Silas Helm – Church Visit #1

Church name: St. Michael Catholic Church

Church address: 310 S Wheaton Ave, Wheaton, IL 60187

Date attended: September 16, 2015

Church category: Significantly more liturgical

Describe the worship service you attended. How was it similar to or different from your regular context?

The worship service I attended was significantly from mine in a few ways. The first, and most prominent, was that it was Catholic. While the structure of the service was generally the same as College Church’s, the content and prupose of various elements was different. When I first entered, there were children with Holy Water with which I was supposed to cross my heart. You’re also supposed to kneel on the ground before you sit down in the pew. Throughout the service we sang hymns, heard scripture read, and prayed. There was also a sermon. Maybe it was because I visited on a weekday, but the teaching was more conversational. All the Catholic school children were also at mass. The passage we went through was from 1 Timothy 3:15, where Paul tells Timothy:

“but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”

The speaker cut the verse off at how to conduct oneself in the household of God. From there, he explained the important of respecting the church, the fact that Jesus is present in a tabernacle in the sanctuary (which is signified through the special candle), that you should silence your phones and not talk to your neighbors. I felt like I learned some interesting things about Catholicism, but didn’t hear what God’s word actually was referring to. This was very different from College Church, which values exegetical preaching, and explaining God’s word verse by verse.

What did you find most interesting or appealing about the worship service?

I really like the idea of mass. Especially thinking ahead to post-grad, it seems appealing to have a collective service each morning where believers come together to corporately proclaim their beliefs and realign their hearts toward truth. The regular service just seems like a good reminder that we need Christ every hour and that our faith is bigger than ourselves. I think that college makes it easy to personalize your faith and make it solely a relationship between yourself and God. But, Christianity is so much bigger than my faith, and mass was a good reminder of that.

What did you find most disorienting or challenging about the worship service?

I felt really out of place because I wasn’t sure when the kneel, what the appropriate responses where. The customs they did were not familiar to me. I wouldn’t say it was challenging (it was easy to just follow the other people, and few things felt unbiblical) but it was disorienting and very unfamiliar.

What aspects of Scripture or theology did the worship service illuminate for you that you had not perceived as clearly in your regular context?

The service illuminated the importance of grounded, prescribed texts. I value the importance of spontaneity and trusting on the Holy Spirit to guide our hearts in passionate worship. For some reason, mass (more than College Church, which isn’t charismatic, and more similar to mass than my preferred style of worship) reminded me that liturgical services show the steadfastness of Christ, that he is our Solid Rock, and that we can trust in Him. I’m not saying that spontaneous worship is bad, but should be balanced with routine- to remind believers of realities that remain true even when we aren’t “feeling it”.