Alexandra Hosack: Church Visit #1

Church name: Faith Community of Saint Sabina
Church address: 1210 W 78th Place
Date attended: 9/7/2014
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 I attended was very different than my usual church services. I went to a church that is almost all black attendees and it’s a Catholic church. The service was highly charismatic, energetic, and very long (~2.5 hours). The service started with singing along with a choir and a group of liturgical dancers up front. This is similar to my church because we often have dancers, but the type of dancing and the energy level was very different. Also, the singing was different because it wasn’t from a book or screen, it was mainly repeating what the leader said. The preacher shouted most of the sermon and reiterated his main points frequently. This was different than my pastor because he is pretty calm and the sermons are a little more intellectually based. The sermon was followed by everyone proceeding up front for the offering. We also bring the offering up front to a basket in my home church, but it’s not a processional of all the attendees, just the people who have an offering in any order. The offering was followed by another processional for communion, and this was done in a similar way to my home church. The service ended with more singing, announcements, and a blessing. This was also similar to the order of my home church.

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

The parts of the worship service that I found the most appealing were my points of interaction between the members. Everyone was so hospitable and kind to us, and I received countless hugs. I was really blessed by the fact that so many people took time to talk to us and come over to greet us. During the time my family was searching for a new church, I visited many places and left feeling rather unwelcome or unnoticed. I also thought the music style was interesting. The style of singing where you repeat one line many times is something I’ve always appreciated because it helps me focus on what I’m really singing about. I also thought it was great that the service included many people from the congregation in areas from the choir to the dancers to the communion servers. Finally, one thing that I found interesting is that the church has a strong majority of black attendees, but the head pastor is a white man. Of course there is nothing wrong with this, but it wasn’t what I was expecting based on the congregation. 

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

There were quite a few things about the sermon in particular that were challenging to me. For example, the pastor started by saying that he wasn’t “Mr. Rogers” and was not there to make people feel good. I’ve heard pastors say things like that before, and I think that’s a respectable approach. However, at the end of the sermon I felt like it was more of a motivational speech than a message where he focused on the scripture. In this sense, he seemed to be doing exactly what he began by saying he wouldn’t do. Additionally, the thing that I was most disorientated by was the underlying feeling that he was preaching based on a political agenda. For example, he spoke against the NRA and any supporters of the NRA frequently, blaming the violence on the streets on them. He is clearly free to believe what he wishes, but I have a strong aversion towards people who bring politics to the pulpit. I feel like it is taking the power you have to illuminate scripture to so many people, and in a sense abusing it by pushing other beliefs on people. It seems like he’s saying that you have to belief politics a certain way in order to be a Christian, but in reality I believe that God has no such distinctions.

What aspects of Scripture or theology did the worship service illuminate for you that you had not perceived as clearly in your regular context?
Although I didn't really appreciate certain approaches of the preacher, there was one idea that he found in scripture that I hadn’t heard in a sermon before. He preached on Numbers 35:26-33 when the scouts came back from visiting the promise land and reported it to Moses, Aaron, and the Israelites. He focused on the phrase where the scouts said they couldn’t attack the people who live there because they look down on them as giants would with caterpillars. He used the caterpillar analogy as his main point to talk about having confidence in our potential in the Lord. Although he didn’t use the scripture to back up his points much, I thought most of the all very true statements. Additionally, it was clear that he knows his audience well and could make statements that really resonated his congregation. Because I understood that the message of not being held down by your circumstances and letting God help you to “become a butterfly” hit home with many people, it illuminated the message in a unique way for me. He was speaking with a power and confidence that excited his congregation, and I respect the devotion and passion that was expressed by the members. The love and life I witnessed during worship was a clear picture of the intense faith of the people. That in itself illuminated for me the power of God within us.  He has the ability to fill us to the brim and inspire us to exude pure joy in His presence, something that was clearly shown to me at St. Sabina church.