Church Name: Church
of the Rock of Our Salvation
Church Address: 118 N. Central Avenue, Chicago, IL
60644
Date Attended: 14/7/14
Church Category: lower
socioeconomic demographic
Describe the worship
service you attended. How was it similar to or different from your regular
context?
This
question is difficult to answer because I don’t consider myself as having a
regular church context. I grew up in a fundamentalist Baptist church with a
rigorously traditional worship style. However, my family left that church and I
spent the two years leading up to college church hopping between denominations
with a variety of worship styles. Eventually, my family settled in the Eastern
Orthodox Church, and I went to college where I continued to church hop or (more
often than not) did not attend church. However, even given the variety of
experiences I would consider as my “regular context,” the worship style I
encountered at Church of the Rock was quite different. Gospel music was being
played, people were standing and clapping and dancing in the isles. It was a
party, and far less restrained than the hymnal toting or liturgical styles I
typically participated in.
What did you find
most interesting or appealing about the worship service?
Church
of the Rock is founded on a principle of racial reconciliation, which is why I
could not categorize it as being one with a different ethnic or racial
demographic. Despite being located in the predominantly African American
neighborhood of Austin, Church of the Rock has tried to diversify its
leadership and congregation. With this mission in mind, one thing that I
particularly appreciated was that the head pastor was an African American man
from Austin – that is, that even while pursuing racial reconciliation, an
emphasis was placed on having local leaders. I know that this has not always
been the case at Church of the Rock, but seeing it happening presently seemed
like the right thing for a church preaching reconciliation.
What did you find
most disorienting or challenging about the worship service?
Like
– I think – most white people, I had a difficult time with the length of the
service. I’m not sure if I heard this from an urban studies professor or if it
was in one of the readings for a class, but it is widely acknowledged that
white people just don’t stay as long in church. I’m not sure where this
attitude comes from: perhaps it is a reflection of different racial value
systems on the time we give to God and our community. I think my feelings
indicated that, for me, at least, this might be the case. I had thoughts like, “okay,
that’s long enough,” without really considering what I meant or for what it was
“enough.” Pretty much everything was longer than I am used to: each song went
on for longer, the worship as a whole went on for longer, the prayers went on
for longer, the sermon went on for MUCH longer. And I’m a college student,
which means I wasn’t well rested, resulting in a very difficult time staying
awake and attentive throughout.
What aspects of
Scripture or theology did the worship service illuminate for you that you had
not perceived as clearly in your regular context?
The
more liturgical side of my church background is comfortable and familiar with
short homilies explicating the scripture readings. These homilies are the
unique flavor of each service, because within the liturgy it is pretty much
only the scripture reading and homily that varies week to week. Within that
context, the focus of the service is on the event of communion, and the homily
may serve to transition into that time or (depending on the church) occurs as a
short time of teaching afterwards (which it shouldn’t). At Church of the Rock,
the focus was on praise, and the scriptures and teachings on the scriptures
served as a justification for that praise and a call to further praise. It felt
good to participate in something celebratory for a change, instead of focusing
on the sanctification process so much.
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