Andrew Trump- Church Visit #1

Andrew Trump- Church Visit #1

Church name: Saint Joseph Orthodox Church

Church address: 412 Crescent Street, Wheaton IL

Date attended:1/25/2015

Church category:  Significantly more liturgical

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

I went to St. Joseph Church (part of the Orthodox Church in America) on a Sunday morning with my housemate, John, who has been Orthodox his entire life. The Divine Liturgy I attended was unique in that it included an infant baptism as well as being the head Father's final service after 27 years of serving the church. I had never even seen an infant baptism, which was just one new experience among all the other differences I observed from my regular context.  The first thing I noticed was the physical appearance of the church. The sanctuary had tons of candles ($101 worth per week according to the budget) and large murals depicting Jesus, as well as some with Paul, Mary, and the disciples. The service lasted two hours, and I would estimate at least two-thirds of it consisted of liturgy while everyone stood. For someone coming from a church where there is some singing, announcements and a sermon that last all but an hour, it was quite eye-opening and different.

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

I found the large amount of corporate worship appealing during the service. The whole congregation was singing and reciting liturgy throughout almost the entire service. There was not much teaching from the Fathers/Priests to the congregation. I found that this made the service a lot more focused on worshiping God rather than the focus being on a single person’s message. To me, it truly felt like a worship service, rather than a show. I also found it very interesting to see the emphasis on the Trinity. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were usually mentioned together, and every time they were, the congregation crossed themselves. There did not seem to be an emphasis on a particular member of the Trinity. It was also interesting to see the roles of the altar boys in the service, which seemed pretty minimal to me. They go into a back room behind the sanctuary, get dressed in robes, and then come out periodically in front of the church to carry a couple things for the priests. I thought it was interesting because it seems unnecessary to me.  

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

It took me awhile to catch onto a couple occurrences of the service, but by the end I felt like I had a pretty decent grasp. First, I found it difficult to follow along with the liturgy during the service because the order in which things were done was not the same as in book they gave me. Also, whenever the priests moved throughout the sanctuary, the entire congregation would turn to always remain facing them. We were also not told when to stand or sit, but everyone but me knew exactly when to. Probably the most disorienting thing for me was communion, but luckily I had John to tell me what to do. He told me not to accept the sacraments since I am not Orthodox, but I still walked to the front, put my head on the cup, and asked for a blessing from one of the Father’s. Since almost all the practices in an Orthodox service are consistent from week to week, it was second nature to almost everyone in the church. For me, it was difficult to follow everything that was happening. I was just glad I did not go by myself without any guidance.

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 appreciated the well thought out statements of faith that are spoken throughout the Divine Liturgy. The fact that what is spoken during the service is nearly the same every week would seem to me to really help the Orthodox understand what they believe. I think repetition greatly helps to ingrain scriptural and theological truth in the mind. I also found it very interesting on how many times the phrase “Lord have mercy” was repeated throughout the liturgy. This phrase comes up infrequently in the contemporary evangelical contexts that I am used to. I appreciated this consistent appeal to God for help in the broken world we live in. I am not used to much lament during a church service, and I noticed during the Divine Liturgy that lament is a very integral part of faith to the Orthodox. I think evangelicals often ignore scriptures of lament which is a shame because God is someone to call out to in good and in bad.