In my church, which is one of a group of five, we restarted live on Easter Sunday with one 10am service of Holy Communion in the largest church/ village with choir to sing the hymns and an anthem. This will be every week for the foreseeable future. This is recorded and goes out online later that day.
There is a zoom Celtic service at 5 pm. Young people’s activity resumed live last Sunday afternoon.
There is a plan to gradually open up the other four churches, but an agreement that the priest shall not be expected to rush around to more than one village on a Sunday morning.
Interesting to see that emphasis is being placed on the largest church pro tem, which seems sensible. I wonder if there are other multi-church benefices where thought is being taken as to possible future worship patterns? Especially in order to give the priest a chance to breathe between services!
Having *done without* the Eucharist for so long, perhaps some churches might be far more willing than previously to have more lay-led services?
I am just back from a walk and talk with a friend (and her dog) who goes to Our Place in person on Sunday mornings. The minister apparently announced yesterday that by some date in June (27th?) "everything will be back to normal."
I am just back from a walk and talk with a friend (and her dog) who goes to Our Place in person on Sunday mornings. The minister apparently announced yesterday that by some date in June (27th?) "everything will be back to normal."
Somehow I Think Not.
It may depend on what he thinks of as *normal*.
Personally, *normality* for me would be singing congregationally, without face-masks, as the cut-back ritual, and Communion in one kind only, don't really matter...but yes, I have heard late June mentioned as a possible date for the resumption of singing, at least.
I guess you're right @Bishops Finger . I think I just had a bit of a wobble thinking about going from where we are now - booking in, limited numbers, masks, no singing or coffee or chat afterwards - to being packed into a smallish space for over an hour, singing, chatting... hugging... (I can't be the only person who's been grateful for a valid excuse not to hug...) made me go a bit cold.
I guess you're right @Bishops Finger . I think I just had a bit of a wobble thinking about going from where we are now - booking in, limited numbers, masks, no singing or coffee or chat afterwards - to being packed into a smallish space for over an hour, singing, chatting... hugging... (I can't be the only person who's been grateful for a valid excuse not to hug...) made me go a bit cold.
No, you're not the only one who's been glad of a valid excuse not to hug, shake hands etc. etc., and I take your point about the possible quantum leap from where we are now back to where we used to be.
At least, at Our Place the congregation is small enough, and the church large enough, for over-crowding never to be a real danger.
I stopped going to post-service coffee in the Hall some time before the pandemic struck, as I was finding the noise levels intolerable (I'm slightly autistic). I do wonder if the coffee-time will be resumed, as fewer and fewer people were staying behind anyway, so I was told...
My own COVID behaviour 123 is not at all straightforward.
I still have zero inclination to attend an irl church service, with people I know
But
Appear to be more than happy to go and buy second hand furniture on fb marketplace from someone I have never met before.
I ve ventured out into supermarkets
But
The village shop is an ask too far.
It all makes no sense!
Mr Alba has had both vaccinations. But I ve not yet had an apt through for my second vaccination.
We potter about in the house and garden and around the area and it is quite lovely. I think........ I could probably do another year like this. But not seeing the children and grandchildren is irritating. There are two we ‘ve not even clapped eyes on yet irl.
And not seeing my AP is heartbreaking ( for Me!)
But they are fine! COVID is just the reason they don’t have their hair cut or nails done by The Usual Person. Food still arrived on time and at the usual high standard, so nothing really rocks their boat.
In our extended family we are beginning to experience the Very Small Weddings and the Very Small Funerals. Things that would normally be an extended family affair...... are not.
It will certainly be interesting to see how we emerge blinking into society.
Our church has started booked places for a separate evening service but we haven’t gone back yet for a variety of reasons. For instance, we’ve both only been vaccinated once ( my husband only a week ago) so would rather not take the risk yet. But also it won’t be the same without singing and at least in our online service we can sing along to the worship. We can also take communion at home as part of the online service. But we will return once a more ‘normal’ service returns. Social distancing is currently expected to be lifted on the 21st June.
I’m not a huggy person either.
I want to be able to hug my children, of course, and my son in law. Is a quick hug with both faces averted more or less likely to spread the virus than a handshake?
And don't talk to me about kissing - especially the sort that leaves a lipstick imprint on one's cheek...
Makes you wonder where all the huggy people are! Maybe they are really scarce but we are all too polite to say so.
I don’t think church will ever be the same. On one level I hope not - we should be learning and changing. I fully appreciate those who are not feeling safe enough to come back, but those who say they won’t come till they can do the things that they enjoy about it make me want to launch into my (usually unsaid, internalised) sermon about how worship may be purer if we are not enjoying ourselves but doing it simply to give honour to God.
I am, and I miss hugging my friends most dreadfully! At the outdoor Easter Sunday service - which was wonderful, and a great witness to the village - it was distressing not to be able to hug anyone.
Point taken, @Cathscats! but, oh, I miss the singing too. We have online services at the moment, but even with professional media people setting things up, it's very frustrating as the sound goes wrong often. And I do think things are better if we can enjoy ourselves while worshipping (sat through too many booooring services as a child)
Oh yes, I’m not saying we can’t enjoy worship. But if we only go to church x or y because we enjoy it better that raises questions. And in these days of reopening, when things can’t be as they were, if people don’t return till they can get their “worship experience” they may find hat when they are ready there will be no one there.
But probably I am unduly pessimistic. I do worry about services which seem to be about giving an experience to the worshipper, though. Seems we can so easily get things the wrong way round, and what was an experience of worshipping God and good because it was about God can so easily become about My Experience And Fulfilment. Not accusing anyone on this thread of that. Just a general reflection, especially as I listen to my daughter talk about her friends.
I go to a charismatic free church. We have loud and enthusiastic singing and free-style praise, giving honour to God in our way; for some members also in their culturally traditional way. A service without singing and random contributions really won’t be the same.
We restarted worship yesterday (excepting a one off service on Easter, since November). We're still not singing, and we all hidden behind masks. And, Communion follows the same pattern as our online Communions - we're bringing our own bread and juice with wee cups. But, despite the imperfections of not being exactly what we want it's good to know that we'll be meeting every week for the future (hopefully, unless people act stupidly and we get another wave), and knowing that we'll be able to reintroduce other aspects of our worship later in the year.
Us, too, Alan. (we're doing pre-packaged egg-cup things with a little swallow of wine in one side of the cup, and a morsel of bread in the other, which we were consecrating monthly and distributing to parishioners who wanted communion at home. We're using the same egg cups for communion in church.) Many of the people who turned up for our first in-person service were those who didn't come to zoom regularly, so it's good that we're now able to reach more of our parish.
Although in a secular sense, I'm a very huggy person (and am looking forward to being able to hug my nearest and dearest), for me shaking hands and hugging have no place in an actual service. At the Peace, the priest says, "The peace of the Lord be always with you", and the congregation responds, "And with thy spirit".
Hehe. I know we've discussed the pros and cons of The Peace many times on these boards, but maybe - just maybe - it will become a thing of the past...and we'll go back to the civilised verbal exchange that @Piglet describes!
Although in a secular sense, I'm a very huggy person (and am looking forward to being able to hug my nearest and dearest), for me shaking hands and hugging have no place in an actual service. At the Peace, the priest says, "The peace of the Lord be always with you", and the congregation responds, "And with thy spirit".
Problem solved.
The problem isn't solved if it's then followed up with, "Let us pass the sign of peace to one another."
Although in a secular sense, I'm a very huggy person (and am looking forward to being able to hug my nearest and dearest), for me shaking hands and hugging have no place in an actual service. At the Peace, the priest says, "The peace of the Lord be always with you", and the congregation responds, "And with thy spirit".
Problem solved.
The problem isn't solved if it's then followed up with, "Let us pass the sign of peace to one another."
Looking around, giving everyone a smile is a perfectly good way of sharing the peace. How many of us have been at meetings closed with everyone sharing the grace, looking around at everyone while saying "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore"? It even works on Zoom (though with mics on lacking a lot of synchronisation).
I have a vaccination appointment! Success! Not close by, but in town so a short bus ride.
So happy for you, I know how frustrated I was feeling when I wanted an appointment for a long time before getting one. May you have an easy time with your follow up.
Thanks @Graven Image I was able to book a second jab at the same time so it's all sorted.
I'm working the elections as usual this year. Apparently we're getting portable screens and buckets of hand gel. We also need to take Covid tests every couple of days this week. There'll be fewer people (due to an increase in postal votes) and most will be fine, but there's always the possibility of awkward sods. Fingers crossed for a lack of grief on the day.
I like sharing the Peace with a Namaste. In church, some years ago, with a stinking cold I was attempting to keep to myself, it was surprisingly hard to retain my distance and not unnecessarily share.
Makes you wonder where all the huggy people are! Maybe they are really scarce but we are all too polite to say so.
I'm a huggy person, although I'm also socially awkward, so basically never initiate hugs. I get hugged quite a lot at church, though.
I'm not an instinctively huggy person, but I recognise there are times when they're necessary but I ask first rather than looming at people arms out like Frankenstein's monster.
I have a vaccination appointment! Success! Not close by, but in town so a short bus ride.
So happy for you, I know how frustrated I was feeling when I wanted an appointment for a long time before getting one. May you have an easy time with your follow up.
Thanks @Graven Image I was able to book a second jab at the same time so it's all sorted.
I'm working the elections as usual this year. Apparently we're getting portable screens and buckets of hand gel. We also need to take Covid tests every couple of days this week. There'll be fewer people (due to an increase in postal votes) and most will be fine, but there's always the possibility of awkward sods. Fingers crossed for a lack of grief on the day.
Our church is using for voting, and the information passed onto me as both church secretary and also as a political activist who's signed up as polling and counting agent assures me that the council have done all they possibly could to make voting and counting as safe as possible while maintaining the maximum possible democratic standards. And, a big push for postal votes - I've seen estimates that it won't be far off half of votes cast will be by post (the estimates do make assumptions on turn-out that we'll need to wait and see how they turn out). I don't expect any problems voting, except that with limited numbers permitted in buildings there may be short queues to get in during busy times. We'll have to see whether counting agents can do their job with limited numbers and social distancing (how easy will it be for us to see papers from 2m through a screen?).
Yes - thanks Helix. I too am a bit ambivalent about the Peace, not too the extent of hitting anyone, although a friend who was a Methodist Minister had one his congregation hit a bloke who was inappropriate in the way he touched women. The particular woman had asked him not to a couple of times, then struck him.
My GP won't give me any medications for sinus infections until I've tried everything else. And everything else includes sniffing salt water*, which usually works, but I leave it until I'm desperate as I hate doing it so much. Part of the reason is that there's not a great blood supply to the sinuses so any medication is going to struggle to access them.
* sniffing a mixture of salt and water up your nose - it ends up down the back of your throat and in your mouth - totally foul, but it does clean out sinuses mechanically.
Netti pot. Looks like a little tea pot. They come with little proportioned salt packets so it doesn't sting. Warm water mix up one nostril and comes out the other.
Netti pot. Looks like a little tea pot. They come with little proportioned salt packets so it doesn't sting. Warm water mix up one nostril and comes out the other.
Mrs C used to use a blue rubber squeeze-bulb thing that was intended for sucking snot out of babies' noses - she found it much easier to manage than the teapot thing.
Ok so I haven't been to church for some 20 years, but one of the things that I used to loathe when doing the peace was having someone shake your hands / give you a hug but whilst they were looking around for the next person to share the peace with.
Mind you, in my youth I was probably guilty of the very same.
Ok so I haven't been to church for some 20 years, but one of the things that I used to loathe when doing the peace was having someone shake your hands / give you a hug but whilst they were looking around for the next person to share the peace with.
Mind you, in my youth I was probably guilty of the very same.
This!
I do like the namaste , and (should I return to church at some point) will continue to use it...
Or, you could try a polite Japanese style bow which doesn't have (at least in the eyes of some) a connection to non-Christian religions. Plus as you leave your arms at your side it can be done without first putting down anything you're carrying.
...
I'm working the elections as usual this year. Apparently we're getting portable screens and buckets of hand gel. We also need to take Covid tests every couple of days this week. There'll be fewer people (due to an increase in postal votes) and most will be fine, but there's always the possibility of awkward sods. Fingers crossed for a lack of grief on the day.
... We'll have to see whether counting agents can do their job with limited numbers and social distancing (how easy will it be for us to see papers from 2m through a screen?).
Election completed with the minimum amount of Covd-related fuss. Most electors were masked and gelled with no complaint. No complaining: a first for this poll clerk!
...
I'm working the elections as usual this year. Apparently we're getting portable screens and buckets of hand gel. We also need to take Covid tests every couple of days this week. There'll be fewer people (due to an increase in postal votes) and most will be fine, but there's always the possibility of awkward sods. Fingers crossed for a lack of grief on the day.
... We'll have to see whether counting agents can do their job with limited numbers and social distancing (how easy will it be for us to see papers from 2m through a screen?).
Election completed with the minimum amount of Covd-related fuss. Most electors were masked and gelled with no complaint. No complaining: a first for this poll clerk!
Easier than I expected. I got there a bit late (I had to go to the dentist to have the remains of a tooth out ... a sign of the last year that the novelty of dental surgery made even that appealing!), but found that rather than normal practice of counting the total number of ballot papers in each box before combining all papers for each constituency prior to sorting by party they were sorting each ballot box by party first. That made tallying votes very much easier - I didn't even need to see the mark on each paper just note which pile it was put into. It means we've got a feel for how things are going before official results are out.
Comments
Indeed. My Jab The Second is due in about a fortnight, too.
Interesting to see that emphasis is being placed on the largest church pro tem, which seems sensible. I wonder if there are other multi-church benefices where thought is being taken as to possible future worship patterns? Especially in order to give the priest a chance to breathe between services!
Having *done without* the Eucharist for so long, perhaps some churches might be far more willing than previously to have more lay-led services?
Somehow I Think Not.
It may depend on what he thinks of as *normal*.
Personally, *normality* for me would be singing congregationally, without face-masks, as the cut-back ritual, and Communion in one kind only, don't really matter...but yes, I have heard late June mentioned as a possible date for the resumption of singing, at least.
No, you're not the only one who's been glad of a valid excuse not to hug, shake hands etc. etc., and I take your point about the possible quantum leap from where we are now back to where we used to be.
At least, at Our Place the congregation is small enough, and the church large enough, for over-crowding never to be a real danger.
I stopped going to post-service coffee in the Hall some time before the pandemic struck, as I was finding the noise levels intolerable (I'm slightly autistic). I do wonder if the coffee-time will be resumed, as fewer and fewer people were staying behind anyway, so I was told...
I still have zero inclination to attend an irl church service, with people I know
But
Appear to be more than happy to go and buy second hand furniture on fb marketplace from someone I have never met before.
I ve ventured out into supermarkets
But
The village shop is an ask too far.
It all makes no sense!
Mr Alba has had both vaccinations. But I ve not yet had an apt through for my second vaccination.
We potter about in the house and garden and around the area and it is quite lovely. I think........ I could probably do another year like this. But not seeing the children and grandchildren is irritating. There are two we ‘ve not even clapped eyes on yet irl.
And not seeing my AP is heartbreaking ( for Me!)
But they are fine! COVID is just the reason they don’t have their hair cut or nails done by The Usual Person. Food still arrived on time and at the usual high standard, so nothing really rocks their boat.
In our extended family we are beginning to experience the Very Small Weddings and the Very Small Funerals. Things that would normally be an extended family affair...... are not.
It will certainly be interesting to see how we emerge blinking into society.
I wonder how many of those currently NOT attending church - even though they could, if they wished - will never return?
One of them may be me...we'll see what happens in the summer!
🤗
It would be worth finding out why.
I’m not a huggy person either.
I'll hazard an uncharitable guess, and say that perhaps it's because pubs and restaurants are open again...
FatherInCharge did say that he suspected our unusually high (even for *normal times*) Easter attendance was partly due to nowhere else being open!
I want to be able to hug my children, of course, and my son in law. Is a quick hug with both faces averted more or less likely to spread the virus than a handshake?
And don't talk to me about kissing - especially the sort that leaves a lipstick imprint on one's cheek...
I don’t think church will ever be the same. On one level I hope not - we should be learning and changing. I fully appreciate those who are not feeling safe enough to come back, but those who say they won’t come till they can do the things that they enjoy about it make me want to launch into my (usually unsaid, internalised) sermon about how worship may be purer if we are not enjoying ourselves but doing it simply to give honour to God.
I am, and I miss hugging my friends most dreadfully! At the outdoor Easter Sunday service - which was wonderful, and a great witness to the village - it was distressing not to be able to hug anyone.
Point taken, @Cathscats! but, oh, I miss the singing too. We have online services at the moment, but even with professional media people setting things up, it's very frustrating as the sound goes wrong often. And I do think things are better if we can enjoy ourselves while worshipping (sat through too many booooring services as a child)
But probably I am unduly pessimistic. I do worry about services which seem to be about giving an experience to the worshipper, though. Seems we can so easily get things the wrong way round, and what was an experience of worshipping God and good because it was about God can so easily become about My Experience And Fulfilment. Not accusing anyone on this thread of that. Just a general reflection, especially as I listen to my daughter talk about her friends.
I'm a huggy person, although I'm also socially awkward, so basically never initiate hugs. I get hugged quite a lot at church, though.
Problem solved.
I'm working the elections as usual this year. Apparently we're getting portable screens and buckets of hand gel. We also need to take Covid tests every couple of days this week. There'll be fewer people (due to an increase in postal votes) and most will be fine, but there's always the possibility of awkward sods. Fingers crossed for a lack of grief on the day.
I'm not an instinctively huggy person, but I recognise there are times when they're necessary but I ask first rather than looming at people arms out like Frankenstein's monster.
Love that! Had never heard it before, thanks.
I have just avoided services for a while.
That's exactly what I was thinking!
We saw one 2 minute news clip yesterday with 6 different giving needles clips within. I'm putting up my hands to block the view these days.
Netti pot. Looks like a little tea pot. They come with little proportioned salt packets so it doesn't sting. Warm water mix up one nostril and comes out the other.
Mrs C used to use a blue rubber squeeze-bulb thing that was intended for sucking snot out of babies' noses - she found it much easier to manage than the teapot thing.
Mind you, in my youth I was probably guilty of the very same.
This!
I do like the namaste , and (should I return to church at some point) will continue to use it...
Election completed with the minimum amount of Covd-related fuss. Most electors were masked and gelled with no complaint. No complaining: a first for this poll clerk!
Hope your count went as well, @Alan Cresswell
Lysol: hell’s bells! Haven’t seen the stuff since my student nurse days in 1973. Smelt good but took the skin off your hands