Black Dyke Mills Band was, of course, amazing. Virtuoso playing and exuberant with it. They drew a huge and very different audience. Two interesting things about it. One is that brass banding is a competitive movement and they brought the silverware with them. The other is that, like Welsh Male Voice Choirs, this is the pinnacle of a movement which has its roots in the old mining and mill communities of the north of England. It remains, obviously, a vibrant movement – although everybody is now middle class …. And then it’s Sunday again. I spent this morning with our small congregation in Kinghorn – directly across the Firth of Forth from Leith. They did the brave thing of letting go of their building last year. They now continue to worship in a side chapel of the [Church of Scotland] Parish Church and find themselves very welcome there. How sensible – one building less to maintain.
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Thanks Robyn, I like to be number 1 !! It’s disappointing about the lack of welcome you have been given. I have heard it said that the only thing that should offensive about Christians is the gospel, I beleive that to be true and hope you find somewhere that gives you a truly warm welcome – don’t give up your search. All the best, Stephen
OOOOOOOh the Sims have found God lol. Prayed in a church for the first time in ages. Didn’t think much of the after service refreshments though. I think sometimes that the gathering for a cup of tea and a biscuit is more fulfilling than sitting in a cold church for an hour. At least you can speak to people (thats the ones that actually remember who you are, since your last visit). I’ve had “I dont think ive met you before” and “have you just moved to this area” too many times for comfort to make going to church a particularly enjoyable experience. Ive saved the churchoffools to my favourites list and will log on there every so often when I feel the need. Thanks for the link.
Oh…I think you have just set a record for the number of replies to a message 🙂
Visit http://www.churchoffools.com – spoof or reality !!!Let’s embrace technology but not get too silly about it!Seriously though it’s quite a challenge for the Church to adapt to the reality of shrinking congregations and aging, expensive buildings – let’s pray for revival and God’s guidance, Yours in Christ, Stephen
Yes, I often think that a virtual church would be a lot easier to live with than the real thing. And I have certainly sat in many a meeting and done some mental surfing – waves on white sand under palm trees and all that stuff. But, for the moment, my ‘dial up’ status means that my virtual church would function at a snail’s pace. Pretty much like the real thing, in fact. My broadband was promised for today but no sign of it.
Maybe it is time for the church to become totally computerised. One terminal (God) and a hub (priests, ministers, etc) and many network connections world wide (the congregation). Nobody would have to go to a church building, so they could be given over to the homeless, the manses could house asylum seekers and the people who really want to hear the word of god can log on to god.com. There would be no accusing fingers being pointed while shopping in IKEA on Sunday afternoons, because god.com would be 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Communion would of course have to be virtual bread and wine and the priest would have to use a touch screen to form the cross on the baby’s head at a christening. The water can be blessed virtually. So I guess we dont really need church buildings after all.
You’re right there! For so many the Church is the church building. The result is that almost all time and effort is given over to getting money so that we can keep the building open so that we can meet to devote time and effort to getting money…