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My family were never really God bothers - they weren't Atheists but they just didn't really show their beliefs in public. Thinking about Arran's thread about Morning Worship made me think of the pillar of the local community which is just as much an important place as a school, a medical centre or the local council offices - the local place of worship. In my household, the TV set was off on Sunday mornings, and registrar offices were chosen against religious buildings for weddings. And they didn't even answer the door when the Jehovah's Witnesses kept knocking either.
I only saw the inside of the church on Songs of Praise-alike programmes on the TV - it was only when my nephew had been blessed at a Baptist church in 1994 which made me think about church and religion very seriously, and I went on Sunday mornings to the same church for the following six weeks. I have always thought that the main difference between a baptism or christening is just like taking a shower or a bath as to how the water is used.
When I was at the Baptist church, I was 16 years old at the time, and one of the teenage girls from the church band went up to me and introduced herself to me, and I thought that it was a great way of feeling welcome and being allowed inside the "circle". (I even smile when I think about it now). Hearing the Man of the Cloth waffle on for 55 minutes or so about God and Jesus was indeed insightful - to him, religion is a lot more prominent such as the TV set in the front room, whereas to Mr or Mrs Outsider, the same thing could be a suitcase stored in the attic.
The local parish church which serves my area was founded in the 11th century, give or take the odd 100 years or so - I attended the Christmas morning 2006 service there although it was before I moved to the area. In between the main service and the Holy Communion I had a brief word with the vicar, mentioning that I had plans to move into the parish area, and basically wanted someone to talk to with a few problems I had back then - I knew that religion had came into it somewhere on the line as it usually does.
I would have been a regular churchgoer if I could have bothered to get up first thing on Sunday morning and get my breakfast down in record time. Saying that, I do get their monthly parish magazine delivered to my address which again has lots of insightful stuff inside - a few months back, the church had even prayed for those who live on my street! I don't really know a bible back to front apart from when the main religions days are, and the fact that The Lord is My Shepherd is Psalm 23.
The local vicar is just as much an important person in the community as the local General Practitioner; Police Constable; teacher; bus driver or shopkeeper. A lot of places such as hospitals and theatres have a chaplain in residence, in fact, they were responsible for Cannon and Ball finding God when appearing one year in pantomime at the Bradford Alhambra Theatre. Many people thought that it was a change in direction for the double act but by then, they were seen on TV a lot less and their own shows had long been cancelled.
As I am a traditionalist, I would have chosen a church wedding if I had the chance to ever get married - if the future "Mrs 1978" had ever existed in the first place. I know that you can get married anywhere from a swimming pool to a fish and chip shop but I want things to be as they should be. Bear in mind, modernisation is a good thing when it comes to same sex marriages and civil partnerships, and I just hope that the Church of England will allow same sex marriages in their churches one day. Although I like tradition, I still sometimes feel that the Anglican church thinks of marriage in the same way that they would have done so when Edward White Benson was still Archbishop of Canterbury. It is nice there are now female bishops that in the church, and that we are probably less than 50 years or so from having the first female Archbishop of Canterbury.
Was a 1983 church service been any different to a church service would be now? Has time stood still in church? At the moment, I am still thinking that churches are the "suitcase in the attic" rather than the "TV in the front room" in order of attending a service - perhaps I am not much of an optimist as I used to, although most people are different.
Did any of you ever get married in church, and more to the point, do you go to church on a regular basis such as on Sunday mornings? Is it really insightful to attend?
I only saw the inside of the church on Songs of Praise-alike programmes on the TV - it was only when my nephew had been blessed at a Baptist church in 1994 which made me think about church and religion very seriously, and I went on Sunday mornings to the same church for the following six weeks. I have always thought that the main difference between a baptism or christening is just like taking a shower or a bath as to how the water is used.
When I was at the Baptist church, I was 16 years old at the time, and one of the teenage girls from the church band went up to me and introduced herself to me, and I thought that it was a great way of feeling welcome and being allowed inside the "circle". (I even smile when I think about it now). Hearing the Man of the Cloth waffle on for 55 minutes or so about God and Jesus was indeed insightful - to him, religion is a lot more prominent such as the TV set in the front room, whereas to Mr or Mrs Outsider, the same thing could be a suitcase stored in the attic.
The local parish church which serves my area was founded in the 11th century, give or take the odd 100 years or so - I attended the Christmas morning 2006 service there although it was before I moved to the area. In between the main service and the Holy Communion I had a brief word with the vicar, mentioning that I had plans to move into the parish area, and basically wanted someone to talk to with a few problems I had back then - I knew that religion had came into it somewhere on the line as it usually does.
I would have been a regular churchgoer if I could have bothered to get up first thing on Sunday morning and get my breakfast down in record time. Saying that, I do get their monthly parish magazine delivered to my address which again has lots of insightful stuff inside - a few months back, the church had even prayed for those who live on my street! I don't really know a bible back to front apart from when the main religions days are, and the fact that The Lord is My Shepherd is Psalm 23.
The local vicar is just as much an important person in the community as the local General Practitioner; Police Constable; teacher; bus driver or shopkeeper. A lot of places such as hospitals and theatres have a chaplain in residence, in fact, they were responsible for Cannon and Ball finding God when appearing one year in pantomime at the Bradford Alhambra Theatre. Many people thought that it was a change in direction for the double act but by then, they were seen on TV a lot less and their own shows had long been cancelled.
As I am a traditionalist, I would have chosen a church wedding if I had the chance to ever get married - if the future "Mrs 1978" had ever existed in the first place. I know that you can get married anywhere from a swimming pool to a fish and chip shop but I want things to be as they should be. Bear in mind, modernisation is a good thing when it comes to same sex marriages and civil partnerships, and I just hope that the Church of England will allow same sex marriages in their churches one day. Although I like tradition, I still sometimes feel that the Anglican church thinks of marriage in the same way that they would have done so when Edward White Benson was still Archbishop of Canterbury. It is nice there are now female bishops that in the church, and that we are probably less than 50 years or so from having the first female Archbishop of Canterbury.
Was a 1983 church service been any different to a church service would be now? Has time stood still in church? At the moment, I am still thinking that churches are the "suitcase in the attic" rather than the "TV in the front room" in order of attending a service - perhaps I am not much of an optimist as I used to, although most people are different.
Did any of you ever get married in church, and more to the point, do you go to church on a regular basis such as on Sunday mornings? Is it really insightful to attend?
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