Alan's Lent Initiative, naive or stupid?

• 1) Alan's Lent Initiative, naive or stupid?

  Posted over 14 days ago.  Added 20/02/2012 00:16:51 by PCCMember
  St Stephen's is a beacon to all village churches. A congregation made up of so many in the community and from all classes seems straight out of an Agatha Christie 1930's novel and a wonder in our present more secular age.
  Perhaps it is Alan's skill in the pulpit that draws them in, or perhaps the scripts are written by people who gain their ideas of what village church attendance is like from watching too much ITV3.
  Not gossiping and being positive with one another should give rise to some thrilling instalments although the writ of the dear old C of E tends not to run very far these days so I suspect it will be business as usual soon enough.
  Down in our neck of the woods most of the congregation come to church primarily for a good gossip. Our previous incumbent's home life was a particularly rich source and our new one seems to be displaying similarly colourful tendencies, we can but hope.
  Women vicars have been known to indulge in gossip themselves and are certainly much more sensitive (paranoid would be too strong) to any hint of criticism than their male equivalents. Oh Lord what is to become of us once we have lady bishops?
  
  
  

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• 2) Re: Alan's Lent Initiative, naive or stupid?

  Posted over 14 days ago.  Added 20/02/2012 19:06:43 by PCCMember
  I have been told by Mrs PCCMember that what I have written is sexist and offensive. I can't see it myself but if it comes over that way I can only apologise. What I meant to say was that ladies in the church have for centuries played a most important part in keeping the whole thing going, in our church flowers and coffee mornings depend on their skills. Getting involved in pulpit matters is surely a step too far and a burden they might be happier not to shoulder.

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• 3) Re: Alan's Lent Initiative, naive or stupid?

  Posted over 14 days ago.  Added 21/02/2012 19:51:59 by portia
  I'm not sure where you get your mysogenistic views from - but I don't think they belong in the twenty-first centuary- maybe you should hop back into your time machine and return with them to the 18th!
  
  Portia

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• 4) Re: Alan's Lent Initiative, naive or stupid?

  Posted over 14 days ago.  Added 22/02/2012 22:49:41 by PCCMember
  I am so sorry to have upset you Ms Portia. If opening a door for a lady or standing up to give a lady my seat makes me a misogynist than I stand condemned.
  I faced a tricky moment on the tube a while ago when a young woman got on who was either pregnant or a little tubby...... give her my seat or not? would she be offended if she was just plump, nightmare!
  I wish all those earnest types who want to ape men the best of luck, it's just that in the C of E we have been managing quite happily with male clergy, lady vicars take a bit of getting used to. It is perhaps unfortunate that the ones who profess a vocation tend to be rather averse to make-up preferring the natural look. It's almost as if some of the new lady vicars think that being on the plain side makes them more holy when in reality I for one would stay awake during the sermon more often if the lady vicar was a bit of a looker.
  Here's hoping this puts the misogynist criticism to bed.
  Perhaps Alan can be promoted to Archdeacon and a lady vicar brought in as the new incumbent, if she was portrayed as attractive it might create a new paradigm in the church which would be good for everyone. All the best PCCMember.

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• 5) Re: Alan's Lent Initiative, naive or stupid?

  Posted over 14 days ago.  Added 24/02/2012 15:11:41 by portia
  Politeness and good manners are one thing - I'm all for them - the rest of your sexist, offensive drivel isn't even worth repsonding to - so I won't!
  
  Portia.

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• 6) Re: Alan's Lent Initiative, naive or stupid?

  Posted over 14 days ago.  Added 25/02/2012 08:33:37 by PCCMember
  Once again I seem to have dug a deeper hole for myself as far as Ms Portia is concerned, I can only insist that I am a feminist at heart but one who admires the gentler sex rather than one who insists that all people should wear trousers and smoke a pipe. Casting my mind back I did come across a pretty lady vicar once in Dulverton, we were both trying to buy the last copy of the Guardian (I let her have it of course and had to make do with the Telegraph). I rather think this proves my credentials all respects! I'm not sure if she is still there, the Guardian and hunting not being close bedfellows but at least it proves that pretty vicars are a possibility. Next time the ArchD' requires help with selection I shall insist this becomes one of the criteria. Lastly I seem to remember that our dear Lord himself appreciated a pretty girl, didn't one wash his feet at some point? Always sounded a bit saucy to me.
  Perhaps Alan could fall off the church roof as he tries to prevent thieves from stealing the lead leaving an opening for a pretty vicar! You must admit that would be a gripping new storyline. Hope feathers are suitably smoothed Portia. We must all beware becoming too cross about things, it can be so ageing.PCCMember

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• 7) Re: Alan's Lent Initiative, naive or stupid?

  Posted over 14 days ago.  Added 26/02/2012 13:40:19 by Hamster
  PCC Member - I have to support your comments to some degree. In my own parish it's the vicar (who is male) who has a habit of saying things he shouldn't to the wrong people. I stop short of using the word gossip but he is unhelpful in his approach. As a result our congregation is beginning to slacken off and I worry for our future.
  
  In some ways I applaud Alan for his approach but you have to put yourself in a whiter than white position to make such a statement and then maintain it. And of course our vicars are all as human as we are (Well I'm a rodent so I don't actually count) so there but for the grace of God go I...
  
  but I can see what you're getting at and your argument does hold water. I didn't think you were being sexist although I can understand why that perception was picked up by Portia.
  
  I know some excellent lady vicars and some excellent gentlemen vicars. I know some awful lady vicars and some awful gentlemen ones.

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• 8) Re: Alan's Lent Initiative, naive or stupid?

  Posted over 14 days ago.  Added 27/02/2012 17:59:13 by PCCMember
  Thanks for your reassurance Hamster. Was starting to worry I might have been a bit of a chauvinist! I do understand your worries about numbers in the pews, I just wish more people realised how much fun church can be, constructive and sympathetic gossip is all part of the mix. Our lady vicar was quite good yesterday.....Lent is for 'doing good' rather than 'giving things up', all rather jolly and based on a book written by the nice chap from York with the tricky name (much better than the 'wise old owl' from Lambeth with the prominent eyebrows....I have never managed to follow his meaning beyond the second sentence). Pity Carey left, he is sound on this odd marriage thing favoured by Cameron and co. no doubt Ian and Adam will be turning up at St Stephen's clutching a bouquet in the near future. I won't say anymore I don't want to upset the ladies.

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• 9) Re: Alan's Lent Initiative, naive or stupid?

  Posted over 14 days ago.  Added 08/03/2012 08:00:44 by Floradora
  Well, PCC Member, it just goes to show that one person's light-hearted banter is another person's offensive drivel! I'm not offended by your posting, and frankly, I have to say that if someone told me that a very sexy-looking new young (male) vicar had turned up in my local church, I might be tempted to take a look.
  However, I'm an atheist--and so I thought was Jim Lloyd! Which brings me to the real reason I'm posting on this thread. a) I do think Alan's ideas for Lent are daft! b) I'm hopping mad that Jim's been depicted as taking up the Vicar's challenge!!! He's an atheist, why should he?????? Do atheists do Lent, and if they do, (for reasons of self-discipline rather than religion) surely they wouldn't rely on a Vicar as daft as Alan for an idea? But there's a silly Lent story on The Archers every year, I suppose it's traditional....

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• 10) Re: Alan's Lent Initiative, naive or stupid?

  Posted over 14 days ago.  Added 08/03/2012 18:38:29 by PCCMember
  Hi Floradora (what a pretty name) I thought exactly the same about Jim. What would not have surprised me would have been Jim attending St Stephen's regularly. Quite a number of C of E attendees are varying shades of atheists. Nobody minds in the slightest. The hymns, the sermons and the life of Christ are all positive and nice to ponder, with or without faith. In most small villages the Church is pretty much all that's left to bring parishioners together and where's the harm?
  The C of E is at the opposite end of the spectrum to all the more fundamentalist faiths like evangelicals and Islamists (even the RC) and personally I like it that way,
  I must say that Alan seems to be a bit of a nit and would be seen as overly intense at our church. The best vicars don't "try to build windows into men's souls" and instead feel things are going well if the congregation are kind and helpful to each other and don't start to argue (a la Dawkins) with the vicar in church....... In the pub is another matter, especially given our rector's enjoyment of a glass or 10! So go to church everyone you'll enjoy it and have fun. Communion wine is 14% free, and if you are first up to the rail, plentiful (consubstantiation so it's ok).
  PCCMember

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• 11) Re: Alan's Lent Initiative, naive or stupid?

  Posted over 14 days ago.  Added 10/03/2012 08:28:51 by Hamster
  Hmmm how about Richard Dawkins moves to Ambridge... there's thought and what would Alan do?
  
  I think the Lent initiative has been good because gossip destroys people and churches as I am discovering at the moment. (Not the vicar but someone else been telling porky pies about a certain rodent in the parish)
  Alan is ineffectual really but he has a go and we need to give him a thumbnail clap for that.
  
  And PCCMember - our communion wine tastes like anti-freeze so I'll go to the pub anyday!!!!

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