Christian Kim - Church visit 2

Blog title: Christian Kim - Church visit 2

Church name: The Moody Church

Church address: 1635 N LaSalle St, Chicago, IL 60614

Date attended: 10.12.14

Church category: Protestant non-denom

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

As I said in class once I used to go to this church when I was much younger. However, I was too young to fully observe the service and compare it to other experiences. I wanted to go back to see the church as my older self. I normally go to Church of the Rez and have gotten accustomed to the liturgy. The Moody Church is not a liturgical church, thus, I had the chance to re-experience a worship context different yet familiar to me. What I noticed primarily about the service was how reflective of the community it was. The Moody is an old church and has been involved in community of Chicago since the late 1800's. That said, the worship had the fine tuned, lapidary feel of addressing and responding to the needs of Chicago. More to say on the next point.

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

I found the demographic the most appealing. I honestly could not tell who the majority ethnic group was. Caucasians, African-Americans and Asian-Americans all seemed well represented (Okay, Asian-Americans not as much but still a fair number). However, I was unsure about how the socio-economic distribution was. I know for a fact that many people who live in richer suburbs attend this church and I also know that many locals attend it as well (it's in the heart of Chicago so probably many well off people). However, growing up I always remember there being homeless people in, out and around the church. The ethnic demographic gave the church a very full feel. There was gospel worship and the space felt very warm and safe. It is difficult to find a church in the suburbs that has a similar spread of people.

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

I have to admit bias on this question - I am partial to this church and revisiting it after eight years away was like meeting an old friend, you forget their faults and see only the comfort of their put-aside familiarity. I was so open to the worship service in many ways that I didn't have much of a critical filter on. Our family (I went with my family) ran into some old friends that we hadn't seen in all that time. Their daughter that we saw them adopt had now grown into an almost-teenager. I believe our family had something of a falling out with them but seeing them after all that time had past made us forget all of it. I do recall why we left though. It was difficult for us young,shy, Korean-American suburban kids to connect in the youth group there where most of the kids were black kids from the city. 

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 sermon was on moving from ignorance to intimacy with Christ. He talked about Paul's writing's on the gentiles and claimed that a life lived in ignorance of God is an immoral life. He started with the idea that we are ignorant to our flaws, more than that in fact, we avoid the reality of our flaws because our true reflection his gross. Defying ignorance in this area comes in embracing the reality. However, we must embrace it through Christ since embracing our image apart from that transformation is just disgusting. I loved how clear and explicit this message was. Christ's transformation was not hidden at all in the service, it was made explicit which is something I appreciated after being in a context where God seems hidden.