The Hall of Fire :: View topic

Prim, in the similar way, there a many interfaith families in my synagogue and the non-Jewish persons are active in the... community part of the religious community rather than a religious part.

Yes. And I suspect he does the same in her community.

BTW, what she does in our church is go out during communion (toward the end of the service) and put out the coffee and cookies for after the service. Talk about being essential to a Lutheran community. . . . Razz

I don't want to seem patronizing or belittling. She's part of the church just like any of us.

Di wrote:

But nowadays, the pilgrims arrive by tour bus Wink

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Being a 'tourist' visiting churches/cathedrals is an uncomfortable feeling. I'd much rather be a pilgrim than a tourist. Before I went to Italy, a priest told me to drop some coins in the poor box in every church I went into. Seeing as how it was Holy Week in Rome, I went into a lot of churches. Cool

It wasn't any significant amount of money (and you can't change coins at the airport, anyway), but it did help me to be just a tiny bit part of that community. It's like what happens if you light a candle when you pray in a church; you leave, but the candle keeps burning.

A friend also taught me that every time you go into a new church, especially if you are 'just visiting' and not there for any services, to take the time to kneel down and say a prayer. That helps to keep from being just a tourist, and makes the visit more meaningful (even if you're 'really' there for the art or history).

England was tougher, because they made you pay real money to get into the churches in the first place. So, I *was* a tourist, looking at old churches. Except in Canterbury, where I was able to go to a service rather than take a tour. It means I didn't get to see the crypt, but it was cool just to be in the cathedral. And free Wink

. I didn't make it to Chichester or Rochester...there's only so much you can see in 6 days....

Walking pilgrimages are still the best. My sister did one to Chartres, I think, and I'd love to walk to Santiago de Compostela some day. Maybe next summer....

Elen, yay 5 April! I might be around: difficult to say, as it's Easter Monday then and there is a lot going on with my family at the moment. I can't promise anything but if perchance I am around ... Smile

Yes, I agree...doesn't seem right like that. Chichester only asks for a donation, but Salisbury charges for entry, and Canterbury, when I was there last in January, I noticed charges on the gate to the Close now! That's one of the benefits of singing in the cathedral singers ensemble that I belong to - free entry to our great cathedrals MrGreen

But Di is right, the cathedrals don't charge entry if you are there to attend a service.

Di - I'd forgotten it was Easter Monday! but would be lovely to see you again if you are free...we are usually there the best part of the day rehearsing for the service.

Most churches I have been a part of have offered meditative services with simple chants and much silence, or gatherings for group meditation -- in addition to the more boisterous Sunday worship services. Some of us find those offerings more nourishing to the spirit.

I've only visited two churches in London (during one short visit): St. Paul's and St. Martin-in-the-Fields. St. Paul's was beautiful but felt like a tourist attraction. Even seeing a service there, I felt as though it was a show put on for the onlookers. St. Martin-in-the-Fields felt more like a church. I lit a candle and stopped to pray.

Nin,

Psalm 88 is the bleakest of the psalms, IMO. I'm glad it's there in the canon though.

Last edited by JewelSong on Thu Feb 11, 2010 6:56 pm; edited 1 time in total

Last edited by Elentári on Thu Feb 11, 2010 5:12 pm; edited 1 time in total

I love Evensong whenever and wherever I can find it! The service I saw at St. Paul's was a small mid-day one with no music, while tourists milled about all around.

I'm glad to hear that my sense of St. Martin's wasn't off base. I only stopped by because I was at the time a member of a St. Martin's here, across the pond. I'm glad I did.

The need for silence is something that we ignore too much in modern life. How often do people have the opportunity to just 'be still'?

This came up in, of all places, Oprah's show this week: Reflection on Silence and Prayer. I do recognize the irony of posting a video of people talking about the need for silence Wink

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Perpetual adoration chapels also offer silence. Well, people do come and go, so there's not complete silence, but the etiquette is that one does not speak aloud or sing in such places, unless it is during a liturgy of some sort.

St. Clement's] in Boston started this up again last summer, and this article is a good introduction to the practice (though there is inordinate use of the word 'wafer').

I think this group in Switzerland offers the same, but my French is very limited, so I'm not entirely sure Wink

. Fraternite Eucharistein

I have only experienced chanting of the Liturgy of the Hours when I have hung around religious communities. (Most recently, at the Dominican House of Studies in DC in January.) I think it's awesome that the Anglicans have maintained that tradition at the parish level! Catholic parish priests say their breviary privately (and likely silently). Personally, I prefer spoken recitation to chanting or silence, because I feel I can participate without being a huge penance to others (my singing voice leaves something to be desired). But it is beautiful to hear others sing it!

You are all very kind, but I am not attracted to any group of any kind. Smile

I think the more I read the social side of chruch onyl works when you believe in the spiritual side or if at least you enjoy it. I don't.

I like and I need silence or music - no talking - alone. And I doubt age will change it.

It's interesting to read what you write because some things are so alien to me. I never went regularly to church and would feel it as a burden if I had to attend it now.

But I am glad that church offers community and solace to others, like you.

This topic triggers a confusing mixture of thoughts and feeling in me. Good experiences and bad ones. I don't think I can sort them out in one go, but here's what sprang to my mind at first:

For me church is community, on a spiritual basis, but it depends a lot on the people who are forming the communities. Some are more Pope-ish than the Pope himself (a poor translation of a German saying) and I never found anything but anger and alienation in those communities. Someone at the beginning of this thread said that there are different people, but they are all supposed to love each other. In those communities, I'm talking about, such a love or at least acceptance of the variety does not exist. Unfortunately my son got into such a group when he prepared for his First Holy Communion when he was eight years old and ever since he has only set a foot into a church when he couldn't avoid it or when he was sight-seeing - and I can't blame him.

My daughter had the opposite experience and she couldn't even imagine to get married without God's blessing, but she doesn't go to church regularly though.

My current employer is a part of the Catholic church and sometimes I wonder, why my religious belief, next to my qualification, was decisive to get the job.

That's it for now. I think there will be more later, after sorting out my thoughts. However, this is a wonderful thread. Smile