Jon Ray- Church Visit #1

Church name: St. Michael Catholic Church

Church address: 310 South West Street Wheaton, IL

Date attended: February 1st, 2014

Church category: Liturgically Different Church

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

The church service that we attended was very different from my traditional service in terms of the use of liturgy and worship songs. My traditional church setting is PCA Presbyterian, which uses next to no liturgy outside of the occasional recitation of the Apostles' Creed and sings largely an even mix of contemporary songs and traditional hymns. This is in stark contrast to the Catholic Service which makes liberal use of both liturgy and various forms of hymns. One difference that I discovered that I found interesting is that the Catholic Church holds to a fairly strict schedule in terms of the liturgy that they use week to week. This week both the Gospel liturgy and the sermon both revolved around the presentation of Jesus at the temple by Mary and Joseph and their encounter with Simeon. I was also surprised when the priest who gave the sermon didn't give the sermon behind a pulpit but instead walked back and forth across the front row with a couple notecards for reference. I discovered from a regular attender after the service that he was visiting and this wasn't a common occurrence. There were also various portions of the service that were done kneeling, something that isn't done at my home church.

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

I actually enjoyed the liturgical aspect of the service very much. One common criticism that I've heard of liturgical denominations is that it's easy to disengage from the words and simply go through the motions. Although I definitely see the validity of this criticism, I think that the liturgy can be very deep and powerful if conscious effort is given to remain engaged throughout the service. I also think that having a consistent liturgical schedule can be useful, as most parts of the Bible can be covered in a single calendar year. This is probably in contrast with most Protestant congregations, or at least my home church, where sermon series' are at the discretion of the pastor.

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

Although most of the physical sanctuary that the service took place in was nothing radically different from what I'm used to, I was made almost instantly aware of my difference upon entering the sanctuary. This was due to the presence of the Baptismal Font in the back of the Sanctuary for the purpose of making the sign of the cross, which is something that I've never done in my traditional church context. The biggest issue I had wasn't with the sign itself but more the fact that I was almost always unprepared for the moments in the service where the sign is given, making myself seem to stand out more then I already felt. The manner of the worship songs was also much different then what I'm accustomed to. Many of the songs possessed a refrain to be sung by the congregation while the verses were sung by a single woman who was mic'd up. There also seemed to be little congregation participation in the portions of songs that were supposed to be sung by everybody. 

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 use of the liturgy and the more traditional setting gave me a real sense of the depth and weight of church history that I feel can sometimes be lacking in more contemporary churches, my home church included. It also gave a very tangible sense of how the Father, Son, and Spirit are present and working on a daily basis, something not done in my home church setting. One specific example of this would be the recitation of the Nicene Creed during the service. Especially after going through the foundation and ideas of the triune God so recently in class, this was something that I feel I had a particular awareness for.