- Do you have a decent church website?
- Is it up to date?
- Is it responsive – ie does it work on mobile phones?
- Does your own online profile feature your ideas and hopes and dreams other than a desire for people to turn up to church?
- Do you know what you are doing with twitter and facebook?
- Who could you learn more about social media from?
- Do you have a compelling reason why people should come to your church other than where it is or what denomination it belongs to?
- Can everyone in the church tell you in one sentence what that compelling reason is?
- What is your beginners’ course like?
- What comes after the beginners’ course?
- Do people like the preaching?
- Do people enjoy the music?
- Have you dealt with conflicts from the past?
- Are the people friendly?
- Do you have any new groups starting soon?
- Do you talk about making the world a better place?
- How will people experience joy if they come to your congregation?
- If someone from your past turned up unexpectedly at worship how would it make you feel?
- How do you identify newcomers and what do you offer them?
- What problems will arise if you do grow and how will you deal with them?
- Do claims that you welcome everyone stop you working at welcoming those who traditionally find it hard to find a home in church?
- Do you use language that is inclusive of everyone?
- How do you know?
- Is there any identifiable group of people that you can’t explicitly say are welcome because of how an individual or group in the congregation will react?
- Do you want to grow or not?
10 responses to “Triduum #6 The Vigil”
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Oh suppose the sleep over! The bible readings to read – the stories to tell! The living re-tellings it would invite.
And suppose the exhaustion on Easter Day… and Monday
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Thanks Rosemary.
BTW, after you had finished polishing the eagle this morning and had gone, I discovered that we have a pelican.
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The pelican has not been polished, however, Rosemary, none of us being quite that tall.
I do suspect I would like the all night vigil if we ever did it.
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Where is the pelican??!! Up somewhere?? Oh, I would love to polish a pelican.
I’d love to sit up half the night reading aloud and telling stories – but I fear the exhaustion. But I would never, ever resist if invited. As long I was invited and allowed to read and tell stories. It could be so fabulous. Unique. Deep. Newsworthy. (and those are all the lures I have to throw.)
You do realise my first words are now liable to be not ‘alithos anesti’ but ‘where is the blessed pelican?’
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I think that those of us who know where the Pelican is must keep our counsel and give Rosemary the pleasure of Pelican Spotting on Easter Day.
What treat could be more lovely?
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Still pelican searching – it is tough on those N rather than S – if you see me with my monocular don’t laugh – oh. all right then, go on, do laugh!
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Ooh, is it a Pelican in its Piety, which I gather was a popular Christ-symbol in medieval europe and also amongst the Larry Graysons?
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Not only is she a Pelican in her Piety but I actually found that we have two.
I also found that it’s possible to Pelicans in their Piety right under Rosemary’s nose and she won’t necessarily see them.
Someone suggested to me a while ago that we should have an inventory of the flaura and fauna represented in the iconography of St Mary’s. I suspect such a task would be a revelation. There’s a badger, for example, which few see but me.
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I am chronically unobservant – I notoriously fail to see things right under my nose. Last week I failed to see the pepper grater. It was upright on a table of less than two foot diameter. There was a table lamp, a plate and the pepper grater. I could not see it. It is sad on one whose speciality is religious architecture, isn’t it? But Low Sunday shall be find the pelican day.
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Rosemary, I’d have nudged you in the right direction yesterday morning if I hadn’t rudely run off just as our conversation got to pelicans. (The pleasure of the hunt is all well and good, but it can get to the point of being an exercise in frustration.)
Previous Posts
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Jesus met a woman at the well
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAe8NXq8Lbs
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Sermon preached by the Rev Chucks Iwuagwu
Here is the sermon that Chucks preached on Sunday. Its going on the church website too. Like a number of things, its been delayed due to an internet outage at the office. I’ve got so used to uploading things with the fast internet connection in the office now that when it fails, it all starts…
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Lady Day
Tomorrow (Friday) is Lady Day – the Feast of the Annunciation. St Mary’s will be being Visited by Bishop Gregor tomorrow. That means that the Bishop will be meeting with clergy, Vestry and Church Wardens in the course of the day as well as making one or two pastoral calls alongside either Cedric (Vice Provost)…
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Internet Outage
We’re suffering a week-long internet outage in St Mary’s office at the moment, which is rather trying. Hence lack of updates and lack of answering email from the office account. Normal service may be restored tomorrow.
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