23rd November 2025

Community Church Edinburgh

my friend and i both arrived very late after grabbing a coffee & a hot choc from uplands respectively. walked in mid-hymn and quickly slipped into the flow of it all. worship was very simple, plain, and jesus-focused. it was also live-streamed, which is a first for me. the sermon focused on connectedness and belonging, both within & without church enviroment. included some very minor breathwork, also never seen before in a church(???). it was really strange as i had been attending a meditation retreat for the past two days which focused on very similar themes.

ratings

• aura

  -2/10 the setup at the front really reminded me of like an ikea room... string lights and plant pots. i think that's kind of charming in its own special way though

• holiness

  7/10 i cried quite a bit but because of my friend

• smell

  5/10 no comments

• community

  15/10 um really something special. when i walked in a member of the congregation had obviously made jam and was handing out little homemade jars to everyone they knew. lots of kids/teens around who seem honestly really willing to be there and as though they're legitmately enjoying their time. the community aspect is reflected in the seating arrangements -- it's all deeply informal and to some maybe messy but just legitimately connected. one woman invited the whole congregation to her coming wedding. my friend observed that theyre actually sometimes too tight-knit, and people kind of throw themselves at you if you're new in an attempt to overcome it. overall a wonderful thing to experience

• engagement

  7/10 good engaging preaching, really appreciated the addition of meditation/breathwork...? i think some protestant/non-denom services stumble in lacking some form of stimulus that other denoms (catholicism, ortho) place a great degree of emphasis on. so having this very physical form of worship was great

• sound

  5/10 sorry i just cant personally get with acoustic guitars but everyone involved was very skilled. not big on the hymns but they ahve been stuck in my head ever since sadly

• theology

  6/10 idk how to feel about non-denom jesus focus... sometimes it was a bit too much. but the content of the sermon itself was great -- a lot about what it means to belong, and how you can only really belong to anything (and to god) when you lose a lot of your preconcieved notions of self. i remember reading this random book in a church library in peterchurch in june that said similar, and it really deeply touched me then as this sermon did now.

• nice older ladies

  5/10 there were really nice women above the age of 30 but idk if they fall into this category

• special category: food

  8/10 bread was this nice kind of tiger bread. not real wine only grape juice :( they had a (very advertised) student lunch after which was honestly really good, chimichurri chicken tacos with a solid vegetarian alternative. would go for this alone. students were all very interesting, lovely people

  final score: 6.5/10

  i am going to go again for the student lunch

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