Church Name: Hanmee Church
Church Address: 1149 West
Bloomingdale Road, Itasca, IL 60143
Date Attended: October 26,
2014
Church Category: Korean Church
Describe the worship service you attended.
This
church was not entirely different in structure from my usual experience. The
general order of things consisted of worship book ending the message in the
middle; however, the general feeling of the service felt significantly more
casual. To illustrate this point, in one of churches I attend frequent, a lady
approached me and through the vehicle of sarcasm made me quite aware that she
did not appreciate my wearing Tennis shoes with my otherwise appropriate
attire. Hanmee felt more like a community of believers who could look past such
things and focus on worshiping and listening. Another interesting difference I discovered was the method of prayer. In my usual church context, prayer is an
extremely quiet event whereas at Hanmee the prayer is spoken all at once
(although some do pray silently).
What did you find most interesting or appealing about the
service?
The
service was much more interactive than my usual background. A call for an “Amen”
from the congregation was frequently requested and the congregation seemed to
know each other quite well. The focus did seem to be placed upon the message
but the ultimate goals seemed to be found in fostering a community. However,
the aspect which I appreciate the most was the casualness of the sermon. I came
to really enjoy the fact that the service was not strictly ordered and there
were moments where people could worship as they liked. One was not expected to
dress in a certain way or remain perfectly quiet unless asked to greet the
person next to you. Prayer felt much more open because there were so many
styles of it being utilized and cherished. Thus I really appreciated the more
open nature of this church in comparison to my sterner church back home.
What did you find most disorienting or challenging about
the service?
I
believe the most challenging aspect occurred to me when I realized I was only
white person at the service. The church instantly recognized I was new and
asked me to stand in front of the congregation as newcomer. Fortunately,
everyone was incredibly nice and with the more “open nature” of the church,
this was not something which became all that stressful. Luckily, I also had a
friend who had invited me to this church and she was able to introduce me to
many of the people there. Nonetheless, it was still a bit challenging to
interact with a congregation that was so close knit when I only knew one
person. However, due to the very inviting nature of the church this never
became a huge issue and I was able to appreciate their hospitality. I came to
realization that it would be much harder for them to come to my church back
home than my going to their church.
What aspect of Scripture or theology did
the worship service illuminate for you that you had not perceived as clearly in
your regular context?
I
believe the most illuminating piece which I gathered from this church
experience was the call for the church to be hospitable. Even though I was an
entirely different race and I did not know anyone, everyone was more hospitable
towards me than my own church had ever been. I was incredibly impressed by this
and I believe the verses which call for hospitality in the churches were
illuminated as began to wonder what ways I could work to be more hospitable. My
usual church experience often had new members but I don’t recall every seeing
that much hospitality shown towards them. It doesn’t seem that it can only be
the church authority’s job to be hospitable but the entire congregation has
some sort of duty to give this to the strangers who appear, regardless of
class, race, or even the shoes they wear.
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