Tim Walters- Church Visit 2

Church Name: St. Joseph Ukrainian Church
Church Address: 500 N. Cumberland Ave, Chicago, IL 60656
Date Attended: March 22, 2015
Church Category: Different Ethnicity


Describe the worship service you attended. How was it similar to or different from your regular context?
The worship service began in a kind of quiet reverence for what was about to begin.  This differs from many non-denominational churches I have attended, as they are quite busy mingling with one another before the service begins.  After the curtains were drawn back and the person came forward, the cantor began to chant/sing and we went from there.  Over the course of the next hour, there were several moments where the cantor would stop, the person in the front would address the congregation, and then there would seem to be a shift in what was occurring.  However, I was in a spot where it was difficult to hear what was actually being said, and was not familiar with the liturgy being used.  After a while, the cantor stopped and a bishop from Ukraine came to deliver the sermon/homily.  He delivered the first half in English and then switched to Ukrainian for the second half of the sermon.  After this, the congregation partook of the Eucharist, parishioners lined up for their confessions to be heard, and people left.  The structure of the service did not seem too unfamiliar to me, but with all the individual elements seemingly being different, I felt quite lost.

What did you find most interesting or appealing about the worship service?
Throughout the service, there was a kind of unity throughout the congregation that would've made me feel incredibly connected if I was aware of the liturgy.  I experienced a similar feeling when I visited a Mass.  If I was aware of the liturgy, then there would have been this feeling of being connected to believers around the world and throughout the generations.  While that's one aspect I found interesting, the focus on art and icons was also interesting for me.  I come from a Reformed background, so there is not a lot of emphasis on artwork in my church.  However, when I was looking at some of the art in the church, it was clearly there for an explicitly theological purpose; it was not merely there to exist.  While I do not necessarily agree with icons, I have a more deep respect for them.

What did you find most disorienting or challenging about the worship service?
While the liturgy was one of the most interesting aspects of the service, it also left me feeling quite disoriented. There were moments when I was not sure whether I should be standing, sitting, or another action. I was unfamiliar with the call-response structure of the service, and could not participate as fully.  Also, the second half of the sermon was in Ukrainian, which disoriented me quite fully. I could not understand completely what the bishop was saying in the first half (the English portion of the sermon) but I understood that it was related to Mark 10.  There were several profound points the bishop made in his exegesis, but I had absolutely no idea what he was saying in the second half, which probably lasted 10 minutes.  While not as disorienting as if the entire service was in Ukrainian/another language, it was different because the rest of the service was conducted in English.

What aspects of Scripture or theology did the worship service illuminate for you that you had not perceived as clearly in your regular context?
While one of the obvious answers to this question would come in the form of a deeper appreciation/understanding of icons and the theology behind them, one of the things I appreciated deeply about the Orthodox service was its emphasis on being humble.  Throughout the service, the response that I heard most often was "Lord, have mercy." This, in my opinion, is a quite different response than I would think most Western churches would have.  While the West does not explicitly believe in works-righteousness, there seems to be a sense that some churches push something parallel to that idea.  However, in the context of the Orthodox, it seemed that all were equal in crying out to the Lord for his mercy.  The service helped me to have a more full understanding of the disparity between what we (humanity) deserve and what the Lord has given us.