M
I don't know about the rest of you, but sometimes I feel that the hardest place to be single is church. Sometimes it feels like church is an exclusive club for married couples or even seriously dating couples. Or just about any kind of couple.
I thought it might be fun for people to share any funny (or serious) stories on how they get treated differently as a single - it doesn't have to be about church, it's just that that's where I notice it the most.
Here's one of mine:
Two years ago, we got a new pastor and he had several get-to-know-the-pastor dinners (so it could be small groups instead of a huge mass of people). After dinner, he had everyone say one thing they thought the church was doing really well and one thing he thought needed improvement. I said that sometimes I felt like I didn't have a place in the church because I was single... so of course he immediately asked if I felt like they needed to start a singles' Sunday school class. Thankfully, someone else said "I think that tends to be men in their 50s hitting on the women in their 20s..." so that idea was scrapped. They also suggested a college class, which did end up getting created but then they moved the meeting times to a time when I busy (thanks guys). Anyway, one of the other men (married, of course) who was at this pastor dinner apparently felt so sorry for me being single that he would "encourage" me every time he saw me. He'd tell me all these analogies about waiting for the right person or he would grab my left hand and ask why there wasn't a ring yet. I was joking about it to his wife one day and she was able to put a stop to it. It's funny now but it really annoyed me then...
I thought it might be fun for people to share any funny (or serious) stories on how they get treated differently as a single - it doesn't have to be about church, it's just that that's where I notice it the most.
Here's one of mine:
Two years ago, we got a new pastor and he had several get-to-know-the-pastor dinners (so it could be small groups instead of a huge mass of people). After dinner, he had everyone say one thing they thought the church was doing really well and one thing he thought needed improvement. I said that sometimes I felt like I didn't have a place in the church because I was single... so of course he immediately asked if I felt like they needed to start a singles' Sunday school class. Thankfully, someone else said "I think that tends to be men in their 50s hitting on the women in their 20s..." so that idea was scrapped. They also suggested a college class, which did end up getting created but then they moved the meeting times to a time when I busy (thanks guys). Anyway, one of the other men (married, of course) who was at this pastor dinner apparently felt so sorry for me being single that he would "encourage" me every time he saw me. He'd tell me all these analogies about waiting for the right person or he would grab my left hand and ask why there wasn't a ring yet. I was joking about it to his wife one day and she was able to put a stop to it. It's funny now but it really annoyed me then...