Work, Life, Church...
Geez, I am so behind in posting. RL has gotten in the way, big time. I still haven't finished my con report from WorldCon - and that was in AUGUST!
Work has been insane. 4 major projects due in October. 2nd phase of one of the projects went live on 1/1/12. Hopefully, life will settle down...
One of the personal projects which I started in September was taking the kidlets to church. I have always wanted the kidlets to get a good grounding in the basics. So, if *I* wanted them to go to church, then, by golly, I was going to have to go back to church.
I haven't attended church on a regular basis since college. Partially, it was school and partially it was a dissatisfaction with church itself. I enjoy the ritual parts. Meditation, chanting, singing. Other parts, not so much. Instead of zoning through some of the sermons? I spend the time keeping the kidlets from sleeping or squirming through them. Poor kidlets.
Much to my dismay, certain parts of the ritual have changed. Meditation? Instead of silence with perhaps a bit of "scripture" reading, followed by gassho - it's some new agey music. It's just really weird. Wording has changed in some of the chanting. I think there was some sort of massive change where the word "faith" was removed from the English translations and other words have taken its place. "I put my faith in Buddha" is now "I take refuge in the Buddha". Certain passages are being chanted instead of sung. More weirdness.
One of reasons for the kidlets to come to church is the social interaction with other kids. Oh no. The kidlets are the ONLY kids going to Sunday School (aka Dharma school) The congregation is mostly my parents' ages. In fact, people come up to the kidlets and tell them tales about their Grandpa. My dad spent much time at the church - Japanese school (where his mom was one of the teachers) and all the community stuff - sports, dances, and church. Growing up across the street from the church meant no excuses for not going.
The kidlets and I have an understanding that we're trying this out for the year. There are lots of kids in the church, they just don't go to services. They do show up to work at the bazaar in June. I don't know how long this experiment is going to last. A certain person says they should go to Oakland's church where there is a bigger congregation. A certain person is not volunteering to take them, so it would be me and I prefer my church. *sigh*
Work has been insane. 4 major projects due in October. 2nd phase of one of the projects went live on 1/1/12. Hopefully, life will settle down...
One of the personal projects which I started in September was taking the kidlets to church. I have always wanted the kidlets to get a good grounding in the basics. So, if *I* wanted them to go to church, then, by golly, I was going to have to go back to church.
I haven't attended church on a regular basis since college. Partially, it was school and partially it was a dissatisfaction with church itself. I enjoy the ritual parts. Meditation, chanting, singing. Other parts, not so much. Instead of zoning through some of the sermons? I spend the time keeping the kidlets from sleeping or squirming through them. Poor kidlets.
Much to my dismay, certain parts of the ritual have changed. Meditation? Instead of silence with perhaps a bit of "scripture" reading, followed by gassho - it's some new agey music. It's just really weird. Wording has changed in some of the chanting. I think there was some sort of massive change where the word "faith" was removed from the English translations and other words have taken its place. "I put my faith in Buddha" is now "I take refuge in the Buddha". Certain passages are being chanted instead of sung. More weirdness.
One of reasons for the kidlets to come to church is the social interaction with other kids. Oh no. The kidlets are the ONLY kids going to Sunday School (aka Dharma school) The congregation is mostly my parents' ages. In fact, people come up to the kidlets and tell them tales about their Grandpa. My dad spent much time at the church - Japanese school (where his mom was one of the teachers) and all the community stuff - sports, dances, and church. Growing up across the street from the church meant no excuses for not going.
The kidlets and I have an understanding that we're trying this out for the year. There are lots of kids in the church, they just don't go to services. They do show up to work at the bazaar in June. I don't know how long this experiment is going to last. A certain person says they should go to Oakland's church where there is a bigger congregation. A certain person is not volunteering to take them, so it would be me and I prefer my church. *sigh*