Theodora Beschel- Church Visit #1

Church name: Church of the Resurrection

Church address: Hill Elementary School

724 Pennsylvania Ave

Aurora, IL 60506

Date attended: 09/13/2015

Church category: More liturgical 

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

The worship service at Church of the Resurrection was far more liturgical than the service I usually attend. There was far more call and response reading than my normal church. Along the same vein, the prayer in general was much more structured. Usually the prayer at my church is improvised by the speaker. At the beginning of the service, procession was much more formal than I was used to. I was not accustomed to seeing the official garb and hats of the priests. Additionally, the use of incense was new. Some of the worship songs were familiar to me as well as the general feel of worship. I felt comfortable with the physical expression of worship (such as raising hands, clapping etc.). The apparel was also familiar to me, a business casual sort of dress code.

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

To my surprise, I sincerely enjoyed the structured, call and response prayers. This particular period of my life holds much confusion and struggling with difficult questions regarding faith. I found shelter in prayers which spoke into the difficulties of my heart, yet did not rely upon me to develop them. I felt great peace being able to connect to Christ even in a time of spiritual weakness. It also brought me a great sense of community to pray aloud with the congregation around me. In my normal prayer experience, one person prays and everyone else more or less simply listens to the one prayer and lifts it up quietly. Joining in voice with fellow Christians around me to lift up one prayer, one supplication to the Lord our God moved me greatly. It brought me comfort to know the Holy Spirit is not only working in my heart, but in those around me. This reaffirmed my trust in the Lord and his sovereignty.

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

The service I attended was unusual in that it was dedicated to the ordination of a deacon. The affirmation of the church hierarchy within several confessions by the deacon being ordained was by far the most difficult part of the service for me. Phrases such as “…Bishop, and other chief Ministers, who, according to the Canons of the Church, may have charge and authority over you…” stuck out to me strongly because of my unfamiliarity with a rigid hierarchy of leadership. All the churches I have attended have been, if not independent, only loosely affiliated with broader denominational associations. Such submission to higher church leadership stirs in me stories of past tragedies such as the Crusades which happened under the auspices of the Catholic Church. I recognize this connection crumbles under closer inspection, yet that initial rejection of strict hierarchy was still present during the service.

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

One aspect of theology which the service reinforced was the fact that Jesus Christ and the Holy Scripture have everything necessary for salvation. Several times throughout the service phrases such as “only through the holy blood of Jesus Christ” and even more bluntly “the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament… contain all things necessary for salvation” were repeated. Although my regular church preaches this as well, the constant repetition and qualification that “we can­­­­_____, but only by the help of God” helped reinforce the idea that salvation can only be achieved through Jesus Christ. Longer sermons help clarify how to live out the gospel, however, for me at least, they also bring about a sense of power over my salvation. Occasionally after sermons I feel as if I change my ways, even righteously such as praying more or treating others with more love, I will become more holy. Church of the Resurrection constantly reminded me that salvation is not through my works or deeds, but rather the grace of Christ.

Rachel Thomson - Church Visit #1

Church name:   Our Lady of Mercy

Church Address:  701 S Eola Rd, Aurora, IL 60504

Date attended:  9.19.2015

Church Category:  More Liturgical (Catholic)/+10 mi. away

Evening mass at Our Lady of Mercy was significantly different than the worship services I am used to attending.  The service consisted of a structured and rehearsed schedule of standing up, listening to recitation, singing, sitting down, listening to written prayer, standing up, recitation of creeds, singing hymns, sitting down, and a continued procession of combinations of the following.  Although there is a format and general flow to the services I usually attend, this experience was very much heightened in that regard. In addition, the “vibe” of mass at Our Lady of Mercy, characterized by what seemed like either apathy or reservation, was vastly different than the emotionally charged experience I normally have every Sunday.  This curious apathy manifested itself in an almost complete lack of singing, wearily-read scriptures and creeds, and a general sense of duty bringing the congregation to mass.

I definitely found the liturgical and ritualistic practices the most appealing part of the service.  I could feel the rich history of the church in the traditions and symbolic gestures made by the priest throughout the service.  I was reminded that although the church is a fallen entity like any other, God is still present with her and faithful to her.  Practices such as the washing of the communion cups in holy water and the recitation of the Nicene Creed helped me to place the church in time and to also show awe and respect for the God that is constant throughout time.  In addition, mass at Our Lady of Mercy gave me a corporate perspective of worship, almost necessitating unity with the congressional recitation and prayer.

As mentioned before, the most disorienting aspect of the worship service was the general sense of apathy.  From the body language and facial expressions of most in the congregation, I detected little interest in the message given by the priest or in any aspect of the service for that matter.  Judging from the large amount of people who were eager to leave before the last song, it appeared that most were “checking the box” and had no intention of applying the message on Christ’s humility to their daily lives.  Even the priest read in such a way devoid of any passion or conviction as if numbed by years of unresponsiveness. This was saddening and disorienting because I recognized the rich value liturgy in the Catholic Church.  My experience with mass at Our Lady of Mercy has no direct bearing on the Catholic tradition as a whole, but was upsetting all the same.

As mentioned before, the observance of rituals illuminated the importance of the church’s history throughout time.  In my current church, there is a strong and needed focus on growing the body of Christ by reaching out to those in our immediate community and context that might not be familiar with the personal and all-loving God that we serve.  I absolutely love the mission of my church and find importance in the theology of loving neighbor, but Our Lady of Mercy also illuminated the importance of looking not only out to others but back to the history of the church, and the journey she has been through.  It brought to mind the conversation from class involving our place in culture.  In some ways, I think a fault with this Catholic Church is that they have not adapted well to their current cultural context, possibly resulting in some of the boredom and apathy mentioned previously.  On the other hand, I also recognized the universality found in the Catholic Church due to the similarities of liturgy and rituals throughout culture and time.  Perhaps this serves to unite the body of Christ in the way that other traditions may not be able to. Although I was not familiar with specifics and may not agree with all that they confirm, I was impacted by a place laden with such symbolism and theological depth.

Daniel Phelps - Church Visit #2

Church name: First Hmong Alliance Church

Church address: 361 Marion Ave, Aurora, IL

Date attended: September 19, 2015

Church category: Different ethnic background

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

The worship service was very similar to services that I have been exposed to, with some exception. There was a before-service Sunday School for adults, which have not typically been a part of my church experience, but are not a foreign idea. To start the service off, they also had a business meeting. I was not used to that. In my church experience either the business side of church is unmentioned, or there are separate sessions for anyone interested in attending. That was probably the biggest difference. After that, everything was pretty standard: worship, prayer, scripture reading, titheing, and a sermon. Overall, there was not too much I found atypical.

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

I think the most appealing thing I found about the service was getting to see the unique culture revealed in front of me. All the men in the church shook my hand as soon as they saw me, reminding me, actually, of the culture I grew up in in Kazakhstan. I liked seeing the community of people finding their niche in the body of the church by coming together and sharing their culture. This was perhaps most evident by the language of the sermon. I have been to many churches that have used translators for special services or even sing songs in different languages. Here, however, there was no translator, rather the people on stage spoke a mix of Hmong and English. Depending on the age of the speaker, the language would favor either more Hmong or more English. I just thought it was really cool that in this way they could communicate on a more personal level with people of all ages within the church.

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

I found the language issue a little disorienting. I could not really follow along what was being said often when the pastor would switch back from English and Hmong. It made it hard to really pay attention. Other than that, it was somewhat strange to be an absolute minority. I am mixed and I grew up in a different country, going to an international school, so being a minority is nothing new to me. However, usually there was no clear ethnic majority around me, or if there was, it was white or Chinese. Going to this church, I felt a little more separated because I have no conception of what it is like to be Hmong in America. There was a clear cultural structure that I could not follow.

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

This may not be super theological, but I actually appreciated the business meeting and talk of church elections at the beginning of the service. Leaders of the church are often told to be blameless, and I think that a key aspect of that is as much transparency as possible. Having public meetings in front a whole body I think gives a lot more accountability.

Other than that, I think that I saw the beauty of coming together as one identity and putting it under Christ's Lordship. I think the worship is really the most beautiful when the body of Christ sheds its labels and factions and comes together as one. I love that even being in a different, awkward, cultural context, I can also worship the one true God. Even if I cannot communicate with many of the members at the church, I can worship with them. That definitely stood out to me.

Allison Collins- Church visit #1

Allison Collins – Church visit #1

Church name: Second Baptist

Church address: 1520 Avery Ave. Wheaton, IL 60187

Date Attended: September 13, 2015

Church category: Different racial demographic

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

I attended worship at Second Baptist Church in Wheaton. The congregation is almost entirely African American. On the Sunday that I went, there were only three people at the service who were not black, there was one white couple and myself. It was evident that there was a bond and sense of family among the people who attended much more than I have ever experienced at my home churches. At churches that I attend the greeting part of the service is very short and does not go beyond a hand shake and hello. There the greeting portion lasted for several minutes and the whole congregation was milling about the sanctuary having real conversations because they actually knew one another. During the teaching portion of the service the preacher did not use any notes but spoke from his memory with energy and passion which I am not accustomed to.  

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

The teaching time was typical of what one might expect from a southern Baptist church. The preacher was boisterous and charismatic. As he spoke it was clear that the congregation was engaged because of their vocal indicators of assent. It was this enthusiasm and passion for the word of God that was appealing to me. The people had an excitement and joy about what the pastor was bringing to them. We always affirm that the bible is living and active and something to be excited about, but to me they embodied it and lived that out more than I had seen in a church before. I heard a pastor say once that it is a crime to make church boring because we do not serve a boring God. Instead we serve the creator of the universe who is worthy of awe. They seemed to grasp this more than other people I know and worship with.

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

The aspect of the service that was most disorienting for me was the level of participation that the congregation has at Second Baptist. For all of the guests who are visiting they take a portion of the service where each guest is given an opportunity to speak and introduce themselves to the church and share what brought them there on that Sunday. It was abundantly clear that I was a visitor. I stood out like a sore thumb, but I was too scared to raise my hand and speak to the congregation so I said nothing and they all graciously ignored my lack of participation. I am used to attending church in a more anonymous context and this was so far out of my comfort zone.   

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

I think Second Baptist did a great job of modeling to me what the bible says that it means to be the church and the body of Christ. The people of the congregation were warm and welcoming. From the moment I rode up on my bike (my mode of transportation prompted a few comments) they greeted and welcomed me. The church members really knew each other as people and not just superficially. Though in not being a part of it was uncomfortable for me, their practice of a lengthy time of greeting and fellowship in the service was genuine and showed their love for one another. I think that the churches that I am accustom to talk about being the body of Christ much more than they put it into practice but the people of Second Baptist Church in Wheaton got it.  

Nate Heeren - Church visit #1

Church name: St. Michael Catholic Church

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

Date attended: 9/20/2015

Church category: Significantly more or less liturgical

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

Since I am coming from a conservative nondenominational Protestant background, this worship service felt extremely different from my normal experience. The sermon is generally the main focus of my regular service (and most evangelical services, I would imagine), receiving a hefty chunk of the service’s time, but this was not so for the Catholic mass. Although it was one of the few portions of the service which felt original, it also felt more like an afterthought in the scheme of things--less of a filling meal and more of a quick snack. The Catholic service was also much more liturgical, and there wasn’t a hint of contemporary worship in it. However, although I had not attended a Catholic service before this in at least four years, it felt rather familiar because of circumstances having led to my attending Anglican services for close to half of the summer. It is remarkable how similar the two types felt to each other, so that in many ways they were indistinguishable.

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

It was fascinating to me how almost everyone was able to anticipate the process of the service despite the frequent lack of clear directions, and so more often than not I found myself following whatever everyone else did. Undoubtedly they had repeated these steps of the mass so many times that they were entirely memorized. It would certainly explain the lack of clear directions, because why give instructions when 95% or more of those attending know precisely what will come next and how to react? It wasn’t so much that I could not entirely follow, but the transition times were too fast for one so unfamiliar. It made me wonder if this was how an outsider might feel at the sort of Protestant churches I’ve regularly attended in my life, but I don’t think that’s the case. Our rituals are fewer and less commonly performed, and there’s generally less variety in their specific rules.

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

For one, I am ill-disposed toward most forms of liturgy (yes, even the ones expanding in chapel), as I was raised outside of liturgical practice other than the occasional instance of communally speaking passages of the Bible. I have difficulty staying focused and not becoming mind-numbingly bored during liturgy-heavy services, so this Catholic service was most certainly a challenge. With everything feeling like a rote process and without a substantial sermon to chew on, I felt difficulty in engaging with the service. It was also unusual to me to see so many of members of the congregation who seemed utterly disengaged with the service, yet obviously attended faithfully each Sunday. The degree was far beyond what I normally detect at Protestant service with a long and boring sermon, for those generally have elements such as contemporary worship to provide a jolt of life to otherwise withering congregants. I wondered to myself if it merely appeared this way, or if I was perhaps biased in my perception.

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

Part of the sermon drew from the Book of Wisdom, which I do not consider Scripture, so I cannot claim illumination in that regard except as it highlights a substantial divide between Catholics and most Protestants. I did appreciate the rather more personal way that they carried out the Eucharist, where the church body’s members serve one another rather than the impersonal passing of the plates of bread and wine. While I certainly don’t subscribe to the doctrine of transubstantiation, I think there is something to the Catholic method in terms of emphasizing the importance of taking regular communion and treating it with great reverence which we Protestants can be prone to forget. However, I’m not sure if their process suggests that priests are acting in a mediating role for the Eucharist, something I would find problematic. I suppose it bears further investigation.

Rachel Poel - Church Visit #1

Dr. Lee - Church Visit #1

Church name: St. Michael Catholic Church

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

Date attended: 19 September 2015 (vigil mass for Sunday)

Church category: Significantly more or less liturgical

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

I attended a Saturday night mass.  My friend and I bypassed the holy water with respectful confusion and grabbed bulletins. We crept into the back bench between two middle-aged women who smiled pityingly at us and turned down another kneeler for us. The church was almost full. The congregation ranged from infants to elderly couples, but every single person I saw was white. 

A soaring soprano was singing Latin choral music when we entered. If I remember correctly, she was followed by a scripture, singing, prayer, homily, creeds, more scripture, the eucharist, and a recessional hymn.  It was especially interesting to see the application of theological conflicts I'd studied in high school.  For example, the vicar presented the wafer as "the Son of God" and prayed for the soul of a recently deceased parishioner.

The aesthetic and structure of the mass felt like a deliberate opposite to my home church.  My church meets in a middle-school cafeteria with a color scheme of plum, orange, and avocado; the mass took place in a spacious sanctuary with a blue dome and wooden pews.  My church has a microphone on the drums; the mass used only an organ. My church holds communion after the sermon about once a month; the eucharist dominated the second half of the mass. The group readings did feel familiar from my home church and from my grandparents' CRC churches, but we do not dwell on them as much or as reverently. Overall, I felt like a spectator to a lovely demonstration of piety, but I missed the doctrine of my church's 45-minute expositional sermon and the enthusiasm of my church's congregation in joining the worship.

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

I savored the physicality of the worship experience.   The music was not loud, but it was deeply lovely.  The shape and height of the sanctuary reminded me of European cathedrals I saw when I lived in Germany.  The  rituals seemed to visually demonstrating the different parishioners' participation in the body of Christ.  Fathers knelt quietly at the entrances to their pews before herding a stray child in behind them.  Squirming kindergarteners knelt beside their moms and propped their elbows on the pews in front of them. Octagenarians traced their fingers through the holy water. These physical actions seemed to affirm that God created us both as physical and as spiritual. I am taking Philosophy of the Arts this semester, and I explain a lot of my love for literature in its ability to incarnate perspectives, so I relished this practical blending of beauty and faith.  

I also enjoyed the way the service left space for contemplation and the way the mystery of the ritual provoked reverence.  

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

The homily frustrated me. Perhaps 300 people sat attentively to hear God's truth preached, and the vicar spent the brief sermon speaking slowly and elegantly about the vice and virtue of ambition.  I don't remember him explicitly speaking of God or of our salvation during the whole message.  I know this emphasis on the gospel is unique not just to my reformed background but to my church's specific background, but I expected the homily to at least provide hope or purpose for our obedience based in some sort of theology. Instead, it seemed like a lecture on ethics.

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 aesthetic experience foregrounded the issues connected to prioritizating art in the church. The soaring music and the lovely architecture did help me to recognize God's grandeur.  However, I felt myself recoiling at some elements of unfamiliar spectacle.  It made me wonder again where the boundary falls between manipulating my emotions and deliberately turning my emotions to reflect my understanding of God's truth.  I also wondered how much the building and accoutrements had cost when refugees struggle a few miles away.  

Kathryn McGregor - Church Visit #1

Church Name: St. Michael Catholic Church
Church Address: 310 S Wheaton Ave, Wheaton, IL 60187
Date Attended: September 17, 2015
Church Category: Catholic 

The service was a morning mass service. The service began with some readings from a book of common prayers, and some members of the congregation read aloud some passages from the Bible. The Priest then shared a very short message, which he seemed to rush through very quickly. Then we again sang a hymn, and prayed more. The process of communion was very different than most other churches I had attended. The Priest poured the wine into a chalice, and the whole process was much more elaborate. Two kids, also dressed in robes, assisted him through the process and brought him the supplies that he needed. The congregation then proceeded to take communion, all drinking from two common chalices. The whole service was much more liturgical than services that I normally attend. The priest was dressed in formal robes, and the entire service seemed scripted and rehearsed.

I found the process of communion most appealing about the worship service. In some churches, communion seems to be just a trivial thing we do. Often times the significance and reverence is lost. In the Catholic service, it was clear that communion is an act that should be regarded with great reverence and importance. It is a very integral part of the service, with a very precise process and protocol for how it should be carried out. In the Catholic church, this is obviously the case because of their belief in transubstantiation. After only just learning of this belief, it was very interesting to see how it influences the way in which they partake in the communion during their services. The whole process was very different from how I have typically seen, but it was a great reminder of the significance of the breaking of Christ's body and the shedding of His blood. 

From the beginning, I felt very out of place. No welcome was given to us as we entered, and the people attending sat very far away from each other, the people seemed very isolated from one another. The whole service seemed very formal and intimidating, as though if anyone said something out of place it would be very inappropriate. The priest also seemed to rush through all of the service, as though he wanted to be done promptly. The service felt like it was done out of obligation or as though it were a duty. The churches that I have grown up in emphasize community and greeting one another. The services also just seem less scripted and more informal. It was a challenge for me to feel welcome and comfortable there, though this is probably  because of my very limited exposure to Catholic church services, and liturgical churches in general. 

As I mentioned before, communion was illuminated for me far more than I had ever experienced in the services I regularly attend. The reverence and importance of the act was refreshing for me, and brought new light to how I should approach communion in the future. Also, although the increased liturgy felt very foreign to me, it helped me again to appreciate the history and tradition of the church. The sayings and prayers included in the service that we all spoke together in unison have been said by countless others throughout time. This is helpful in attempting to unify the church across time as well as across the world. Though I felt very out of place in the service, it was helpful to see and experience a different style of worship.