We spent New Year visiting some friends down in Plymouth. One of the topics of conversation that comes up a lot when we talk to them is frustration with their local Church, where it seems that the older members very much dictate what happens, to the point that the uniformed youth organisations are no longer allowed to parade because the older members don’t like having children in Church – indeed it was apparently even a struggle to get a Children’s Crib Service this year. What is even more frustrating is that talking to our friends daughter, she wants to go to a church but doesn’t feel welcome! She is somewhat pinning her hopes on the fact that the current vicar is about to retire and that they might get a more family friendly replacement – so does anyone who have any influence over the selection process in Exeter Diocese? If our village of just over 3000 in Berkshire can get nearly 2000 people of all ages through the doors over Christmas, surely it’s not rocket science to get a city Church with a parish of thousands to not alienate young people who want to come?
Tag Archives: Church
Famous Last Words
This afternoon was the last wedding of the season for the choir. One of the parents, dropping off their children to sing in the choir asked the priest what time it was likely to finish.
“Should be over by about twenty-to-three.� says the reverend.
“What about if the bride is late?� comes the question from another choir member.
“No, this couple is really well organised – I didn’t even need to have the final meeting with them as they had everything in hand,â€? came the reply.
Famous last words – the ushers didn’t have enough orders of service and ended up getting people to share. The order of service wasn’t even the order they did the service in either. As for not being late, the bride was twenty-five minutes late arriving because the driver had taken them to the wrong church…
Best Laid Plans
I always remember growing up some of the more stressful moments my parents had dealing with Church stuff, especially when it came to the joys of doing anything to the fabric of the Church – indeed even now we have conversations about the problems with our respective buildings and dealing with the Church politics around them.
Anyway, as I’ve mentioned before we are in the process of planning a project to undertake major work to conserve the fabric of our crumbling building. The planned start date has been put back on a couple of occasions, and is scheduled to start at the beginning of January 2008 – all we needed was the official permission from the relevant authorities. We’d put in the paperwork and got a few apparently straightforward questions back, and everything seemed on target – however as with all the best laid plans, reading my e-mails tonight it seems the questions are rather more involved than first thought… I can feel a long PCC coming on next week… 🙁
Typical – Big Concert and Richard Gets a Cough
So with our big Autumn Concert coming up tomorrow, what was a slightly sore throat on Wednesday night has progressed through occasional coughing, to a delightful tickly cough today – problem is that it’s just the kind of cough that can reduce me to a coughing fit if I push my singing voice in the wrong way. Fingers crossed it improves before tomorrow night!
Anyway, whether it gets worse or better, tomorrow night is the St James Church Choir Autumn Concert in the Church. There are fifteen items on the programme – so it shouldn’t be too long before the audience can get across to the finger buffet in the Parish Centre. There is a good mix of choir and solo items, including a big finish with Morte Christe followed by O Thou the Central Orb – which is why I don’t particularly want to have a tickly cough on the night!
All proceeds to the Conservation Appeal too. Kick off is 7:30pm, and as far as I am aware tickets will be on the door too.
Eastenders Tonight
Don’t forget to watch Eastenders tonight, as it’s the Bradley and Stacey wedding episode. In common with several other significant episodes in the past it includes St Andrew’s Watford, the church my parents attend, otherwise known as St Peter’s Walford.