Bethany Weidemann--Church visit 1

Church Name: St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church

Church Address: 1500 Brookdale Road, Naperville, IL 60563

Date Attended: February 6, 2015

Church Category: More liturgical

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

The service that I attended at St. Thomas was a weekday morning mass. The physical orientation of the space was very familiar to me—pews facing the table at the front where the rituals were performed. Scripture was read, one passage by a layperson and one passage by the priest, a practice common in my church, too. There were times of corporate as well as individual prayer, and there was also a time where those in attendance could speak their particular requests out loud. My church often has times of congregant sharing or speaking brief prayers, so this felt familiar as well. The most dramatic differences were the various responses and recitations that those in attendance knew and participated in without having to be prompted. While I was familiar with some (“This is the word of the Lord”/ “Thanks be to God.” and “In your mercy”/ “Hear our prayer.”) because of use in my church as well as at Wheaton, quite a few I did not know. Communion was also a part of this service, and I, as someone who is not a member of the Catholic Church, did not participate. This felt very unusual for me.

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

I really appreciate and enjoy many elements of liturgy that I don’t experience regularly in my own church contexts. With relative frequency, my family uses the Book of Common Prayer or The Divine Hours as a basis for family worship and devotions, so I enjoyed participating in that kind of worship in a community setting, too. I think that having those in attendance participate, at least verbally, in so much of the liturgy provides a really powerful experience for entering into worship (so long as it does not just become rote recitation). I also thought that the physical environment was focused on worship in an interesting way. There was no sort of decoration that did not have theological significance. The chapel was relatively plain, but the glass had images of Christ (stylized in an old but familiar way with the halo surrounding him) in it, and through these windows could be seen the stain glass windows of the larger sanctuary (to which the smaller chapel was attached). Having reminders around the room of various sacred ideas was also helpful for remaining focused on worship.

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

Although I did enjoy the liturgy of the service, I did not know very many of the responses the congregation knew. Once we passed the most basic ones, I just had to listen to those around me recite words that were obviously very familiar to everyone else around me. Because so many people all spoke them at the same time, it was sometimes hard to really make out the exact words, so it wasn’t even really possible to catch on to what was happening in most cases. This did give me the feeling of being an outsider. Not taking communion, too, was a strange experience, as I mentioned above. I have taken communion since I was in elementary school, and I don’t know that I’ve ever not taken it when at a service in which it was offered. This particular sacrament highlights the differences between the Catholic Church and the churches in which I grew up. Although I know what my own beliefs are about communion, I still had a sense of unease about not partaking. I didn’t worry so much what other people thought as feel like an outsider in a place where I would hope that I would be accepted as a fellow believer in God. History is powerful, though, and I wanted to respect the tradition of the Church while attending as a visitor. On an only somewhat related note, it was also strange to hear people pray for souls in Purgatory. And on an even less-related note, I was also the only person under about 55 in the room, I would guess. Friday morning mass is not for the younger generations, apparently!

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

I did think it was interesting that there were Scripture readings that went somewhat un-explicated or talked about. In evangelical churches, application of Scripture seems to be almost more important than Scripture itself, in some ways. It is good, though, sometimes to just hear the Word and let it speak to our hearts as the Spirit moves us to understand it. The corporate nature of worship, too, was illuminated by the community responses to various parts of the service. Speaking the same words as your neighbors, knowing they are the same words being spoken at mass around the world, is a powerful testament to the community of the Church and the way that it draws together all kids of people. Even I, a stranger to that particular group of people, was able to participate in lifting up the prayers of those around me in a tangible way as I, too, recited “Hear our prayer” after each spoken request.