Erica Heller--Church Visit #2

Church name: St. Joseph Church

Church address: 412 Crescent St, Wheaton

Date attended: 3/25

Church category: Liturgical

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

It was much more liturgical. We stood and participated in almost the entire service, which was almost entirely sung. The current church I attend has pretty much no liturgy, but I grew up in the Lutheran church, which has some liturgy, but was not nearly as liturgical. There was no sermon. I don't know if that was because a the morning Vesperal Liturgy for the Great Feast of the Annunciation or if a typical Sunday service would also not have a sermon. 

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

I loved that the congregation was an active participant in the entire service, singing the liturgy. It was beautiful. Also, the theology of the church was very explicit in the theology, for example praising the Trinity. I wish I could have taken the liturgy book with me to reread through it. 

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

I am 90% sure that because we were not Orthodox we were not supposed to take communion, so we stayed in our seats. I HATE not being allowed to partake in communion--I have been baptized and instructed in the faith and follow Jesus, I want to eat of the body and drink of the blood with my brothers and sisters in the faith. I really dislike being denied access to the table to which all are beckoned and meant to be welcomed. But also, I was rather anticipating that. Something that I didn't understand and didn't get the chance to ask about were the icons at the front of the church. There was one particular icon (I think it was an icon and I'm not sure what it was of) that everyone went up, knelt before and kissed when they came in. Also at the end of the service, everyone went up and kissed a cross that the priest held. Lena and I did not go up and kiss those things because we didn't know what they were or what it meant and weren't sure if we were supposed or not since we weren't members. As a protestant, I felt slightly hesitant in some of the ways that Mary was talked about, almost as if salvation came through her. 

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 loved how corporate worship was, there was no sense of its just me and Jesus. The theology was beautifully and explicitly articulated in the liturgy, especially with reference to the Trinity, a central doctrine of the faith that often isn't talked about in my regular context. Something in particular that was illuminated to me in the liturgy was communion, the importance and sacredness of it (let us not eat judgement or condemnation) and that there is something (almost?) salvific in the the body and blood. I wish I had the liturgy to reference so I could better articulate how.