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The Big 2020 Church Sofa List of Favourite Things

Well. 2020.

That was a… laugh… or something. A bit like having root canal, whilst having my toes tickled by a deranged clown.

Over the last couple of years I’ve attempted to share some of my favourite bits and pieces that I’ve enjoyed seeing / reading / listening to over the last 12 months. They’ve all particularly inspired, or held my attention in some way.

There will also be Church Sofa highlights thrown in there as well.

There may well be affiliate links thrown in to the mix, but if you dont know any of the below I’d encourage you to check it all out.

Some of my favourite books from this year:

My Favourite Christian Meme

Church Sofa Guide.

Was it born from tripping up the stairs? Was it because of congestion at the coffee machine? Could it have been the queue at the toilet?

10 Excuses for being late for a Church Zoom meeting was the outcome.

My Favourite Movies of 2020

Well, were there many new movies out there this year?

I saw Birds of Pray… that was… “alright”.

For a random suggestion, we came across “Katy” on the CBBC part of iPlayer here in the UK. We went in there blind so it probably hit us emotionally more as a result, but if you’re in the UK and looking for something with “talking points” to watch with the kids – that would be my suggestion.

My Favourite Songs of 2020

Well… I dont care if its over played…

Church Notice Board of The Year

Well… this was the most viewed of the year…

But.

Lets close this little yearly roundup with this instead..

And its possibly a note to go into 2021 on…

What are your highpoints from 2020? Are there any?

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The Weekly Round Up

Ok I’ve not done one of these for a while.

Basically Sofa used to do a round up… I guess posting random silly church stuff from that week, that didn’t fit anywhere else.

In an attempt to bring it back for at least a week, here are some highlights from that beautiful world of Twitter…

Here’s a sermon clip showing that 85% of stats used in sermons are made up.

Is it me or is this sounding a little bit like brainwashing?

While… that last guy was a little musical sounding… here’s something a bit more musical…

And here’s to nothing but peace and love coming from the direction of the church over December…

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The Morning After The Night Before…

Well.

Sofa is aware that he occupies a very niche area in the world of blogs.

Some sort of weird church place? With an interest in an American approach?

So. What the heck is a sofa meant to say the day after an American election, in which both sides are claiming that God is on their side?

I don’t have a clue.

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Singing ‘no riskier than talking’ for Co-Vid19?

Social media is great for sharing articles right? Especially when a headline sounds like good news, right?

Here’s an example. If you follow a Christian organisation that believes that Churches should be free to be open and sing, the headline “Singing ‘no riskier than talking’ for virus spread”, confirms that belief.

Whilst if you read the BBC article in question, there are a few catches in regards to churches…

Singing does not produce substantially more respiratory particles than speaking at a similar volume, a study suggests.

But it all depends on how loud a person is, according to the initial findings which are yet to be peer reviewed.

This question of “how loud” someone is, seems to be a common theme through the article. I hope for the sake of Church leaders all over the world, that none of them will be forced to go down the route of measuring how loud people are singing.

And no, this study hasn’t been evaluated yet either.

Ventilation could also have an effect on how aerosol builds up. The larger the venue and the more ventilation there is could affect how concentrated the volumes are.

If articles like this are being used to press for permission to allow Churches to sing, then the whole issue should be included. Instead of pressuring singing to be allowed, surely there should be help to ensure all churches are ventilated properly? Singing is one thing, it appears singing safely is another. Lets not forget this.

Last point from the article.

Dr Julian Tang, honorary associate professor in respiratory sciences at the University of Leicester, said: “The risk is amplified when a group of singers are singing together, eg singing to an audience, whether in churches or concert halls or theatres. It is a nice study but not exactly representative of the real whole choir dynamic, which really needs further study to truly assess the risk of such large volume synchronised singing vocalisations/exhalations.

The above text was put into bold by Sofa.

Sofa is looking forward to the day when Churches can reunite, and worship God in song together, but lets not push for things to happen sooner than is helpful or safe. In the meantime, why dont we celebrate the acts of worship that do not look like singing?

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The Church Sofa Weekly Round Up

I dont know about you but this week seemed to have gone by in a bit of a blur – like super quick. Every weekish, Sofa does a round up of Christian / Church internet…

And… well. this round up – its a bit self indulgent.

This weeks round up is completed to the back drop of UCB1.

Christian Twitter likes talking about the radio.

Ok heres the self indulgent bit.

It appears that someone in the CofE said something about how the church should talk the language of radio 2 – not radio 3. This prompted at least one out burst from a radio 3 listener… and well… people started talking what radio stations they listen to. Prompting this poll from the Sofa. (I did say this was self indulgent)

Considering the amount of people who responded about other options, I guess the lesson is that there are more than just “two voices” out there.

Personally I like prefer listening to podcasts.

And Doctor Who audios.

This Is No White Jesus.

Meanwhile. Over In An American Church

Lastly.

If you’ve got a ticket for Church tomorrow. Remember. Play nice (ideally two meters way from others)

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Weekly Round Up

Every week sofa posts a collection of stuff that, well, he didn’t a chance to sit down and post during the week.

Well, I say every week – that doesn’t always happen…. but anyway.

This weeks round up is completed to the back drop of The Big Bang Theory.

To begin with, Donald Trump and his deep Christian faith..

Conservative MP Annoyed At Churches

So, according to Premier…

Derek Thomas, Conservative MP for St Ives, said although he’s happy churches can open for services on 4th July, Christians could have done more to lobby on the issue. 

“I am inwardly furious… that the Church… and I absolutely include myself… have not been noisy enough and working enough to make the case for churches and places of worship to open again,” he said.

Premier Christian

It would be nice that instead of being “furious”, that he was busy talking up the stuff the Church has been doing supporting people.

Meanwhile. Over In America.

When Premier Christianity Magazine Go Awesome.

Lastly.

Going into the next week.

With Some churches opening up. Others not. Lets try and play nice?

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What Has The Church Been Up To?

If you’re somewhere on Christian Twitter, you may well have seen this…

To say that Sofa disagree’s with the spirit of the above, is putting it mildly, so, in the spirit of The Sofa, here is The Church Sofa list of what the Church has been up to during Lockdown?

  1. Working with new partners to give out food parcels.
  2. Giving out food parcels to retirement homes in the community.
  3. Foodbanks.
  4. Online worship.
  5. Online prayer meetings.
  6. Setting up sermons via phones.
  7. Dropping sermon DVDs to people.
  8. Supporting the bereaved.
  9. Running services on local BBC radio.

Thats at the top of my head.

Please feel free to add something either you’ve been involved with / heard about / your church has been doing below!

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The Weekly Round Up

Every week, sofa posts a round up of stuff that didn’t make it to its own post. Considering some of the news from this week, I’m going to try and minimise my comment a little on the below.

On a light note – todays round up is being typed to the back drop of “The Odd Squad” from CBBC. (Thats right, not cbeebies, little sofa is growing up!)

Donald Trump and The Bible.

Well, in case you’ve missed it. Here’s a summery of what Donald did with the Bible.

I’m not in the habit of quoting The Bible Society, but they’ve not held back with that they think…

It’s not entirely clear what Mr Trump intended to convey by this photo-op, but it’s a disturbing image. Certainly he outraged the church’s bishop: Rt Revd Mariann Budde told CNN, ‘Let me be clear, the President just used a Bible, the most sacred text of the Judeo-Christian tradition, and one of the churches of my diocese, without permission, as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus.’

It’s genuinely troubling to see the Bible being used as a prop – particularly when, as the bishop says, it’s associated with images of violence. Co-opting the Bible as a justification for repression is unacceptable.

The Bible Society

When Pat Robertson Has Something To Say…

… and you think you agree????

When Ivanka Trump joins in…

Sounds of Hope

Lets start somewhere?

Can I recommend this tweet?

In fact, how about clicking through to the above tweet, and give the suggestions a read.

Lets try and stay well, and look out for each other?

Please people?