Greek Orthodox Church

So I'm in a "History and Theology of Worship" class and the teacher has various planned visits to different churches organized for us throughout the semster....this morning I went to the Greek Orthodox church! It was very aesthetic with stained glass pictures in all of the windows, portraying martyrs, there was the this very pretty chair that the bishop (when he visits) is supposed to sit in in the right hand side, it's called the "Cathedra." There was a huuuuge binder with all the litanies, hymns, songs, chants, scriptures, and sayings contained within it. Half of every page was written in Greek so it was hard to follow, but it was very cool to hear the words being spoken in a different language....I actually hoped that they would say something in Hebrew so that I could hear how it would have sounded in Jesus' day....but alas, we had to stick with Greek. :/ There was a very small choir that sang in both Latin, Greek, and English throughout the WHOLE time!! This service had been going on for at least an hour before we even got there, and they sang through the rest of the time which was two more hours! I was amazed specifically by this one old lady who was belting it out in the choir the whole time....it's quite the lung capacity that God gave her! :) One thing I was intruiged by during the service was that for most of the service, the priest had his back turned to the congregation and would only turn around for a few seconds at a time...he was doing his own prayer thing in the front while the congregation was doing a seperate thing behind him. This was kind of strange to me at first, but then I realized that the main focus was supposed to be on God, not the priest, and that having everyone facing forward, you couldn't help but look at all of the "icons" that were placed around the building showing martyrs (or saints), to the apostles, to Jesus....all in a hierarchical setup. There was a massive portrait of Jesus painted on the ceiling to show how everything points to and should direct your attention to God....a pretty novel idea I thought. I got to talk to the priest guy afterward and we had a pretty good discussion about how for the Orthodox Christian, worship should be an all-enveloping experience. He said that for the Orthodox Christian, everyone (both men and women)are involved in participating in the liturgy and that worship should be something that consumes you, which is kinda the purpose of the "icons" which are supposed to be reminders of Christ and should help lead you in your thoughts to thinking about Christ....pretty interesting stuff...I enjoyed it although there were a few things that I didn't really have a preference for during the service, but I could see that there were some positives too.

Two weeks ago I went to a Jesuit House Chapel at Gonzaga which was quite interesting as well! It followed much like a Catholic service with the sacraments and smoke and what-not...it was interesting how they proceeded through the worship...there was a row of boys and a row of girls who sat across from each other, all in robes, and did the chants for the service....there was an organ that played and for most of the service, the pastor guy read his scripture in "chant-mode"- so to speak. :) I was wondering if he was ever going to say anything without singing it, and eventually he did, but not for very long. I took from this service an appreciation for "chanting" scripture. When scripture is chanted, it really can make you focus on trying to really hear the words that the pastor is saying and let it speak to you....but at the same time, I've noticed that with some Christian songs, they can be sung so beautifully, but because they have such a nice sound, we just think about the rhythm and not the actual praise we are singing to God....it was an interesting thought. I would say that how I view music in worship is a lot like how Augustine viewed it. Music can be a spiritual model. (in other words, he liked music a lot, but also had some reservations because anything can be distorted.) Ambrose of Milan LOVED music in worship although for some reason he didn't feel that instruments were needed in worship. He felt that singing was like "waves crashing in." Pambo on the other hand was the head of a monastery in Egypt and felt that there should be no music in worship...it's distracting...he also had a more repentent view of worship than most churches I think because he said, "How can we feel bad for our sins if you are caught up in music?" This was an interesting thought to me because I have definitely noticed within myself that I am a lot more quiet in my worship time at church...I get distracted easily with some songs, so I just end up closing my eyes and listening to the words sung instead of singing them myself...when I sing it myself, often I will start thinking about how bad I sound or how I'm totally off key and self-conscious haha! But anyways, sometimes I get more out of worship by just listening...other days I feel the call to participate and confess with my MOUTH, my thanks to God. :)

Anyways, that was my theological experience for the morning...:) Today I get to do a bible study with Ashly, a very special friend of mine who became a Christian last summer and was on the team with me the past two years and graduated last year. She's possibly the most loving girl I know...totally not judgemental, loves to give you hugs, and just has such a gentle spirit. I have a lot I can learn from her... She's got an AWESOME "coming to Christ" story and it's been an HONOR watching her and seeing her grow more and more in the Lord. She's amazing, and I love her. :) So we are gonna go over the gospel of Mark and I'm gonna tell her what I'm learning from my gospel of Mark class which is totally an amazing class. I'm excited to see what conversations will come about! Then later today, I'm gonna meet with a girl to figure out a project for my international business class...we might do our presentation on the Phillippines! That would be sweeet. And then after that, I'm gonna cut Bryan's hair and then meet with another group for Operation's Management because there's this simulation thing we gotta do...it's a hard project....so prayer for that would be nice. :) Then I eat, then I get whatever else needs to be done, done, and then its BED TIME!!! YESSS!!! That's my favorite. :)