Would you consider this a sign?

[D+C]

As has been documented elsewhere I am currently in the midst of a religious crisis. I have been a committed Christian for ten years and a lifelong church-goer in the Church of England, until I suffered a bit of a crisis three years ago when I became convinced of the need to belong to the historic, Apostolic church and began bouncing from church to church trying to find it.

My search has intensified since my grandmother passed away on Monday as I have been desperately longing to belong to a church. I have subsequently been asked to write and deliver the eulogy and choose the hymns for her funeral. In her will my grandmother had asked for one hymn inparticular to be part of the funeral, but I had never heard it.

So today I attended the Celebration of the Passion at my local Catholic Church. As I knelt waiting for the service to begin I prayed that I might find my way home. I know I shouldn't ask this sort of thing but I am weak, so I couldn't help but ask for some sort of sign that this was where I belonged.

At the very end of the service (which incidentally was very odd, the priest used the Homily to do nothing but criticise the new Good Friday liturgy), the final communion hymn was announced; it was the hymn my grandmother requested in her will, the hymn that in a lifetime of church attendance I had never heard before.

I don't want to read too much into this, but it seems a little churlish to pray for a sign and then ignore such a huge coincidence. Any thoughts?

God Bless,
D+C

 

[FriendlyJosh]

Sounds like a sign to me brother.

 

[WarriorAngel]

Sounds like your gram is working above in your way home. Perhaps put in some good words with the Lord.

 

[Winter]

Sounds like a sign to me. Your grandmother is trying to tell you something.

 

[D+C]

Thank you all, I appreciate the validation. My search is over.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Absolutely!

When God speaks to us, it's more often than not, through others and in this case, through your grandmother's intercessions on your behalf.


Follow Jesus, he'll lead you to where you should be.


God Bless
Jim

 

[Wolseley]

When you pray for God to open doors, and He opens them, all that remains is for you to walk through them.

 

[D+C]

Thank you to you all and happy easter! I enjoyed a beautiful Easter Mass this morning and I am feeling truly filled with the Spirit!

 

[D+C]

So a further (almost) four years on and I still haven't committed to the Catholic Church. I have just found found out today that my maternal grandmother (not the one whose funeral I attended in the posts above) has a psalter from the 16th century given to her family as a thank you for protecting Catholic priests in priest holes during the persecutions before and after the English Civil War. Amazing piece of family history I had no idea about, once more pointing me to the Church. Ready to listen this time.

 

[Colin]

Go ye into his gates with praise, into his courts with hymns: and give glory to him. Praise ye his name .

 

[Michie]

I'm curious what the hymn was that your grandmother requested.

 

[WarriorAngel]

God will keep pushing and pushing til you listen.
He is relentless... lol
Remember Jonah?
Yah, He doesnt give up.

 

[Rhamiel]

So today I attended the Celebration of the Passion at my local Catholic Church. As I knelt waiting for the service to begin I prayed that I might find my way home. I know I shouldn't ask this sort of thing but I am weak, so I couldn't help but ask for some sort of sign that this was where I belonged.

God loves you!
why do you think you should not ask Him to help you?

we are all so weak
ALL of us are so lost
and it is ONLY through His grace that we can have any hope

but He is a good Father
He is so merciful with us
NEVER be ashamed in asking Him for help!
you are so much wiser then many many people
so many people are filled with lying pride
and when they are hurt or lost
they do not ask for help

but you show your wisdom in asking God for help


as for finding an ancient psalter, that is amazing
remember that England did not just "naturally" become Anglican, Catholicism had to be beaten out of the people
and many brave English men and women risked their lives to support priests

here is a quote you probably know one of your countrymen
Cardinal Newman "to go deep in history is to cease to be protestant"

 

[concretecamper]

I like to call them God whispers

 

[GracetotheHumble]

I wouldn't consider it a sign, I would call it a coincidence.

Jesus said that a wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign.

Instead of seeking after signs you should read God's word and choose the church which closely matches up.

 

[Virgil the Roman]

He needs prayer and encouragement, not demeaning crypto-Lutheran chicanery.

 

[WarriorAngel]

People get signs all the time - and follow it.
As per the reference above about NOT giving a sign - that was explicit to the Pharisees who 'demanded' a sign.

 

[Bob Crowley]

..... My search has intensified since my grandmother passed away on Monday as I have been desperately longing to belong to a church. I have subsequently been asked to write and deliver the eulogy and choose the hymns for her funeral. In her will my grandmother had asked for one hymn inparticular to be part of the funeral, but I had never heard it.

So today I attended the Celebration of the Passion at my local Catholic Church. As I knelt waiting for the service to begin I prayed that I might find my way home. I know I shouldn't ask this sort of thing but I am weak, so I couldn't help but ask for some sort of sign that this was where I belonged.

At the very end of the service (which incidentally was very odd, the priest used the Homily to do nothing but criticise the new Good Friday liturgy), the final communion hymn was announced; it was the hymn my grandmother requested in her will, the hymn that in a lifetime of church attendance I had never heard before.

I don't want to read too much into this, but it seems a little churlish to pray for a sign and then ignore such a huge coincidence. Any thoughts?

God Bless,
D+C

Unless a "sign" is clearly miraculous, as were the sorts of "signs" that Christ performed, then they can usually be written off as coincidences by disinterested or uninterested or hostile parties. The difference is that you have a bias in this particular case, so you have to make the decision as to whether it was a "sign" or a "coincidence", unlikely as it was. After all a liturgy committee probably chose the hymns for the service, quite unaware a visitor would be desperately seeking to find a hymn he hadn't heard before. Was God involved in their choice? Your call.

Now I'll give one of my peculiar experiences, where I asked for a "sign".

I make the claim that the night my father died, he turned up in my room. He'd been very cruel. So he started by apologising for his lifetime cruelty, we argued and talked, and at the very end he gave this almighty scream. It was obvious something was coming for him, and his fear was so contagious I started to scream myself, yet all I could see was him. Then he just disappeared.

But he also made some predictions, some of which were pretty grim.

I won't go into them. Now he died in January 1979, which is quite some time ago. He also died at 1/7 Rivington Street, Nundah, which is a suburb in the north of Brisbane, Ausralia. He appeared in my flat at another suburb called Yeronga.

Now circa late 2005 I was driving a cab part time at night, when I happened to be in Rivington Street where he died. Years later, of course.

This led me to think about this episode, and so I prayed for a "sign" as to whether the things he said could be trusted or not. I got back this sense that I ought to know better than to ask for a "sign", but I persevered anyway.

It wasn't that cab shift, but I think the next cab shift when I was waiting at the Queen Street rank in the city, when eventually a bloke came up, a bit the worse for wear and a drink or three, hopped in the back, and just said "Nundah!" I replied, "Whereabouts in Nundah?" He sort of barked, "Just drive! I'll tell you where to go."

So off we went, and ended up at 6 Rivington Street, Nundah, right opposite the unit where my father died 17 years before, and a single cab shift after I'd asked for a "sign", but also getting the sense that I should know better.

As far as I was concerned, I got my "sign". The odds of getting a passenger to that particular address, given Brisbane's size was probably about one in half a million or less.

Now I regard it as a "sign", considering that other factors were all the other drivers, radio jobs, traffic lights, other possible passengers with other addresses, and that particular bloke wanting to go to that particular address. Even the way he barked "Just drive! I'll tell you where to go!" sort of gave me the impression that God was reluctantly giving me the "sign".

But a hardline atheist or rationalist would say that it was a fortuitous coincidence, and nothing more.

Same for you.

The real problem I had though was doubt, as to whether my father's apparition could be trusted. And your real problem is whether the Catholic Church can be trusted, not whether a particular hymn was sung at a particular time just when you were seeking a resolution as to how to find this particular hymn.

You need to make a decision regarding the Church - not pussyfoot around with "signs".

So sign up, and work through your doubts later.

That's what I did, and so have a lot of others. And very few of them have gone back again.

 

[GracetotheHumble]

People get signs all the time - and follow it.

The only sign that we need is that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. All else is mysticism.

Sheep follow false signs off cliffs.

 

[GracetotheHumble]

He needs prayer and encouragement, not demeaning crypto-Lutheran chicanery.

No, he needs to be pointed to the word of God and not chase after false signs.