Church name: Lawndale Christian
Community Church
Church
address: 3827
W. Ogden Chicago, Illinois
Date attended: 4/6/14
Church
category: Socioeconomic
Describe the
worship service you attended. How was it similar to or different from your
regular context?
Lawndale Christian Community Church
(LCCC) meets in a gymnasium and the first thing that caught my eye was that the
seating is oriented in a circle with a small stage in the middle. Along with
the fact that the church is in the middle of a lower socioeconomic
neighborhood, the setting definitely was a major difference from my church
background. The service began with songs that I was unfamiliar with but was
easy to sing along with. After singing a few songs there was scripture reading,
a sermon, communion and a benediction. Although the elements of the service
were fairly consistent with my normal experience there was definitely a
different atmosphere that I wouldn’t necessarily tab as charismatic but rather
comfortably expressive. In addition, there were about 20 or so men from
Lawndale’s halfway house with their blue t-shirts that offered a stark contrast
to the comfortable life of the suburbs.
What did you
find most interesting or appealing about the worship service?
I’m not necessarily sure why I felt so
comfortable at Lawndale, but there was something about the casual feel of the
service and the love exhibited throughout the morning that made me feel at
home. I especially appreciated the time that was used to hear prayer requests
from the congregation. I used to feel very uncomfortable from open-mic
activities, but it’s a great opportunity to feel the pulse of the congregation
and offer everyone no matter their education-level or theological training to
participate in the service. This also set the tone for communion that was
special for me to participate in the Lord’s Supper with a demographic that I
don’t usually interact with. Knowing the challenges and concerns of the congregation
while taking communion created a communal solidarity within the congregation
and I felt honored to be able to participate in that solidarity. Another
interesting activity absent from the service was that there was no offering
taken.
What did you
find most disorienting or challenging about the worship service?
Even though the service had a very comfortable
atmosphere, it was challenging to really understand and connect with the day-to-day
difficulties of living in Lawndale. Often times when people live in difficult
circumstances, they don’t really behave or appear any different than someone who
is fairly well-off. It is then difficult for me to imagine the difficulties of
individuals and communities in their pain and loss.
What aspects
of Scripture or theology did the worship service illuminate for you that you
had not perceived as clearly in your regular context?
As soon as the pastor got up and began speaking, he reminded the
congregation that they had been facing a lot of death recently. He then
oriented his sermon along the question of “Why” in response to the difficulties
of life. His words took on a deeper meaning after hearing prayers requests ranging
from daughters with drug addictions, to a teenage girl whose family is in need
of housing. Despite the emphasis on and obvious reality of the physical suffering
of the community, the congregation’s strongest response during the sermon was
to the personal sin issues, of lust, and alcohol abuse. Overall, the combination
of physical and spiritual needs did not appear in tension, but rather were held
together as struggles and difficulties of life. This connection stood in
contrast to the way we speak about emphasizing physical and spiritual
dimensions of the gospel as if they were competing interests.
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