Ginny Melby-- Church Visit #1

Church Name: Church of the Resurrection
Church Address: 935 W. Union Ave., Wheaton IL 60187
Date attended: Sunday, January 11, 2014
Church category: Anglican

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

I attended a worship service at Church of the Resurrection in Wheaton. Church of the Res is Anglican, which is far more liturgical than the style of worship that I am accustomed to. I attend Mission Church which is a nondenominational church with a very contemporary style of worship. At Mission, we typically start our service with worship, then we greet each other and take offering, Pastor Peacock presents a sermon, and then we worship again before fellowshiping and leaving. At Church of the Res, everything was extremely formal and ordered. The church leaders were dressed in robes and would say certain "calls" to which the congregation would respond. The worship was mostly traditional hymns. There was a woman dressed in white carrying a Crucifix, many congregational prayers, and other aspects of the service that were new for me to observe.

What did you find most interesting or appealing about the worship service?

Something that I found very appealing about Church of the Res was the focus on community of the congregation. Since I don't regularly attend this church I can't say for sure what the community is really like, but during my visit it seemed like a strong emphasis was placed on doing this together as a community. There were many congregational prayers to be prayed together. During Holy Communion we all had to walk up to the front of the room where we had the option of drinking out of a large community glass (something we don't typically do at my church). Also, all of the children are brought into the sanctuary for the second half of church. I liked this a lot. Children usually have their own Sunday school, but I think it's important for them to experience worship with their parents and siblings as well.

What did you find most disorienting or challenging about the worship service?

Something that was a bit challenging for me was the overall formality of the service. Since I was familiar with all of the prayers and phrases, I was more focused on not messing up the words (or on staying on the right page of the long bulletin) than I was focused on the actual words that I was supposed to be genuinely praying to God. Also, many of the symbolic items included in the service (including the robes and the Crucifixes) were hard for e to understand. However, I did appreciate how traditional the service was and I'm sure that I would get used to all of those aspects of the service if I attended regularly. 

What aspects of Scripture or theology did the worship service illuminate for you that you had not perceived as clearly in your regular context?

At Church of the Res, the entire service was filled with a sense of deep reverence for the holiness of the Lord, and it helped bring me to a place of awe. I feel like our contemporary worship services today can often make us too comfortable with our faith and forget our church history. But the way that Church of the Resurrection placed such a high value on all of the traditions of their faith made me rethink the way I view worship. Am I taking seriously my own personal and corporate worship, prayers, church leaders, and Holy Communion? The service I attended somewhat woke me up and made me take my worship experiences more seriously.