Kirsten Rieck - Church Visit #1

Church name: All Souls Anglican Church

Church address: 25W741 Jewell Rd, Wheaton, IL 60187

Date attended: February 9, 2014

Church category: More liturgical

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

All Souls was much more liturgical than my regular context. The service began with a processional of people who I assume hold some position of leadership in the church. They were in robes and carried different items, including a large Bible and a crucifix on a brass pole. The service consisted of two parts: the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Sacrament. There were a number of ways that this is different from my regular context. Firstly, almost everything in the church service was liturgy. Aside from the preaching and the announcements at the end, just about everything was scripted and printed in our bulletins. The church background from which I come is much less planned than that and uses much less congregation involvement as far as interaction with the text/liturgy. Secondly, communion was taken as people went up to the front of the church and knelt there to receive the sacraments. The wine was also taken by drinking from the same cup, which is something I have never experienced before.

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

I think my favorite part of the worship service was the intentionality and emphasis placed on worship as a community rather than just an individual. There were so many ways in which this was evident: the congregational response to liturgy, the way that everyone goes up to take communion and is facing others taking communion, the drinking from a communal cup during communion, the use of inclusive pronouns in the liturgy (especially the confession of sins), and even the way that the pews do not face directly forward, but slightly towards others in the congregation.

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

Liturgy is often a struggle for me. I think it is beautiful and that there are many good things about doing liturgy in a church service. However, it doesn’t hold my attention very well. When so much is being read for such a long period of time, it is hard for me to stay engaged with what is actually being said. My church at home uses hardly any liturgy, worshiping primarily through more contemporary songs and unscripted prayer. Liturgy feels much more formal than I am used to and although it is beautiful and full of good truths, it feels almost constricting and lacking of freedom.

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

The importance of the Church as a body and as a community was emphasized much more than it is in my regular context. In my regular context, I feel like the worship is very much geared to be for an expression of individual worship in the midst of a larger group. At All Souls, there was much more of a recognition of community worship, community repentance, and community forgiveness. There is something so powerful about people being able to do these things as a community rather than as individuals that happen to be with a larger group of people doing the same things. I was very appreciative for this approach to worship.