All spread out

I mentioned that there were only 18 people at a one of the services on Sunday.

It has long been a bit of a joke that people who attend church sit at the back and they certainly spread out to use as much of a building as possible. This, of course, has been essential when folk returned to church when Covid restrictions were eased.

In some ways this is perfectly natural. The English do not want others to hear them pray and the art of mumbling is a skill oft found in the C of E. That said, I try not to mumble but I do vary in my level of participation on those rare times when I am not at the organ (and they are very rare). If I attend a service where there are great hymns, then I do like a good sing and I give it some vocal welly. Even as an organist I have been known to give a vocal lead in the spoken parts if I feel the congregation needs encouragement, and I sometimes sing as I play if the console is near the congregation.

At the first service on Sunday 8th I was near the (small) choir and I felt it only right to join in the Creed and other spoken parts of the service because we were a team: teams thrive on mutual support.

It was a hallmark of the worship at church #1 that conregational participation was positive and not feeble. To "The Lord be with you", the reponse "And with Thy spirit" was firm and confident (actually, I cannot recall if that one as actually used but it is very likely!). As I said before, I did feel this was an act of worship and, oddly (although I could not see the congregation very well) they were not spread out quite as much as one might expect.

I do find sharing the Peace very uncomfortable. It has not been done by people moving about during Covid - British Sign Language has been used in some places. Even before Covid I hated this aspect of the service and people would deliberately walk up to you and force a handshake on you. Hideous!

It is the sudden change of mood, the ripping one out of one's comfort zone, which is so disturbing. One can sit alone in church doing one's best to worship in solitude (with one's inner thoughts) and then one is expected to be all pally with several people for no good reason. Is it virtue signalling at its worst?