It is difficult for priests. Services cannot stay the same decade after decade, all ages have to be considered . If there is a service and a family service the same morning then there is a choice . If not a regular church goer a priest dressed as Darth Vader would be a shock if expecting a priest in full garb giving a sermon, thinking more of it I would have liked to have heard his address to the children . Being positive, if it encourages children to attend church by not being dry and boring then possibly it was worth it.
Just managed to catch the service at a beautiful little church above Ullswater this morning. At Martingale. Lovely winding road up and good views back down.
We have matins at eight which is the usual Sunday morning service then at eleven we have the family service which is held for the children , my favourite in the year is the blessing of pets, we have cats, dogs, donkeys, mice, sheep , snakes , birds, the noise but the children love it
there was one other service at 8am. It was the 10am normal service - and no he didn't make the links adequately at all. Yes he tried too hard. We love to see the children on Christmas Morning and to sing the children's carols but this didn't work on any level.
Was it a family service Teetime? It is difficult trying to include children in the service , but the priest dressed as Darth Vader does seem extreme , he tried too hard
It was obviously a Christmas Day service put on primarily for the kids. There would have been other services earlier or later today, or yesterday, for the grown ups. Sounds like a good vicar to me. Why did you choose that service?
I bet he got a good talk about good conquering evil, out of the Star Wars theme.
DH and I don't go to church often but we really enjoy it and get something out of it in terms of refreshing our spirits etc etc. Today we went off to one of our favourite services. The church was reasonably full with families all was well. UNTIL-- the Rector walked in dressed as Darth Vader and it went downhill from there on with lego videos, light sabre fights and a Star Wars themed talk (not a sermon) and Jedi warrior 'moves'. We left half way through. This is why we don't go often. (C of E in case you were wondering).