When you do not attend Sunday worship, why is this usually?
| Away at 2nd home in Berks, occasionally meetings Sun AM |
| I have to work every other Sunday |
| to be out of doors |
| out of town |
| out of town |
| spiritual needs met in other ways |
| (Other than a above:) Opportunities for spiritual development and to be supportive in worthy ways elsewhere, during periods of factors weakening these opportunities to do so constructively at First Parish. |
| Illness (have chronic illnesses and do not live close to the Square); snow/inclement weather; hard for us to get up early enough on Sunday to travel to Harvard Square after having to get up so early on weekdays to go to work |
| none of above |
| out of town |
| if the topic is fundraising or stewardship, I avoid coming. |
| Out of town. |
| (Other than a above:) Greater credibility and less repetitive stultification of services elsewhere, together with opportunities to be supportive. |
| conflict with my children's sports teams, which unfortunately frequently schedule games on Sunday. |
| If the sermon looks as though it may be too intellectual and lacking in spiritual inspiration. I'd like to be moved in sunday service, not feel like I'm kind of wasting my time in a history lesson. |
| My husband travels much of the week and many times the weekend is the only time that we can be together to do chores, projects and shared activities |
| The ongoing noise of young children in the meeting house is extremely disruptive to a peaceful and meaningful Sunday worship experience. It is often a reason I think twice about attending. |
| I negotiate church attendance with my children...they don't want to come every Sunday and I choose my battles! |
| The rest of my family has never felt that much drive to be there, and so now after many years, we are deferring to their wishes, rather than mine. We did attend quite regularly for many years. |
| Too far to travel, not always in |
| traveling |
| Work. |
| travel or just taking a break in the habitual "church going" to experience nature or to be open to the presence of the divine in unexpected places |
| Attend services at ASC |
| - Jory preaching. - Thomas preaching and it looks to be a long history lesson or other non-spiritual topic. - Christmas pageant - Christmas service - always away from town so it's too bad that the sunday before is always devoted to the sucky pageant. - Easter (this one really needs work. We aren't afraid of any other religion's high holidays except Christianity) |
| Out of town |
| After living in the |
| not liking the student minister at the time lacking content on "special days" |
| I often participate in RE activities that keep me out of service, I didn't check the activities for children box because I think you are referring to non-church activities |
| I try to get to church once a week, but due to weather, trips away, time constraints, it may average 2-3 times a month |
| Catching up with household needs- groceries, home repair, visits with friends or other activities |
| Family activities |
| out of town |
| Illness, or out of town, or bad weather. |
| I tend to take the summer off, but attend whenever possible during the RE calendar. |
| My family members don't generally join me and I don't like to leave them or attend services by myself. My children are youth group age and they don't feel connected to the service or to the group, so they don't want to attend. |
| I am out of town |
| Family scheduling conflicts, but most often it is due to illness (usually it's one of the children who's sick). |
| I prefer my Buddhist practice of Insight meditation. Find First Parish services too Christian for my beliefs. |
| Out of town |
| Out of town and cannot attend |
| travel or gatherings with non-UU friends or outdoor activities |
| Out-of-town for weekend or participating in RE Justice Sunday field trip |
| We are away visiting family or vacationing. |
| Traveling |
| Out of town travel |
| Seasonal- more likely to be out of town |
| lack of money for the collection plate |
| geographical concerns |
| when my son or I am sick |
| Out of town. |
| Travel |
| Signficant other is not UU |
| conflicts with work, family, and friends that take me out of town |
| Conflicts with other activities |
| A key part of worship for me is worship music and I have a really hard time connecting to the music. I enjoy feeling "into" music, and it is so tame and traditional -- hard to sing along with the organ, virtually no excitement. The choir music has so much effort put into and is nice, but it sounds like opera music more than it does upbeat worship music. Obviously, a personal preference, but an important one to me. |
| In a word: disappointment…. I belonged to a small group worship situation that ended badly, and there are a lot of unresolved feelings involved in that for me (and possibly for others). I wish there was some way to have some real "healing" or cleansing of the church for me, so that it didn't feel so complicated to attend and be involved. |
| Traveling out of town. |
| Out of town on that Sunday |
| I bristle every time I hear muddled thinking supporting the belief in a personal god. I want a congregation that offers a humanistic perspective. |
| 10:30am is not a very convenient time for me--too early on a Sunday morning. |
| out of town on weekends |
- posted by Bruce Hoppe @ 9:29 AM
