Callie Riel - Church Visit #1

Callie Riel – Church visit #1

Church Name: All Souls Anglican Church

Church Address:  25W741 Jewell Road, Wheaton, IL 60187

Date attended: February 12, 2015

Church category: Significantly more liturgical than my current church

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

All Souls Anglican was different from any church experience I’ve ever had.  When my family attended church growing up, it was pretty much a different one every time.  But they all had one thing in common: they were huge and modern.  Even College Church is much more liturgical than I am used to.  The first thing that surprised me about the church was its size.  Since I usually attend Saddleback Church when I go home with a population of around 20,000, I was shocked to see a total of forty or fifty people in the congregation.  Another difference was the ceremony involved in the service.  Everything was planned out in the handout.  The congregation was also heavily involved, and people were much more welcoming then I am used to.  The sermon itself, however, was similar to sermons I’ve heard in other churches I’ve attended. 

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

I especially enjoyed the closeness of the congregation.  Partly due to the churches small size, everyone in the congregation seemed to know or at least recognize each other.  Some people even wore nametags!  I appreciated that the prayer requests of the congregation were all written down in the handout, something that would not be possible in most churches I’ve attended.  I also enjoyed having a step by step bulletin that told me everything that was happening and in what order.  I also appreciated the singing.  Even though most of the songs were ones I’d never heard, they were all hymns which I love.  Furthermore, since the choir prepares a half hour before the service, I actually got to sing in it, which was an unexpected experience.  I thought the set up and decorations of the building were very interesting.  There were interpretive sketches on the wall, a giant cross in the front of the room, and a giant plastic deer also near the front. 

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

I was taken aback by all the ceremony and formality.  I was surprised to see everyone crossing themselves, and at the fact that there was “holy water” at the front of the room which people dipped their hands in.  I was also confused at the processions that happened frequently by people wearing robes.  The person in front of the procession would carry a large fancy book of the gospels, and when he passed the congregation would bow.  I wasn’t sure exactly what they were bowing to or why they bowed.  Communion was also very surprising.  Each person came and knelt at the front of the room to receive communion, which was taken out of a common cup.  Not only did everyone drink from the same cup which I had never experienced, but the drink was wine, which I did not expect.  Furthermore, much of the reading and praying was supposed to be responsive, which I was mildly uncomfortable with. 

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

What struck me most about the way the church carried out their service was that it was extremely respectful.  On one hand, I was not a huge fan of all the liturgy.  It seemed to get in the way of worship, and I wasn’t entirely sure what the point was.  However, it was also very reverent and respectful, and pointed to God’s supremacy rather than just treating Him as our friend.  I also had mixed feelings about the responsive readings and the reciting of prayers.  Since I was a visitor, I was reading all the prayers for the first time.  Therefore, I was forced to think about them rather than spacing off, which is what I sometimes do when people are praying out loud and I’m listening.  On the other hand, most of the congregation had the prayers memorized.  Although this may just be a personal flaw, I believe that a prayer would lose some of its meaning in my mind if I recited it to the point of memorization and continued to say it every week.