Claire
Senior Member
Posts: 489
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Post by Claire on Jul 24, 2008 8:13:48 GMT -5
Anyone have anything to share?
Inspiring messages from the platform ? Workers visiting from those faraway places with strange-sounding names?
Hey, even the jam. Was there, or was there not, *blueberry* jam on the tables ?
Would I be able to find my way around Gortaloughan after so many years ? (14 and counting).
does absinthe indeed make the heart grow fonder?
/c who is back on caffeine today and feeling a lot chirpier ... maybe even slightly on the o/d side.
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Post by deirdre on Jul 24, 2008 12:20:12 GMT -5
You make me smile My parents are at convention now, and I know almost exactly what they are doing, eating, even hearing... btw not in Gortaloughan, but in Putten.
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Post by e6x91i1 on Jul 30, 2008 13:29:14 GMT -5
Anyone have anything to share? Inspiring messages from the platform ? Workers visiting from those faraway places with strange-sounding names? Hey, even the jam. Was there, or was there not, *blueberry* jam on the tables ? Would I be able to find my way around Gortaloughan after so many years ? (14 and counting). does absinthe indeed make the heart grow fonder? /c who is back on caffeine today and feeling a lot chirpier ... maybe even slightly on the o/d side. Seems not much happened at conventions this year judging by the way this thead failed to gasp a third breath. All my family were at conventions in different places but haven't shared anything with me. Does this mean that because I am no longer part of the fellowhip that I have no desire to hear things that feed the soul? Can anybody that is currently in the fellowship tell me why they would not discuss spiritual matters with an ex? You'd think I could answer the question myself having been part of it for so long but the truth is, I didn't ever really come across "exes" often. And Caith, all the jam is bought from Lidl these days. Cheaper, great flavour and not seemingly possible to buy rhubarb and ginger. Hurrah. And yes, you'd find your way around Gortaloughan alright but you may be surprised at the vast scale of improvements that have taken place since John Reid's time. It's not possible to pass the place off as a farm now as there is no livestock or land other than a field beside the house and the field across the road, both of which are required for parking. The sheds are not used for any kind of light industry even so it's difficult to argue that the place is anything but a purposely maintained place where the sole use is that of a place of worship. I guess much the same could be said of Monaghan and Cork too.
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Post by Multitude on Jul 30, 2008 17:45:50 GMT -5
Ah, good old Gortaloughan ..... I wonder do they still fly the old red flag there? And do they still run two sittings with the women in first while the men stand uncomfortably outside discussing cuckoos and curlews and the dear old fermanagh weather? Is it still a liberal 'oul place where the great unwashed are almost welcomed and even outcasts have been known to find a place to pray? Are there still pretty girls from the west in long summer dresses with lovely lilting accents and curious smiles? Plum jam and cake and long country lanes that seemed to go on forever on warm summer evenings ...... I think I may have left my heart there!
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Claire
Senior Member
Posts: 489
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Post by Claire on Jul 31, 2008 1:25:41 GMT -5
... haven't shared anything with me. ... would not discuss spiritual matters with an ex? Maybe try to think of gentle reasons ? Have you asked them ? Perhaps they're just out of their comfort zone. I had chemo some years ago and it was amazing how differently people behaved once my hair took itself all. All shifty-eyed ... no jokes in my presence ... concerned looks on faces ... and etc. They simply didn't know what to say - in the face of what might be a terminal illness. Some had the experience (or the personality) to ask direct questions, but others danced around the subject and we never really got anywhere because they didn't want to ask The Question. In the end I threw caution to the winds and would proactively tell people "No, I'm not dying", but even that was too much for some ... There were those who would rather have pretended it wasn't happening at all - and who was I to hold them up-close to reality and say "LOOK". and we range from the normal to the truly wierd. so my memories ... of green fields all around ... of picking wild-strawberries on the road-side are simply that. /pause for sentimental memory moment/
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Post by jsjfel7 on Jul 31, 2008 15:07:09 GMT -5
... haven't shared anything with me. ... would not discuss spiritual matters with an ex? Maybe try to think of gentle reasons ? Have you asked them ? Perhaps they're just out of their comfort zone. I had chemo some years ago and it was amazing how differently people behaved once my hair took itself all. All shifty-eyed ... no jokes in my presence ... concerned looks on faces ... and etc. They simply didn't know what to say - in the face of what might be a terminal illness. Some had the experience (or the personality) to ask direct questions, but others danced around the subject and we never really got anywhere because they didn't want to ask The Question. In the end I threw caution to the winds and would proactively tell people "No, I'm not dying", but even that was too much for some ... There were those who would rather have pretended it wasn't happening at all - and who was I to hold them up-close to reality and say "LOOK". and we range from the normal to the truly wierd. so my memories ... of green fields all around ... of picking wild-strawberries on the road-side are simply that. /pause for sentimental memory moment/ Oh, I asked some of the conversationally how the conventions went, what did they hear that stayed with them. A few mumbles and then talked about something else. I'm beyond hope y'see. I had the temerity to tell one of the family that I'm at peace with myself and that is incomprehensible to one that is a fully signed up member. There are still many green fields around Gortaloughan but they don't belong to the owners of the convention grounds. Never saw any wild strawberries but you probably scoffed them all before I got there. And I'm sure you managed the clumsy, ignorant and even both, with aplomb when they found your appearance challenging.
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Post by caithunlogged on Aug 1, 2008 0:08:37 GMT -5
so time to join the Mad Aunts in the Attic society ?
/caith whose favourite 'management' technique is "avoid avoid".
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Post by happy exe on Aug 2, 2008 11:31:19 GMT -5
...what would your response have been if they told you all that was said at convention?
Would you honestly have welcomed some spiritual food? would you have understood it still?
Would you have posted it here with derogatory comments?
I mean, just look at your response to them NOT sharing anything!
Truthfully, now, would you really want to hear again?
Why not build yourself a life with meaning, give to the poor, spare a few hours a week for charity work, read, travel, look at other cultures, find out what you want and GO FOR IT!
Just don't hanker after what you have lost/ left unless it was worth it.
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Post by hbd1qy3 on Aug 2, 2008 14:48:37 GMT -5
...what would your response have been if they told you all that was said at convention? Would you honestly have welcomed some spiritual food? would you have understood it still? Would you have posted it here with derogatory comments? I mean, just look at your response to them NOT sharing anything! Truthfully, now, would you really want to hear again? Why not build yourself a life with meaning, give to the poor, spare a few hours a week for charity work, read, travel, look at other cultures, find out what you want and GO FOR IT! Just don't hanker after what you have lost/ left unless it was worth it. Well, since I asked the question, I'm certain had the response been food and not discared wrapping, I obviously would have welcomed it. Would I understand it still? I'm not certain what you mean but I would certainly understand something that was straightforward encouragement to help me in my daily walk with God. I do not post derogatory comments. I have no interest in fellowship-bashing in general and scroll past the posters that do. I have issues of course, that led to my exit, otherwise I'd still be part of the fellowship but my issues are with specific people reagrding specific incidents. Having said that, it is easier to see the problems with doctrine when outside than when inside so it is unlikely that I would have left the meetings without the catalyst. And of course, searching the scriptures and working out your own salvation takes on a rather different meaning when outside. I don't hanker after what I have left. I like to share thoughts from whatever source that strengthens my purpose. Even the workers sometimes have little golden nuggets as indeed might a roman catholic priest. Just because I do not agree with their doctrines and rules does not mean that a person earnestly seeking to serve God as best they know how, cannot have a word or thought to encourage. I'm not sure what you mean about my response when they didn't share. It is a genuine question. Is there something instinctive within the people that prevents them from "casting their pearls before swine" or perhaps a resentment that an ex has rejected something they hold dear? I'd be interested to hear.
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Post by happy exe on Aug 3, 2008 11:31:26 GMT -5
Your post sounds over critical to me, and negative. Pardon me if i am mistaken.
I may have missed the genuine plea for fellowship!!
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Post by happyinnie on Aug 4, 2008 12:25:06 GMT -5
LOVE IS THE KINGDOM"S BANNER
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Post by CherieKropp on Aug 5, 2008 6:47:42 GMT -5
What can anyone tell me about the Carrick convention? Do they still hold it?
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Post by its like this on Aug 5, 2008 7:36:31 GMT -5
Dear old Carrick is still on and is held on the same weekend as Fermanagh. A lot of the young folk gravitate there. It has changed hands in the reasonably recent past and been tidied up a bit - necessary work, that is - nothing to the degree of Fermanagh. The new owners have close family connections in the work.
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Post by irvinegrey on Aug 6, 2008 10:28:46 GMT -5
I found myself attending the Gortaloughan convention back in the late 50s with my grandmother, Minnie Crowe. Here I was a young boy of 12 who had been saved in March 1958 at a mission in a small Methodist Church in Killadeas about eight miles away.
I remember so well some of the workers Matt Breen, Nat Stevenson, Joshua Gamble. Florrie Walker and others. Even at that early stage I was saddened by their obsurantist stance on that they believed no one could be saved unless through them.
There was a complete lack of passion or conviction in their preaching. There was nothing of the idea of 'preach as a saved sinner to those that are lost'.
On the plus side the stew was marvellous. I also attended another convention Carnteel, the home of Wilson Reid.
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Post by molester at conv on Aug 9, 2008 13:00:14 GMT -5
Heard that the child molestor was at an Irish Convention.
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