Today's R4 Dunday Worshp

[Peter Clark]

Although the music was not quite my thing, I was moved by the obvious sincerity and sheer joy that this congregation and the preacher displayed. (Do his sermons really last up to an hour??!!) Did anyone else have a similar (or indeed not similar) reaction?

 

Best wishes

 

 

Peter

 

Editing: Ooops! That topic title should be "Sunday Worship"! Nobody ever worships anyone on a Dunday.

[AJJ]

Morning Peter - I heard a minute or two then put on the ipoded (!) version of the BBC Music Mag. David Briggs Widor/Vierne CD intead - 'enjoyed that - though the concluding improvisation was a bit loud. My brain is not ready for gospel etc. that early.

 

A

[DouglasCorr]

Although the music was not quite my thing, I was moved by the obvious sincerity and sheer joy that this congregation and the preacher displayed. (Do his sermons really last up to an hour??!!) Did anyone else have a similar (or indeed not similar) reaction?

 

I agree - the spontaneous comments from the congregation made this a highly memorable Sunday worship.

[Nick Bennett]

This is something I just can't cope with at all. The spontaneous comments thing just seems ... well, wierd.

 

I guess this style of worship would tend to appeal to the more extrovert personality types, whilst stiff upper lip services might have more appeal to the introverts among us.

 

Aren't we lucky to have the choice?

[Guest Barry Williams]

The music was reasonably well performed. However, as with so many acts of worship of this type, there was no contemporary music - Christian or otherwise. It was all very dated and massively comforting, rather than inspiring or challenging. There was nothing that would have resonated with young people. Musically it was extremely old-fashioned.

 

I have written elsewhere about the dangers of music of this type. It was a missed opportunity. I write this without any criticism of the particular tradition. I refer only to the music.

 

Barry Williams

[pcnd5584]

Morning Peter - I heard a minute or two then put on the ipoded (!) version of the BBC Music Mag. David Briggs Widor/Vierne CD intead - 'enjoyed that - though the concluding improvisation was a bit loud. My brain is not ready for gospel etc. that early.

 

A

 

I am with Alastair, here. To be honest, I am never ready for this type of music in church. So, to avoid the issue, I simply steer clear of programmes and places of worship in which I suspect that this brand of worship is favoured. If you happen to like it - fine. I happen not to.

 

One point regarding the possibility of a sixty-minute sermon. I doubt that the average congregant could remember much about something this length. If I was as unwise as to attempt the equivalent in school, I am fairly certain that it would be impossible to hold the interest of even the most polite pupil for this length of time. Since the average concentration span is considerably less than this time, I regard this (if it is true) as sheer self-indulgence on the part of the preacher. Neither do I see the need for a one-hour sermon. There would either be too many ideas to remember effectively - or an unnecessary re-iteration of a few points. I regard neither as good attributes in a sermon.

 

So there.

 

[Vox Humana]

I believe there are tales of John Wesley's sermons when, spotting that the hour glass had run its course, he simply turned it upside down and kept going, to the audible delight of his congregation.

 

Of course he never had to compete with good music...

[gazman]

....to the audible delight of his congregation.