Harry Mak-Church Visit #1

Church name: Ascension Catholic Church

Church address: 1133 N La Salle Dr, Chicago, IL 60610-2601

Date attended: 9/05/2014

Church category: More liturgical, different ethnic demographic, more than 10 miles from away Wheaton

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

This church service was quite different from the ones that I usually attend. One of the main differences was that it was on a friday night. I typically attend sunday morning services. The congregation was larger than I am used to in the big sanctuary. Most of the people there were white or hispanic. One of the main differences was that it was an ecumenical service, both Catholics and Protestant Christians were worshipping together. The style of worship was liturgical, so we did hymns and the instruments used were more traditional. There was one leader who would explain the music briefly before singing along. There was no sermon that was preached during the night. Towards the end of the service, we sang with lighted candles in our hands, and orderly placed them at the front of the sanctuary.

There were not many similarities between this service and my regular church. The seating was the same. We sat in wooden pews or benches along each side of the aisle.

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

The most interesting or appealing things about the worship service was its simplicity and unity. It was not simple in the sense that there was little preparation or planning involved. But it was simple in the sense that it was very calmly and smoothly progressed. The attention was not so much placed in worship style, but the basics of Christian faith. We did a lot of repetition of phrases that were true. But each time we repeated them together, its meaning would become more alive.

Furthermore, the music was very much in the background. The overpowering sound was from the congregation singing in unison. The words were much more emphasized this way, and I felt unified with the rest of the congregation even though we did not know each other. And during the times of prayer, the prayer requests were not just focused on the local church but on the church worldwide. So it was not just unity in that place but unity with the worldwide body of Christ.

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

What I found most challenging about the worship service was that the worship programs that were handed out as we entered the church. First of all, the order of the different phases of the service was not clearly presented in the program. I was often lost during the service as to what we were singing or reciting.

The music on the program was also challenging because I do not know how to read notes. Because the instruments were not very loud, I had to follow the songs according to guessing. The notes were difficult to read and hard to follow. What made the songs even harder to follow was that it was not always in english. I think that the other translations were spanish and latin. When this happened, it would take me a while to find which song we were singing. And I would try to replicate what I heard when I sang. This challenge was made less difficult by the fact that we often repeated phrases so it was easy to learn.

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 of the aspects of scripture that the worship service illuminated for me was the concept of God’s mission and love for the whole world. At the service, I noticed that our commonality was our faith. There were probably so many ethnic and cultural groups in the building but we were able to come together and worship the same God. Although the service was different from my usual church experience, I was still able to worship the same God via a different style.

Because of God’s desire for unity in the church, I felt more in touch with the body of Christ worldwide. During our prayers for those persecuted around the world, I felt that their suffering should also be my suffering because we are one family in Christ. In my regular context, the theology is still there; but I needed to be placed in a different environment from what I’m used to so that I can experience the lesson and be reminded more vividly.