Rebecca Rhym - Church Visit 2

Church name: The Faith Community of Saint Sabina

Church address: 1210 W 78^th Place, Chicago, IL, 60620

Date attended: October 12, 2014

Church category: Different socioeconomic demographic

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

I really don’t think I’ve ever been to a church like Saint Sabina’s. I’ve never attended a Roman Catholic Church before, but this really wasn’t what I expected. I walked in to see the word “JESUS” in neon yellow hanging from the ceiling, behind which there was a portrait of black Jesus with arms outstretched. There were interpretive dancers in the front of the room, and people were standing, dancing, and yelling. It was definitely a lot to take in. The sermon was very, very political and impassioned, which is something I’ve never experienced before, and the people in the congregation, instead of just passively listening, were very vocal and even stood during the sermons when they strongly agreed with something being said.

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

The sense of empowerment was really strong throughout the congregation. During the worship, which was really just one super-long song, people would stand and dance or hold up their hands as they felt convicted, others were sitting and waving their hands in the air as they sang. Rev. Michael Pfleger was very, very impassioned, as was the congregation at certain points during the sermon. Here and there, people would stand up and raise their hands as he would say things like, “Captivity ain’t normal!” During the reading of the first Bible passage from Isaiah 25, the reader stopped and re-read verse 6, “On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine—the best of meats and the finest of wines,” to the applause of the congregation.

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

I think the most disorienting thing for me was the fact that I the church I grew up in would never, ever have talked about half of the things the reverend said in his sermon (not saying that one is right and the other wrong). He talked about what the former owner of the LA Clippers said to his girlfriend about bringing black people to his games and how this is an example of how society wants black people to be part of the entertainment but never part of the entertained. He said the same about how colleges put more emphasis on a student’s athletics than his academics, and about mass incarceration, and violence, and racism, and poverty. He sort of went on this diatribe against capitalistic society, and, in a very Marxist sort of way, said that it needs to be dismantled. While it was empowering and also educating, I felt like I was attending a political rally at some points.

What aspects of Scripture or theology did the worship service illuminate for you that you had not perceived as clearly in your regular context?

In this context more than any other, the concentration of the whole service seemed to be about justice for those in captivity. There was discourse on justice for the sick (Reverend Pfleger called up those who had beaten cancer and rebuked the doctors for being liars), justice for young black men who were being used by the system for entertainment or their work, justice for those who are affected by mass incarceration, and the list goes on. Referencing John 8:36 (“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed”), the reverend passionately yelled, “It’s time to come out of the cage!” I realized that there’s this huge difference between going to a wealthy church and hearing them talk about justice needing to be done and going to a church of lower socioeconomic status and seeing the congregation really yearning and hoping for justice to be done in their own communities.