TSR Christian Society (X-SOC) Episode IV: A New Hope

Just curious here - is anyone going to the World Youth Days at all?

Ooh, me!

Yay! Who are you going with? I'm soso excited for it

Westminster. You?

Forgot to tell you all last night: I attended my first-ever chapel service at my current uni yesterday evening It was an ecumenical service and was really lovely. I was feeling quite low about Valentine's Day but the sermon really spoke to me A shame it's so difficult to attend Sunday services at uni (I don't live on campus and there are often few - if any - trains running in that direction on a Sunday!)

So happy you managed to attend a service! And glad the sermon spoke to you. I could have used that yesterday. I spent the day eating love hearts.

Thanks so much hun! I was quite nervous about going and rather distracted during the service but tried very hard to listen to the sermon and I'm glad I did. It was about Lenten observance and prayer rather than about Valentine's Day but tbh I needed to hear what was said. Am seeing the chaplain tomorrow and plan on telling her that I think she has a real gift for preaching

Love hearts Love hearts are good for the soul, though!

Hope you're OK hun? I'm feeling quite low and somewhat numb today

Good sermons are so important. When you've made an effort to go to a service despite the nerves it's nice to be rewarded with something worth listening to. It's good of you to tell the chaplain that - it's so easy to take things for granted but that means people go unappreciated.

I'm good today, thanks. I had an audition for a performing arts course I'm thinking about doing and all last week I thought I was going to cancel it and then this morning I was halfway through writing an email to cancel when my mum and sister were like 'are you sure you want to cancel?' which made me think again and I decided to take a chance and go. I'm glad I did. I ended up coping well with it, considering I was in the college for over an hour. I was definitely anxious but I survived. I need to learn to do things even when I'm scared of failing, because sometimes it turns out okay.

I'm sorry you're having a bad day. I wish we could all have every day be wonderfully average, because I think wonderfully average days are the best. You bring a lot of happiness to me with your presence and comments on here so I hope you can feel good about yourself for that.

I'm from Alsace in France so I'm going with a trinational group of Germans, Swiss and French people in my region!

Wow, that's incredible that you were able to do your audition for this performing arts course. Over an hour is a very long time Really proud of you for managing it. It's so true that we need to learn to do these things, but it's so hard, isn't it?! You were very brave to go ahead with it! Well done, you!

Yeah, I always now make a point of trying to tell a priest or vicar if they gave a good sermon. There are two things I look at when deciding whether someone is a good priest or vicar: how they interact with people/their pastoral care skills, and whether they are a good preacher or not. I think there are lots of priests/vicars/ministers these days but sadly, not all of them have either of these skills, let alone one of them!

Thank you for your kind words abotu me, btw - I'm glad to hear that and am very grateful, especially on a mopey day like today

Good evening y'all. I feel that these days are at an all time low and my patience in God is wearing slowly slowly as the days go by. What advice could you give me in terms on being strong and firm in my Christian beliefs?

It is hard! Thank you. It helped that the tutor was really understanding when I told him about my anxiety. It made me feel like he'd keep an eye on me if I took up a place on the course, which is much more than my sixth form did when I started struggling (even though my sixth form had known me for two years before I developed my anxiety, so you would have thought they would have been even more concerned about my changing behaviour than someone new would be).

I agree with you about the abundance of vicars but lack of those skills in certain cases. I feel as though some Churches got so worried about the amount of people wanting to train that they really slacked off on their selection process. Some people I know who are vicars would be much better suited to a different role - I think an unsuitable vicar makes for both an unhappy congregation and an unfulfilled person.

Who else reads 'Sayings of the Desert Fathers' on their toilet breaks?

Awww hun. Really sorry to hear that you are struggling so much atm. The others on here are much better with Bible quotes and naming psalms than I am, so all I will say is remember the Footprints prayers. When we feel God has abandoned us, that is when He is actually most present in our lives - we just can't see/feel it for whatever reason.

If it would ever help to talk to someone who's really had to battle/grapple with their faith during tough times, do feel free to PM me

Finally, it's OK to be angry with God and to let Him know that you are angry! Just keep the dialogue with Him going



Really glad you were able to confide in the tutor and that they helped and that it all seems promising on that front - that's fantastic! Fingers crossed and prayer said for you

Yeah there are definitely some priests within the Catholic Church who really ought not to be priests because they are just horrible people and completely lack people skills. Tiz quite worrying I suppose it's true of every denomination though SO many dodgy ministers out there in the world

Will let you know how it goes tomorrow with the chaplain! I've only seen her once so far but we had a very fruitful first meeting. She said she wanted time to figure out how to help me through Lent, so will be interesting to hear what she might come out with

Good evening y'all. I feel that these days are at an all time low and my patience in God is wearing slowly slowly as the days go by. What advice could you give me in terms on being strong and firm in my Christian beliefs?

Hey there, QB.

Do not be afraid. This is a part of your journey with God. The Israelites spent 40 years in the desert feeling as if they had been abandoned by God. Our Lord spent 40 days in the desert to be tested and tried.

When God seems at his furthest away, He's closest. That is the beautiful paradox of the Christian spiritual life.

Remember that Christians are called be holy, that is literally "set apart", as the people of God.


Pray for me. I will pray for you.

In Christ,

SS