Church Name: Saint Peter and Saint Paul Orthodox Church
Church Address: 6980 S County Line Rd, Burr Ridge, IL.
Date Attended: February 28, 2016
Church Category: Orthodox
Describe the worship service you attended. How was it similar to or different from your regular context?
The Sanctuary itself wasn't huge, but it was beautiful. The roof was high, with windows at the top so the sunlight looked very angelic coming through the smoke of the incense that was burning. At the front of the Sanctuary was a huge gold-colored platform with many images of Christ, the saints, and the Virgin Mary. There was a wall separating the congregation from where the priests were most of the time, but there were doors that the priest would walk through during the different rituals and ceremonies. There were three doors on each side of a main door, all adorned with scenes of either Saints, Mary, or Christ. The service began with many readings of scripture, and every time anyone read, they sang the lines as best as they could. As the reading was taking place, one priest was going around with burning incense suspended from a chain ( a thurible according to Google) and hitting all the different objects behind the wall with the smoke. He then came through the main doors and hit the 6 smaller doors with the smoke, and then he puffed some smoke in the direction of the Congregation. After the reading of scripture, and the performing of certain ceremonies (which included participation from an elder gentlemen in the back of the Sanctuary who was wearing regular clothing) one of the priests came up to give a sermon on The Prodigal Son. After his very short sermon, rituals and readings continued in singing voices. There was an instance in which one of the priests prayed for well over forty members of the congregation, another in which one of the priests prayed for the armed forces of America around the world, and yet another in which a priest prayed for Egypt and Syria. We also were offered communion, which I did not partake in. The service was in almost no way similar to my regular context. Most notably perhaps was that I did not see a single non-white person in the entire church. Obviously it could've been a very densely white area that the church was in, but I had never been to a church, I don't think, in which every single member was white. Another notable difference from my regular experiences was brought to my attention after the priest's short sermon. The woman sitting next to me whispered, "don't worry, that was his longest sermon all year! They're not always that long." I was shocked, because I couldn't believe how short it was. I am used to much longer sermons and not nearly as much ritual and scripture reading. In fact, I don't think I've ever been to a church in which the pastor wasn't just wearing Jeans and a polo, or at his nicest Jeans and a button-up shirt. I was also surprised when one of the priests prayed for literally every prayer request that the church had received. He prayed them in a very quick voice, so quickly that I would't have known who he was praying for if I hadn't seen the list of people in the pamphlet we were all given before the service. Lastly, the involvement of children in the different rituals and ceremonies surprised me. There were 4 or 5 kids anywhere from 7 to 14 years old helping with the different lighting of candles, or carrying of staffs throughout the entire service, and I've only ever seen adults on stage at the churches I've been to, save for maybe one skilled teen for the worship here and there.
How did the worship service illuminate for you the history and contours of global Christianity?
The worship service for one thing opened my eyes to a kind of Christianity I had only heard about and never had experienced. I also got a sense of the contours of global Christianity whenever the priests would pray for fellow Christians or intense situations around the globe (they did so frequently). My pastor hardly ever prays for anything so global, except for whatever missions trips we are directly involved in as a church and extreme global catastrophes that receive lots of news coverage. It also dawned on me during the service that all of the rituals and ceremonies that I was witnessing are actually a huge part of what much of the Christian church partakes in around the world, even though I had never been exposed to it. Don't get me wrong, I love a lot of the ways that my Bible Church does things, but after this experience I can't help but wonder if there is something that we miss by foregoing all of the rituals that the Christian church has participated in for hundreds of years?
How did the worship service illuminate for you your personal identity as a Christian?
As I watched the service I often thought to myself "are any of these people's hearts actually in on this?" As in, was anyone really worshiping God or were most of them trying to get through the service to lunch? Obviously there was no way for me to answer that question without interviewing the church goers, but upon reflection of that experience I am now wondering, "how often is my own heart in on worshiping the Lord?" I realized that I myself often try to "just get through" chapel or Sunday service at my Church. One thing that the worship service illuminated to me is that it is very easy to forget why we do things. Another thing on top of that, that the worship service taught me is that as a Christian I often lose sight of the Holiness, majesty, and mightiness of God. At this orthodox church, everyone had on their best clothes, the priests had on gold and white garments, and all of the ceremonial objects were clean and beautiful. Now, I'm not saying that the outside of the cup necessarily reflects the inside of the cup, but what I am realizing is that I should give what is best of me to God.
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