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Do You Attend Church?

OnlQQker

Member
I've had the night to reflect on my soup.

When Alice the dog wandered into the church, we was late to the party, most people had finished there soup and an announcement was made that the cake stall was opening, as well as tea/coffee and everything else that seemed to shine out from an extremely large table.

For a moment or two I felt like Charlie out of Willy Wonka, I'd honestly never seen such a display in my life, and this was my cue to leave, if Alice had got a sense of what was coming next, she would of waddled out of there 50kg heavier.
I must admit, all of the churches I've ever been in have not given me bad energy, I've always kept myself to myself so can't comment on the people within, but most of them smile a lot. As a child and the odd occasion I've found myself in the church as an adult, I kind of zone out of the speeches, I see the person at the front of the church giving the speech, it's just I'm to fascinated with the detail of the church to pay any attention.

I kind of see life as the blind leading the blind, the amount of advice I have been given over the years certainly wouldn't be worth anything, no wonder it's free. The only advice I've ever given is to do what makes you feel right, what's good for you, not everybody else, I've seen umpteen amounts of people living there lives trying to make others happy.
I've always thought, what happens when the person trying to make everybody happy drops dead, who is going to make the person left behind happy then? Will the people left behind go out and look for other people to make them happy?

More than likely...

Then take life in general from the start, I was taught to walk and talk at lightening speed, well it felt like lightening speed because I was quite happy just laying there. On top of that I was fed constant words like mum/dad/nan/grandad etc, etc, and believe it or not my first words were caught on an old tape recorder. They were both swear words because nobody seemed to care that I was plonked in front of a TV with adult TV shows playing.

Then one day I suddenly found I could walk and talk, and the next thing I literally heard was to sit down and shut up!
It's no wonder I was confused as a kid, conflicting information all the time. But it's nobody's fault, it's just parenting instructions passed down the generations and has probably been going on since the end of the Stone Age. My daughters first words was 'Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis' because I refused to follow the instructions.

It's a funny old life really ,decisions are made based on past experiences, past experiences may have caused fear, and fear causes the internal feeling of being trapped...



Sorry, but I did mention I waffle in the first post!
 

Little Dragon

Well-Known Member
Any church attending people here, I would appreciate some insight?
I've never attended a church service, but I have been inside a church. An Anglican stone church it was. Very old, at least 1400s. I was the only person there at the time, so I had a good nose around. The severe and morbid looking crucified Jesus that hung near the altar was incredibly sinister, I m sure it was watching me. I haven't been inside a church since. Except for the Roselyn chapel near Edinburgh a few years ago, to take a look at the freemason symbols carved into the walls, specifically. Very pretty inside. Especially the apprentice column,
 

RestlessSoul

Well-Known Member
I prefer empty churches to full ones. Maybe I'm antisocial that way, though really, I just find them more peaceful. And there’s lots to choose from in London, some wonderful old buildings.

The last time I went to a church service was at St Peter’s in Rome, which I found a very moving experience - though at the end, when they passed the offertory bags, my son nudged me and whispered “Dad, they’ve got a gold roof. They don’t need our euros”.

There’s a Quaker Hall, or Friends Meeting House as they call it, in Tottenham. I’ve never been to a Quaker service, but I have been to AA meetings there, and the feeling in that room is profoundly tranquil and benign.
 

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
I really love the parish I went to many years ago and revisit once a year as it is so uplifting and vibrant, but my home parish here near Detroit isn't so much that way. IOW, the latter is mediocre at best but we fortunately do have friends there.

But with that in mind, Martin Luther said services should never be entertaining as people will then go for the wrong reason.
 

anna.

colors your eyes with what's not there
I kind of see life as the blind leading the blind, the amount of advice I have been given over the years certainly wouldn't be worth anything, no wonder it's free. The only advice I've ever given is to do what makes you feel right, what's good for you, not everybody else, I've seen umpteen amounts of people living there lives trying to make others happy.
I've always thought, what happens when the person trying to make everybody happy drops dead, who is going to make the person left behind happy then? Will the people left behind go out and look for other people to make them happy?

Some very good advice has been given to me over the years, that I took to heart. Maybe I was just lucky, but I'm thankful for it, and them.

I haven't done enough to do what makes me feel right in my years, and have done so much to try to make others happy - but much if not most of that effort was worthwhile, and I'd do it again. It doesn't feel right to put myself first, even if putting others first seems sometimes to be a fool's game. You don't know if the seed you're planting, whether for love, for friendship, for duty, for simply doing the right thing - will bloom long after you're gone. And that's okay with me.
 

KW Hylton

New Member
Please bear with me as I have a tendency to waffle...

I was christened in a church and attended church up to the age of 10.
The church was built in 1155 and stands at the top of a steep hill, within a wood pretty isolated. It is built out of stone and apparently fell into disrepair in the 1500's until it was brought back to life by Browne Willis.
Thomas Webster painted a famous picture in this church in 1846
View attachment 82836
As a child all I ever remember is how cold it was, whether Summer time or Winter time it felt freezing on the inside.
Then my parents moved to another village 5 miles away and we stopped going there, well they did, I would still go but on my own and when nobody else was about.
However cold it felt, I was drawn to it by it's architecture/energy and setting in the woods.
To this day I still go, and in all of these years it has given me an inner peace. Yet I still only go when nobody is around. I'll sit on the benches outside or around the graveyard, have a debate or two and wander back to my sofa surfing lifestyle.

I'm just curious to how people interact within a church, I know they pray and sing, but what happens in the before and after stages. Do they talk religious, or does that only come in when the vicar starts talking?

Any church attending people here, I would appreciate some insight?

Thanks in advance!
Going to church… wow
The Bible teaches that the new covenant Christian (Believer) is the Body of Christ, The Church
I attend the assembly for the purpose of fellowship with likeminded, prayer and to be encouraged from the Word of God.
The letter to the Ephesians states the primary goal is to prepare the Saints for the work of service. To develop disciples for spreading the The Good News of Christ.
Church is everywhere we as Christian’s witness and contend for our Faith.
 

Muffled

Jesus in me
Please bear with me as I have a tendency to waffle...

I was christened in a church and attended church up to the age of 10.
The church was built in 1155 and stands at the top of a steep hill, within a wood pretty isolated. It is built out of stone and apparently fell into disrepair in the 1500's until it was brought back to life by Browne Willis.
Thomas Webster painted a famous picture in this church in 1846
View attachment 82836
As a child all I ever remember is how cold it was, whether Summer time or Winter time it felt freezing on the inside.
Then my parents moved to another village 5 miles away and we stopped going there, well they did, I would still go but on my own and when nobody else was about.
However cold it felt, I was drawn to it by it's architecture/energy and setting in the woods.
To this day I still go, and in all of these years it has given me an inner peace. Yet I still only go when nobody is around. I'll sit on the benches outside or around the graveyard, have a debate or two and wander back to my sofa surfing lifestyle.

I'm just curious to how people interact within a church, I know they pray and sing, but what happens in the before and after stages. Do they talk religious, or does that only come in when the vicar starts talking?

Any church attending people here, I would appreciate some insight?

Thanks in advance!
I can talk about theology with my pastor but sometimes it upsets him since I am a heretic. With some people I just talk about life and sometimes sports.
 

Muffled

Jesus in me
I am currently searching for one. So many around here take the Bible as inerrant, so non denominational churches are out. Looking at Episcopal or non conservative Catholic.
I believe it sounds like you are in error and looking for a church that will help justify your erroneous view.
 

Muffled

Jesus in me
That sounds like the most Anglican thing I've ever heard.

I've never really heard anyone talk religion there..!

The Catholic Church has much more religious talk.
I believe I must have missed it the few times I attended. I did have a Roman Catholic person express distress at an ecumenical gathering because I took communion twice on the same day. I also had a theological conversation with a Roman Catholic on a bus going to a right to life gathering in Washington, DC.
 

RestlessSoul

Well-Known Member
I can talk about theology with my pastor but sometimes it upsets him since I am a heretic. With some people I just talk about life and sometimes sports.


Was reading a guy called Richard Rohr, a Franciscan friar, from Cincinnati. He said he encountered more genuine spiritual openness and willingness among prisoners in the local gaol, than among regular church goers. That’s the sort of cleric the church needs more of imo.
 

Little Dragon

Well-Known Member
It can at times.
True. I should be more mindful of that really. I am too used to not really caring about the opinions of others, when applied to myself. Not because I think I am great, but because I know me and my own mind better. Than some random bugger. Of course when friends and family, express opinions about me, I take it more to heart, because, I might think they should know me better. That sort of thing.
 

JustGeorge

Imperfect
Staff member
Premium Member
True. I should be more mindful of that really. I am too used to not really caring about the opinions of others, when applied to myself. Not because I think I am great, but because I know me and my own mind better. Than some random bugger. Of course when friends and family, express opinions about me, I take it more to heart, because, I might think they should know me better. That sort of thing.
I don't really care about the opinions of others in the sense of "I don't care if you don't like my pants, or the music I'm listening to, or you think what I like to do is dumb". But sometimes people behave in negative(or even dangerous) ways if they have a poor opinion of what you are, or are doing. While that wouldn't make me change my ways, it would make me more aware, and to prepare for any problems I may have incoming.
 
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