
 
For sure - some of the rocks are very large boulders really. Must have used a tractor & lots of muscle & lever power to place them all with such accuracy - and they were very accurate!
 
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What I saw when 'at church' this week.
 
My new church is great. Very laid back and 'real' people, warts n' all. There is almost zero pretense or false piety at this place. I really like it. The focus is grace and non-judgement, and unconditional love. It reminds me of something in between AA, Nadia Boltz Webber church of All Sinners and Saints, and a bohemian folk coffee house. I am getting involved with a home group, some new friends, who get together and discuss the previous sermon - and opportunities to get together to socialize. They don't have the church space everyday all week so that's how people get together - which is good. Very informal, I'm told. The pastor himself is very informal - comedic even (he even said the Sh**word discussing when he got pulled over for speeding highlighting that he's a 'sinner' as much as anyone) and tied that in with Matthew 13! - so I imagine the group discussion will be interesting. I've been looking for a place like this - but they all seem to be "fundegelical" - whereas this one was started by a group of people who broke away from that and started a liberal, progressive Christian community. And they want to join a denomination formally, eventually - Lutheran might make sense since they share the building - but now they are not tied down by presbyteries or synods or formal committees of a wider church, and that gives them a lot of leeway. I think that makes them able to be so easy going.
 
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I was in like Wynne
Helping with vittles set up
Caf n tea n munchies
When I overheard a bit of the Sermon
On Iron Age Labor Disputes lol
Man the G_od Books has everything
LA DI DAH!!!
 
I went to the home group tonight. It was at a couple's beautiful refurbished Victorian home, they just moved to. It turns out I know the wife of the couple from high-school. We were one grade apart so we recognized each other - and figured out where from. I wasn't friends with her back then - but it was neat to make the connection. I've been invited out with her, with another girlfriend of hers I haven't met yet (maybe I'll recognize her too) on Friday night to watch her husband's rockabilly band play at a bar. So, we talked bible stuff for the first little while, then chatted about other things. Her husband, as well as being in a band, is also a chocolatier, as a small business - and their (gorgeous) kitchen had racks full of chocolates - we ate chocolate chip cookies. It was wonderful. I had to pinch myself.
 
Jae said:
Hmm... no word... no sacrament... no community...

:coffee:
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And yet Jesus spent a lot of time in solitude and silence. There are numerous examples:

Mark 1:12 (out in the desert for 40 days...including Sabbaths)
Mark 1:35 (solitary place to pray)
Mark 1:16 (walking beside the sea of Galilee)
Mark 1:45 (Jesus often withdrew to lonely places to pray)
Mark 2:13 (out beside the lake alone)
Luke 5:15-16 (lonely place to pray)
Mark 2:23 (out on the Sabbath among the grain fields)
Mathew 3:13 (out sitting by the mountainside)
Luke 6:12-13 (out by the mountainside)
Mathew 13:14 (withdrew in a boat to a solitary place, after John was beheaded)
Mathew 13:1-3 (sitting by the lake alone)
Mark 6:31-32 (going to a quiet place for some rest)
Luke 9:18 (praying in private)
Mathew 15:29 (walking beside the sea of Galilee and sitting in solitude beside a mountainside)
John 7:20 (five days of solitude)
 
Jae said:
Hmm... no word... no sacrament... no community...

:coffee:
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Jae said:
The Spirit of God leads Christians into community with one another - not to just go hang out in the woods.
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I think that the Christian tradition, and most traditions really, has embraced both individual and communal spirituality over the centuries. As an advocate of balance, I think both time alone with God/in God's creation and time in religious community need to be a part of one's spirituality. Going to church or participating in church groups hits the latter aspect; the former is more individual, walks in the woods, silent meditation/prayer at home, reading and meditating on scripture and whatever else brings the individual closer to the heart of their faith (God and Jesus for Christians).
 
Waterfall said:
And yet Jesus spent a lot of time in solitude and silence. There are numerous examples:

Mark 1:12 (out in the desert for 40 days...including Sabbaths)
Mark 1:35 (solitary place to pray)
Mark 1:16 (walking beside the sea of Galilee)
Mark 1:45 (Jesus often withdrew to lonely places to pray)
Mark 2:13 (out beside the lake alone)
Luke 5:15-16 (lonely place to pray)
Mark 2:23 (out on the Sabbath among the grain fields)
Mathew 3:13 (out sitting by the mountainside)
Luke 6:12-13 (out by the mountainside)
Mathew 13:14 (withdrew in a boat to a solitary place, after John was beheaded)
Mathew 13:1-3 (sitting by the lake alone)
Mark 6:31-32 (going to a quiet place for some rest)
Luke 9:18 (praying in private)
Mathew 15:29 (walking beside the sea of Galilee and sitting in solitude beside a mountainside)
John 7:20 (five days of solitude)
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He did. I'm unaware of any time he claimed his wilderness experiences as going to church.
 
Mendalla said:
I think that the Christian tradition, and most traditions really, has embraced both individual and communal spirituality over the centuries. As an advocate of balance, I think both time alone with God/in God's creation and time in religious community need to be a part of one's spirituality. Going to church or participating in church groups hits the latter aspect; the former is more individual, walks in the woods, silent meditation/prayer at home, reading and meditating on scripture and whatever else brings the individual closer to the heart of their faith (God and Jesus for Christians).
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I absolutely agree with you, which is one reason I did a solo retreat in April.
 
Jae said:
He did. I'm unaware of any time he claimed his wilderness experiences as going to church.
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He often chose solitude over going to church on the Sabbath, which is not to say he didn't engage in community, but how can you say how long someone requires a season of solitude with God in order to gain strength to return to some form of ministry as you did to Kay?
 
Waterfall said:
He often chose solitude over going to church on the Sabbath, which is not to say he didn't engage in community, but how can you say how long someone requires a season of solitude with God in order to gain strength to return to some form of ministry as you did to Kay?
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If someone needs a time of solitude with God, then by all means, go have a time of solitude with God. For however long said time of solitude is needed. Just don't claim it's church.
 
Waterfall said:
Why not?
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There are two definitions/understanding of "church" at play here.

One is "church" as a community gathering for worship and service. As the song says:

"The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place, the church is a people. I am the church, you are the church, we are the church together."

The other is "church" as the building or other physical place where the "church" meets.

@Jae is pushing the former, you and @KayTheCurler are thinking more of the latter. And, really, both are proper definition of "church" in the English language so I don't know why there's such a fuss going on.

From Merriam-Webster. @Jae is using definition 3, you are using definition 1 albeit in a fairly broad sense. "Broad" in that the woods are really not a place intended for the purpose of public worship. I'm not saying you two are wrong. I've used "church" that way, too, but it is certainly broadening the term beyond normal usage.

Definition of church
1:a building for public and especially Christian worship
2:the clergy or officialdom of a religious body
  • the word church … is put for the persons that are ordained for the ministry of the Gospel, that is to say, the clergy
  • —J. Ayliffe
3:a body or organization of religious believers: such as
a :the whole body of Christians
  • the one church is the whole body gathered together from all ages
  • —J. H. Newman
b :denomination
  • the Presbyterian church
c :congregation
  • they had appointed elders for them in every church
  • —Acts 14:23 (Revised Standard Version)
4:a public divine worship
  • goes to church every Sunday
5:the clerical profession
  • considered the church as a possible career
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Waterfall said:
Why not?
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And not everyone values or is turned on by Nature or Cities or Mortar n etc Churches or Deserts or etc?

Which is why sombunall peeps are bored to tears in a forest
Others find outerspace immensely dull
Others find children dreadful
And so on
For similar reasons why some people will kill to defend their meaningless bit of dirt ("Country")
Or why a mass produced cup can be a cherished item to someone who has had it for long enough for stories and experiences to have built around it...

But yeah
There r so many different ways to worship (not infinite; finite).
I still like a Wiccan way of making a sacred space wherever they are and then unmaking it
And the Internet can involve a non local Church
And we've had virtual communion here! On WC!
 
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