Yoblog – Musings of a Church Youth Officer

As I travelled the M8 this morning, I heard on the radio that it was an anniversary of the Riot Act.  And what a fascinating bit of legislation this was.

As they explained how there was a potential punishment of death for not dispersing, a hearse with spectacular lilies on the coffin overtook me doing at least 80 mph. Surreal.

And then I co-presented a training course on Challenging Behaviour with Children in Church which seemed somehow appropriate.

From Wikipedia:

Proclamation of riotous assembly

The act created a mechanism for certain local officials to make a proclamation ordering the dispersal of any group of more than twelve people who were “unlawfully, riotously, and tumultuously assembled together”. If the group failed to disperse within one hour, then anyone remaining gathered was guilty of a felony without benefit of clergy, punishable by death.

The proclamation could be made in an incorporated town or city by the Mayor, Bailiffs or “other head officer”, or a Justice of the Peace. Elsewhere it could be made by a Justice of the Peace or the Sheriff or Under-Sheriff. It had to be read out to the gathering concerned, and had to follow precise wording detailed in the act; several convictions were overturned because parts of the proclamation had been omitted, in particular “God save the King”.^{[citation needed]}

The wording that had to be read out to the assembled gathering was as follows:

Our Sovereign Lord the King chargeth and commandeth all persons, being assembled, immediately to disperse themselves, and peaceably to depart to their habitations, or to their lawful business, upon the pains contained in the act made in the first year of King George, for preventing tumults and riotous assemblies. God Save the King!

It was indeed  interesting to visit the other churches yesterday.  Not only to see what they do for children but also to see  a  decent microphone system in action (also helps the kids be heard).

The two services yesterday were essentially the same with a different method of presenting the creation story by the children in each. My children were at the second one and watched the short powerpoint presentation of the children’s work, but spent the rest of the service looking for food in my bag or playing with a toy car.  The fact it was a ‘family service’ meant I was a bit more leniant about what was acceptable in terms of playing in the main aisle and noise, but they were not engaged in the service.

I don’ t have the answer to what is ideal, but I was questioning how the service could have been if the Eucharist was not included?  Would the older adults have stayed away if it was not a Eucharist?  Could something else have been included for the children?  Or simply a shorter service?  Does it matter if the kids are not engaged?  Is it just good that they are comfortable in the church environment?  Should the Sunday Club leaders be involved in leading the service or is it still the job of the clergy?

My quest for answers shall continue.  I want to go to one of our churches next which had hundreds of children on their books and see how I find it and also take my children along and get their feedback.

I realised last night that my work/life balance is not quite right when my husband is complaining to me that I am not blogging enough so he doeesn’t know what I’ve been up to!

The past two evenings we’ve had a 5 minute overlap between him getting home from work and me heading out to present training courses.  These have both been interesting evenings meeting new groups of people.

Reality did strike home when I had to clamber over two policemen restraining a man at the top of the stairs to platform 4 at Haymarket to get my train home.  He was struggling on the ground,  swearing impressively  and not giving in. And it made me think how cosy we can be at our church meetings.  This incident at the station felt like a reinactment of the Good Samaritan and I was passing by on the other side…

I know various animals have featured on blogs I read, so I thought I’d introduce the resident cats of the Yoblog household.

This is Floh.  She is the pretty one.  But she is also rather ‘blonde’ with it.  Those whiskers and tail have often been singed on candles and she doesn’t  even realise.  Unable to miaow properly unless stood on.  Commonly found curled up in a shoe box or any other obscure tight spot.

And her sister Broom.  Although sisters from the same litter, they are very different in build and hair length.  Broom is used to visitors thinking she is a boy because she has the more ‘butch’ look.  Generally to be found in the kitchen looking for food.

And an imposter!   I’m practising my face painting techniques – useful at events.  And somebody told me today in church that a face painter for a kids party charges £70 an hour.   Good money for something legal. I better keep practising!

I wonder how many lay people actually enjoy doing the intercessions in church?  As somebody who draws up the rota, willing people are few and far between.  People will do it reluctantly and as long as it is only every couple of months or so.

Having not put myself on the rota for ages, because I’m normally doing Sunday Club, it was my turn this morning.  I’ve got used in this job to “just saying a wee prayer” off the top of my head at a meeting and that is fine.  But somehow for the Sunday morning, there is that feeling you should have written something out.

So last night I was mumbling and grumbling in the wrong frame of mind in front of the computer trying to come up with something meaningful. 

This morning I was in and out of the service with my own wriggly children.  I had my ear to the church door for the Creed to sneak back in, in time for the intercessions.  And so I had a two year old on one arm, a piece of A4 and the ‘dead book’ in the other hand and a 4 year old clutching on to my legs grabbing the page marker ribbon dangling from the dead book between his teeth while I read my intercessions.  Not so easy… 

I think if I hadn’t prepared something in advance I might have just giggled!

Anybody else have similar problems??

Who else saw Postman Pat today at 4pm on CBeebies?  You missed it?

Let me fill you in.

Gone are the days of cosy storylines about Mrs Goggins losing her glasses or the labels getting mixed up on a couple of parcels. 

Postman Pat has been turned into a strange superhero in “Postman Pat – Special Delivery”.  He has a motorbike.  He has a helicopter.

He saves the day.  Every day.

He is supposed to be a postman.

I object!

A whole box of Maltesers has vanished and I have finally finished the vestry minutes.  Sometimes it is a chore, especially when there has been a meeting where your brain has mysteriously switched off for chunks of the evening and you have no real recollection of the conversation apart from the fact that it was dull or someone was having a moan.

So I put the odd facetious thing in the minutes to gloss over the blanks.  I wonder if anyone will notice (i.e. read them) and/or actually recollect what I should have minuted. 

It’s life on the edge!