From our Sunday School Days (Lift up our hearts)

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, not long bought the series on dvd. It's a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon, watched them all in one go last week. Still brilliant.

Been reading all of the posts in this thread this morning. Quite a few of us have mentioned that we were either made to go or went voluntarily to Sunday School (I was one of the former). But I cannot see anywhere the mention of sending our children? I have 4 children and 3 grandchildren, who have never been to Sunday School. Do they still exist on a Sunday morning for kids?

Like you Mick, I was made to go to Sunday School. I was allowed to leave when I was 13, the age my Dad was allowed to leave. Seemed logical at the time. Do they still exist? Not sure, but the church I used to go to doesn't exist any more!

I used to go, I must have been a goody 2 shoes then because I used to like going. I never sent my children but surprisingly my 2 granddaughters who are now 13 and 15 used to go to a small chapel in their village. I think they only stopped because there was not many to start with and in the end they closed it.

Don't think I lasted that long, my last attendance award (Bible) is dated 1960. So I guess that I stopped before I started Woodlands in 61. St Stephens and the Gospel Hall are still there on Charter Avenue and still being used. But not sure if it is for a Sunday School? Any Canleyites know?

On their website it states Sunday School and organised children's activities

I think my parents recognised the danger of sending me to Sunday School because I was quite opinionated about the morality and fairness about some of the Bible stories. I would have wanted to debate.

Hi all, I love these replies & posts, because they speak the truth of just how it was & in some cases still is, I believe. I love the sound of the Gospel, because it's to you & me. That had to come from inner me, not a bolt on from earlier days. For some thirty years, I was very sceptical about so much of my Sunday School past. Hypocrisy abounded, I'm so ashamed to say. Folk told me how to behave, but it didn't equate to what I saw in their lives. It was like chalk & cheese. Once again may I take this opportunity to thank all of you who post so sensitively on this topic. This topic would be banned on most websites, but because we post with tenderness & understanding, we are able to share. Please continue. I have my faith, but that is for me. You may have your faith, that is for you. I can tell you about mine, you can share about yours. As long as we remain sensitive to each other, with no dictating or preaching. Scripture does dictate some issues, but that is for my heart, only for yours if you are convicted of it. Scripture says so much about God's Wrath, not just love, as do most of the Great Books regards Faith. Putting that into context, please just consider this. Scripture itself records that at the time of Christ's crucifixion, "then they all forsook Him and fled". Then a few days later, after the resurrection, His disciples were forlorn, aboard their fishing boat, knowing what they had done to Him, they then saw Him cooking fish on the beach. They were so frightened, but did He scold them? Not a word. Instead He cries out to them, "Come & join me for breaky". They had never tasted breaky like it. Just as I hadn't, even going to Wetherspoons, until now. That's my faith in a nutshell. "Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye", Scripture says. That's what I believe has happened to Pam. It's only my faith. Please keep in mind the title of this topic, "....& Lift up our Hearts". With all such awfulness going around in the world & Coventry, how we all need that. Thank you. God bless you all.

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" was the core of a fortnight's holiday a friend and I had in the South of France in August 1980. We drove virtually non-stop from Coventry to Le Lavandu, sharing the driving and listening to the whole 12 half-hour episodes of the radio series on cassette (probably twice). The entire camping trip acted as an inspiration to put the philosophy of the "Guide" into practice. Everything about camp life was integrated, in our own way, from the early morning water-skiing (before the sea became choppy) throughout the day around the beach (keeping track of our towels) and into the night watching the starlit sky from the end of the jetty sipping our single malt nightcaps. Incidentally one night we experienced a vivid blue-green meteor that traversed about two thirds of the sky before burning out. I listen to the entire series occasionally and the insight of Douglas Adams still amazes me. Born the same year as me but sadly departed too soon, but most likely in an alternative universe!

I still have DON'T PANIC written in large friendly letters on my school hymn book for calming thoughts before exams. He was inspired. I must have listened to it when it was first broadcast. I always have a radio series ready for long journeys. It shortens the trips nicely.

Hi all, Just thoughts. What ever state that we arrive in this world, it's our early experiences that so often shape who we are. Many of those early experiences are not commissioned by us, we have little input, which is one of the reasons I hate pointing a finger at anyone. I remember my dad beating the living daylights out of me after mum had caught me out lying. Oh I still get things wrong, but I don't commission lying. Upon starting my business education, I was given a bible text -; "Study to show thyself worthy, a workman, unashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth". That's from 2Tim2.15 for reference. That's quite a work ethic on its own. The month that I retired from Courtaulds, that was the quote on my office calendar, as I changed it over from July to August of that year, 1999. It also popped up this week on my thoughts for today's notes, they are a bit like "New every morning" kind of thing. They don't dictate anything to me. It's a presentation of comparison thoughts. They could be fact or fiction. "The time has come," the Walrus said, "to talk of many things: Of shoes - and ships - and sealing-wax - Of cabbages - and kings - And why the sea is boiling hot - And whether pigs have wings." I've never seen a flying pig, but a friend of mine has eaten in one. God bless, everyone.

Evening Philip. I find telling the truth is more complicated than right or wrong. Telling the truth can be cruel. 'Yes, your bum does look big in that.' Telling a lie can be loving and fun. I don't remember a point where I believed in Father Christmas but I remember pretending to believe because it was a fun concept that Mum and Dad enjoyed with us kids. Why kill the mood? One summer I invented a bored, lonely ghost called Humphrey who kept turning the TV on when we were out of our rental holiday home (it really did come on when we weren't there). We liked him so much that we took him home so he could watch TV all day with my Mum. I wasn't strictly telling the truth. Lying can also be a much needed defence. When you fix up timed security lights, you are pretending that you're in. Victims might lie to their attackers to save themselves. Lying becomes bad when it hurts someone, even if it's yourself. Lies may come back to discredit you. However, people usually lie because they've done something worse than lying. Step one, stop doing the bad things. Step two, work on not lying about them.

Hi all, Please remember our forum is simply that, our forum. Members from far & wide. The stormy weather, or all manner of events, may cause isolation or a sense of loneliness. I know the value of our kinship that so helped me. So, just like our friend from Aberdeenshire, feel free to come in & pull up a chair.

Hi all, I'm very privileged to be able to share thoughts on the subject of faiths & beliefs. That's what they are. I couldn't ever contemplate an argument, or forcing a point of view as to do so would destroy the very nature of this privilege. Some eat meat & some don't. The comments that I share, I do so because I'm moved to do so, more often than not by events mentioned on our forum. One of our team has had the rug pulled from under their festive plans already. I feel the vibes, not only from them, but the silent senses of disappointment that abound within our membership. Most of us love the sense of belonging, the very nature of our forum. It's going to be a strange Christmas period for me this year. No empty chair, as I've moved up in rank, but strange in so many ways. I've no motor now, that's so odd. Pussy wanted out following the last shower of rain, the sky so clear & towering overhead was the great constellation of Orion. Just as I remember it seventy years ago. Yet, even that has changed. Each of the stars are in rapid motion, but only the finest of instruments can detect such, & if a new Norton star atlas was to be published right now, it would hardly show any difference to the one that I used that was drawn & published in 1950. Most of our great technologies & understanding, and please, I'm not belittling any of them, often rely on the continuation of what is being observed. The position of the sun, moon & planets predicted with such accuracy. For me it's mind blowing. Yet so much is still not fully understood. The spark of lightning is still not fully understood. The most basic laws of physics say that it shouldn't happen, both its generation & the path that it follows. A brand new A level textbook makes that comment that I have recently seen. Even with my faith in God, I love the development of articulate science. If only I could get my head around the existence of black holes, which I'm sure are there. We can't see them, but we can see the effect that they have on anything that gets near to them, like light which gets swallowed up, hence their name, black holes. If there were not any mysteries, that itself might put a damper on my faith belief. So often, Scripture describes an event with words like "Behold, I tell you a mystery". If there were not any mysteries, then that statement would be wrong in itself. So, until I learn otherwise, the strange events described in Scripture some two thousand years ago, I'm able accept, as strange as they most certainly are. So much is going on that we cannot predict. This pandemic, that goes on & on. In the realms of global warming, with the audited statistics of the globe temperatures, whatever, yet a headline today is that dozens of ships are stranded in the Arctic ice up, the most rapid that has been recorded in decades. Honest, I can't make this up. God bless you all, that you might know His peace, no matter what you or your families & friends might be going through. Real love from Phily.

Hi all, Your prayers & thoughts for the very close family of one of our members. I can't share details for obvious reasons, but that will become clear I'm sure. Best wishes for a speedy recovery. Our hip bones are a massive bone to break. God bless. We are able to come together, firstly because we are each members of our forum. We each have our beliefs regards religion & faith or not as the case may be. As long as we respect that, our forum is able to connect in a way that most media forums can't. It's called love. I know hardly any of the answers to so many of our world faith queries & questions, but I do see examples. Like an account in Scripture of a Roman Centurion, who prayed for his servant to be healed. He was healed. Neither of them were bishops. We are not here to give false hope, but to to speak the truth, & what we can give is our love. Real love that we mean. That will make this Christmas, a real Christmas.