Rene Cruz - Church Visit #2

Church name: Faith Community of St. Sabina

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

Date attended: 10/12/14

Church category: Different ethnic/socioeconomic demographic

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

St. Sabina's Sunday morning worship service was characterized by a mélange of Pentacostal and Catholic traditions with a general tone of solidarity in Christ against forces of oppression. The service began with a celebratory time of worship through music and dance. Congregants sang loudly in praise as a team of dancers expressed their worship in movement. Occasionally the pastor would interject with words of encouragement or exhortation, in the Pentacostal style. Following worship, some of the presbyters led the congregation in a responsorial prayer and a reading of the Gospels, which felt sort of like Catholic flavored Pentacostalism. All of the above was unusual for me, but nothing that I hadn't encountereed at some point in my churchgoing life.

I'd say that the most significant difference between St. Sabina and my regular church contexts was the highly political tone of the Father Pfleger's sermon. Having heard some of my fellow students' reports on their experiences at St. Sabina's, I came into this worship service with some expectations already in place. I was glad to experience St. Sabina's sincerity and passion for seeing the kingdom of God manifest on the earth.

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

Upon entering the Sunday morning service at St. Sabina's, I had to check myself from stopping and staring at the stained glass windows and soaring arches of the cathedral. The window above the entryway was simply stunning. I tend to be very responsive to the spatial and aural dynamics of the communal worship space. to Beauty in general. As the chords and rhythms of gospel music rose through the air, I was struck by the unusual juxtaposition between the cathedral and its constituents. Their cross-pollination of “high church” liturgy and a more Pentacostal approach to celebratory worship was more than welcome on my part. Although I have attended a series of affluent, homogenous churches for the past five years, I spent my childhood in a multicultural/multiethnic church and consequently knew many of the songs played at St. Sabina. This familiarity, coupled with the skillfull offering of the worship band, allowed me to enter into their worship, albeit not as unabashedly as some of the other congregants.

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

The one aspect of the service that I struggled with was Father Pfleger's sermon. The message consisted of an extended metaphor regarding the concept of “lions in captivity,” exploring the theological, racial, and societal applications of this concept. He did not seem to address the reading of the day, and he did not engage with the three scriptures he read at the beginning of the sermon. His poltical opinions, especially towards guns and violence, were passionate and polemical.

I agreed with most of what Father Pfleger said, but I think similar conclusions could be reached with a less pathos-heavy approach. Yet, I don't think Father Pfleger really cares that much what visitors think of his preaching style (he said as much to a group of visitors from U of Chicago's Divinity School). He is much more concerned with meeting the felt needs of his congregation, which is arguably just as important.

What aspects of Scripture or theology did the worship service illuminate for you that you had not

perceived as clearly in your regular context?

Exposure to St. Sabina's community showed me what a radically anti-violence Chritian ethic looks like in action. These Christians face violence daily in their communities, and are consequently concerned with addressing violence in a way that perhaps suburban Christians aren't.

As other students have noted, their approach to worship was refreshingly full of life and joy. During worship, I recalled the Psalmist's instructions to “break out in praise and sing for joy.” These people take those verses seriously, and it's refreshing.