Elise Lopez - Church visit #2

Elise Lopez - Church visit #2

Church name: Chinese Christian Union Church

Church address: 2301 S Wentworth Ave, Chicago, IL 60616

Date attended: Sunday October 9

Church category: Different ethnic/racial

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

I went to Chinatown for this church blog. What was most interesting to me was how contemporary the service was, I was expecting something a bit more liturgical, I am not sure why I assumed that it would be that way. Obviously there were many more Chinese people than are normally at my church but I also saw a few of my friends from high school, which I also was not expecting. I found the worship to be very contemporary and the pastor was very engaging. Also it was the second Sunday so they had communion. I also enjoyed walking through Chinatown to get to the church; it was cool to see all the little shops and what they sell.     

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

What I found most interesting was the families that were in the service. They were all pretty young, with children or mostly youth as well. Since the church is located in the middle of Chinatown I thought more elderly people would be there but there weren’t too many when I was there. I liked that I knew most of the songs they sang, it made me feel very comfortable and I felt like I could relax and worship God without worrying about the words. I also really enjoyed seeing how close all the members are to each other, I could really see that the church community was very strong.

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

The mostly difficult thing was feeling like I couldn’t raise my hands because no one else was. I go to a very expressive church so it felt a bit weird when no one really raised their hands for praise but I also think that has to do with the Chinese culture and not being too outwardly expressive. It was also challenging to feel comfortable because I just felt out of place since I was the only Hispanic there, that was probably more of my own perception than what anyone else was thinking but I did feel out of place. Also there was no welcoming part of the service, which felt a bit out of the norm, but it was a guest speaker so I think maybe they might have skipped over it.

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

I really thought about how God made all these different cultures and how beautifully his character is expressed in every culture through different actions or inclinations. I thought of the Tower of Babel and how God instantly made all those people speak different languages and they created communities where culture was cultivated. I know that’s a bit extreme but I do see how confusing it must have been at first. If I only knew Spanish or English and everyone around me started speaking Chinese or Korean it would be very confusing and even a bit scary. Going to this church really illuminated how the difference of culture and ethnicity can influence who we are and what we love.  

Karen Yates Church Visit #3

Church name: Immanuel Anglican Church

Church address: 4619 N Ravenswood, Chicago IL 60640

Date attended: 8.21.2016

Church category: Different Liturgically 

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

The worship service was much more liturgical than I'm used to, yet it still maintained informal elements. As we walked in, we were handed thick bulletins saturated with compilations of scripture excerpts, hymns, call and response, and blank pages to take notes too. The majority of the service was spent in scripture and there was a careful attention to Christian traditions and sacraments. I'm used to singing hymns and having call and response portions, but I wasn't used to the holy treatment of the physical Bible and some of the other practices which catered to more of the senses. One of the church leaders would hold the wide Bible with larger font and artistic depictions in the center as the pastor read from it. Every time the Bible was moved, a short hymn or meditative music would be sung or played. The head pastor wore a tippet around his neck, and I'm not used to that sort uniform in church. It was more structured in the flow of the service from worship, to lots of scripture reading, to call and responses, to the main message, to communion, to corporate confession, to prayer, to passing the peace, to offering to thanksgiving, to more worship, and then ending with a final sending. There was an overall sense of reverence to God and special centrality to scripture and liturgy. 

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

I love how it balanced the formality of being reverent and respectful of liturgy and practices, but also had informal elements. It's located in an elementary school and the congregation meets in a space shaped like a Greek theater, shaped like a semi circle with the stage in the front and the audience and giant steps to sit on. That part of it made it feel less formal. I loved that the worship songs and hymns were so full of theological depth with a lot to reflect on. I also loved how the scripture reading of Psalm 40 for the sermon was dramatically read and acted out by people in the congregation. It kept it engaging and brought different parts of text to life. I also liked how scripture was pulled from all different genres of the Bible from the Old Testament prophets like Isaiah, the Psalms, the New Testament gospel of Luke, and Hebrews. It's holistic way to view the whole narrative of the Bible at once. I also found it interesting that communion was served with bread and one communal cup. I've always known about churches using on communal communion cup, but that was my first time participating in it. 

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

There wasn't much that I found especially challenging. There were moments when I didn't know what was supposed to happen next. There were times when the pastor would say something and the whole congregation would echo a response from memory and I didn't know what was going on. There was also a point when the whole congregation bowed together, at communion, and I didn't know we were supposed to do that. It was clearly something that everyone else didn't give much though to because it was habitual going to a more liturgical church.

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

There was a visible sacredness held for scripture that I really appreciated. The main message was on Psalm 40 in a series called "Praying through the Psalms." A lot of time was dedicated to the reading of the whole passage and the pastor spoke right from scripture. He let the passage guide his message, while also making it relevant to today by sharing stories from his life. I was reminded of the importance of saturating my life in scripture, even as we read from all different sections of the Bible. The engagement of all the senses was emphasized as well. It illuminated that fact that our God is not only "otherly" and "holy," but is also deeply connected to us through the physical aspects of our lives. It is so important to engage our bodies, like taking turns speaking scripture out loud as a congregation, standing up and sitting down, candles burning, and taking communion together. I've been to many churches where there is little engagement needed and I think it doesn't open all the avenues to experience and connect with God. Immanuel Anglican did an amazing job of respecting scripture and engaging the senses. 

Joe Tam Church Visit #3

Church name: Grace and Peace Community Church

Church address: 2100 N. Kildare

Chicago, IL 60639

Date attended: 11/6/16

Church category: Different ethnic/racial congregation

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

I entered the foyer of the church and though I didn't know anybody I immediately felt like the people greeting me had known me for a long time. A woman at the door hugged me and kissed both cheeks and then we stepped into the last part of a pre-service prayer time. This was a quieter time with less people in attendance, but a good time of meditation and prayer led by one of the pastors. My church at home does not have prolonged times of prayer together, though we begin each service with prayer. The quieter time quickly gives way to a very lively time of worship. The songs are up-tempo, people are clapping, and dancing along. One song was sung in spanish and I appreciated just worshipping God without necessarily knowing the translation; it’s an exercise in faith in worship. During the singing there are two women flanking the stage twirling flags to the music. I haven’t seen that too often, but have seen it before in a more charismatic church setting. This whole atmosphere is a distinct departure from my home church’s style of worship. Even the sermon is a very lively affair. Pastor John constantly moves around, stopping just next to my seat, scanning the audience and at times shouting to emphasize his points. COME! COME! Come to Jesus! Unlike sermons back home there isn’t as much structure, but there is certainly no shortage of emotion and expressed passion for serving God and His people.

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

What was most interesting about the worship service was the presence of the church’s mission and vision for the future. After the worship service they showed a pretty lengthy video about their work building a much larger building. It’s very interesting because their congregation is not very large. They are trusting in God to bring people in and allow their work to bear fruit. Apart from their specific vision for their church, the Grace and Peace community was very open about praying for revival in Chicago and seeing the hurt of the city. At the same time I never felt like the message was being advanced while neglecting the personal sin of members of the congregation and their lives. The pastor had the church meditate on those we need to be reconciled to, reach out to, or just talk to. For parents he said “talk to your kids, ask, ‘how are we doing’”?

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

I found the usage of scripture most challenging about the service. While I didn’t have issues with the interpretation of it (Luke 19 was the passage), I didn’t feel like the word was necessarily the main focus of the sermon. It felt more like a spiritual pep talk and motivation. I echoed that sentiment coming out of CCDA, but I also recognize that different contexts necessitate that style, especially when churches are going head to head with suffering and corporate sin.

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 story of Zacchaeus was used to emphasize the power of encountering Jesus. We are called to create opportunity, “intentional encounters,” with Christ for others and do so with faith rather than fear. The worship service really convicted me to be more courageous with what I do with my faith. Is it merely mine or am I seeking to interact with others explicitly within it? With this in mind, I was admittedly uncomfortable with the notion (suggested by Pastor John’s life example) of just going up to strangers and boldly confronting them with spiritual conversation. What I have been taught and have experience through short term missions has in part made me skeptical of these encounters that are made without the intention of building relationship or meeting physical needs. My belief in the importance of those latter things will continue to create tension when thinking about boldly encountering others with the Gospel truth. Still I was convicted in thinking that, while it’s good to value relationship and holistic care, I also have to realize that the desire for those things can’t become an excuse for inaction either. I am not the complete rescuer of those who suffer in my life, stranger, family, or friend. There will always need to be a balance of ministering to spiritual and physical needs. Perhaps in some seasons, God’s mediated work looks like me seeing someone, stopping, and having a conversation with them; no expectation necessarily of all I need to do more, but an encounter nonetheless and one that can point someone towards God’s unique saving power.

Elise Lopez - Church visit #3

Elise Lopez - Church visit #3

Church name: First Lutheran Church of Logan Square

Church address: 3500 W Fullerton Ave, Chicago, IL 60647

Date attended: Sunday October 30^th

Church category: More liturgical

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

The service was similar to what I’m used to but also very different. The church was a majority Latino church so that felt very familiar. Many of the members spoke Spanish and the service was in Spanish. I have been a member of a Spanish church before and I know Spanish pretty well so I understood for the most part what was going on. The service process was very different. I was not used to the use of liturgy in Spanish so that threw my off a bit but it also added to what we were doing. There were many people who spoke in between songs on the bible and gave verses, so it felt a bit disorganized but I knew they did this every Sunday.

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

What I liked most about the service was the friendliness of the congregation towards me. They asked me to stand while they sang a welcome song, then during the welcome part of the service many people came up to me and asked me about who I was and what I was doing. It was also interesting to see many of the people who live in my grandmas apartment building in the service because the church is located very near there. It is a retirement building so a lot of the congregation was elderly but there was still a good mix between everyone who was there. Many of them even recognized me and came to talk to me after the service was over.

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

The liturgy felt a bit awkward to me, partly because it was in Spanish but also because I am not really used to a lot of liturgy in my normal church. But going to Wheaton has given me a bit more appreciation for the practice of liturgy so I tried to keep an open mind. It can be hard to feel comfortable in a church when everyone knows what to say already and how to respond to the callings and I don’t know any of them making my execution feel very clumsy and not spiritual at all. I would be intrigued to know the stories of some of the elderly people I spoke with because I think many of them grew up in similar churches which is why they love it there so much.

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 was about the Israelites in Egypt and how God used Moses to get them out of slavery. I found that pretty interesting especially thinking about how the people in the congregation have probably come from Mexico or other South American countries to America for a better life. I felt like the message really resonated with the congregation in a way that I don’t normally see in churches in Wheaton or at my church, where there aren’t as many immigrants or elderly people. It made me think of how hard it must have been for the Israelites to wander through the desert but these people came to America and found a very difficult life as well. Many of them boast in what their children have accomplished because that’s why they worked so hard.

Mark Sawyer Church Visit #3 - Immanuel Anglican

Mark Sawyer

Church name: Immanuel Anglican

Category: Liturgical differences

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

            The service is held in a gymnasium at a local school. The seating is amphitheater style, where the audience is seated above the speakers and music, rather than down below them. The flow of the service is more liturgical than I am used to, though I am comfortable with liturgy, and have even come to appreciate it in many aspects, as I attended an Anglican church for two years in the Netherlands. I have now attended Immanuel a few times, and I have slowly begun to catch on to the aspects of the liturgy particular to their church, such as musical interludes, antiphonal Scripture readings, etc. They also offered the Eucharist at the service I attended, which they do every Sunday, unlike my church back home. The prayers of the people are also a common element between Immanuel and my church background, though we do not have a responsive element at home.

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

         The physicality of the service was interesting to me. The Scripture readings were acted out as they were recited. The Eucharist was considered an essential element of the Sunday service, as it was rejuvenating to our physical bodies as well as our spiritual bodies. In addition, the Anglican liturgy involved a lot of alternating between standing and sitting, and channeling our worship through bodily motions, such as making the sign of the cross, the children receiving blessings by putting their hands over their chests in front of Father Aaron, etc. Presbyterians are notoriously unresponsive with their bodies in worship and in response to teaching (see this Babylon Bee article), so it was interesting to me to see bodies involved in worship in a service.

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

            The most disorienting aspect about the service for me was Communion. I was not sure what exactly the church believed in regards to Communion and transubstantiation, and I also did not understand all of the significance behind Father Aaron's preparation of the elements of Communion. There was a very specific way that he set up the Communion table, and I wished that I had understood why he did it that way. There were other times in the service where I did not know the significance of certain motions, such as making the sign of the cross or bowing briefly. While I did not feel disoriented, I would have been more fully engaged had I known the significance of all the actions.

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

          Immanuel, much like its parent congregation, Church of the Resurrection, emphasizes the presence and work of the Holy Spirit (likely more than a normal Anglican church would). The prayers and songs that we would sing would specifically identify the Holy Spirit for praise, petition, and thanksgiving. In addition, the Holy Spirit was emphasized as one of the primary ways that God worked in our lives, even in times when we were outside of the church during the week. In my church at home, the Spirit is certainly recognized as a member of the Trinity, but the full breadth of the Spirit's role in our lives and in the world is not emphasized.

Jenna Herskind - Church Blog #3

Church Name: Church of the Beloved
Church Address: Northwestern University 375 East Chicago, Chicago IL 60611
Date Attended: 10/30/16
Church Category: Racially Different

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

Church of the Beloved followed a similar trajectory to the majority of the church services I attend in Wheaton.  There was an initial time of worship with contemporary worship songs, followed by a series of announcement, and a message by the main Pastor, David Choi.  It concluded with a series of slower hymns, and finally a time dedicated to thanking Pastor Choi, as it was Pastor Appreciation month.  The room was an auditorium with all seats facing forward.  It was darkly lit during the second worship time, and there was time during which congregation members could raise their hands to ask for salvation or ask for prayer for belief.  The message was derived from the first several verses in Galatians, and Choi was beginning a new series. There were jokes interwoven into a compelling message about the grace offered through Jesus Christ, and there was a strong emphasis on believer's tendency to try and earn God's grace. 

The service lasted 2 ½ hours, which is different than my regular church experience (as an often times perfectly timed 1.25 hour long endeavor).  Otherwise, I mostly saw similarities between my church and COB.  The kind of music played, the emphasis on salvation by faith alone and not works, and a pastoral style that was relational while authoritative all felt familiar to me.  Of course, the major difference was the racial makeup; it is not often that in the fellowship mall of my Wheaton church I am surrounded by people who I do not look like. But I would call this a brief part of an experience that largely felt comfortable. 

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

David Choi seems to really understand his audience. There were many, many times during which he addressed people who didn’t identify as Christians.  He explained who Paul was; he explained what the Gospels are and who the major players in them are.  He seemed to be extremely attentive to the tendency of pastors to assume things about their congregation, and tried to combat that in language and teaching. I very much appreciated the ability to both include those who could feel like outsiders, as well as convict those who were too assured of their insider status. So, as an Evangelical Protestant, unsurprisingly my favorite part of the sermon was the pastor/teaching. 

What did you find most disorienting?

This is proving to be the most difficult question to answer in this setting, and I think it’s because though I am a racial minority at COB, I am certainly not a cultural minority.  The flow of the service, the songs we sang, the way we talked to each other and the ease of anonymity all felt comfortable and familiar. I would say that David Choi’s message struck a nerve; his ability to call out his congregation on their desire to earn God’s grace, and exhibit the accepted behaviors that could do so, was a convicting and beautiful message.  While emotion is never far from me during worship services, it flowed readily and unstoppably at this one. 

I noticed the fact that there were very few white faces on stage; but I think being at this church with the lens of "I am a racial minority here" created a bias for my experience, because I very infrequently thought about my racial identity during the service.  There was likely increased bias because I was with another white friend, and we spoke almost exclusively to his white friends on our way out of church, mitigating the feeling of not belonging that could have arose upon exiting in a sea of people that I do not look like. 

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

Something I did think about several times is how important it must be to see someone who looks like you on stage, teaching, leading.  There wasn't one white speaker throughout the worship service, and while that didn't necessarily make me uncomfortable, I realized how important it is to give equal public face to people of all races.  This is the same issue I discussed in my first blog entry; it was a huge deal to me that Lawndale had an equal number of women speakers on stage as male speakers.  It seems plausible that similar feelings exist for those living as racial minorities in churches. I think it ultimately stems from an understanding of our equality as creations of God.  The recognition that God made equally wonderfully yet different people should lead us to put a huge emphasis on who, and how, we give public spaces to our church leaders. 

I also, as I said previously, was very moved by David Choi's message.  I am often concerned with how I should "rightly" approach God, and I am quick to judge the way others approach Him.  At Church of the Beloved, I felt a deep call to allow myself to be loved without needing to do anything.  How to connect that to my experience as a racial minority in that church, I am not prepared to do.  But I do wonder what sustained engagement with a community in which I am not a racial majority would do in that sense of belonging in my faith.