After Monday’s blogpost showing Joyce Grenfell worrying during the opening hymn about her stock boiling dry, I thought it would be interesting to find out what you all worry about during the service (when you’re not concentrating on the things of the Lord, which of course we’d all prefer to do, but it is so hard not to be distracted).
[Edit: I think you can vote for more than one, but as it’s the first poll I’ve done, I’m not sure – can someone let me know?!]
I’ll leave it open for a week before publishing the results…
The Vicar's Wife 
What fun! I do hope people are honest! I look forward to the results …
I have to say my answers have changed a bit now I’m not a church manager any more.
When I was church managing, my thoughts during the service all revolved around what was going on – had I got the banns book out, had I written the right couples in it, did i set the oven right for welcome lunch, was communion set up, had I prepared all the notes the vicar asked for, was the vicar’s clock (a large one on the front pew) set right, were all the children’s group leaders there, who was doing the reading, did I lock the safe, are there enough paper cups to serve coffee afterwards because i didn’t put an order in in time for some more, what’s the strange looking guy doing on the balcony, where are my keys?
And all the time constantly keeping one eye on the vicar knowing that at some point, a look would come saying “something needs sorting” so I’d have to find a good moment to creep across and find out what, or in extreme moments, noticing that he was heading to the back (usually to fix the sound desk because a mic wasn’t on or something like that)
And I didn’t even work on Sundays!
Yes, my mind going to music isn’t it drifting – it’s that I need to be alert to move to the piano and play, or occasionally I find myself thinking of what intro to give, or wondering if it’s the tune everyone knows, if I haven’t prepared adequately. Or thinking that actually, if I’d known the sermon in advance, I could’ve suggested a perfect hymn for it – different to the preacher’s own choice! Oops.
You can choose more than one option. Made me think…. thank you.
Loving the comments! Welcome to the Vicarage especially to new commenters Rach and Kelly. I’m looking forward to publishing this poll 🙂
You’ve left one fairly obvious category out 😉
I went with what people are wearing, and to whom to speak after the service. Although sometimes it’s whether that red jacket is back from the drycleaners, etc.
Hi Jim and Karen and welcome to the Vicarage. Jim – I can’t believe I left the obvious out! But nobody’s named it as their ‘other’…. I like the sound of your red jacket, Karen.
I’ve just come across this (a bit late to the party, as usual!).
It reminds me of a Sunday School session I once led, on the topic of “Holy Spaces”. One of the questions I asked the children was “what do we do in holy spaces?” I got lots of good answers: praying, singing, thinking about Jesus, spending time with God, etc, and then one of the children piped up with “thinking about crisps”. I was baffled until I spoke to the child’s mother after the service. “Ah yes,” she said, “we always give the children a packet of crisps in the car on the way home from church.”
Children are so much more honest about these things than adults!.