Abigail Latip – Church Visit #3

Blog title: Abigail Latip – Church Visit #3

Church name: Immanuel Anglican Church

Church address: 4619 N Ravenswood

Date attended: 21 August 2016

Church category: more liturgical

Describe the worship service you attended. How was it similar to or different from your regular context? (150 words)

The worship service was definitely more unfamiliar than familiar. Receiving the bulletin and having and order of worship itself was different to my regular context. The multiple liturgical readings, embodied full participation to the music or reading of the Word (such as standing up, sitting down, etc.), as well as the hymns and worship music choices were definitely very different. We also read the Nicene Creed, which I had never read in a church setting. They also had altar guilds/acolytes which I had never heard of before this visit. I noticed several points of the worship service that compared to that at Wheaton, namely responding to the readers of the Word and other more traditional practices like singing the Doxology. The nature of the service made it a lot more formal than what I am normally used to, which also made me very aware of my surroundings and each thing that happened.

What did you find most interesting or appealing about the worship service? (150 words)

One thing I thought was interesting was simply the nature of the entire service. All my life I had gone to more contemporary-styled worship services, only being in very liturgical and traditional services a very few times in my life—once an Anglican church and another time at Catholic mass in Jakarta. Not having been familiar with these contexts, I felt as though the liturgy drew out the service more and parsed out theological aspects of certain acts more so than in less liturgical settings. I found all this interesting but I’m honestly not sure if I find them appealing. I personally felt quite confined as well as nervous to step out of line with the bulletin, even given the casual setting of this Anglican church. However, one aspect that is quite beneficial is how the use of an order of worship gives us space to respond to the service, something not always seen in other services.  

What did you find most disorienting or challenging about the worship service? (150 words)

It was challenging to keep up with the liturgy and order of worship. For someone whose home context is a very laid back, non-liturgical megachurch, Immanuel Anglican was a little tough to follow, admittedly probably because of my being distracted here, there, and by the order of worship itself. It was disorienting to be in such a traditional, formal setting as I was on my guard the whole time. My experience here definitely contrasts with the one at my other churches where I feel a lot more comfortable and laid back—then again, it may just be also because I was a visitor at Immanuel.

What aspects of Scripture or theology did the worship service illuminate for you that you had not perceived as clearly in your regular context? (150 words)

Being very precise with their choice of words as well as the use of traditional texts (e.g. Bible passages, the Nicene creed, crafted prayers, more traditional songs, etc.), the service illuminated a different view of the gospel I hear less often nowadays because of the number of times the gospel gets filtered through people and other media. I think that participation in the service as well as many of the drafted prayers are beautiful in themselves, though admittedly very different from my usual service. The sermon itself, which was presented by a member of the congregation, was similar to what I would hear at Wheaton—he spoke about the Psalms and praying in community, using his own life and recent testimony about finding a new place to live in the city as the guiding narrative.  Hence, I think it was the liturgical side of the service that really illuminated how important words are as they are chosen carefully to communicate something specific to the congregation and as an offering up to God. It also kept me mindful of my surroundings because the opportunity to respond was such that I needed to pay attention and not simply sit around waiting for the sermon to affect me to be effective. In this sense, the liturgical nature of Immanuel Anglican is very conducive as it also incorporates an element of embodiment to the service, which are not as emphasized in my home contexts.