How was church today?

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I was at a neighbouring church today, as I am a confirmation mentor for a young woman who recently moved there from my own church, and today was the confirmation service. Two young people were baptised and confirmed, and four others were confirmed. That was followed by communion. It was a very long service (90 minutes), with many bits & pieces not always connecting particularly well, and no Sunday School for the younger kids who were getting restless as time wore on (although there were some treats hidden in the pews for them). Sermon along the line of 'we all have our stones that need to be rolled out of the way'. After the service, caught up with some folks there that I haven't seen for a while, which was nice.

I did not go to the 'sunrise' service. It was at 8:00am. Sunrise was at 6:57 today.
 
Carolla...That says something about those of us who like to plan....We plan a church service for a convenient time, call it a sunrise service, and don't even try to fit the two times together! This actually gave me a chuckle.
 
We didn't have a sunrise service either although we were invited to one being held by a neighbouring congregation.

The regular service was joyful and very well attended.
 
Opening hymn was Joy to the World. Ha ha ha never had that at Easter before. It may have had something to do with -15 temperatures and Easter falling on April Fools Day. Rev. John's sermon started with a story of him crashing on ice on his bicycle and being knocked unconscious and having a vision while out. This was his April Fools gag on the congregation as there was no crash and no vision. Having not completely healed from my bike crash last fall, this wasn't all that funny a gag for me, but others seemed to get a laugh out of it. I think a better sermon for me was something else that happened during worship. A rather grumpy woman who never seems to smile about anything showed up wearing floppy Easter Bunny ears. This spoke to me of how maybe I need to see beneath the surface as this woman must have a playful side that is buried so deep it rarely ever surfaces. A good reminder that everyone has a story and we should be more tolerant and accepting of others, even or maybe especially, others that we don't resonate with.
Anyway, Happy Easter all!
 
Was great service - kids portion was awesome and our minister gave an awesome sermon. However, I guess I am getting older....the hymns - not so much. One in particular caught me off guard and set my mood for the rest of the service. We sang VU#164 “The Day of Resurrection” and the second verse got to me.

2 Our hearts be pure from evil,
that we may see aright
the Lord in rays eternal
of resurrection light;
and listening to his accents,
may hear, so calm and plain,
his own "All hail!" and, hearing,
may raise the victor strain.

What the heck (not the word I used when asking folks after the church service) does "listening to his accents" mean. And if I have to think about it, then the meaning of they hymn is no different than a secular song......by the way, of the 6 people I asked in varying ages, none knew what it meant off the tip of their tongues....so again, in the second that you sing/say a word, and have no meaning to you, its a seconds/minutes that you will never get back. Flower crap doesn't cut it anymore......

So, I'm sitting beside this person and she turns to me and says to me, the gender references are all wrong in...
Gloria Patri: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen

And I am thinking wow, when did Church/worship become so far behind the times.... Glory be to our God, and to they, and to the Holy Spirit.....

I hope this is just a phase I am going through....I don't want to get caught up in the semantics of a church service and miss the important stuff....
 
Our 11:00 oclock service was excellent - one of the best our minister has led.
Seelerman and I greeted at the main doors and noted the larger than usual turn-out.
The soloist was a young woman from our congregation (her mother accompanied her on the piano) - both professional level musicians. The choir shared two beautiful anthems.
The hymns were a bit of a disappointment - being traditiional ones from the Easter section of Voices United. But there was a trumpet accompanying the organ that everyone enjoyed.
(By the way, I believe that Joy to the World was originally used as an Easter hymn before it was associated almost exclusively with Christmas. Listen to the words: 'Joy to the world, the Lord has come, let earth receive heer king ... ' Nothing about a babe in a manger, shepherd, wisemen.
I've used it myself for Christ the King Sunday.) I'd be happy to open Easter worship singingg it.
Good message with a reference to Spong's 'The Heart of Christianity' book.
Seelergirl and Grandson joined us for worship.
 
Nancy said:
I found the Easter hymns a little dated too, Jobam. I didn't sing them with the pure abandon that I used to. Maybe we need to work on new ones???
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On the flipside, we sang a couple of songs at our service that hardly any of us knew. Imho, special services like Easter and Christmas are not times to introduce new songs into the congregation.
 
Jae said:
On the flipside, we sang a couple of songs at our service that hardly any of us knew. Imho, special services like Easter and Christmas are not times to introduce new songs into the congregation.
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Damn ... no way people should become familiar with alien stuff and insubstantial energies ... could leave the fixed behind ... superior as there is nothing critically wrong with them! Other than alternately being closed off from the great extent of God ... tis an enigma ... really caused Einstein to ponder on great extents of time ... that limit some people severely to becoming dinosaurs ... as time moves on ...
 
How do new hymns get introduced to the congregation? I'm thinking of how I learned my own repertoire - by going to church and joining in! Also remembering a painful time in my childhood church when someone tried to teach a new item (a jingle type thing aimed at the children) to the general congregation. Twice through and all the kids had it nailed down - the adults were still finding it 'too hard' despite the fact that it was simple compared to the hymns in regular use.
 
Kids do catch on quickly...I remember that from my teaching years, when I struggled to learn words and a tune in order to teach, and they picked it up on the second or third time round. I sure appreciated their young brains! One time, when I was helping a young fellow with autism through a rough time, I had to excuse myself from the group of children on the carpet for a few minutes. I was in the room, just not in front of them. One little girl took it upon herself to lead the group in all the songs we had learned to date. It was the most beautiful sound! And a kind, happy, memorable moment.
 
Lovely memory!
My brain seems to be stuffed with songs - Sunday School ditties, campfire songs, popular songs, folksongs - my kids claim I have a stooopid song for every occasion.
 
KayTheCurler said:
How do new hymns get introduced to the congregation?
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At our church, the Worship Team introduces the song, the words go up on the PowerPoint screen, and then we all attempt to join in.

KayTheCurler said:
I'm thinking of how I learned my own repertoire - by going to church and joining in! Also remembering a painful time in my childhood church when someone tried to teach a new item (a jingle type thing aimed at the children) to the general congregation. Twice through and all the kids had it nailed down - the adults were still finding it 'too hard' despite the fact that it was simple compared to the hymns in regular use.
Click to expand...
 
Seeler said:
The hymns were a bit of a disappointment - being traditiional ones from the Easter section of Voices United. But there was a trumpet accompanying the organ that everyone enjoyed.
Click to expand...
We had the same . . . a traditional Easter hymn with trumpet and organ.

My favourite of the newer ones is Joy Comes With the Dawn but we didn't sing it yesterday.

We sang In the Bulb, There is a Flower. It is fine but it's not the one I would have picked.

Also had one of the sung versions of the Lord's Prayer which I really like.
 
paradox3 said:
We had the same . . . a traditional Easter hymn with trumpet and organ.

My favourite of the newer ones is Joy Comes With the Dawn but we didn't sing it yesterday.

We sang In the Bulb, There is a Flower. It is fine but it's not the one I would have picked.

Also had one of the sung versions of the Lord's Prayer which I really like.
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My favorites of the ones we sang are Blessed Assurance, and Up From The Grave He Arose.
 
Sun Serv got 2 see what I was looking forward 2 to see:
adult baptism
full immersion right in front of altar
in water cold enuf that the man had a temp sex change
loved the xpression on his face
and loved seeing some men cry :3

Jesus is Risen
(and is laughing with us)
 
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ps and the Sacred Host was HOMEMADE BREAD!!!

MMM MMM

after the service i noticed two bits left so i just had to try some
as soon as it was in my paw i was told what it was and i had to eat the whole thing
which i eagerly did
i so love being disabled in a lot of MS social norms
 
Inannawhimsey said:
Sun Serv got 2 see what I wanted to see:
adult baptism
full immersion right in front of altar
in water cold enuf that the man had a temp sex change
loved the xpression on his face
and loved seeing some men cry :3

Jesus is Risen
(and is laughing with us)
Click to expand...

We had four credobaptisms and a baby dedication. Have you been immersed Inanna? I'm surprised to hear it was cold water. In the Baptist churches I've been a part of, the water has always been made warm like a bathtub.

As I listened to my pastor speak before the baptisms took place, I realized - in his theology, he believes that he's doing the baptizing.
 
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