Emily Felty: Church Service 1

Emily Felty

Church Name: Assumption Greek Orthodox Church of Chicago

Church Address: 601 S Central Ave. Chicago, IL 60644

Church service date: 9/27/2015

Church Category: Greek Orthodox

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

The entire service lasted approximately 2 ½ hours, where the majority was dedicated to chanting in Greek, which was performed by three men reading from music stands. The priest either prayed over the melodic chanting or sang the prayer, which was read from scripture or a book. Sometimes the priest would translate his prayer into English. There was communion, after which the priest gave a fifteen minute sermon. After some announcements, the congregation was dismissed. The Baptist church I grew up never chanted/sung scripture. I felt like the main difference between this service and the services I usually attend was that the Orthodox Church gathering was centered on worship, whereas my church centered its service on the pastor’s message. Secondly, I am accustomed to services that are entirely in English. Thirdly, the building itself was ornately covered in images, statues, engravings, carvings, and paintings of Jesus and the saints. My church has little-to-no images like these.Lastly, my church meets in small groups first, and then congregates for corperate worship for only one hour. Overall, the Greek Orthodox Church service I attended was an extremely new and different experience.

How did the worship service illuminate for you the history and contours of global Christianity?

I primarily noticed the rich tradition behind the church service, which was emphasized by the fact that it was mainly done in a different language. There was art depicting scenes from the Bible, along with a reverence with which the book was handled; this reminded me of the fact that many people in the history of the church only had one Bible per community, were illiterate and looked to the artwork to understand it, and relied heavily on the tradition of apostolic succession for authority. The Nicene Creed was read at the end of the Scripture and prayer recitation, which dates back to the church fathers. I researched different churches to attend and noticed that all of them seemed to follow a similar format of worship, which is strange considering that every protestant church seems to operate and believe different things. It is interesting and comforting to think that around the Christian world, where diversity and individualism is encouraged, one can walk into a Greek Orthodox Church anywhere and have a similar experience.

How did the worship service illuminate for you your personal identity as a Christian?

An impactful thing that I gathered from this type of service was the primary focus on reading scripture and worshiping God, rather than hearing a message or teaching. Spending approximately and hour and a half in worship personally prepared me to listen to the brief message at the end. I also thought it was beautiful that anyone could join the congregation and simply participate in actively listening to the worship of God, and in this worship God. I didn’t know what was being said usually and my mind did wander occasionally, but any even I could grasp the reverance of the worship just from listening. I feel that, as a Christain, it would be nice to walk into any service and not have to feel excluded because I don’t understand the church’s particular customs. The reading and recitation of scripture, along with communion reminded me of the seriousness of the sacrifice of scripture. The fact that the majority of the service was not in English and the recitation of the Nicene Creed was humbling and reverant because it reminded me of the sacrifuce and holiness of the church fathers and the church.