Jade Kurokawa - Church Visit #2

Church name: Redeemer of the Calvary

Church address:

5001 W. Gunnison St

Chicago, IL 60630

Date attended: Sunday, March 16, 2014

Church category: Church of a lower socioeconomic status from my own church

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

This church had much smaller numbers than my regular church. On average, my church has about 80 members and this church services about 25 members on Sundays. I also found the members to be much more vocal during the service. They would contribute prayers and petitions during the time for announcements. They would laugh at funny things that Jesus said in the Bible reading. There was even a group of people who talked at a normal volume throughout the whole service. I found it a bit distracting. It seemed to me that the group was a pretty tight-knit community and that all of the people there were regular attenders at the church.

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

I found the church to be very welcoming. Perhaps due to the small numbers, they immediately noticed that I was new and welcomed me greatly: introducing themselves and inviting me to a coffee hour after the service. The atmosphere was pretty informal and most people seemed pretty comfortable throughout my time there. I liked that they utilized media like a sound system and a projector although this was not done very well. Many times the slides on the screen would not correctly correspond to the specific part of the service.

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

I found that many of the parishioners were very vocal about the issues they were dealing with and I was surprised at their level of comfort to share that with the wide congregation. One woman got up during the announcements to talk about her praise to God about her daughter, a mentally handicapped woman in her late 20s, had been able to get a job. She was very forthcoming with details about their history and personal her struggle raising her daughter. I am not so used to people being so open and honest in a public setting such as this one. I found that the honest atmosphere made things feel a little less intimidating, understanding that not everyone is perfect and one does not have to be to attend this church.

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 Sunday that I visited this church, the pastor preached about being born again speaking from John 3 and 4 when Jesus teaches Nicodemus. The pastor pointed out that things are not easy in this world, something that the church’s population knows full well. The pastor also talked about how even though we try to handle it all ourselves we realize that we can’t and that we need to be born in the Spirit and allow God to completely transform us. She really emphasized the need to trust God in all of our troubles. I think that in this context I was able to see more clearly the need to give over my troubles to God and allow him to work within me. Many of these people were struggling with financial worries and were doing the best that they could but were not sure if they could make things work. Having trust in God is key to have some peace in one’s life.