Church name: St. Andrew Greek Orthodox Church
Church address: 7901 N Kendall Dr, Miami, FL 33156
Date attended: October 16
Church category: Greek Orthodox
Describe the worship service you attended. How was it similar to or different from your regular context?
Firstly, the church architecture is very different from protestant church architecture. There is a square altar in the front with Cross, Bible, candles and other staffs on it. Above the altar in the dome of the church are the colorful icons, made of glass, of Jesus in the middle and twelve apostles on both sides.
I was in the church during Orthros which starts at 8:15 and Divine Liturgy which starts at 9:30. There were less than 5 people including the priest and the deacon during Orthros. They priest in a white robe with yellow decoration stood on the altar and the deacon in a black robe stood on the other side behind a podium. They sang something sentence by sentence in probably ancient Greek without any instrument.
After Orthros, when Divine Liturgy began, people began showing up. They kissed the icons and Bible at the entry while entering. The priest and choir sang in ancient Greek together. During the liturgy the priest went down from the altar with Bible or incense and children who dressed in white robes with blue decorations. Everyone stood up and crossed. The service ended up with Eucharist
All the praising work was done by the priest and the choir. Ordinal people did not actively participate except Eucharist. They just listened. There was no sermon in protestant view. The priest only shared Matthew 13:3-23 in 10 minutes in English. Eucharist is very similar.
How did the worship service illuminate for you the history and contours of global Christianity?
How did the worship service illuminate for you your personal identity as a Christian?
I want to answer the two questions together, because my personal Christian identity is highly identified by the Church history and the context.
Because the way they worshiped is so different from the way I adapt, it is very hard for me to really worship God in that situation. However, the most striking experience is Eucharist. I did not take Eucharist the same as other Orthodox Christian. I crossed my arm in front of me. The Priest kissed me and said “welcome home.” I only got the bread, but did not get the wine.
The meaning behind it is very deep. According to Ignatius, Eucharist, the blood and body of Christ, is essential to Christian’s life, like Bible. In this case, I had the different Eucharist from Orthodox Christian. If baptism is essential to communion and I took Eucharist differently, does that mean we believe in different baptism? In The Nicene Creed, it is said “we acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.” Do we believe in the same Nicene Creed? I would say Orthodox Christians, Catholic Christians, and protestant Christians believe in the same Trinitarian God, but now Christians cannot have the Eucharist, even the baptism together. They have different building, different practice, different Bible, even different doctrine. The splits of church cause great trouble to Christians community. They have different practice and Bible. Even “Nicene Christian” does not make sense, because there are more questions, like “which ‘one holy catholic and apostolic Church’ do you believe in,” “does Holy Spirit proceed from the Father or from the Father and the Son.” The argument can be used to defend the doctrine, but can also be used to promote schism.
One of my Catholic Christian friends said I was not saved euphemistically. What does it mean to be a Christian, especially your faith is denied by other Christians? The influence of splits of Church continues nowadays. Augustine says it is not our job to judge whether one is saved, however, we do judge others through behaviors like taking Eucharist.
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