Nathan Trump- Church Visit #1

Name: St. Joseph Church

Address: 412 Crescent St. Wheaton, Illinois 

Date: 2/16/13

Category: Significantly More Liturgical

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

St. Joseph is an Orthodox Church of America church and the type and title of the service I went to was called the "Divine Liturgy". The Divine Liturgy began with an introductory reading of liturgy while everyone was seated and then we proceeded to go through 34 pages of a liturgical book filled with calls and responses and repetitive singing. This is probably the most liturgical church service I’ve ever been to as there wasn’t even a sermon until the end of the service. I come from a church background that incorporates a little bit of liturgy with hymn singing, a sermon, and prayer. While there was prayer and singing in this service as well, it all came within a liturgical context; for example, prayer for people who were sick and suffering were placed within a broader scripted prayer. Parts of the service similar to my own church background were few and far between. I think the most similar aspect were the words that were spoken during the service. Most of the liturgy was derived from Scripture or creeds and so were familiar to my own church environment.

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

I really appreciated the sense of unity within the Orthodox Church and Christianity that was expressed and acknowledged within the Divine Liturgy. In many of the prayers, the Liturgy frequently mentioned the broader Orthodox Church and Orthodox Christians around the world. Another very appealing aspect of the service was that the entire liturgy seemed full of meaning and theological and scriptural influence. The liturgy was very rich with beautiful references to the Gospels and affirmations of belief within the Orthodox Church. I also appreciated the sense of reverence that people had within the service and especially with the receiving of the Holy Communion there was a great deal of respect and reverence for the holiness of God.

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

I have to say that I love the spontaneity and somewhat casual style of my own church background and with the entire service scripted ahead of time, it was difficult for me to fully engage spiritually when I wasn’t freely and voluntarily responding with my own words. While I understand the benefits of liturgy and the helpfulness of having theologically sound words set out before you to pray and recite, I found that I could easily mentally disengage with the service and I can’t imagine what it would be like reciting the same Divine Liturgy week after week for an entire lifetime without getting stuck with just “going through the motions”. Also, there were so many liturgies to cover that most of the time it felt like the priest was simply trying to rush through things as quickly as possible. Of course, I understand that most Evangelical churches have challenges with inauthenticity and repeated clichés and that I have struggled with some of the same issues in my more “spontaneous” Evangelical environment.

What aspects of Scripture or theology did the worship service illuminate for you that you had not perceived as clearly in your regular context?

One very interesting theological feature of the Divine Liturgy was how the service spent a considerable time on the topic of the Lord’s Supper and the receiving of communion. There were several hymns and prayers recited before and after Holy Communion that illuminated its importance and centrality in the worship service. For me, the elevated importance of communion is not something that I encounter in my regular context but the words and hymns we said and sang emphasized its place in Scripture that I haven’t considered before. Another fascinating part of the Divine Liturgy was the Hymn to the Theotokos. I didn’t know what Theotokos meant until last week and I was then able to understand on Sunday the theological significance of the term.