Josiah Haas- Church visit #1

Josiah Haas- Church visit #1

Church name: Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church

Church address: 893 Church Rd, Elmhurst, IL 60126

Date attended: October 2, 2016

Church category: Orthodox Church

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

The worship service I attended was very different from my regular context of an evangelical nondenominational contemporary church. The service took two and a half hours, which is probably an hour longer than I’m used to. The smell of the church was extremely strong of perfume and incense (contrary to smelling like coffee in a church lobby); in fact it was so strong that I started to get a headache. The entire service was filled with liturgy, chanting, and singing; most of the time I could not even understand what they were saying. I am used to some liturgy, but the entire service was constantly liturgical except for the short sermon in the middle. There were some similarities however: there was a sermon and a recitation of both the Nicene Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. In addition, there was communion at the end; all of these things would be very common in the church context that I am familiar with.

How did the worship service illuminate for you the history and contours of global Christianity?

The worship service illuminated the importance of tradition in the history of global Christianity. The liturgies being spoken at the church have likely been spoken for centuries; similarly the songs and chants have been sung for hundreds of years the exact same way. This continuity is important for that church, because I think it shows unity over time in how they worship God. In the bishop’s sermon, he mentioned things from the passage in Luke that were not necessarily in the passage of Scripture but were told “through tradition.” From this, I realized that parts of the church place such an emphasis on tradition that it becomes authoritative on a very high level. I was reminded from this visit that there is such a rich tradition to Christianity that I don’t even have the slightest knowledge about. I’m so used to everything being contemporized in my North American evangelical context, but I’m so ignorant to the way that the church has worshipped for most of its existence.

How did the worship service illuminate for you your personal identity as a Christian?.

This worship service illuminated that my identity as a Christian aligns me with people who worship and experience God in totally different ways than I. When I usually think of my identity as a believer in Christ, I think of evangelical Christianity with engaging pastors, contemporary loud worship music, and a huge emphasis on personal relationship with the Lord. That western, American, evangelical way is the way that I have always known how to “be a Christian.” However, just because that is my way of experiencing God does not mean that that is the same for everyone. In fact, for me to think that my way is the only was is extremely arrogant because people have experienced God differently than me for two thousand years. Also, I realized how cultural my identity as a Christian is. The style of worship I engage in is greatly a product of my culture, but this church has not been largely influenced by culture. Instead, they continue worshipping the same way no matter what is happening around them.