A Christian and a Scientist?

Church #13

Sixteenth Church of Christ, Scientist

Christian Science

I’m back again with a new church. This one was really exciting because up until now I have been to only larger denominations. They all basically follow the same pattern – Bible readings, sermon, sign of peace, Our Father, Communion. Some are missing parts of that or have it in a different order, but I basically knew what to expect. Christian Science had me a little worried though. I was nervous that someone would point out that I didn’t belong and a bunch of old church ladies would  glare at me. I also wasn’t sure if there would be some kind of weird rituals that I would end up in the middle of.

Luckily, it was not nearly as intimidating as I was expecting. When I was walking in people came up and said hi to me and when I said I was new they welcomed me to the church. The chapel looked like any other modern church. There were a couple rows of pews, a lectern at the front with a stained glass window behind, and a couple chairs at the front for the leaders (Christian Scientists don’t have any formal clergy. They elect two people to lead the services.)

It was when the service started that I really got the scientist part. The service felt exactly how a scientist would do religion. The order of the service was listed at the front of “The Christian Science Quarterly” that was handed out as we walked in. This order was followed exactly with no going off script in between. This service was definitely about the study of the scripture rather than ritual. There were three songs over the course of the service and before we sang each one, one of the leaders would read the whole first verse. This definitely felt a little odd, but it totally makes sense. Sometimes I can find myself singing the words of a hymn without really thinking about them. Focusing on the words ended up making it a lot more of a prayer.

The real meat of this service was definitely scripture. There was a reading at the beginning, then a responsive reading, where the congregation and the leaders would alternate reading lines out of the Quarterly, then there was the sermon. The sermon was not what I would normally think of as a sermon. I was expecting one of the leaders to expand upon the readings from earlier and share some of their personal experiences and opinions. Instead, the sermon was a collection of additional Bible readings paired with readings from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by the religion’s founder Mary Baker Eddy. Those readings were her interpretations of the Bible passages. The readings focus on one of 26 topics that are each covered twice a year. In keeping with the science of this service, there was no room for the personal opinions of the leaders. It was all based in hard fact, the absolute truth of this faith that comes through the Bible and the Christian Science textbook. Now, I can’t say that there is no room for questioning here because any good scientist is always asking questions and that may very well be what their Wednesday evening meetings are for. I might have to check it out and report back.

There were a couple other things that I thought were interesting and wanted to share. The first was that when we said the Our Father, we stopped between each line and one of the leaders would give Mary Baker Eddy’s interpretation of that line. I’m sure the effect would wear off if I did it every week, but it definitely made me think a lot harder about what I was saying, which was kinda cool.

The next interesting fact is that Sunday school was for people up to the age of 20. I totally get it because this is a super dense service. The sermon had 7 Bible readings with textbook readings between each. And man, those readings are some complicated theology. It was like taking a break from the Bible to read some Thomas Aquinas. Still I am curious what kind of lesson they have for that big of an age range in the Sunday school.

The last fun fact is that they only said Amen once. It was at the very end of the service. I wasn’t kidding when I said they cut out everything unnecessary. The whole thing is one big prayer, so you don’t really need it more than once, I guess.

So that was my experience with the Christian Scientists. Am I ready to convert? Probably not. I don’t know that I can handle that much scripture every week. Am I glad I went? Absolutely.

This week was a major change of perspective for me. I have to admit, I have called Christian Scientists crazy for not believing in medicine (I have also learned that most Christian Scientists do not reject all forms of medicine. Spiritual healing is definitely the first choice, but they may seek outside help in some cases.). It is easy to call a group of people you know nothing about crazy. But then I actually met some of them. The people I met were extremely welcoming, normal people. One was a teacher, another an engineer, and a couple had even graduated from Northwestern. These were clearly not dumb people and it is unfair to discount their sincerely held beliefs as dumb. I am definitely going to keep reaching out into faiths that feel unfamiliar to me. I think learning to reserve judgement and really get to know people can only lead to good things.

Back with the Byzantines

Sorry about the break in my posts. I ended up getting really busy with the holidays and then starting a new job. I am going to work on being more consistant at posting from now on. The goal is one new church each month. I decided to cut back because I don’t want to miss out on having a home parish. I miss Sheil when I am away too long.

But anyway, I’ve already gone too long without talking about a new church, so I’ll get right into it.

Church #11

St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral

Byzantine Catholic

I was really excited to go back to a Byzantine church. When I was little I used to go to my Baba’s (Slovak for Grandmother) church sometimes. It was always really cool because the mass would be in Slovak and everything was chanted. The missals had translations and phonetic spellings of the whole mass, so we were always able to work our way through what was going on even though all I know in Slovak is the names of foods and a couple curse words. I remember the church being beautiful and ornate. There were these grand arches with pictures of saints on them and I always thought they were the coolest thing.

I will always have a really strong emotional connection with the Byzantine Catholic church because of my memories of St Michael and how close I was to my Baba. I even have a tattoo of a Byzantine cross on my arm to remember Baba. So with all those emotions connected to Byzantine churches, I had extremely high expectations for St Nicholas.

I have to admit, I think I made a mistake in going to the English Mass. The others are in Ukrainian and are definitely more well attended. I saw a lot of people leaving as I was coming in. And when I went in I was definitely not disappointed by the church. It was absolutely beautiful. There were beautiful, colorful arches and paintings of saints at the front that brought back great memories. The outside was also really cool because the church has these big domes that you can see coming toward the church in all directions.

The real downside with the mass that I went to was that there were probably only 15 people in the big cathedral. It felt really empty and the open space made for lots of echos. It can be tough to feel welcome when you are surrounded by empty pews. It was also a little tough for me because the mass responses were the same as what I remembered from when St. Michael’s mass was in English, but the tune of the chant was different. I didn’t realize how much that would throw me off.

There were a couple parts of the mass that were really exciting though. The first was the homily. Most of it was difficult to hear because the priest had a thick accent and the church echoed so much, but one thing he said really struck me. He said “we all have our black Fridays, but we always have to remember that Sunday will come.” I don’t know why, but that was really inspiring to me. It was a great message of hope in the middle of Lent. The other thing that was exciting was communion. Byzantine Catholics put the bread in the chalice with the wine and use a spoon to drop it in your mouth. When I was younger, my mom would whisper in my ear on the way up “don’t let the spoon touch your tongue.” I would always get so nervous that it would and everyone would get mad at me. I am glad to say it did not so everything was fine. But, spoon etiquette aside, I think this is a cool way to do communion. It somehow feels more intimate. It is like the way a parent feeds a child, which is a pretty good metaphor for a relationship with God.

So it was nice to go back to a Byzantine church, but I think I let my memories get in the way. I don’t know that I will ever find a church that is like St. Michael’s. That won’t stop me from trying though. I will definitely be going back to another Byzantine church at some point. I’ll make sure to keep you posted.

God our Father, Mother, Parent

Church #9

United Church of Rodgers Park

United Methodist

The church that I ended up at this week was pretty darn gay. I mean that in an affectionate way and in both senses of the word. It was also not at all what I expected based on what the church looked like and what I know about Methodists. I have always heard that Methodists are a little more reserved in their worship and as whole fairly conservative. That made sense as I approached the hundred year old church with a big dome. It was traditional looking so I figured I knew what to expect.

The first thing that threw me off was that the pews were on three sides with a lectionary in the middle. It was like a thrust stage. It was actually really cool. I was sitting on one of the sides and I was looking at other people worshipping. I knew that some churches were set up like that, but I hadn’t been to any.

The next thing that was a little different was that the minister was a woman and so was the deacon. This was another first for me. Again, I know that lots of denominations have female clergy, but I haven’t been to any services led by a woman. I was actually really excited to see what it would be like. Also she was wearing a rainbow stole and the deacon was wearing a sweater vest so I knew it would be interesting.

While I was sitting in my pew waiting for the service to start they passed around a sign in sheet. Regulars checked off their names and new people put in their information. It’s interesting to see that a few of the churches have people check in. I don’t think I have ever seen that at a Catholic church. I wonder if it is a better way of getting to know the people who come to church.

The service started a little late because they were waiting for people running late because of the weather. I’m not sure if it just looked empty or if the minister noticed some people missing. It could be the latter because she seemed to know everyone by name.

Then we started with a song. It was a lot more upbeat than most of the churches I have been to and the rhythm was difficult enough that I felt like I was back at Sheil. Then after the song ended I realized the service hadn’t started yet. We started doing announcements. I am used to them being at the end so this threw me off. The minister was cracking jokes about how she forgot to turn on the heat and everyone was laughing and making comments back to her. The whole community seemed like they were friends and were happy to be together.

After the announcements we sang a gathering song. This was the real beginning of the service. It was another really great upbeat song. Most of them were fast paced, except for a really cool song sung in Arabic by the choir. Anyway, then it was time for the sign of peace. And, man, was it a sign of peace. Everyone got up and out of their pews and hugged everyone else. There was a song playing while it was happening and someone in the choir had a tambourine. At one point one woman started dancing in the aisle. And she was really getting into it. Peace was definitely with her.

It took us awhile to get back to our seats after that, but we eventually got there and settled down for some quieter prayer. One of the interesting things I noticed was that whenever God was mentioned there were never pronouns. God was also Mother, Father, Parent every time. I think the idea is that God is beyond gender. It is a nice thought, but a little too hippy for me.

After that there was a reading from the gospel of Mark. The pastor went back and talked about the chapters leading up to that section and put it in context. She also talked about the translation of the Bible she was using and why that made a difference. That was really cool. I have a feeling she would lead a great Bible study.

Then when it was time to send around the collection people were asked to bring up their offerings and put them in the basket at the front of the church instead of passing it around. I’m not sure what the reasoning was, but it was cool. People also wrote out prayers that were collected and read out loud. One person prayed for the trans community. That was super cool to hear in a church. Meanwhile, the minister was in the back of the church coloring a banner of thanksgiving with the kids. It was actually really funny because I couldn’t figure out where she went at first.

Finally we ended with the Our Father, or Our Creator in this case. It was a sung version and it was really cool. There wasn’t any Eucharist which is always a little disappointing for me, but there were snacks after so I couldn’t be too upset.

All in all, this service was a lot of fun, but it was definitely not for me. I think I am a little too old school for these guys. But I definitely recommend it for anyone who is into a less traditional service. I also know that not all UMC churches are like this one so I will probably end up at another one, maybe even the temple downtown.

 

Church #10

St. Ignatius Church

Roman Catholic

Later in the day I definitely got my dose of traditional. This was another really old building and it had beautiful stained glass. It was a shame that this mass was in the little chapel on the side because I would have loved to see what the main one looked like.

It was, in general, a pretty standard Catholic mass. All of the songs were older hymns. One thing that was a little interesting was that they were all printed in a worship aid. Normally Catholics use a hymnal. I wonder if they switch up their music a lot.

There was a hymnal in the pew, but it was all in Spanish. I think most of the Catholic churches in my area have a least one Spanish mass because there is a decent sized Hispanic population and my guess would be that a lot of them are Catholic.

I am finding that when I write about Catholic masses, the most interesting thing to talk about is the homily. The rest tends to be pretty much the same, but then that’s the whole point. There is something comforting in the fact that no matter where you go, you will always get the same mass.

Anyway, this homily started out fun because the priest had us talk to the people next to us in the pews. It was a repeat after me thing, but it was still cool that he got us actively engaged. The main point of his homily was that Jesus was wrongly convicted. He is like those people in prison who were unfairly tried because of the color of their skin or their religion. He also talked about why these people get convicted. He said people just want a fall guy so they can feel safe and it looks like the law enforcement is getting things done. This was a really interesting look at the gospel and I really appreciated hearing it because I know a lot of people, sometimes myself included, would like to forget that Jesus had a lot more in common with those people society would like to forget about than he did with the more privileged among us.

That’s all I have for this one. High five for writing two weeks in a row! It probably won’t be three because I am subbing in for a friend as Eucharistic Minister, but we can always hope for a church with a convenient time. I might try to hit up an LDS service at 1 PM if anyone is interested.

Mark’s Apocalypse, Two Ways

Hey everyone, sorry it has been awhile since I have posted about any new churches. I have been busy on Sundays recently because I was asked to substitute teach Sunday school whenever a teacher is absent. I am always excited to say yes to helping out with kids because, as exciting as it is to grow my own faith, it is way cooler to see kids make new discoveries about theirs. My posts will probably continue to be spotty because I am sure there will be other weeks where a teacher can’t make it to class.

Now on to the churches.

 

Church #7

Unity Lutheran Church

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

I was really excited about this one because I didn’t know much about Lutherans, but I knew it would be pretty similar. It was also pretty cool that this church made a point of saying that it is LGBTQ friendly, especially since everything else about the church seemed so traditional.

When I got there I was surprised at how small the church was. There were about 8 rows of pews, so it wasn’t tiny, but it wasn’t the huge congregation I was expecting based on the number of activities listed on their website. It was alright though because it was the right size for the number of people who came to the service. The people there were mostly older, but it was cool to see that it was pretty much an even mix of black and white people because, all to often, churches just end up being segregated.

Even though the church was small, it was really beautiful. There was a pipe organ with the pipes framing the alter really nicely. The stained glass was also really pretty, although I wish it had been sunnier so I could see it better. There was also a corner of the church that had a number of religious paintings because the church was hosting an art show. It was just a nice, classic church and it made me feel at home.

When the service started I was really glad they had worship aids because it was just different enough from mass that I needed something to help me follow along. There were slight wording differences like “and also with you” versus “and with your spirit” and a slightly different way of saying the Our Father. I actually kind of appreciated the differences because they made me pay attention to the words. Sometimes I can get so caught up in the routine of mass that I don’t think about what I am saying.

I was also really excited about the sermon. The Pastor was talking about how Jesus said the Temple would be destroyed and how that would have been extremely relevant at the time the gospel was written. He then got into historic relations between Christians and Jews and connected that to religious relations today. This one was really good for me because I am a huge nerd about church history. It was also a really cool way to talk about current events.

This church was also interesting because of the way they did communion. A group would gather around the alter and kneel, take communion, get a blessing and step down so the next group could come up. This was actually really cool because it had a sense of community about it. I actually really liked it. The other thing about communion that I thought was really funny was how accommodating they were. On the way up you could get a little plastic cup so you didn’t have to worry about germs from the big cup. Then they came around with both a cup of wine and a cup of grape juice. You could also do intinction if you wanted. After you stepped down you could go back to your seat and sing, or you would go light a candle and pray, or you could go get a blessing and be anointed with oil (I regret not doing this one because the woman blessing people was so passionate about it and it seemed really cool.). Eventually everyone would end up back in their seats after doing whatever they chose. It sounds like it would be a little chaotic, but it actually worked really well and we didn’t really have to wait for stragglers to get back to their seats.

The last thing they did at the end of the service was sing “God Grant You Many Years” to anyone who had a birthday or anniversary or other important life event. This was really cool for me because I know that song from when I was little and would go to things at my Grandma’s Byzantine Catholic church. It was also really cool because this little church seemed like such a tight community.

After the service the woman next to me welcomed me to the church and asked what brought me there. (She also told me I had a good voice and asked where I sang. I was flattered.) I told her about this project and told her that I really liked how close the community at this particular church seemed. She told me that a lot of the people were actually fairly new. The person who sang the psalm had only been coming for 6 weeks, but they wanted to make her a part of the community so they asked her to sing. I think that is awesome. I loved how welcoming this community was. I hope I will be able to make it back, but I have a lot of other churches to try.

 

Church #8

Madonna della Strata Chapel at Loyola

Roman Catholic

The other church I went to was the chapel at Loyola University. This one was interesting because I go to the chapel at Northwestern all the time, so I wanted to compare universities. This one was actually very different. You can tell it is a Catholic institution because they clearly had a lot of money to throw into this chapel. The walls and floor were white stone with a very tall arched ceiling. This one also had an organ, but it was up in a choir loft. There was a beautiful baptismal font (For comparison, Sheil uses a kiddie pool. We decorate it and it is lovely, but still a kiddie pool.) This chapel was also twice the size of the one at Sheil. But that isn’t necessarily a good thing. It may just have been because 5:00 PM mass isn’t as popular but it looked really empty. I felt really far away from everyone else and far away from the priest because the alter was set back a bit. It took away from the community feeling.

Also, while stone floors and walls are beautiful, they are also noisy. There were lots of echos, especially when people were raising and lowering squeaky kneelers. The echos also made the organ so loud that it was difficult to keep my place in the song. However, when the choir was singing alone, the organist backed off a little and they sounded absolutely beautiful. I am willing to admit that even if I do get a little bitter about not getting to sing more.

Really the best part about this mass was the deacon. Those guys never get enough credit. This one was a guy from Germany in seminary. He’s going to be a Jesuit, and anyone who knows me knows how much I love Jesuits. He was perfect for this group of college students. He was preaching about almost the same passage as the Pastor from Unity, but not quite. I checked the readings for both and the first two were identical, but the third was different for the Catholics and the Lutherans. It was the same chapter but different verses. (If anyone can explain the reason for the slight difference I would really appreciate it.) These verses were a little more general apocalyptic than just saying the Temple would be destroyed.

The deacon started his homily with a poem about the sky darkening like in the reading. Then he pointed out those were lyrics from Skyfall. I don’t know the song, but cool connection. He then started talking about how the attacks in Paris had really shaken him, especially because he was from Europe. He said that he imagined it was how we felt in America after 9/11. He said that was the first time he ever really felt like things were really getting worse and the world was ending. Then he said that in his studies of ancient Greek and Latin everyone was always talking about the world ending. Everyone throughout history has always thought that things were getting terrible and the end was near. He said he thought back to his childhood when he never worried about how bad the world was. He looked up things that had been going on and realized it was pretty bad then too. The only difference now was that the bad things were affecting him. So the conclusion was that the world wasn’t ending. We just need to be more empathetic to the people who are in situations where they feel like it is instead of waiting for that kind of situation it hit us with a sudden realization.

So I may not have liked the atmosphere of that church, but the homily was given by an extremely intelligent young deacon and that was perfect for that chapel full of college kids.

Well that is all I have for this week. Hopefully I will have a couple new churches to write about next week, but if not it will be soon.

 

 

A Little Closer to Home

Sorry about writing anything last week. I didn’t go to any new churches. I was busy all day Sunday doing things with the Knights of Columbus. I became a 3rd degree knight. One more degree and I can get a sword, which is pretty cool, but not really the point. Sometimes the secret ceremonies and long meetings are a little much for me. I honestly think the knights are at their best when they are out actually helping people. That’s the way my dad does it. I don’t know the last time he went to a meeting, but he is up early to help with every pancake breakfast. I think that’s pretty cool.

But enough about the knights. If you want to hear more let me know. I have a ton of brochures that the Grand Knight gave me and I don’t need them taking up space in my room anymore.

Now on to this week’s church. There is only one because I didn’t go to a new Catholic church.

Church #6

The Church in the Chapel

Non Denominational

This week I went to the service in Alice Millar Chapel at Northwestern. I was invited by my friend who it in the choir that leads the services. Man, that choir was really good. I am not usually a fan of listening to other people sing at church, but this choir was so good that it didn’t bother me at all. They sat in the first few pews and the congregation was behind. I sat down about 10 rows back and figured I would be somewhere in the middle, but because of the choir I ended up at the front. I kept peaking behind me to make sure I was standing at the right times.

This service was interesting because it was much closer to a Catholic mass than the other churches I have been to. We did the sign of peace, the our father, the memorial acclamation, Eucharist, and a lot of other parts of the mass. It got to be a little tricky because things were slightly different. Things like the sign of peace being at the beginning and saying “and also with you” instead of “and with your spirit.” I had to make sure I read the worship aid closely so I wouldn’t mess up.

I was told that they don’t have communion every week, so the service I went to was actually a little closer to what I am used to than other weeks would be. Even so, their communion was pretty different. They do intinction, which is when you dip the bread in the wine. The Eucharistic ministers had platters of bread with a little cup of grape juice in the center. You picked up a piece of the bread yourself and dipped it in the wine. Doing it this way is probably better from a germs standpoint because you aren’t sharing a cup with a bunch of people and only you touch the bread you eat, but it also felt less reverent. I kinda like the personal connection of someone placing the bread in your hands.

Overall it was a really good service. One thing that was really cool about it was that this church picks a theme for each month. This month is home. One of the readings was the prodigal son, so the sermon focused on the family relationships of the two brothers and why the younger brother left home and eventually came back. They are also having a pet blessing next week because pets are part of the home. It is a really great theme for their audience because I know a lot of students have a hard time being away from home for the first time and creating a new one at school. I also think that having a series of sermons on a central theme is a really cool way to keep people coming back.

After the service there was a potluck lunch. (I had no idea this project would get me so much free food.) Everyone who came was really friendly. I talked to one woman who said she used to be Catholic and ended up finding that this community was a better fit for her. I think it is so cool when people seek out and find a community that works for them, even if it does mean leaving Catholicism. The relationship with God should be more important than the kind of church. I told her about my church hopping and she thought it was great that I was exploring other types of churches. I’m glad to have the support of the people who go to the churches I write about.

Well that’s all I have for this week. Next week I’ll be at Sheil and someplace else that I haven’t decided yet.

 

A Storybook and a Potluck

Church #4

Sheil Catholic Center

Roman Catholic

This one is a little different than any of the others will be because Sheil is the church I go to regularly. It isn’t a normal Catholic church; it’s the Catholic center at Northwestern. This makes it a really different kind of community because people are coming a bunch of different Catholic churches. So to try to make all of the students feel at home, they try to pull in different things from all of those churches. Mostly that means our music pretty much covers the whole spectrum of hymns. Which brings me to another really cool thing- we are singers. Catholics are not known for singing loudly at mass, but at Sheil we get into it. My personal favorite part of mass at Sheil is the Our Father. We do a really cool sung version. I’ve always liked it, but since my voice dropped, it has taken on a special meaning for me. It has some pretty low notes and when I sing it, it is a prayer of thanks for where I am now and all of the gifts I have received.

Honestly I could go on about Sheil for a whole series of blog posts, but for now I’ll just mention one more thing. I think the reason Sheil is such a cool community is because people actively choose it. Most of the non students (we call them associates) could probably go to a Catholic church closer to where they live, but they choose to go to Sheil. They have thought about what they want their faith to be and they will damned sure tell you about it. It is an intellectual and very opinionated community and it will be tough to find one to match it as I keep exploring other churches.

 

Church #5

Unitarian Church of Evanston

Unitarian Universalist

I had absolutely no idea what to expect with a UU church. It is not exactly Christian because they base their faith on multiple religions. The service I ended up at was actually more Jewish than Christian because Rosh Hashanah had just ended. They like to work major holidays from other religions into their services as they happen. It was super cool because I know very little about Judaism.

When I walked in there was a table with name tags. Regulars had more permanent ones and newbies like me wrote their names on stickers. Lots of churches have people greet each other in the pews, but name tags is a whole other level of encouraging community. It’s awesome how important that is to this church. They also had little rainbow stickers to show support for the LGBTQ community because there was a LGBTQ potluck right after the service. That was definitely something I am not used to, but right on UU!

With my name tag on, I walked into the main area of the church. It was absolutely beautiful. It is always interesting to see what churches have at the front, where the congregation is facing. In a lot of places it is a cross, but here it was giant windows looking out on trees. It seems fitting because I got the feeling that this church was a lot more focused on making positive change in the world rather than waiting for a reward in heaven. So much of the service was about caring for each other.

That message of love each other and the Rosh Hashanah message of repentance and forgiveness may have been traditional, but the way they were presented certainly wasn’t. The atmosphere didn’t feel like how I think of church. People were drinking coffee during the service. It was much more casual and maybe a little more welcoming. We were read a story book about Rosh Hashanah and the pictures were projected on a screen. That was really cool because it was entertaining. I felt engaged, so I remembered it more than I usually remember details of readings at mass.

The one part of the service that did feel familiar was the sermon. It was about the things we hold on to and how we should let go of our grudges. It was a really great message and it definitely felt relevant. There were also sort of intentions. They were things members of the congregation wanted to share. One of them even talked about the Pope (Yay Francis!).

After the service there was coffee and bagels. There was a table specifically for new people so the community could get to know them. I can’t get over how impressively welcoming this community is. After the coffee and bagels there was even more food because there was the potluck. It was really fun. There was good food and there were games and everyone seemed to get along really well. It was a really great way to spend a Sunday morning.

So in short this church was wonderfully fulfilling both socially and intellectually. However, I didn’t really feel a spiritual connection. The focus was on making here better, which is awesome, but I really felt that looking beyond the world to see God was missing. I don’t mean to say that the people at this church don’t have a connection to God. There were moments of quiet meditation that seem perfect for that. I just couldn’t do it. It might just be the Catholic in me, but I felt like I needed something more concrete to help me get to God.

So I’m not a Unitarian, but I am really glad lots of people are because they are really cool.

That’s all for this week. Unfortunately next week I can only do mass again. I am getting my 3rd degree in the Knights of Columbus so I won’t have time for double church. I’ll also be going to Sheil again next week, so that post will probably just be a short one about the Knights.

See you next week.

My Cousin’s Beautiful Wedding

Only in the second week and I am already breaking away from the plan. I had a pretty good reason though. I was in Columbus for my cousin’s wedding. Congratulations to my cousin Liz and her new husband Don. They had such a beautiful wedding that I did not feel like I was missing out on anything by only going to that this weekend.

Their wedding was a St. Leo Catholic Church. It is a hundred year old building with a bell that has to be rung by pulling a really long rope. That was pretty cool. I do not want to get much into what I liked and didn’t like about the wedding mass because a wedding mass is a deeply personal thing. I might not have done some things the same, but I will be able to do whatever I want (or more likely what my wife wants) for my wedding. Weddings are always really awesome services because the couple puts so much care into all of the details and you can feel their devotion to each other and to God. That was definitely true of this service. Congrats again Liz and Don.

There is one thing that is really cool about this church, apart from the wedding, that I want to share. It is no longer a parish. Currently it is only rented out for special events or occasional services of other denominations. While I was waiting for the wedding to start, the photographer told me that the parish closed down when the neighborhood started to go downhill. Normally when that kind of thing happens the church is either torn down, left to fall apart on its own, or converted into a different type of building. What was really cool here is that the people of the neighborhood decided to save this beautiful church. They work together to keep it a part of their community. Now I don’t know if these people decided to keep this church around because they felt the presence of God or just because it really is a very beautiful building. Honesty, it doesn’t matter to me. Either way, it is really cool that religion is in some way bringing something special to this community.

That’s all I have for this week, but I promise there will be more to say about my UU adventure and I will probably write a bit about going to mass at Sheil as well.

A New Adventure

Hi everyone, welcome to my religious adventure!

I have been a Catholic my whole life. Until high school I hadn’t really been to any other type of church service because my whole family is also Catholic. Since then I have been to a few, but the one that really stuck out was when I went to an LDS service. I was overwhelmed by their sense of community (also the awesome singing) and the way they took the time to read the Bible on their own instead of just listening to the weekly readings like a good portion of Catholics.

My experiences there inspired me to spend more time reading the Bible and gave me more courage to talk about faith with my friends. Recently I have been wondering if there are other things that I am missing out on by not having experienced other types of Christianity. So, being the A.J. Jacobs fan I am, I decided I am going to go on an adventure and try all of them. For anyone wondering, I am not planning on leaving the Catholic Church; I am just trying to enhance my practice of my faith with ideas from other traditions.

Now that you have a little background, here are the logistics of this adventure. I am going to go to two church services every week. One will be a service in a faith tradition that I am not a part of. It will change every week. Sometimes I will have friends with me who are also looking to explore and other times I will have guides who have graciously offered to host me at their churches. I’ve decided that I am not going to have more than two or three people who are not a part of that faith tradition with me at any time because I want to make sure that I am getting a real insider experience. The other service that I will be going to is a Catholic mass. It is important to me that I go to mass every Sunday. This one will not be at a different church every Sunday, but it will vary some because there are plenty of Catholic churches near me and I would like to see what they all have to offer.

After I get home from my church services I am going to reflect on them and post it here. I am going to talk about what I liked and didn’t like about my experiences at each. Keep in mind that these are just my opinions of individual churches within each tradition and are not representative of a religion as a whole. Also I am coming from a Catholic background, so that will definitely impact how I experience each service.

Alright, now that you have all gotten the disclaimer, here is week one.

 

Church #1

St Gertrude Catholic Parish

Roman Catholic

St. Gert’s is only half a mile from me so it was an easy place to start. Plus they had an 8 am mass, so it was easy to make it to the Baptist service after. The building was really cool and traditional. I love when pews have hat clips. Plus the stained glass was beautiful. It was a little hot though because they don’t have air conditioning, but it is hard to have both beautiful old church architecture and air conditioning in the same place.

Just a warning, I am going to talk about music a lot because it is one of the major ways I connect to God. The music here felt really delicate. I liked it, but I’m not sure I would want it every week. It was all traditional hymns, which I am a huge fan of, but they were a little slow for me. There was only a single cantor at this mass, but there were chairs for a choir so there might be one at later masses.

One thing that really bothered me was how far away I was from other people. That might just have been, again because there weren’t many people at the early mass, but I wish people would have moved in toward the front of the church.

The homily was short and but pretty to the point with the Gospel, which was about Jesus restoring hearing and speech to a Gentile. He said we need to have a few kind words for each other and his kind words were that the homily was over. I always appreciate a priest with a sense of humor. They also said the Apostle’s Creed here instead of the Nicene Creed, so the mass was even shorter. Only 45 minutes total.

The highlight of mass for me was that I had a beautiful moment of peace at communion. I know that I should always have a profound spiritual experience when I receive the body of Christ, but to be completely honest, I usually don’t. This time was different, I felt a wonderful profound sense of peace. I don’t know if that was the atmosphere of the old church, or because I liked the hymn, or just a random moment of feeling God’s presence but it was really nice.

As I was leaving, I picked up a bulletin. There is a church festival sounds like it will be really great. They are gonna have live music what is pretty cool. Not sure what they have for young adults, but it looks promising. I will have to check out the “gym mass.” They don’t do it during the summer so I suspect it is a Loyola student thing, but I have heard good things about it.

 

Church #2

North Shore Baptist Church

Baptist

I was a little nervous because I know absolutely nothing about Baptist services. I have heard that Southern Baptists are more conservative and black Baptist churches have awesome music, but that is about it. I picked this one because I had heard it was a particularly liberal church and it is really close. It is also really cool that they have services in English, Spanish, Japanese, and Karen.

I ended up getting there way early because mass was so short, so I wandered around the surrounding area for half an hour until ten minutes before the service started because that felt like it wouldn’t be too early to walk in.

Walking in, the church looked like Easter. The walls were baby blue and there were flowers. There also wasn’t a crucifix. There was relief sculpture of Jesus with a few of His disciples. There was a cross with two candles on an alter in front, but it wasn’t on the raised area at the front of the church.

I was a little worried about being able to follow along with the order of the service, but the missalette was really helpful so I had no problem following along. I was surprised how similar it felt to mass. There was one reading and it was the same as that week’s gospel. It was an extended version though. They read it in both English and Karen which was kind of cool, but I didn’t really know what to do while it was being read the second time. To be fair they did offer a suggestion. They had Bibles in the pews so you could read it in English. They said reading it a second time would help you absorb it. It seemed weird to me that there were Bibles in the pews because I have never seen that at a Catholic church, but if I think about it that is probably the place it makes most sense to have a Bible. Catholics probably don’t keep any there because we always follow the 3 year reading cycle. We can just organize those specific readings so it is easy to find them when we need them.

The best part by far was the pastor’s sermon. He talked about Syria and Kim Davis. He said he knew there were various views in the room, but he was a liberal. He talked about how mad he was that Kim Davis was not letting gay couples marry. Then he talked about how Jesus was tempted to not help non-Jews because He was human and a product of His upbringing. He said that we need to follow Jesus’s example and move past those prejudices. He said he was going to try to do that by setting aside his anger toward Kim Davis and help his sister in prison. He also said we all need to set aside our perceived differences and help the Syrian refugees.

I really appreciate that he was a liberal preacher, but still had a fire behind him. It was also interesting that they did something similar to the prayers of the faithful. They had people raise their hands and say what they had to pray for. It was much more personal than having a lector say all of the prayers and have a few people call prayers out while standing in the crowd.

There were a few things I didn’t like. At one point they called the children up and preached a mini sermon to them in front of the rest of the congregation. It was a great children’s sermon but it felt weird having them up at the front like that with us all watching them. I also didn’t like that several of the songs were sung by one guy, without the rest of the congregation. I really like sung prayer, so I would have preferred to join in, but that is just me. The last thing was the big one. There was no Eucharist. It felt weird with that big piece missing. I would definitely go back to hear that pastor speak again, but I would feel like I was missing a personal spiritual connection if I went there as my regular church service.

On my way out I saw they were having coffee and pastries. I felt nervous about having to talk to people so I ducked out. I regret that because I think the community is an important part of that service. Moving forward I am going to make sure I stay for those types of things.

Well that was week one. Thanks for reading about it. Also thank you to everyone who posted church suggestions for me on facebook. I am going to do all of them, including build a sukka and read those two books.

Next week will be a little different because I am going to my cousin’s wedding, so I will probably only have time for a Catholic mass. I will definitely write about it though. And I will get back on track the week after with a Unitarian Universalist service and potluck.

See you all next week.

 

 

Is He just messing with us?

Every time I hear the “At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bend.” I definitely think of that scene in The Lion King where Simba is presented to the animals and they all bow. That is barely relevant, but it is a fun mental image.

So I love that part of the reading because of cartoon animals. Well, also it is a really cool picture of community inspired by faith. But, being me, I take issue with another part of this past Sunday’s readings. In the first reading, God tells Moses to make a bronze serpent. If people look at it they will be cured. It seems confusing to me that God would do this to His people. It wasn’t long before that He wanted to wipe them out for making a golden calf. Even if God isn’t telling them to worship the snake, he is certainly tempting them. And if they were to build an alter in front of the snake but still praise the Lord at that alter, it would be exactly the same situation.

I hate when I get the feeling that God is messing with us. Like making people gay and forbidding them from acting on it. Or children with terminal illness. Or earthquakes in places that are still rebuilding from the last time. On a smaller scale, it feels kind of like when I was little and I was getting ready for school. I would always say I didn’t want to go. My mom would tell me that I didn’t have to and we could stay at home together and hang out all day. I would sigh and say no, I have to go.

My mom always knew that I would make the right choice in the end. She was just messing with me. Of course, her messing with me didn’t end in anyone getting hurt, but also stakes generally tend to be higher with God. So I guess the inconsistency with God could just be Him testing us to make sure we were listening to what He taught us the first time.

I am still working through whether this applies to the times we feel like God is messing with us now, or if it is just an explanation of a few Biblical events. One possible way to explain our struggles is that God is testing if we got the whole love is most important thing. Gay couples– that’s still love so don’t fall to the temptation to condemn it. Terminal illness– that’s harder, but maybe it is to remind us that there is more than this life. Natural disasters– I guess it could be that we are still a stiff necked people and we need a shock to the system to remember we need to take care of each other.

I know that there are plenty of holes in these answers, but I am 21 year old college kid with little formal education in religion. And even the most knowledgeable preacher can’t know the mind of God. So the best we can do is keep questioning and searching and trying to do good.

God’s Grudges

I had mixed feelings about this week’s gospel. Starting off, yeah, it’s great try to work out your own problems. If someone wrongs you, you should go to them and talk about it instead of telling on them. Sure. That sounds like good advice. And if that person won’t hear it, ask for some outside mediation. Also good advice. Sometimes a third party can really help solve disputes. Then you should go to the Church. This seems like a good idea, but it would be tough to put into practice. The Church at the time the gospel was written was just a small group of friends. It would make sense to go to them. It is hard to do the same with the modern institution. The best way to try this step would be prayer I guess. Dwelling on the wisdom of the teachings of the church for guidance instead of on the help of every member. Even this work around is not a bad idea.

But here is where I get confused. If the Church doesn’t help, you are supposed to treat your brother like a Gentile or tax collector. I don’t know how I feel about Christ sanctioned grudges. They don’t even end with death. They are bound in heaven. What happened to forgiveness? I hate to think that Christians will see this passage as an excuse to condemn people.

The first reading really isn’t any better. As long as you try to stop someone from sinning you are all good. Don’t worry, only they will burn. You are covered. I don’t like these readings because they seem like they lack compassion. Where is love your neighbor as yourself in these other two readings? I am not sure what to do with this message of love — but only up to a certain point.

As humans we have limited resources. Do we need to give up on those who won’t listen to God to give more to those who do? Is that the message of these readings? That seems like it underestimates the power of Jesus.

I guess in trying to look for a bright side, this is the best I can come up with:

Offer love to everyone. If they don’t take it, don’t snatch it back up and hoard it for yourself. Leave it out there but don’t force it. Give the opportunity for people to engage in your faith, but don’t condemn them if they say no. They might not always. Plus, you have enough love that you can afford to spread it around.

I’m not sure if this is a fair interpretation of these troubling passages, but it is the best I can come up with.