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As Christians, we gather to worship the Lord Jesus Christ, who willingly gave His life for our redemption. Our worship gatherings express our feelings to God; at the same time, they communicate our view of God to others.

Today and tomorrow, I am describing my visit to a local Roman Catholic church, as well as my thoughts on the worship service. On Wednesday, I will describe my visit to a mega-church.

My visit to a Catholic Church took place on a Saturday night service on the eve of Palm Sunday. (The worship service on Saturday evening is identical to the services on Sunday morning.)

The priest occupies the central position of leadership in the church. It is evident from the moment he walks down the aisle during the procession. He leads the worship time, initiates the prayers and readings, and he is the one who gives the short homily. Other people who were involved in the service included the organist (who was never seen, but played from the balcony), a violinist (who also remained unseen), and a woman who led in most of the singing. Two altar boys accompanied the priest during the procession, and they remained with him onstage. They helped collect the dishes from the Eucharist after the service. Two laypeople were involved in the Scripture readings, one a man and the other an elderly woman. There were no greeters at the doors of this church.

Several things strike me as being important to the planners of this worship service. First, professionalism is definitely a goal of the singers and musicians. The music and singing from onstage and from the balcony is beautiful, creating a “high church” atmosphere. A strong sense of reverence pervades the service. Everything done must be top-notch.

Secondly, the worship service is concentrated on the individual worshipper before God. The vertical aspect of worship (God and man) overshadows the horizontal aspect (man edifying man). The worship service is designed for the individual to connect with God; little room is left for individuals to connect with other individuals.

Everyone around us sang and prayed during the appropriate times. All the worshipers had palm branches that they waved at the priest and the altar boys as they proceeded down the aisle at the beginning. The priest sprinkled water on all the worshipers as he passed, saying this was a blessing of the palm branches. No more was said about that, so I have no idea what the theology is behind the sprinkling of palm branches.

People seemed distracted during the priest’s message, even though it only lasted a few minutes. The sermon was rather predictable. People seemed to understand the priest’s message, but the priest had little time to develop an exhortation that went any deeper than a typical “We should be mindful that this is Holy Week” theme.

From what I saw, every person in the church took Communion except me. Communion was taken reverently by the people around me. The comments from the stage about the significance of Communion came out clearly in favor of transubstantiation (not surprisingly, of course).

The auditorium is typical of a Catholic Church. The altar table is central on the stage, with the pulpit to the left. Behind the altar table was a large purple curtain (for the season of Lent, I assume) and a large crucifix hanging down from the ceiling in front of the curtain. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling. On the walls, one could see wood sculptures of the Stations of the Cross. If I were to begin on one side of the church and make my way to the other side, I could follow the wood sculpting and visualize the entire Passion narrative. The pews had fold out kneeling rails, so one could kneel at the appropriate times.

The décor matched the worship service, thoroughly liturgical and reverent. The people who led the service seemed educated and at ease in their task of addressing the crowd.

I saw other worshipers holding printed bulletins and hand-outs, but since there were no greeters at the door, I did not get one and did not know where I could obtain one. Thankfully, there were hymnals in the seat in front of me, so when the woman singing songs gave hymn numbers, I was able to follow along. Also helpful was a Lenten book of prayers and Scripture readings in the pew. This book contained the long responsive reading from Mark’s Passion narrative. Without this, I would have been lost during the crucial moments of the service.

Overall, all these factors create a strong sense of tradition. The liturgy, combined with the antiphonal singing and responsive readings are deeply rooted in tradition. The décor and worship style give you the impression that you have entered into a sacred space, where you are witnessing something much bigger than yourself and your problems. I can see how this type of worship service would appeal to people who are in need of peace and quiet from the hustle and bustle of life.

Tomorrow, I’ll write a few more thoughts about my visit to this church.

written by Trevin Wax  © 2008 Kingdom People blog

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