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The church: Bath Abbey, England.
Denomination: Church of England.
The building: Tall, light and glorious. The east window is especially delightful. A building in which to sit and contemplate God.
The church: A large and very busy parish church, blessed with one of the most inspiring buildings imaginable, and right in the heart of one of England's most visited cities. All this means that the church sees a huge number of visitors.
The neighbourhood: Um... Bath. It has everything from a Roman bath house to a bridge with shops on it.
The cast: Preacher: Rev. Simon Oberst.
Choral Mattins.
How full was the building?
Full enough to seem busy, but plenty more room available. This is a big church, though.
Did anyone welcome you personally?
"Good morning" accompanied the service books.
Was your pew comfortable?
Reasonable pews. Never thought about them, so can't have been too bad.
How would you describe the pre-service atmosphere?
Quiet but not silent. Full of people settling down for the service but not especially prayerful.
What were the exact opening words of the service?
"Good morning."
What books did the congregation use during the service?
The Book of Common Prayer, a hymnbook and the notice sheet detailing the order of service for all services that week.
What musical instruments were played?
Organ.
Did anything distract you?
The lack of adult, male voices in the choir (a visiting school choir) seemed disappointing at times, but worked well at other times. The magnificence of the church distracted me somewhat from the service itself, but onto God.
Was the worship stiff-upper-lip, happy clappy, or what?
Very choir and minister led, and lacking slightly in congregational participation.
Exactly how long was the sermon?
17 minutes.
On a scale of 1-10, how good was the preacher?
8.
In a nutshell, what was the sermon about?
Stewardship: this was the lead up to their stewardship Sunday. The sermon focused on what the preacher called being "trustees" of what we have from God rather than on giving, and on King David's words, "all things come from you, and of your own do we give you". A good sermon on a difficult subject.
Which part of the service was like being in heaven?
Listening to the absolution while gazing on the life of Christ as depicted in the east window.
And which part was like being in... er... the other place?
Unfortuantely the service opened with longish notices, followed by a further report from the church treasurer (or similar). An apology to visitors was given for this at the begining, though.
What happened when you hung around after the service looking lost?
No real opportunity to do so. This wasn't the main eucharistic service so there wasn't any tea or coffee – everyone just filed out. A shame, as this is a church that is bound to see a lot of visitors, some of whom may not normally be churchgoers, and I should imagine this is the service they are most likely to attend (the communion service being a bit early in the morning for holiday makers). Bit of a missed opportunity?
How would you describe the after-service coffee?
None. So we disappeared down the pub instead.
How would you feel about making this church your regular (where 10 = ecstatic, 0 = terminal)?
6 – Not sure. I wouldn't choose this particular service to go to regularly, but I did enjoy it as a visitor.
Did the service make you feel glad to be a Christian?
Yes.
What one thing will you remember about all this in seven days' time?
The window.
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