Church was hard today. On Thursday I was asked to come to a closed door meeting along with some of the other folks who work with children in our congregation before church today. I showed up assuming the meeting had something to do with our curriculum or the Sunday School or Youth Group in some way. I couldn't have imagined what I actually heard. I don't think I should give details in here, but someone in my congregation is in a lot of trouble and the whole congregation is in shock. A lot of healing and prayers are required.

In welcome contrast to somegal's service (hugs and prayers for all involved), we had a truly wonderful service this morning. We returned to our usual service time, and we had some really special events during the service. The first was a visit with the children with a friend of our congregation from the Dominican Republic. She runs an orphanage for Haitian children to which some of our outreach is devoted. The second was a re-covenanting of Sunday school, team members, music ministry, pretty well everyone in the church. Finally, we dedicated our final stained glass window box, this one at the front of the sanctuary, incorporating our cross. And just as icing on the cake, we were treated to a message on that very difficult text about "hating your family" in Luke, that actually made some sense to me, and made me specifically think about chansen, which made me smile.  

Somegal - my prayers are with your church as it works through this difficult time. 

My post about my own service seems to have disappeared.  Church was good.  We had an excellent turn-out.  Next Sunday is 'Welcome Back' Sunday.  Sunday School officially gets started (today the Christian Development minister worked with the entire group).  We'll have a pot-luck, and various groups in the church will try to attract people to their tables to give out information and get people interested - book club?  outreach projects?  seniors group?  d

But people didn't wait for 'Welcome Back'. They came today. I read scripture - two passages from the Hebrew scriptures. The choir led us in a new hymn from More Voices. And the minister spoke from the heart, with a more personal message than she usually delivers. All in all, a good service. Followed by fellowship time when we met old friends and caught up on what we were doing through the summer.

I really felt that I was where I was meant to be, and that I belonged.

It was our regular ingathering service to celebrate our return from summer vacations and the resumption of regular services and religious education. I've explained the ritual before but, in brief, we pour water symbolic of the places we visited into a common bowl where they can mingle, symbolic of our sharing of our experiences. Some actually bring water from their travels, others just pour from jugs provided by the bowl.

Mendalla

Thank you Bette and Seeler - I'm glad your services went better than ours did. After the service we had our Kick Off For Fall Energizing Event (aka KOFFEE), but nobody felt particularly energized.

Can someonetell me why when I hit enter, I can't start a new paragraph. Only on WonderCafe. Like this -  won't go down.

it was great

after finally being able to sleep before midnite i woke up at 6:30 am not knowing what time it was

and spent the day with my dad

travelling to his place (that is some 4 cities distant from me) via bus & skytrain, then travelling through two more cities to walk through my mom's old stomping grounds, loving Boundary Bay...today white rock and environs were socked in by mist (so Tsawassen was like in the middle of a sunny hole)

we walked by my mom's place...i didn't feel a pang until i stood in the driveway, looking for differences...the wood bench is gone & my boi's grave marker i think is gone...

i got to buy my dad a blizzard; he's kinda a cranky ascetic sometimes, so its good seeing him enjoy something

then we visited burns bog, canada's largest raised peat bog...where i got to see mexi & her owner and mexi's road surfer, a diy bike with a platform on front so mexi can ride in style

so much has changed in my old stomping grounds; like the local environmental group that has been responsible for so much of protecting a greater portion of burns bog has a bunch of signs up.  one of them said to be ware of swooping owls...never in my years of living there had i had to beware of a swooping owl...tsk tsk

our old house is still there, with some additions.  my mom's gardening is till present and visible.  she tended it with Ttlc

then we had communion at an old favourite, Apollo Pizza...him baked spaghetti, i baked lasagna

then back to our homes

now, as i come down from that sacred space, i await his call to hear that he made it home alright

people rock

the world rocks

you all rock

No issue for me.

Usual question, I guess. What browser and device are you using? We've seen WC have quirks specific to particular browsers before.

Mendalla

Crazyheart - I have the same problem.  I sometimes switch to plain text editor.  Then I ccan start a new paragraph but I can't leave spaces between paragraphs.  I'm learning to live with it.

Ianna - sometimes church isn't a building - it's a sacred time and place - in this case with your father revisiting ....

A couple Sundays back, my "service" was driving the parkway from Grand Teton National Park to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and watching geysers erupt.

Mendalla

I would like that service mendalla!

I went to church in Yellowknife yesterday and then ran off to catch my flight homeward.  Enjoyed warm hospitality, communion, good music led by their six-person choir, interesting preaching.  It's a small congregation with a big heart I think, and there were a number of other visitors there too.  

Their location & history is very interesting - in the 1970s they replaced their building with an 11 storey tower - Northern United Place - apartments for those with low income, mobility challenges & seniors;  a local college, various social services & multi-purpose community activity rooms.  They worship in the auditorium, and have office space in the building. Faith in action it seems.  

Carolla, I would love to see more churches like that - an inclusive building providing a variety of services, and being used throughout the week for living, studying, social life and community activities.

We had the choir back and a Welcome Back BBQ after the service.  A familiar start to a year that promises to have many changes.  I also have the problem with being unable to generate new paragraphs.  I have IE8 or 9 on this computer.  No problems with old desktop at home with Windows XP and IE7.  This coming Friday will be our first Fun Friday of the fall.  In October, our Sunday evening Coffee House with Paul Rumbolt will start.  I have a mandate to do the work on starting a second service when ready and will have a new worship committee with which to work.

We had a wonderful church service filled with praise music, and prayers. The senior pastor gave a powerful morning lesson about how "our" money is actually God's money, and we should therefore use it responsibly. One day, he said, we will each have to give an account to God for how we spent the money God put us un stewardship over, and therefore we must be wise.

This is a topic that interests me.  I have often found it hard to understand the way Christians and churches use their money. 

How do you and your individual churches decide whether to spend some money on food for hungry people or church decorations?  What about air travel for holidays?  Visits to expensive tropical resorts?  Three vehicles for one couple?

The leadership of my church draws up a budget each year, and the members vote on approving it at the annual business meeting. Our pastors pay their own travel costs, and have purchased their own automobiles.

Does this yearly budget include such things as new pew cushions?  stained glass windows?  a sound system?  or does the available money go to serving the poor in the neighborhood and around the world?

When your pastor travels to a different city for an important denominational meeting does he pay his own costs?  Maybe his salary takes that necessity into account instead of paying him minimum wage plus actual costs for serving the congregations needs?

I notice you didn't talk about the use of personal funds among your church and congregation.  Are tropical holidays considered normal or a sinful waste?

We don't have any pew cushions or stained glass windows. We have a rather old sound system (I'm guessing from the 70s). We do pay a licensing fee for music each year. We do have a benevolent fund, we provide free weekly Wednesday night dinners to the community, and we do sponsor missionaries in such places as Italy and Africa, and here in Canada. What about your church, what do you do?

Our pastors' salaries are reasonable and are decided by the members of our church at the annual meeting. I do believe our senior pastor earns less than he could in other some denominations including the UCCanada.

So far I'm the only one who has said anything. How are things at your church kay? Personally I see nothing wrong with people who have earned a vacation taking a holiday anywhere they so please that they can afford. If God chooses to bless someone with the funds to take a holiday in the tropics, what is that to me.

Jim - you mentioned about creating a second service. Do you see this as being different than the first? If it incorporates different elements, is there a reason they couldn't be incorporated into the first service as well? Just curious about your plans.

I don't go to church Jae. 

I find your claim that God may 'bless' someone with sufficient funds to take tropical holidays rather interesting.  It makes me wonder why other people don't get such a blessing - they get hunger and sickness instead. 

Does this mean opinion of yours mean that when Jesus said things like "Sell all that you have and give to the poor"  and "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven" he didn't mean it?  (I just guessed at the wordings) but I seem to recall words like that being used in my childhood church.

church continues for me today as I prepare to go down to the church building to host those who come in for food vouchers.  I will be serving coffee and wholesome cookies or muffins and, hopefully, some fruit.  I will also talk with those who feel like talking (weather, jokes, family, etc) while they wait their turns to pick up their vouchers. 

I have what should be an interesting church meeting today regarding our children youth and families ministry. I imagine that a fair amount of our meeting will be spent dealing with what I mentioned in my earlier post. The people on our team are a great group, and I'm sure a lot of support will be offered all around.

somegal, my prayers go with you to your meeting.  Why, oh why, do these things happen?  The suffering they cause, and the fact that they drain our energy from the important work of being the church.

Thank you Seeler. The meeting went well and some positive things came out of it. We have decided to adapt some of our programming, but no major changes fortunately. We also asked the property team to look at ways to ensure everyone's safety in the building. We are also feeling very grateful for some of the United Church's national policies which we follow strictly. The congregation is being as proactive as possible with this situation, especially since we know that there is a possibility of some media involvement. For now we are in a holding pattern, but that will change by the end of the month. 

How was church today?

Well I arrived to a sign on the door saying there wasn't a service today.  Apparently this was decided earlier in the week but no one E-mailed or phoned me to let me know (they have both of my contacts).  This makes me extremely sad.  It's a small church and I attend weekly and frequently read.  Obviously an oversight but it still hurts.  We are all volunteers I know but it makes me feel like I'm not valued.

The same thing happened at my mountain bike race series twice this year. I'm not joking about this. When an organizer decides to cancel an event and does not adequately get the message of the cancellation out, that's wrong. People look forward to these things, and cancellations are a fact of life, but in this day of smartphones and email, not taking the time to communicate the cancellation through email, Twitter and any other social media platform that you regularly use to communicate with your group, is...I don't know if "inexcusable" is the word, but not very thoughtful.

People are giving up other things to go to group events. At least let them re-prioritize instead of wasting their time and gas.

Very true Chansen :)

Our local canoe & kayak club is small and volunteer-run, much like most churches. They have a schedule for when the boathouse will be open for us to use their canoes and kayaks. They also post to both Twitter & Facebook regularly (Saturday morning for weekend paddling, Tuesday for weekday paddling) with either confirmation of the schedule or changes. With systems such as these out there, plus email, there is really no reason not to get the word out to your members about changes.

For my part, I didn't go to church. Was going to but felt unwell this morning (off to the doc soon, I haven't been feeling the greatest lately).

Mendalla

I hope you feel better Mendalla!

That was a disappointment for you Sterton.  I would try not to take it personally tho, and make recommendations for any such future occasions.  We have a process in place in our church to cover emergencies such as this. 

Disappointment is an excellent word choice :)

Thanks Carolla!

I'm sorry that happened Sterton - how disappointing. I like what Carolla said - remember it is nothing personal, just an oversight.

For my part - church was FAR less eventful than last week, and that was a good thing!

Sterton - sorry that there was a screw-up in communications.  That shouldn't happen - either in church services or sporting events.  People make plans; and are disappointed and inconvenienced.

Sorry too that you aren't feeling well Mendalla.
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For me church was excellent. I arrived early to set up a my book club's display table in the gym for our welcome back luncheon. We try to have information about most of our activities available. I was pleased to find my table near the outreach table, and the Rainbow Luncheon group table.
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The worship service was excellent. Well attended. Well planned. Great music - a mix of familiar and not-so-familiar hymns, and two choir pieces. The scripture readings (the lost coin and the lost sheep), and the message were well presented and appropriate. The prayers were meaningful. Even the talk with the children was interesting and related to the overall theme.
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I heard good comments during the fellowship time, and passed them on to our minister who works hard on the service and appreciates feedback.
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My daughter was present - not my grandchildren who are with their father this weekend. I missed seeing them, especially since there were a fair number of children and teens present.

Thanks somegalfromcan! 

Glad your church wasn't as stressful!