Eva Mendez - Church visit #1

Church name:  Iglesia de la Resurreccion
Church address: 602 E Geneva Rd, Wheaton
Date: February 15, 2014
Church Category: Anglican

Describe the worship service you attended. How was it similar to or different from your regular context?
The service was very similar to the church I attend in Wheaton, yet was very different. Both churches are anglican, and have a special focus on the liturgy. The order of the service is the same too.  But that is were the similarities ended. The church I visited is made up mostly of Hispanics, while the church I normally attend is made up of mostly Caucasians.  The worship style was very lively and there were some worshipers that waved flags during the songs. That was completely new to me. Because I am attending an Anglican church, it was not very difficult to see the similarities, as they read the same passages in Spanish instead of English.

What did you find most interesting or appealing about the worship service?
The worship service was structured, but compared to the church I attend regularly, it felt fairly unstructured. And I really liked that it felt that way. It made the service seem unhurried, moving from one part to the next without having to rush to make it in time.Also, probably because there were not that many people in the service, it felt a lot more personal. At one point, we hugged everyone in the service, which would never happen in the church I attend. They gave enough time for people to walk around greet new people. I thought that was a wonderful way to make church more appealing to many people since, at least it seemed to me, they really are a family.

What did you find most disorienting or challenging about the worship service?
I honestly really enjoyed the whole service, and the only part that made it challenging was that the musicians were not the greatest. That is a very important part of worshiping for me, and I know that for such a small church they probably do not have the means to create a group that would dedicate themselves to music, but I know that I was not the only one struggling with this throughout the service, which I attended with a friend. Besides that though, everything in the service seemed very normal to me, probably because I am Hispanic and I have attended an Anglican church for six months.

What aspects of Scripture or theology did the worship service illuminate for you that you had not perceived as clearly in your regular context?
I think what most impacted me was the was the service seemed so personal. I feel like services tend to be more about keeping structure and time and for probably the first time in a while I really felt that worshiping corporately does not equal to going through the motions. We can enjoy the word and the worship, and we can sit down and really let it sink into our minds and hearts. I really enjoyed the experience of uniting Hispanic culture with Anglican as it brought out dimensions that I did not believe were possible in church. I also felt that because there was a genuine feel of care, people were more comfortable in welcoming people to church. The experience really made me think about the physical part of my life, where I am still worshiping God in the flesh, and it is a very good thing.