In many LDS church buildings, the building itself is big enough and has enough classrooms so that wards can overlap, meaning one ward can meet from 9am - noon and another can meet from 11am - 2pm. However, the church building we go to is quite small, so we cannot have wards overlap. And since there are 3 wards that share our church building that means that some wards have to meet at some pretty bad times. In fact, it is even tempting to say that all 3 wards have to meet at some pretty bad times.
When we first moved here, we had church from 8am - 11am. Church at 8am is terrible - it is almost like waking up to go to work during the week. I never thought that an hour made all that much difference, but 9am church is way, way better than 8am church. The really nice thing about having church in the morning is that you can make something really nice for dinner because you have the entire afternoon (you can even take a nap and still make something really nice for dinner). Plus, you can eat meals at normal mealtimes.
Then in 2007 we switched to meet from 11:30am - 2:30pm. This time was much better when it comes to getting ready for church because it was nice to be able to sleep in and lounge around while getting ready. But, if we ate breakfast at 9am, we still weren't hungry for lunch before church - however after being there for an hour or so, we were starving! Even if we put off eating breakfast until later, we were too hungry to eat breakfast any later than 10am, and by about 1:30pm or 2pm our tummies were growling pretty loudly to go home home and eat something. Once we got home we would just eat whatever we could prepare the fastest, or whatever was the most convenient. However, this meant that since we were eating lunch around 3pm, we weren't hungry for dinner until around 8pm and by that time, you don't really want to cook anything. So, 11:30 - 2:30 church is terrible when it comes to a meal schedule.
This year we have the worst church time ever - we meet from 3pm - 6pm. The reason this is so terrible is because you seriously lounge around all day almost. In fact, there have been quite a few times when we have lounged so much, that we lost track of time and were still late to church! In fact, it is my opinion that it is easier to be late to afternoon church than to morning church. But with church so late in the day, it really feels like nothing gets accomplished the entire day. And dinner is a nightmare - we are starving when we get home (usually around 6:30) and unless we have set up a crockpot meal to be ready when we walk in the door (which - I don't have very many crockpot recipes that I really like and I even have a whole crockpot cookbook!) then it is a pain to cook when we are so hungry and have to wait for food to be ready.
Is there a perfect church time? I am tempted to say that if there is, it is probably to have church start at either 9am or 10am. That way you get to sleep in a little longer than usual during the week and take more time getting ready than you do during the week, but meals can still take place at decent times.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
The perfect church time?
Posted by Julie at 12:54 PM
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6 comments:
While I mostly agree, we currently have church at 11:30 and it works out pretty well for us. We get up early due to having children, so breakfast is usually 8ish, and then we eat a light lunch at 10:30, have a quick snack when we get home at 3pm, and have dinner at 5-6 like normal. Church always seems to conflict with nap times though, so there's always at least one kid who is cranky and over-tired.
As for food, have you tried setting the delay timer on your oven so that it cooks while you are gone? I've used that before and been please. Or...even better...you should come over to our house as soon as church is over and we'll have dinner waiting for you! Love ya!
My parents have the same problem in Spring. They had church at 8am until their ward got split on Sunday. Now they have 10:30. They would agree with you that 3-6 is the worst. I can't even imagine that - especially with kids. Thank goodness you get to switch times every year!
All through high school I had church from 3-6 pm and it was the worst ever!!! I always felt like Sundays were a wasted day!! I would sleep in until noon (I was a teenager) and spend the rest of the day getting ready for church!! I am sooo sorry!!
I wrote on your facebook wall already, but I am FINALLY moving away from Tampa tomorrow so I will try to call you sometime next week after I have settled in. I need to get back to loading my car! I am soooooo excited for it to be over!!! On anthother note, I think that I am really excited for you too, but I need to make sure my theory about you and Justin is correct first. :)
The delay timer on ovens is definitely the answer. Last year we had chruch from 1-4, but never got home until 5 or later due to meetings, choir practice, etc. We started putting baked potatoes in the oven and setting the timer before we left. When we came home, we would have baked potatoes ready, and I would just pull out toppings - chili, cheese, veggies (broccoli, tomatoes, onions), sour cream... you get the point. It worked out well and was our standard Sunday meal for a while.
Now we have church from 9-12, but we still are rushing to get a decent lunch into the kids before they crash for naps. I think it's hard no matter what time you have church.
I went to church from 4-7pm when I was 10-12 years old! Fast Sundays were horrible because you couldn't eat until you got home from church! And with kids, there is no such thing as a good time for church. My son takes a nap every morning from 9-12, but that's when we have church, so he is cranky the entire time! It's horrible.
I guess the solution would be to become Catholic, but I don't think that is an option, however tempting it may be :-) Maybe just until the kids are older???
ha ha!! I too have to aggree that the perfect church time is 9AM. For me - the kids don't have time to irritate each other and get into arguements before we leave. They wake up, get dressed up, eat cereal, and we are out the door!! I saw your parents tonight at a reception! I am so happy for you! (hee hee)
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