Church hunting - not an easy task

Hi - It's Monday Sept. 19.  My my - how time flies.  We've been in London almost 4 weeks - geez, that amazes me.  We're still settling in - but each weekend we've gone exploring.

One area of exploration is churches.  We want to find a home where we can begin feeling like part of the family.  One that has an inspirational Sunday service along with other activities and involvement opportunities throughout the week.

So far we've visited 3 churches - All Souls, St. John's at Hampstead (a couple blocks from our house) and St. James.  All three of these churches are Church of England but WOW - what a difference between them.  St. James was a very "HIGH" service. They burned incense the entire service - it was a bit overwhelming.  And they said prayers (example: The Hail Mary) that neither Paul nor I have said since we were young in the Catholic church.  The people were very nice - but we don't think St. James is quite right for us.

St. John's was similar to St. James - but no incense.  However, some of the prayers were sung in Latin by the choir. 

All Souls is a very vibrant and lively church.  They don't have communion every Sunday which we miss.  I am taking a Wednesday morning Women's bible study at All Souls so I'll get to know more people there.  It's a 25 minute tube ride from our house.

We also want to check out Holy Trinity Brompton - this is the birthplace of the Alpha course which is lead by Nicky Gumbel.  I'm very anxious to go there and see the church I saw in videos.  They also seem to have a huge outreach ministry. 

For all my friends from Christ Church - take it from me, it is not easy to find a replacement for Christ Church.  I know that every place takes time to get integrated - but........... I so miss Christ Church and my family.  Sunday mornings aren't quite the same yet.  Please pray for Paul and I that we do find the right church for us - where God want's us to be.

Ya'll have a wonderful week.  And I'll write more soon.

Love,
Suzy