James Tarka - Church Visit #1

Church name: DuPage African Methodist Episcopal Church

Church address: 4300 Yackley Avenue; Lisle, IL 60532

Date attended: 2/9/2014

Church category: Different ethnic or racial demographic

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

The worship service was very upbeat and emotional. Music provided by two keyboards and drums accompanied nearly every aspect of the service. The worship was led by a choir of approximately twenty people and was much more rhythmic than what I experience in the worship at a Baptist church. Music was also present during the sermon (again different) and would become increasingly forceful as the pastor built into the key points of the sermon. It was also not uncommon for the audience to break out into shouts of “amen” and spontaneous standing and clapping. This differs greatly from my Baptist church context where the audience generally sits quietly and listens. The worship, too, was very lively and often involved the holding of hands and swaying by the congregation. Finally, the service lasted a little over two hours, much longer than the seventy-five minutes that I had become accustomed to experiencing.

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

The communal aspects of the service were the most intriguing to me. At the closing of the service, the entire congregation held hands and swayed a slow, worship hymn. We swayed in unison, suggesting that the entire community was united in their worship of God. Their treatment of guests also fascinated me, but also made me somewhat uncomfortable. When I was asked to rise and introduce myself, I realized that the congregation was around 98% African-American. After the guests’ introduction, the congregation arose and “serenaded” the sitting visitors with a worship song. This was very foreign and unexpected to me, but I was encouraged by the congregation’s willingness to engage with me despite our external differences. No less than twenty church attendees greeted me personally and asked for me to “please visit again.” Even though I obviously didn’t fit in socially, they made an effort to include me in their service.

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

Aside from my discomforts at having a hundred people sing an unknown worship song to me, the sermon was perhaps more disorienting. The pastor began reading the topic passage for the day, and I assumed that the sermon would progress much as it does in my home church. Very soon, however, the pastor would go on a sort of spiritual tangent, fueled by the energizing cheering and shouts of “amen” from the now-standing audience. The pastor would frequently repeat key phrases, each time growing in both volume and passion, until the entire congregation was moving. This made it really difficult for me to identify the key message of the sermon. Sometimes, he would get so loud that I literally couldn’t make out what was being said. Aside from a spiritual boost of passion, I’m not sure I could identify anything substantive about the message.

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

This worship service illuminated the corporate aspects of Scripture. Even though I was in an environment that culture and society dictate that I do not belong, the people there reached out to me much as Jesus had done to outsiders during his earthly ministry. It was very easy for me to see how someone outside of the church might feel as they enter into a church tradition with many established, and I am encouraged to seek how I can better include those in the church who might otherwise feel somewhat left out. I also experienced more of the spiritual aspect of Christianity than what I might get in a Baptist context. There was a lot of emphasis on the presence of the devil and a very real spiritual struggle that occurs. Finally, there was just so much joy and passion in the worship that can sometimes get lost some weeks at my own church.