Historical Church visit 2

Church Name: Holy Angels Church
Church Address: 180 S Russel Ave Aurora, IL 60506
Date Attended: Nov. 1
Church Category: Tridentine Mass

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

The service I attended was dramatically different from my regular context in a variety of different ways. First, there was no worship through song. This was very surprising to me as it was the first service I had ever attended without singing. I felt as though this deflated much of the joy I experience when I come together with the rest of the body of Christ. Secondly, this service was mostly all in Latin. I had never heard Latin spoken before which brought me outside of my comfort zone tremendously. This service was also different because of its heavy dependance upon liturgy and its very minimal focus on teaching. My normal church context's service includes a 30-45 minute sermon, this service had a sermon that was less than 5 minutes long; consisting mainly of an all saints day description. There also was little to no sense of a community bond. Everyone was spaced out in the sanctuary and no individual or family attendees talked to one another before, after, or during the service.

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

This experience reminded me how important it is to many people/ denominations to maintain tradition in the church. It was incredibly strange to me that a service was conducted in Latin while very few members of the church understood it. I would have to have an incredibly high appreciation for the founding fathers of the faith and their original writings to regularly attend a service like that. Along this same train of thought, it revealed to me how little opportunity the Holy Spirit has to direct the service in many denominations of the church. The service that was put on left no room for changes that the Holy Spirit could have willed to be made. In the past I have attended many Catholic services, this experience revealed to me how much variation exists even within that category of Christianity.

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

I could tell by looking around that the congregation was dead. There was no excitement shown and no words were written down. People were falling asleep and teenagers were desiring to leave as soon as possible. Much of the life existing in the words spoken was diffused by the language barrier that existed. I wanted to stand up and yell out how much of the beauty from the gospel was missing from the service. It was illuminated to me how blessed I was to be raised in a denomination that focuses heavily on a person relationship with the Lord, the joy that comes from knowing Him, and the Holy Spirit's work in the heart of a believer. It also showed me how different the connotations that come along with the word Christianity can be to someone depending on the denomination he or she was raised in. My appreciation for not only being raised in a Christian home, but also into a denomination with emphasis in the aforementioned aspects has grown drastically.