Church Visit Project

            Because I often work on weekends and planned a trip to California over 2 Sundays in March I chose to remotely attend a church service online. I attended a Catholic Mass on catholictv.com. The worship was much about reverence for God and remembering what Christ did for us on the cross. Even on the set for an online service the decorations and attention to detail was beautiful, almost as if a small chapel were built so that they could allow people to attend a real mass in the comfort of their home. I’m sure they are catering to individuals who, for many reasons, are not able to attend a service in their own location.

The culmination of the service was the Holy Eucharist or communion where we were able to partake in and remember Christ’s redeeming work on the cross by taking His body and blood into our own body. This sacrament was explained and taken with such reverence and ritual. Since it was an online mass, there was an option to read/recite the following prayer for the  viewers at home: “My Jesus, I truly believe that You are present in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You. Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unit myself wholly to You. Never let me be parted from You.”

            I am drawn to tradition and the ability to predict what is coming next and therefore enter into it fully. I love liturgy and recitation. I also appreciate that everyone everywhere reads the same portion of scripture, as well as that the mass always includes the Old Testament and the New Testament and the Holy Eucharist so that it is never far from our minds what Jesus did on the cross in order to bring us into relationship.

UNITY

We are the same.

We laugh.

We cry.

We mourn and grieve.

We dance.

We celebrate.

We feel joy and pain.

We eat pizza and chips and cupcakes.

We love our families and friends.

We go to Disneyland.

We toast at weddings.

We walk our babies into kindergarten.

We move out.

We get lost.

We find our way.

We fall in love.

We sing the blues.

We buy our first car, our first house, our first groceries.

We bounce checks and pay off loans.

We drink coffee.

We complain about homework.

We lose parents and grieve hard.

We find community and celebrate.

We lose babies and our hearts break.

We meet babies and our hearts grow.

We make new friends and are made better.

We are passionately beloved.

We are welcomed.

We are created in His image.

We are died for.

We are relentlessly pursued.

We are gifted.

We are redeemed.

We are glory-bearers.

We are drawn.

We are chosen.

We are the same.

“One of the most destructive mistakes we Christians make is to prioritize shared beliefs over shared relationship, which is deeply ironic considering we worship a God who would rather die than lose relationship with us.” – Rachel Held Evans

Identity: Who Am I?

     This week we were asked about our identity. We carried a card with an identity gap and then we spoke truth aloud about who we are as promised in the Bible. In all honesty, my identity gap didn’t come up this week. I wrote down that I have insecurity in regards to my friendship, I believe the lie that I am not worth the effort. The verse that spoke to me about that was John 15:15 which states that I am Christ’s friend. I think when I am lonely I need to remember this is true. This week however, I had some fun text conversations with friends. I was able to have some meaningful connections at church and in the community. And I was too busy to worry about not spending time with people. As I look back on this week I am thankful that God reminded me that I am not alone. Instead of reminding me when I was feeling down, He brought people into interactions to remind me that I am worth friendship and He has blessed me with some wonderful people in my life.


     In addition to this exercise, we had some readings this week. I was mostly intrigued by the reading by David Needham, The Wonder of Who You Are. The idea that we are already saints and that we are a new creation and that the old man is completely dead and gone is a different take for me. I look forward to reading it again and discussing it in class.