Jade Kurokawa - Church Visit #3

Church name: Our Lady of Mercy

Church address:

4432 N. Troy Street

Chicago, IL 60625

Date attended: Saturday, April 5, 2014

Church category: Church of a different race from my own church

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

This church is a lot bigger than my own in terms of how big the worship space is. The sanctuary is very big and could probably sit close to 3,000 people. There were a lot more visual things to look at including stain glass windows, statues, and icons. The service was organized around a book published by the World Library Press which laid out the prayers, Old and New Testament readings, and the Gospel readings for each week of the month. This church also offers many services both in English and Spanish and a few bilingual services.

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

I found the worship style in general to be very interesting. People flowed in and out of the service whenever they wanted to. Many people did not arrive till after the homily and left after communion: some putting on their coats before going up to receive communion. The congregation knew when to stand up, sit down, or kneel throughout the service without the priests telling them to. I noticed that not many people looked at the book that ordered the service. About five people, including me, were chosen to present the gifts of communion to the altar. I thought this was a nice way of getting people involved in the service.

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

I thought that the service felt very distant. The sanctuary being so big, it was easy to sit in the very far back, away from all the action. Everyone was very spread out. Due to the fact that all of the prayers were written out for people to recite, things seemed to be rushed through without much thought. The priest rushed through the reciting of the Nicene Creed in addition to all of his other parts making it difficult for the congregation to understand him and take in the words he was saying. The music was not done very well and no one sang along with the worship leaders. I did not find this congregation to be very welcoming and no one came up to me before or afterwards to talk. This could be due to the sheer size of the church however during this mass there were probably 100 or so people in attendance.

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 priest preached on John 11: the raising of Lazarus. I found his sermon to be a little hard to follow but I think that he was trying to teach us how Jesus had been there for his friends and to Lazarus. Mary and Martha reached out to Jesus for help when Lazarus became sick and Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. In a similar way, the priest implored the congregation to ask for help in bad situations or when a loved one is sick or dying so that the church may help and give them communion. This helped me to realize even more so the importance of the church in Jesus’ mission to reach out to those in need.