Alpha course away day 19th November
10.00.-.16.00
Feeling a bit better after my bout of bronchitis though still coughing from time to time. I arrived on time at the away day venue which was a village hall about 15 mins drive from the church where the rest of the course is held. Why could this not have been done at the church, saving the expense of hiring the hall ? Well , I think the Alpha course structure requires a change of venue and I have some sympathy with it, a change of scenery, even if it's just a few miles away can have a psychological impact and break out of the weekly routine. My impression before I arrived was that this is the moment where the evangelising goes into full throttle. The amateur psychologist in me observes that the fresh venue plus the experience of seeing the holy spirit in action with speaking in tongues, rolling on the floor overcome by the spirit etc. is designed to deliver a double whammy “coup-de-grace”, and the agnostics or doubters, having been softened up during the preceding weeks finally crumble, accepting Jesus as their saviour. Did this happen with me? Well read on.
The day started off with coffee and biscuits followed by “opening worship” - singing a few “Jesus is great” type songs with guitar strumming. I like a sing-song, having been a chorister many years ago, and would have joined in, but I didn't know any of the tunes. This is one way in which the modern church makes itself exclusive – the songs (hymns) are ones that no outsider has ever heard.
This was followed by a talk about the holy spirit from the vicar – standard stuff surely for any regular church goer. In fact any pretence about the Alpha Courses' tag line “Explore the meaning of life” seems to have been discarded – this is straight forward preaching. This was followed by coffee, then another talk from the vicar “What does the holy spirit do?” - much the same as before – pure preaching, everyone else must have felt it was Sunday.
There was half an hour set aside for discussion, and the groups were different from the usual weekly ones, there were 3 , and I was with the vicar, “female church elder”, 2 of the ladies from my weekly meal group and the Portuguese lady of about 30 years. The discussion started with what the holy spirit feels like, and the 2 meal group ladies spoke about the nice feelings they had about it. I did not think this was an appropriate time to get all heavy and confrontational, so I just contributed a question about why the HS is considered male (because God is male) . Later on I asked whether the other members of the group where able to distinguish which part of the Trinity they felt “You hear people saying I feel the presence of God or Jesus spoke to me – how can you tell which is which?” Well it's all just god isn't it? The Portuguese lady spoke and as before it was almost impossible to work out what she was saying, and, as before, she burst into tears - “female church elder” had to get her some tissues. I still don't know what she cries about, if anything, - maybe the love of HS just gets to her. One thing I noticed was that the when the 2 ladies from meal group spoke, they were like children at Sunday school trying to impress the vicar “My uncle always said the HS is like eating an orange, you can't describe it to anyone they have to try it for themselves” If you could have taken their words and superimposed them on some 6 year old children it would have sounded OK – and these are women in their 60's and 70's. Religion infantilises people.
Lunch followed – it was a buffet with pork pies, sandwiches, crisps etc. and some good cheesecakes and stuff. Not bad. I think it was all bought in from a supermarket, but it was very satisfactory. I had quite a long talk with another lady who gave me her testimony. For those that don't know what this is, every Christian has a story about the incident or occasion when they “came to God” - this is their testimony. She described how she had read a story in the local paper about a sick child, on a spur-of- the-moment decision visited the family as a complete stranger to offer help, and subsequently became involved with the family to the extent that the child died in her arms. She naturally gave God the credit for this. I said “The reason that this story about the child moved you is that YOU are a good person. Don't do yourself a disservice. The goodness is coming from deep within YOU – not some magic man in the sky” or words to that effect. I genuinely think that my words gave her pause for thought.
The afternoon was another 15 min talk from the vicar “How can I be filled with the Spirit?” followed by 75 mins for “invitation to prayer”. Several prayer groups where set up in private rooms, and the rest of us were told not to chat but to quietly reflect and come to one of the groups if we wanted. This is obviously where the agnostics/doubters were supposed to give it some thought, then capitulate and go to be prayed for, accepting Jesus as their Lord amidst much tears and rejoicing. Did that happen to me? Well read on.
Following this session there was scheduled some closing worship (singing) and that was it. I decided that there was not much left for me here, so I decided that I might as well leave. (yes – you've guessed I did not accept Jesus as my saviour – sorry about the teasing earlier on). I did not want to just sneak off so I went to one of the private rooms to say that I was going to leave. Plenty of eyes on me as I did that !!. I met with “father” and his wife – and with my agreement they prayed with me (they were praying – I wasn't – but where's the harm !), and left.
That was the end of the away day. I felt that they were not really fulfilling the “wow” factor that the course was designed to impart at this stage – but it was quite an enjoyable morning. I am beginning to like a lot of the people on the course and I feel they are warming to me too – my worry is that this will constrain me when I need to be most strident in my condemnation of some of the ridiculous aspects of religion. We shall see.
Next session Monday - “How can I resist evil?”
regards
pgrimes15
10.00.-.16.00
Feeling a bit better after my bout of bronchitis though still coughing from time to time. I arrived on time at the away day venue which was a village hall about 15 mins drive from the church where the rest of the course is held. Why could this not have been done at the church, saving the expense of hiring the hall ? Well , I think the Alpha course structure requires a change of venue and I have some sympathy with it, a change of scenery, even if it's just a few miles away can have a psychological impact and break out of the weekly routine. My impression before I arrived was that this is the moment where the evangelising goes into full throttle. The amateur psychologist in me observes that the fresh venue plus the experience of seeing the holy spirit in action with speaking in tongues, rolling on the floor overcome by the spirit etc. is designed to deliver a double whammy “coup-de-grace”, and the agnostics or doubters, having been softened up during the preceding weeks finally crumble, accepting Jesus as their saviour. Did this happen with me? Well read on.
The day started off with coffee and biscuits followed by “opening worship” - singing a few “Jesus is great” type songs with guitar strumming. I like a sing-song, having been a chorister many years ago, and would have joined in, but I didn't know any of the tunes. This is one way in which the modern church makes itself exclusive – the songs (hymns) are ones that no outsider has ever heard.
This was followed by a talk about the holy spirit from the vicar – standard stuff surely for any regular church goer. In fact any pretence about the Alpha Courses' tag line “Explore the meaning of life” seems to have been discarded – this is straight forward preaching. This was followed by coffee, then another talk from the vicar “What does the holy spirit do?” - much the same as before – pure preaching, everyone else must have felt it was Sunday.
There was half an hour set aside for discussion, and the groups were different from the usual weekly ones, there were 3 , and I was with the vicar, “female church elder”, 2 of the ladies from my weekly meal group and the Portuguese lady of about 30 years. The discussion started with what the holy spirit feels like, and the 2 meal group ladies spoke about the nice feelings they had about it. I did not think this was an appropriate time to get all heavy and confrontational, so I just contributed a question about why the HS is considered male (because God is male) . Later on I asked whether the other members of the group where able to distinguish which part of the Trinity they felt “You hear people saying I feel the presence of God or Jesus spoke to me – how can you tell which is which?” Well it's all just god isn't it? The Portuguese lady spoke and as before it was almost impossible to work out what she was saying, and, as before, she burst into tears - “female church elder” had to get her some tissues. I still don't know what she cries about, if anything, - maybe the love of HS just gets to her. One thing I noticed was that the when the 2 ladies from meal group spoke, they were like children at Sunday school trying to impress the vicar “My uncle always said the HS is like eating an orange, you can't describe it to anyone they have to try it for themselves” If you could have taken their words and superimposed them on some 6 year old children it would have sounded OK – and these are women in their 60's and 70's. Religion infantilises people.
Lunch followed – it was a buffet with pork pies, sandwiches, crisps etc. and some good cheesecakes and stuff. Not bad. I think it was all bought in from a supermarket, but it was very satisfactory. I had quite a long talk with another lady who gave me her testimony. For those that don't know what this is, every Christian has a story about the incident or occasion when they “came to God” - this is their testimony. She described how she had read a story in the local paper about a sick child, on a spur-of- the-moment decision visited the family as a complete stranger to offer help, and subsequently became involved with the family to the extent that the child died in her arms. She naturally gave God the credit for this. I said “The reason that this story about the child moved you is that YOU are a good person. Don't do yourself a disservice. The goodness is coming from deep within YOU – not some magic man in the sky” or words to that effect. I genuinely think that my words gave her pause for thought.
The afternoon was another 15 min talk from the vicar “How can I be filled with the Spirit?” followed by 75 mins for “invitation to prayer”. Several prayer groups where set up in private rooms, and the rest of us were told not to chat but to quietly reflect and come to one of the groups if we wanted. This is obviously where the agnostics/doubters were supposed to give it some thought, then capitulate and go to be prayed for, accepting Jesus as their Lord amidst much tears and rejoicing. Did that happen to me? Well read on.
Following this session there was scheduled some closing worship (singing) and that was it. I decided that there was not much left for me here, so I decided that I might as well leave. (yes – you've guessed I did not accept Jesus as my saviour – sorry about the teasing earlier on). I did not want to just sneak off so I went to one of the private rooms to say that I was going to leave. Plenty of eyes on me as I did that !!. I met with “father” and his wife – and with my agreement they prayed with me (they were praying – I wasn't – but where's the harm !), and left.
That was the end of the away day. I felt that they were not really fulfilling the “wow” factor that the course was designed to impart at this stage – but it was quite an enjoyable morning. I am beginning to like a lot of the people on the course and I feel they are warming to me too – my worry is that this will constrain me when I need to be most strident in my condemnation of some of the ridiculous aspects of religion. We shall see.
Next session Monday - “How can I resist evil?”
regards
pgrimes15
