General Chat

As you mentioned Yoga:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9753905/Christian-parents-group-to-sue-school-over-yoga-classes.html

How stupid is that?

Six sleeps left, kandj :-D :-D

I can never remember all the symbolism attached to those oranges. It is a magical service, isn't it. Even though we have to be close to the fire extinguisher :-)

Had the Christingle services for village schools, always noisy, a full church with lots of excitement from the little ones. Needed to concentrate fully on the candle flames but as in other years thankfully no injuries just a happy annual event....Its getting nearer.......!!

Dermot - our Rector always does a terrific sermon - topical and witty

I have been thinking of threads that have been started in opposition to this one.

They have had OP's reported and a very good poster has been "sent off", it appears.

I so hope noone who holds a Christian position was responsible for any of that. We do get teased and taunted in a way that Muslims would never be teased. The satire about stan and the Christmas story would have amused many, but doubt it amused us much.

I think it is better to let a satirical thread run freely and leave it alone. Some on that thread will soon realise they are in a cul-de-sac and will be asking questions about their future :-D

Cynthia. Very similar to my church. Like the variety myself, though absolutely love a really good sermon.

Dermot. I am assuming you mean a sermon that picks a verse or a short passage and really digs into it enthusiastically. With lots of approving murmurs at appropriate places from the congregation. Many of the Strict Baptist preachers still preach like that and can be absolutely excellent. Every Christmas morning I would attend Holywell Free Evangelical Church in N Wales. Rev John Thackway. 1030 start, sermon an hour long. Come out at 12.30. Feeling very refreshed.

Church almost full, and small children sat all the way through. Not a cough. Rapt attention. Thackway is a wonderful preacher.

Actually, Nicky Gumbell in London is like that - a bit more trendy and certainly not a Strict Baptist background like Rev John Thackway.

And Wappenham Free Evangelical Church near Brackley in Northants provides excellent preaching. :-)

Depends what you mean by 'good old fashioned honest-to-goodness' sermon Dermot.


We have sermons from the clergy and the lay readers and from the lay readers in training.

They each have their own style.

The vicar is a very down to earth humorous type so we get that sort from him.

The elderly woman lay reader is a bit 'high brow' for some.

The male lay reader is also down to earth with a touch of evangelism

The lady in training I have only heard once but she was good and the content was relevant.

Haven't heard the male in training preach yet.


They don't pick any old subject though. Within the C. of E. there are 'set' bible readings for each Sunday in the year and the sermons are supposed to reflect the message of one of those readings.


If you were meaning 'hellfire and damnation' - nope - that went out many moons ago unless, of course, there are some pentecostalist who still preach like that.


:-D

Has anyone heard a 'good old fashioned honest-to-goodness sermon' in their local church recently?

No thanks Mr Daff.


I like hymns but don't particularly want to chat incessantly on them. ;-)

I know what John meant Kay.


Apart from not prying into people's past lives, we sometimes tend to go along thinking that those who profess to be Christians have always been Christians but it isn't always necessarily so and it can be an eye-opener at times.


Some of the most interesting Christians I have known have led lives quite contrary to that of a Christian prior to finding faith.


:-D

For a discussion on hymns etc etc, try http://www.christianforums.com/f202/

:-\

Kay. This is my view, and my view only. If I go to a yoga class, or an evening school French class, we all want to know everything about the other people in our class. How many children, what school etc etc.

I found out that one of my closest Christian friends had had a thyroid problem for all the 6 years I have known him. We talk non-stop. Yet I had no idea. And I thought about the others I am close to, and realised I have no real idea about their private lives either. It just never seems that important. We are just so comfortable in each others company, yet our past lives are not of that much interest. :-D

John why do you keep refering to people as """christians"""?

why not just say,,,,


*****funny but we just never seem to ask that sort of question of people,******

Nicky Gumbell is a fantastic speaker. Had no idea he was a Barrister or an atheist. Isn't it funny that we never seem to ask that sort of question of Christians? What is in the past gets firmly buried in the past.

One of the best preachers I ever heard was at a Gideons Friends Rally in Banbury about 14 years ago. The man had been converted in prison and he had been a convicted murderer. Yes, he admitted he had killed a man 30 years previously in (I think) a bank raid.

And all we wanted to know was what God had done with his life since conversion and what plans he had for his future. He was a lovely and gentle man, and almost unbelievable how God had turned his life round. :-D :-D

Not a clue Roy ... but that's interesting.....it was just what he said on the programme.. ........maybe his father was a non practicing Jew :-S



As if that wasn't enough, there's just been a NW programme on with the story of a young chap who was a violent drug dealer, whose meeting with a prison chaplain subsequently changed his life etc.etc.



I think I need a lie down........... :-S

Cynthia, Not sure his family are atheists if wikipedia it to be believed

Gumbel is the son of Walter Gumbel, a German Jew from Stuttgart whose licence to practise law in that city was withdrawn in one of the early Nazi purges. Walter emigrated to Britain and became a successful barrister. Gumbel's mother, Muriel, served on the Greater London Council for many years between 1967 and 1986 and was Mayor of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An avowed atheist, Nicky Gumbel was converted to Christianity in his first year at Trinity College, Cambridge through reading the New Testament. He said, "I was enthralled. It was as if I had found what I had been looking for all my life".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicky_Gumbel

Roy

Just watching The One Show and it featured a short piece about the number of people going forward for ordination. One of the comments made was that these folk believe the church has a future - they don't go along with the decline which the media suggests. These people are coming to the church from all walks of life and bringing their work experience with them.


Then, they interviewed Nicky Gumbell. I've heard of him but that's about it. Seems he was an atheist from an atheist family but who discovered the Christian faith. He was a barrister but went for ordination and has been a vicar for quite a while.


He has a congregation of 4,000 per week and is the founder of the famous Alpha courses which he runs three times a year with a 1,000 people at each one.


I've been on similar courses to Alpha but never that one.....has anyone else?



It was an interesting item to watch just before Christmas when some may be thinking about going to church over the festive period. ..... :-D

It is a shame when the old hymns die but I like some of the modern hymns too. As I have said I don't attend church now so the modern hymns I know I have heard on Songs of praise.

That one sounds very apt for a wedding Cynthia.

Ann, the hymn which John mentioned is often sung in schools, especially at the end of the Summer term when youngsters are moving on to 'big' school.....

".....so it's from the old I travel to the new, keep me travelling along with you". Quite apt really. :-D



The Old Rugged Cross is a firm favourite with many of the older generation but, sadly, the young ones don't really know it.


I like a mixture of both old and new - as the occasion befits probably and, there's a hymn for every occasion. :-D

Ann. My local Vicar is very snooty about your favourite. Cross is not old, it is for today - and not rugged - baaa, humbug. You get the idea.

Not in many of hymn books today, but I often choose it and also love it. And I have never yet found anyone in the pews who does not love it either. :-D Not that difficult to print off copies of words for a smallish congregation ;-)