Nate Heeren - Church Visit #3

Church name: Lawndale Christian Community Church

Church address: 3827 W. Ogden Ave, Chicago, IL 60623

Date attended: 11/01/15

Church category: Significantly lower socioeconomic demographic

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

For one, the building was different because it was located in a gym. It’s true that a church is not truly the building but rather the people, but the building still makes a difference. When the church is poorer, it can’t necessarily afford a dedicated building to call its very own, and I’m reminded that it’s important not to take the dedicated buildings of churches for granted. Although this visit is categorized as the socioeconomic demographic, the ethnic makeup distinction was also noteworthy--to be blunt, my regular church is nearly homogeneously white, while the congregation at Lawndale was mostly black.

In terms of similarity, there was the non-liturgical music component in a fairly contemporary style, a lengthy sermon, prayer, etc. Overall, I felt that this service was far more similar to my regular church experience than either of my other visits conducted for this class.

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

I really appreciated the musical component of the worship. Despite its limited resources for presentation (unlike many contemporary churches which can boast a professional musical staff, a plethora of instruments, and cutting edge technology to convey it), it was soulful and heartfelt. Its song selection ended up being very nostalgic for me--“Give Thanks” in particular. It may have been short, but it will stand out in my memory more than many a worship session.

I also appreciated being united in Christian fellowship with people outside of my normal context. It’s refreshing and encouraging to sit with, stand with, sing with, pray with, and take communion with believers whose situations are so very different from mine. It is evidence that God is working in more than just the world which I know, which can be easy to forget when you stay in the bubble.

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

Before I engage in this criticism, I am reminded of Dr. Lee’s tirade against essentially being too picky about our church experiences. I call it a tirade (and indeed it was prolonged denunciation), but it was both just and convicting: We should not make our own experience into an idol by consulting it first instead of God and his glory.

So, with that being said, I was not a fan of the sermon style. It was simple, and although the sermon integrated Scripture, its message was general enough to be non-unique to Christianity; I ultimately did not find it intellectually engaging. Yet I wonder if this sermon was what the congregation at large needed to hear more than a sermon I would have found more pleasing. Isn’t there a best-of-both worlds approach where the content can be intellectually stimulating and yet truly important and applicable?

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

To connect back to the musical component of the service, its unpolished nature reminded me of how God cares more about the state of our hearts than the quality and refinement of our presentation. It sounds obvious, but it’s easy for our behavior and major mode of thinking to disconnect from that truth and become warped. We can get caught up in our own elegance, but God exalts the humble, not the lofty. My experience at Lawndale helped illuminate that for me.

One man caught my eye during the singing: He had long hair and a colorful hat, and he was dancing as he sang. His dancing was perhaps less graceful than a student I’ve often seen dancing at chapel during worship. My initial reaction perceived this spectacle as silly and a little foolish. Yet it reminded me of David’s dancing as he brought up the ark, and the subsequent Michal’s scorn, where she criticized him of acting in an undignified manner. I was ready to think like Michal, and in my regular context I’m less aware of my own inclination to judge because the people are more like myself. It is yet another reminder of how God looks on the heart, and how we are prone to pride when we do not actively combat it.