Nathan Baer - Church Visit 2

Church name: St. Peter & Paul Catholic Church

Church address: 36 N Ellsworth St, Naperville, IL 60540

Date attended: October 30, 2016

Church category: Tridentine mass

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

The service lasted a little over an hour. It started with the clergy, dressed in white robes, emerging and carrying candles and a large cross. They sprinkled holy water and incense throughout the crowd, and then sung a handful of hymns. One interesting thing was that we were constantly standing up and sitting down, following the clergy who would do the same. We would stand for some songs or call and response passages, and then sit down for others. Also, there was a long pad throughout the aisles where people would get on their knees during the hymns, presumably to pray; I don’t think I saw anyone in the crowd who was also speaking Latin fluently. After a brief ten-or-so minute sermon in English, there were more hymns, communion, and then a benediction. Again, this is completely different than the protestant worship I am used to, which is a much less ritualistic and formal environment.

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

It again struck me that there is so much diversity of worship practice just in a small area of West Chicago. It’s natural to think of people who worship completely different than yourself and assume that they are foreign rather than the next town over from you. It also occurred to me that this was likely much more similar to the way worship was done in the Biblical era. It reminded me of the importance of tradition in the church, and that although most of us may worship in a completely different fashion, it is important to recognize the benefits of a more traditional form of worship, and honor that tradition in the way that we worship as contemporary evangelicals.  Finally, it showed a history that has been largely lost overtime, that of worshiping in Latin.

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

This service had a similar effect on me that the orthodox visit had previously had. I walked out thinking about my own church experience in my hometown, and reflecting on how dangerously entertainment-focused contemporary worship in my own background has become. Coming from a very modernized church with a rock band and a pastor who routinely wears Indianapolis Colts jerseys while preaching, it reminded me that I have not often, especially before coming to college, seen church as something set apart from normal life. This is partly why coming to Wheaton and discovering College Church was a nice change of pace in the more formal direction. Still, experiencing mass reminded me of some lacking aspects of my worship background, and allowed me to admire some rituals of worship that I would otherwise look at as weird or outdated.