My mom did not attend hers, due to a work conflict. I found that interesting, but she said their attendance was great. "There were so many people there from the public, they didn't have enough seats for them! People were standing in the hallway!... of course, I think the MEMORIAL is the strangest thing to invite people to. If that is your first time at a KH, you would think it was very strange..."
Our recent (last fall) visits to 2 different KH Sunday meetings, were of the same level of friendliness you describe. About 5 years ago, when we entered a KH for the first time here, we were love-bombed and swarmed with people, wanting to meet us and know who we were. But not this time! (relievingly so...)
We went to a meeting, and no one greeted us at all. The meeting commenced, and I realized I'd forgotten our song book. The lady behind us lent us hers. When I returned it to her after the meeting, she said, "Where are you from?" When I told her we were just visiting after not attending for a long time, she made no comment. I said, "This seemed like a good time to come and catch up on things." (it was the new light about 1914 and the wheat/weeds parable, and the timeline... extremely bizarre and jarring meeting to observe). She smiled widely and merely said, "Oh yes! It was a good one!"
We scurried out of there, while they all gathered for field service. Not one other person said a word to us, or even glanced in our direction. We were properly dressed, and we even had the "right" Bibles. We'd expected to see people we knew, but none of the 3 families were there for that new prophetic revelation.
It was a relief that we didn't have to explain ourselves or talk to anyone, but also a disappointment... My parents really fell in love with that concept of a worldwide brotherhood. I wonder what kind of greeting they get, when they visit KH's out of town now. Of course, my dad is a salesman, so he will just go up and introduce himself to people, to the embarrassment of my mother.
Thanks for sharing your experience! The atmosphere in the KH has definitely changed over the last few years. It ALWAYS has felt more like a funeral home, but now the people seem even more robotic and scared... but that's just my outsider's observation.
