Manny Baker - Church Visit #1

Church name: Christian Church of Clarendon Hills

Church address: 5750 Holmes Avenue, Clarendon Hills, IL 60514

Date attended: February 2, 2014

Church category: Nondenominational

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

I am not familiar with Christian Contemporary Music worship outside of chapel. I was never raised on it and as a classical musician I have never been too comfortable with it. The worship was very different for me. There was a group of five or so singers and a band with keyboard, drum set, guitar, and a few other instruments. What I did appreciate was that the worship was much longer than I am used to. At my church, we typically sing hymns and of those, we may only sing a few before the sermon begins. To be able to worship for a bit longer was a nice change. Also, they were a bit more conscious of the importance of the music. At Shorewood Bible Church, my regularly attended church here, music is almost something we have to get through for the sake of tradition. There is almost a flippancy to the singing.

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

As stated earlier, I liked their connection to the music. There was a ton of feeling behind what they were singing. I am not saying that my own church does not have feeling behind the music, but I was drawn in more to the worship happening here. Maybe because I am a musician I feel as though music is just as much a performance as it is worship. I want the music to be of good quality and be glorifying to God. The effort put in to the worship was appreciated. It was not a time to necessarily show off talent, but it was a performance to bring in worshippers. It was of much better quality than I am used to and it had me listening to the words and the music rather than sitting nervous in my chair and critiquing every musical mistake. Worship music is something I take closely to heart.

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

Christian Contemporary Music is not my favorite style of music, period. I found it a bit challenging because of the generalizations in a lot of the lyrics. It was still worshipful and I enjoyed myself immensely.

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 cannot say that this particular context illuminated anything I had not already perceived. It was very good about expanding them though. One of the songs we sang was “Beautiful Things”. This is, obviously, not a song we would sing in my church because it is not a hymn, but the words were what I needed at that moment. Sometimes, it takes a change os scenery to fully grasp a concept you learned but never fully knew. The Scripture or theology did not go against anything I had learned at my church. I primarily visited this church because though it was similar to mine in theology, it was very different culturally. There were more minorities and I was not used to going to a church that was so thoroughly racially integrated. It was an enlightening experience.