Stepping outside of one’s own comfort zone is not an always an easy accomplishment. It can be very uncomfortable to do something that would never usually be a part of your normal everyday life, especially when it involves your religion and beliefs. On the flipside of all the lack of comfort, doing something you usually would not do has many great benefits, such as learning new ideas and facts, meeting new people, and overall broadening your knowledge of the world. As a non-denominational Christian, I decided to challenge myself by attending a religious event that I would never typically attend. On Sunday, March 30th, I attended a Mass service at a Roman Catholic Church; specifically St. Gabriel Parish in Norwood, Pennsylvania with a Catholic friend of mine that I was visiting for the weekend. This was the first time I ever attended an actual Sunday morning service that was Catholic, and I found it to be quite the interesting experience, even though it was not as unusual for me as I had originally presumed it would be. I grew up in Norwood right near St. Gabriel, and passed it every day to go to my good friend’s home that was a football field length away from the churches front doors, but I have never attended a Mass there, or at any other Catholic church for that matter. I have always had a negative mentality when it comes to St. Gabriel because growing up the priest at the church would often scold me and my friends for playing stickball in the alleyway between the church
Through thick and thin, Catholicism has been around for quite a long time. With millions of followers from around the globe, it has grown to become one of the largest religious faiths. Every single one of these Christians has their own unique story about how their faith has significantly affected their lives. In his book, George Weigel shares his experience as a Catholic growing up in late 1950’s and 1960’s in Baltimore.
Beginning just before my senior year I went through a series of trials that continued through most of my senior year. I wanted to do something for myself, and was encouraged to attend the National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC). I decide to go, and so in January I set off for Indianapolis. Once at the conference, I listened to music, met other catholic high schoolers, and participated in workshops. I learned a lot about my faith, and about different forms of worship. This was something that I had not previously been exposed to, as while I was a member of one of the largest parishes in Central Ohio, it is a very traditional parish that had not exposed me to much more than the basic teachings of the church, and also had not demonstrated
On a particular Sunday, several months ago, I was making my anxious rounds through the sanctuary, checking on the two thousand minuet details that go unnoticed by everyone but the Pastor and a few influential widows. There I introduced myself to an obvious visitor, a professional looking women in her mid 50’s. I asked if she was visiting, knowing the answer, and was pleasantly surprised to learn she was a Truett Professor doing what she described as a field trip, observing churches her students attend. As I walked her to a seat that hadn’t belonged to an elderly member for five decades, I went back to my duty, working the room and politicking the old crowd.
Everyone has their own beliefs on how God handles sinners, some people believe that He is doing his own version of ‘Karma’ or ‘Payback’ to a wrong choice that we made as humans. Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God, is a story that has some truth and also some exaggeration to it as well. In my opinion, God is teaching us right from wrong like a dad would teach his children not to stick their hand in the cookie jar before dinner. In this story, Jonathon Edwards is portraying what God is thinking when he sees sinners on the world by using: Imagery, Tone and Repetition.
For my Meet the Believers assignment, I focused on Catholicism and Nondenominational Christianity. My Catholic interviewee, who I’ll refer to as John, is middle aged and was raised Catholic. My Christian interviewee, who I’ll refer to as Jane, is a young adult and was similarly raised Christian. From my interviews and attendance of worship services of both groups, several themes and concepts came to the forefront: the tensions between fundamentalism and modernism, the important conversation of gender and ethnicity, and the “true” good understood by both believers through their respective religious groups.
While walking out of the building, I found myself walking the same path as a classmate who was also leaving. “What did you think of that, Taryn?” With a smile upon her face, she looked up and said, “I just love how great it is to have that time to fellowship and have with God during a stressful week.” Her answer summed up my feelings perfectly. “Have you joined?” Not
In recent days I had the opportunity to go back to North Carolina for a few short days. There, with a heavy heart from a loss in the family, I had nothing else to look towards. I’ve always heard of individuals finding peace, faith, blessings, and love of Christ from attending church. I’ve never been a person who put their faith into a higher power. As I was growing up my parents never wanted to force me into any religion without me knowing everything about it and choosing which route to take on my own. As the years treaded on, I never bothered myself to learn about the many different religions and what each stands for. So I used this opportunity as mine to attend church for the very first time. I attended the Roman Catholic services held
Mummification Tools By : Daniel Lee Mummies, Pyramids, and Hieroglyphics,All from ancient Egypt. Ancient Egyptians had many beliefs. One of the beliefs that they had is that after death was a afterlife. Before the person went to the afterlife they needed to be mummified. To mummify the person egyptians needed tools.
Throughout time, Christianity has been divided into many different denominations. I, myself, identify as a Baptist. Therefore, I decided to interview a Catholic priest, in order to gain a better understanding of its practices, so that I could compare and contrast the Catholic tradition to my own Baptist tradition. I chose to complete this particular project because I have a lot of family members and friends who practice Catholicism. It is important to me that I become more knowledgeable about Catholicism so that I will no longer be ignorant to the conversations of Catholicism when talking to others. In order to successfully fulfill the requirements of this project, I reached out to one of my Catholic friends. After telling my friend about my project, he agreed to take me to his church, which ultimately led me to being able to interview a Catholic priest about their religious practices. The interview itself was mind-blowing because I never knew how similar, and yet how
For this paper I decided to sit down with my childhood friend from my St. Thomas More Catholic School days. Katarina and I have known each other since we were 5 years old. I remember attending church with her family on Sunday morning, spending the night at her house, occasionally attending her family's BBQ's on Easter Sunday, and inviting her to all my birthday parties at Chuck E Cheese. Though we lost touch after high school we found each other again thanks to social media. We are both from Hispanic Catholic families so it was always assumed that we would grow up to be Catholic too. To my surprise I found that on Katie's social media page under religious views it did not say Catholic as I expected but rather Wicca. Turns out Katie decided that the Catholic faith wasn't for her and opted instead to convert to Wicca.
Many people would not imagine that an eleven-year-old girl would be able to prepare an elaborate and tasteful feast for the Jehovah Witnesses Church. I was not that girl, but I did attend their picnic. As a child, I was not fully exposed to the different cultures that surrounded me. I have always believed that everyone was like me. Physically I can tell that everyone was different, from color to height, though I assumed that everyone had the same Catholic beliefs as me. From this event and another, I was able to experience and acknowledge the diversity in my world, not only physically but also mentally and spiritually.
The first cultural event I experienced was going to the non-denominational church with my girlfriend and her family. My expectations were to be going to a church that was more of a cathedral look. I expected to see religious statues and carvings within the church. To my surprise, it was completely opposite. We drove up to the campus and it was huge like a basketball stadium. When we entered the church it was huge with a very modern look. It looked nothing like a church. Then we entered the auditorium where there were floor seats and balcony seats that which looked like you would sit in at a sports event. This was the day I met my girlfriend’s family so not only was I nervous attending a church service in a place so big and different from what I expected I was meeting her family. I met the family everyone was really kind and welcoming. The church service began and it was like a concert. They had drums, guitars, keyboards, and singers. The dynamic was not similar to what I have experienced in the services I had attended back home. It was loud, fun, and people were so comfortable being there. The pastor spoke
To begin, I was nervous about attending a service for a faith to which I did not belong and which was not even part of
The one theory that I chose from the five theories of aggression is frustration aggression. The frustration aggression theory is being describes as frustration which is blocking of a goal creates a motive for aggression. Fear of Punishment or disapproval may cause the aggressive behavior to be displaced against some other target, or oneself. As an example, last week I was trying to take a test for this class; however, I did not pay attention on the date that is supposed to be posted it. My birthday was on friday, so I wanted to take it so I can be free over the weekend. Soon as I opened up my computer on the test page , it was blank with the time running. I freak out; on top it my boyfriend would not stop blowing up my phone. I became very
In examining my experience during the recent Cohort Intensives held at Payne Theological Seminary (PTS) in Wilberforce, Ohio; I was quite intrigued with how all of the scholars and guest speakers reinforced many of the initiatives I have already implemented in the context of my own ministry. Likewise, my time spent in class with my Cohort mentors Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie and Rev. Dr. Kenneth S. Robinson was both scholastically and spiritually invaluable. During the week-long Intensive class sessions with my mentors, I learned a number of new things about myself that I was not previously willing to address. In short, I had a moment of self-actualization that required some personal omissions on my part regarding my faith and yes some internalized oppression as labeled by author Gayraud S. Wilmore. Opening up in class and admitting a few of my own short-comings was nothing short of liberating. Suddenly, I felt as though I had an epiphany; that has given birth to a renewed zeal, mind, and spirit. For the first time in years I am certain that I am now moving closer to the apex of excellence where God intended me to be.