Michael Morgan - Church Visit #1

Michael Morgan - Church Visit #1

Church name: St. 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?

              In most ways, it was quite different from my regular church (Anglican). The most notable difference was, of course, language. Most of the liturgy was done in Greek, and most of the language on the icons was in Greek as well. Additionally, there was more standing during the service than I was used to doing. Everyone there was also significantly better dressed than the average Protestant church-goer. The smell of incense was also new to me, though I thought bringing in a new sense to worship is important. One last notable difference (though this list could go on for a while) was the length of the service, which was roughly two hours and thirty minutes (about an hour longer than normal for me). A couple similarities were the recitation of the Nicene Creed, a sermon (though short), and the taking of communion (though I did not).

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

              The history of global Christianity was more apparent to me in this church service than my normal service. There is clearly a heavier emphasis on tradition in the Greek Orthodox Church than my own, as most of what we recited in the liturgy made apparent. It was interesting to me to see the emphasis on the language of the Biblical text itself, much of which was recited in Greek. In some ways this helped me to feel more connected to the earliest Christians, if that was the goal. The iconography was also fascinating to me, as some of the Saints were unfamiliar to me (I didn’t know who St. Demetrios was beforehand). The history of Christianity is present in that church even in its physical appearance. Lastly, it become more apparent to me the diversity of Christian traditions in the world, and how cultural sensitive worship actually is.

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

              It seems to me identity is always formed as the result of a tradition, whether we are conscious of it or not. Although my Protestant Evangelical context does not lend itself to a heavy emphasis on that tradition, it was illuminating for me to see how the history of the Church is so heavily formative with respect to how it is that we worship. We can all affirm the Nicene Creed, and both aim at coming to know God more, even if those means are largely distinct. I was led to question the legitimacy of a lot of the practices that American Evangelical churches are entrenched in, such as the heavy emphasis on the “show” aspect of worship, which I am not persuaded is at all oriented toward forming the type of Christians that Christ would have wanted us to be.