Re: visiting ringers from Cambridge

["Don Morrison" <dfm ringing org>]

On 8/24/07, Laura Dickerson <lauradi erols com> wrote:
> early, because the services beforehand are ending early (my hypothesis
> is that so many people are away in August that fewer take communion,
> speeding up the process).

I think that's part of it in many churches but I think another part is
that preachers seem to always shorten their sermons in the summer.
Maybe 'cause of the heat, maybe because they think folks won't sit
still as long during holiday season, maybe because they don't want to
spend as much time writing them in holiday season? Also, in many
churches musical forces are reduced during the summer, which also
tends to speed things up a bit.

You see the same shortening in morning prayer parishes that don't
normally do communion at all, or in other denominations that don't
normally have communion. In fact, Old North is one of the few parishes
(or I think it's officially a mission of the diocese, not a parish)
that often has more communicants in the summer than the winter, since
so much of the congregation on any given Sunday is likely to be
visitors. I think Cape Code parishes also often have the same sort of
backwards demographics.



-- 
Don Morrison <dfm ringing org>, <dfm2 cmu edu>
"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn
from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent
disinclination to do so."      -- Douglas Adams, _Last Chance to See_