Both Uses of
congregation
in
A Thousand Acres
- He told us how he got to us, a fifty-year-old man rotated out of a big suburban church to our little town, and when he told us (didn't get along with the pastor, became impatient with some of the congregation, had doubts about how his earlier ambitions squared with his faith), he had spoken in a tone of voice that declared openly how moved he was by the crisis that resulted in his coming, but in fact, his confidences had resulted in embarrassment on all sides rather than something that felt like normal friendship.†
p. 208.8congregation = people who worship together in the same building
- His manner and performance often came up for discussion; the congregation was paying him, after all, which licensed us to discuss at will whether we were getting value for our money.†
p. 209.0 *
Definitions:
-
(1)
(congregation as in: the congregation voted) people who worship together in the same building
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Much more rarely, congregation can reference any group of people, animals, or things collected together.