Kari DeHaven – Church Visit #1

Kari DeHaven – Church Visit #1

Church name: All Souls Anglican Church
Church address: 25W741 Jewell Road, Wheaton, IL 60187
Date attended: February 9
Church category: More liturgical

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

Typically I attend a non-denominational church of some variety. The church I attended in Wheaton until recently had a more liturgical style, but was still less liturgical than the Anglican church. Since Christmas I have started attending the main campus of a large, multi-site, non-denominational church that has a contemporary worship style. Because of this, I am still adjusting to my “regular” context. All Souls has communion once a week, which is different from the two churches I have attended during college (both serve communion once a month). The sermon was shorter than what I am used to. There was clearer evidence within the service of following Church tradition in the liturgy.

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

It was interesting how clearly church tradition was demonstrated within the service. There was a clear awareness of the Church calendar in the worship folder as it showed that we are in the season of epiphany and that the season of lent is coming up. The prayers and hymns were based in tradition as many of them were written a few centuries ago and have been used by the Anglican Church since. It was interesting to see how Church tradition from throughout history was integrated into the service from praying the Lord’s Prayer to the Apostles’ Creed to more recent tradition such as the Book of Common Prayer.

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

The communion was most disorienting. It would seem that communion is done differently at every church or denomination. I was unsure of what to do most of the time. The church does not use intinction or individual cups; rather everyone drinks from the same cup. The challenge was I had a sinus infection, so I was totally unsure of what to do. How is one supposed to partake in communion while sick? As I could find no feasible way to prevent the spread of disease and drink the communion wine, I only took the bread. I’m not sure if that was the best decision, but I was unsure of how to participate in communion without getting anyone else in the church sick.

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 observed through the course of the liturgy that the basic structure of the service was not unlike the services I regularly attend. It would seem that in most non-denominational churches the church structure is put together without thought, but they do follow the same structure/order that more liturgical churches do. The difference that is more often seen is whether or not the church uses an organ and hymns. This helped illuminate how the church I currently attend fits into Church tradition. For most part our beliefs our similar, but the ways in which we practice them are different. We don’t have communion every Sunday, but when we do have communion the service is remarkably similar to that of All Souls. The difference between the two churches on those Sundays is mostly in the musical worship.