Last week we formally joined St Ebbe's church at Oxford by signing an attractive purple brochure.
We had thought we'd try lots of other churches and eventually settle on one (which we thought would probably be St Ebbe's as we'd heard many good things about it). But we didn't. We pretty much started attending the evening service and that's where we are going now regularly.
Thankfully St Ebbe's has lived up to its reputation as being a friendly, welcoming place where it is enjoyable to be every Sunday. It is astounding to see people being counter-cultural and leaving their proper English reserve to one side to talk to us, and even tell us their names! This has not been the case in any other social context here, but is a marked characteristic of the Christians at St Ebbe's (and must be quite difficult to pull off - reserve is as much an English trait as directness is an Australian trait: it is hard to even know that you are doing something like that when it is so much a part of your culture and thinking).
We've also joined a Bible study on Wednesday nights, where we get together with a whole bunch of people (about 80?) and have dinner, and then split up into smaller groups and discuss a section of the Bible. This is impressively managed and fun, and is a great way to get to know people in such a large church. And it is particularly enjoyable because we get to talk about something substantial, rather than the customary, "Where are you from?" patter, which stops being entertaining after a while.
We'll no doubt have to change congregations and Bible studies when our baby is born (there are no children in the evening service), but for now we are enjoying our new church.
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3 comments:
Nah, it all depends on how much you enjoy going together... we tag team church! But then ours is probably not 'must attend' type stuff so that is an easier thing to do...
Young children and church is such a dilemma!! Found your blog via the Moore College newsletter my mother forwarded to me. I've had 2 children since coming to Oxford. When the youngest was tiny we were able to continue going to evening service at our local church (quite friendly enough for our standards); but the morning service doesn't suit me. Once she started talking and bedtime was establishing then evening service became a nightmare (let along college evensong which we had previously managed on occasion!). Currently we've got a routine where the 5 yr old gets taken to Sunday School regularly while I am alternating taking her and her 2 yr old brother to matins at Christchurch in the hope of getting them used to staying quiet through a service. My goal is to be able to take at least one of them to college evensong before I finish my DPhil ...
Hi Elisabeth,
I think we may have actually seen you when we visited a Matins Service at Christchurch a few weeks back. There was a woman around our age with a dog collar with a young girl sitting opposite us (and next to a small family of what looked to be Japanese tourists).
I suppose young children and church is one of those undiscovered countries that's waiting for us just around the corner.MDB
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