Debbie Landeros - Church visit #1

Debbie Landeros – Church visit #1

Church name: Urban Village Wicker Park

Church address: 1543 West Division Street

Date attended: February 8, 2015

Church category: Nondenominational

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

            I went to the 9:30 Sunday morning service at Urban Village Church in Wicker Park. The big difference in the worship service at Urban Village is that that all the songs were in English. I attend a Hispanic church so most of our worship is done in Spanish, but other than the language difference their style of worship was very similar to that of my home church. The songs were very contemporary and not too traditional. Most of the songs that the praise band sang for worship I had never heard of so my initial thought was that they only played songs they had written themselves, but then they sang a contemporary version of a hymn. The church’s style of worship was something that I felt comfortable participating in, and at one point it reminded me of how I feel when I’m at a small group meetings here at school and at church which are  more intimate, and a style that I prefer best. Their style of worship is one that most people would feel comfortable participating in; it was a style that I would say most Wheaton students would feel comfortable in.

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

            Like I mentioned before the style of worship was very similar to that of how my home church worships, so that made it very appealing for me. Being comfortable to freely worship God is something that I appreciate, and being at Urban Village I felt right at home. I did find it interesting that their choice of songs were songs that my friends and I had never heard of.  After looking up some of the songs I realized that they used their own songs, which I thought was also really interesting. I think that made the worship service even more intimate for the praise band and the members of the church because they were using their own words to praise God, which I think is pretty cool.

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

At the end of the sermon the church band came up again to play a couple songs and the last song they sang was one I had never heard before. At first I thought it was another one of their own worships songs because it was a song that talked about being inclusive and letting everyone know that God loves everyone, which is the church’s main idea, to be “bold, inclusive, and relevant.” The lyrics in the song puzzled me at one point because we were singing “God is not a man” and “God loves everyone even terrorists.” I know that God loves everyone but hearing people sing that God loves everyone including terrorist caught me off guard.  Later I found out that the song is called “God is not a white man” written by Gungor.  This song puzzled my friends and me; it made us question what the church’s doctrine was like. We didn't entirely disagree with the song, but listening to the lyrics made us think a lot about who God really loves, which is everyone. I think it was a bit challenging, although it was cool, to sing songs that were written by the praise band. It definitely made me pay more attention to the lyrics of each song even more though.

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 one main point that the worship service illuminated for me was that God loves everyone. This is something that I know and that I have known for a long time, but hearing the lyrics “God loves everyone even terrorists” made me rethink the way I have shared God’s love with people around me. Now I have never encountered a terrorist but I have encountered broken people, which includes me. At my home church we do sing about God’s love from time to time but it doesn't seem like we are inclusive. At Urban Village I feel that they were a bit too inclusive, meaning that they said that God loves everyone but they didn't mention that He loves us all despite our sinful lives, and that just because He loves us doesn't mean that we can keep living sinful lives.