John Sheehy- church visit #2

John Sheehy- church visit #2

New Life Community Church                     

3033 S Normal Ave Chicago, IL

October 19 2014

Lower Income

Describe the worship service:

The service opened with singing lead by the congregation. There was no worship leader and everyone sang heartily. It was bit disorganized, but the congregation seemed comfortable with that style of singing. At my church back home, the singing is very organized, lead by a pastor and accompanied with an instrument. Following the signing, an opportunity was given to the congregation to offer praises publically. People would stand and say, “Praise the Lord”, and begin to give praise. Praises were given for the little things as well as the big things. They then transitioned to communion. Communion was distributed by an elder coming to you, in your seat, with the bread and the cup. At my church we usually pass the condiments up and down the pews as it works its way to the back. The scripture reading they chose to introduce the communions was different from what is traditionally read. (I will discuss this later). The sermon was then delivered about loving your neighbor.  

What I found interesting or appealing:

I found one thing in particular to be interesting about a service where, the majority is lower income. I noticed that all the songs that we sang were about Heaven and how glorious that day would be when we get there. This was interesting because some churches praise God with thankful hymns. This church continued to praise God, while anticipating the glorious day they will enter eternal bliss.  They sang about when the trials and tribulations would be no more in Heaven.

What I found challenging:

One of the things that I found most challenging about the service was the amount that these people were willing to give, with the little they had. They had a few minutes dedicated to giving praise. During this time a congregation member stood up to talked about how little he had, and how he was going to give it all to the church. This reminded me of the woman in Mark 12 who had nothing, yet gave it all to the church. This struck me because I have been wondering for a while if I should be tithing, because I receive an income. When I heard that someone, who has so little, is about to give so much, it challenged me to give more, and be less stingy with my money that I “earned”. It also opened my eyes to realize that just because people are poor does not necessarily mean that they are lazy. More often than not, it means they cannot catch a break in the system of granting the entitled more opportunities. As I listened, I realized that many of the attendees could not catch a break in the work force. I realized how much injustice in the work force because of skin color and association.

Aspects of scripture that were illuminated:

Another interesting facet was the scripture sections that they read prior to the communion. Most churches I have attended read about the Last Supper in Matthew 26:17-30, prior to the distribution of the elements. This church read the passage from I Corinthians 11, where it talks about some in the church using the Lord’s Supper as a meal, eating until satisfied, leaving nothing for the poor to enjoy the Lord’s Supper. I found this interesting. These church members have been given little, yet they preach and teach about giving and sharing. This passage was used to illuminate that although they are poor in materials they are wealthy in grace. Teaching from this passage made the assumption that there are still others out there who are worse off. I found this interesting because in majority America’s eyes, these people were very poorly financed. I found this experience to be beneficial for me to see how other worship and how much I have been given.