We were at church in Thoresway this morning - just six in the congregation plus organist and priest. Apparently everyone is away for the bank holiday. (Does this mean that churches in the Lake District, Snowdonia, the Scottish Highlands, Provence and the Algarve full during holiday periods?)

I came back to find my father watching the service from Wesley's Chapel in London just in time to hear them singing How Great Thou Art in various languages from around the world which reminded me of our last holiday in Wales where the congregation was invited to join in the Lord's Prayer in their own choice of language (in that case English, Welsh and Dutch). The singing was very moving, especially when the congregation all raised their numerous national flags during the final refrain - a brilliant way of putting across the Pentecost message.

That service also included the baptism of a baby - Ellie Rose - who had a wonderful sense of occasion and behaved as though she really understood that something momentous was happening. I loved the way that the parents and godparents were all addressed by name, and that the minister carried Ellie Rose round the chapel so that all the congregation - those not in the gallery at any rate - could greet her personally, although I do realise that this would not always work as well as it did on this occasion. The baby baptised at Swallow last Sunday, for example, had clearly taken a dislike to the nasty lady who poured water on his head and decided to have a good yell as long as he remained in her arms.

I don't yet know the Common Worship form of baptism well enough to be certain of the details, but it struck me that the form of words used at the Wesley Chapel had a simplicity and directness which is sometimes lacking in church services. I thought that the various attempts since the 1920s to modernise the language of worship were (apart from more complex doctrinal purposes) supposed to make it all more comprehensible, but it seems to me that usually all that has been achieved on that level is to raise the hackles of the traditionalists and confuse those occasional church-goers who remember certain prayers and responses from childhood, without ever getting to grips with the rhythm and vocabulary of modern spoken English.

Going back to last Sunday's baptism, one thing those of us who are regular church-goers must remember next time we have a church full of irregulars is to get there in good time and - whatever duties we may have in the way of meeting and greeting, bell-ringing, handing out hymn books etc. - spread our coats and handbags across the front pews to reserve ourselves places. This is not the selfish act it at first seems, but one of charity to the whole congregation who need to be given a lead on when to sit, stand and kneel, rather than have them looking around and gradually following suit as in some sort of ill-regulated and embarrassed Mexican wave.

I remember it was explained to me some long time ago that we kneel in supplication and penitance, sit for instruction and stand for praise. However, you do need to know what comes next before being able to follow that simple rule, so it is much easier to follow someone at the front who is au fait both with proper form and local practice.

We also need better ways to help the children in the congregation keep quiet and occupied during the more difficult parts of the service: we have suitable colouring sheets, but now we need some clipboads and someone to invent crayons that don't clatter so much.