Allison Freet- Church Visit #1

Church Name: St. Michael Catholic Church

Church address: 310 S West St, Wheaton, IL

Date attended: September 19

Church category: significantly more liturgical, close to Wheaton College

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

I walked into the large room at St. Michael’s early on Friday morning and was immediately taken back by the silence and reverence that filled the room. People were scattered throughout the room, some kneeling and praying, but most quietly waiting for the service to start. At exactly 8 am, the priest walked down the aisle of the large sanctuary, followed by two young, high school aged boys.  The service followed a pattern that was obviously familiar to most of the people in attendance—we would stand to recite the liturgy (of which I was very much unfamiliar with) and pray. Most of the short service was centered on and around the Eucharist and the power of the elements. Though I was unable to participate in the taking of the bread and wine, I was grateful to experience a service that was so vastly different than the one I attend on a weekly basis. The service I usually attend is very contemporary, in both music and overall style. St. Michael’s, in stark contrast, had no flashing lights, no worship leader with a guitar and no screens projecting the service. It was almost refreshing to attend a service where all the fancy “stuff” was stripped, leaving only most important things: Jesus and his sacrifice for us.

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

Coming off a summer in the Holy Lands where I attended many services in the Orthodox Church and set foot into some of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen, I was again intrigued by the focus of the service on the Eucharist. Why do we, as Western Christians, not focus on Communion as an integral part of our Christian life? Communion, at least in my church, is almost “brushed off,” only celebrated on special occasions designated on the church calendar. St. Michael’s, as well as other churches in this tradition, center their entire worship on the elements that, in my tradition, represent the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. I think that we, as Western Christians, could definitely take some “tips” from this kind of reverence and intense focus on Christ’s sacrifice, which ultimately leads us to the crux of the Christian faith and cause for joy: the Resurrection.

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

The most challenging aspect of the service was the liturgical element, as I have had no previous background in this area of worship. While everyone around me was quietly responding to the priest in unison, I awkwardly stood there, eyes downcast, trying not to make eye contact with anyone who might wonder what I was doing there.  At times, the recitation almost felt too rehearsed, too practiced. I wondered if the people responding actually listened to words. For me, I fear the liturgical style of worship would become too monotonous, too much of a routine that would become less about the words being spoken and more about the fact that I knew when and what to recite. Perhaps this is just a bias to being brought up in a non-liturgical context?

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

This Friday morning mass had a brief sermon that was focused on the life of St. Januarius, a martyr who died at the hands of persecution during the time of Diocletian. The priest challenged us to remember and reflect on this martyr’s life and to also reflect on our own lives. In light of the example of this martyr, I was brought back to my time spent in the Eastern hemisphere this summer. In every church we went on, the walls were most certainly covered in images, icons, of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, the disciples and the saints and martyrs that have given their life for the faith. Though I am not constantly in fear that someone might knock on my door one day and demand that I deny Christ or die, how can I live my life as a better example of Christ? And though I may never die a martyr, how might I show others that I serve a faithful, loving God? This challenge was brought to light in the context of a brief sermon of the life of St. Januarius, something I would never have experienced at my church.