Lisa Moore - Church visit #2

Church name: St. Michael Catholic Church

Church address: 310 S. West Street, Wheaton, IL

Date attended: Saturday, March 23

Church category: Liturgical

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

Compared to my usual Presbyterian worship context, St. Michael’s Catholic mass was very different.  I went on a Saturday night Lenten vigil, and I truly enjoyed my worshipful night with that congregation.  The most noticeable difference for me was the songs during the service.  The songs were short lines used as part of the liturgy.  A woman soloist or priest (male) would sing at first, and then the congregation would join along.  Later in the mass, the songs were predominately in Latin.  Since I have sung a lot of classical choral and soloist material, I could understand most of the Latin phrases.  However, there was not a translation, so I am not sure if the congregation knew what they were singing.  The length of the mass also surprised me.  I always thought of Catholic masses as long, but this mass was only forty-five minutes.  That is thirty minutes shorter than my normal service.  One similarity was the stress of Scripture and the high view of Scripture in the service. They made sure to read their scripture in long passages before the whole congregation. 

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

I loved the beautiful liturgy throughout the service.  However, since there were multiple books and papers to be looking at, I would get confused from time to time.  I appreciated that the Catholic calendar ensures that the masses will go through the entirety of Scripture.  It shows the importance of Scripture compared to the priest’s words or any other spoken words.  The Catholic mass was another wonderful reminder of God’s holiness.  The formality of the service and the serious attitude puts the congregation in awe of God and reveres Him. The beautiful clean sanctuary makes the worshipper’s eyes go straight up to the cross; I love that worship theology.  Again, this brings obvious reverence to the Lord and glorifies him with the beauty of the church.

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

The most challenging part of the worship service was coming to grips with the fact that I was not invited to participate in the Lord’s Supper.  I am still unsure as to what they believe in terms of non-Catholic Christians’ salvation, but in that moment, I felt outcasted and ashamed since I could not participate.  I am glad that this rule was made known to me so that I would be able to respect them and their beliefs.  However, I was uncomfortable.  I could not help but pray for the unity of Christians during that time of prayer.  I also did not understand the symbolism and tradition behind different parts of the mass.  I particularly did not understand why the bells were rung three times after the turning of the bread to the body and the wine to the blood.  I am assuming it has to do with the trinity and transubstantiation.  I was also confused and disheartened as to why the congregation rarely sang.  Even when the congregation was invited to sing, nobody sang loudly.  If people were singing at all, it was a murmur.   I had difficulties understanding as to why they did not want to sing praises to their Lord.

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 loved the emphasis that this mass had on the Lord’s Supper.  Instead of the typical evangelical worship service climaxing at the preacher’s human words, the typical Catholic mass climaxes at the Eucharist, a biblical command of the Lord.  In the Eucharist, Christians are invited to the table of the Lord and to share together the presence of the Lord.  This is biblical and very traditional in Christian history.  Unfortunately, I find that evangelicals may overlook the importance of the Eucharist.  The goal of the service should be communion with the Lord, not hearing the preacher’s words.  I wish my church gave communion more than once a month; however, I do understand their concern of doing it too often.  I love how communion was formal, taken seriously, and a completely sacred event.  Again, this shows reverence to God and glorifies Him.