Joo-Young Choi - Church Visit 2

Joo-Young Choi – Church Visit 1

Church name: St. Sabina

Church address: 1210 W 78th Pl, Chicago, IL 60620

Date: September 28^th

Church category: different racial demographic

I have never attended a worship service like St. Sabina’s. The Korean churches I’ve been to were pretty traditional. I sat in a pew, read out of hymn book, and had maybe one or two contemporary songs. Even some of the charismatic churches I’ve visited didn’t have as much going on as St. Sabina’s. The factor that kind of put me off track a little bit was the fact that this church was Catholic. I went to mass once. It was actually the week before St. Sabina, and I noticed that the structure of mass was very orderly and actually really short; it lasted for an hour. This church broke those categorical boxes I organized in my mind for catholic churches. The service lasted for over 2 hours. The worship was really loud. It was very charismatic. Simultaneously trumpets, violins, and a priest yelling out chants in the mic made up a dynamic worship service. Another interesting part of the service was the piano. The pianist played for the majority of the service, even during parts of the sermon. And during worship and offering, there was a group of dancers moving towards the lyrics and beat of the music.

I found these different aspects of the church really interesting.  It was a wonderful experience to see people dancing during worship. It was such an expressive way of worship, and it was done very well. The different style of music allowed people to worship God in a different way than I was used to. There was a lot more freedom in regards to worship. With all that was going on, I don’t think anyone would’ve been noticed if you stop singing the lyrics for a moment and shouted praise to God, which would seem abnormal in my context. It was also awesome to hear improvised piano playing in the background. It definitely changed the atmosphere of the church. Having played piano as a kid, I found this very appealing.

Although I really enjoyed this new experience of going to church, I found it hard to follow and disorienting. At times, it seemed like there was no structure of the service. The chorus, band, and dance team were kind of scattered around. There was a group of people walking with the Bible in the air or a flag with the word “Jesus” in bold letters printed on it.  And because there were spontaneous bursts from the priest during worship, I didn’t know how to sing or follow along. It was a bit of a sensory overload. I found it challenging to see these aspects of St. Sabina in Catholicism because that is not how I understood Catholic worship. It really made me think of the diversity of styles you can have even within a denomination or tradition. And I wondered, “At what point do you cross the line and go beyond the bounds of your tradition?”

These aspects both interesting and distracting made me think of the theology in a different way. There was a large painting on the back wall of a black Jesus. This illuminated to me and made me think of the way the Word of God is expressed differently in various cultures. The Scriptures in some part can be indigenized. God’s Word isn’t so rigid that it can’t adapt to different cultures. And that is why diversity is so important; we see God in a whole new way. Experiencing this community and a style that was different than my own helped me see that.