In my second field experience, I’d decided to go to a Baptist church. However, I did not come from a religious background. Although I am not completely in the dark when it comes to religion I have learn about different religion through friends and books. Therefore, I thought this would be a great opportunity to finally experience a service and put my ignorance aside. Meaning the assumption and expectation I had of church service. Furthermore, it provided me the opportunity to challenge myself and my own biases I have towards going to church. Once I went to church I was surprise to see so many black people, for the first time since I moved too Greensburg, I was actual able to see a room overflowing with individual who looked just like me, my first emotion was excitement and enjoy. Some of my expectation, was something I have learned from my mother. My mother always told me that “black people churches last longer”, with this in mind I was prepare to be there for a long time. However, to my surprise it did not last as long as I’d expected it to. My overall experience, was warming, peaceful and positive.
Some of the connection I’d experience during the service was when the pastor was talking about having hope and sticking by someone who have continuous mistreated you. A wave of confusion struck me, I was unaware at the time that it was anger and pain that connected to my past experiences with others who I have devoted my time to, whom happen to mistreated me. Therefore, in the
I chose to do my religious ethnographic study at my home church, Tabernacle Baptist Church in Youngstown, Ohio on Sunday, May 8, 2016. Tabernacle is an 112-year-old historic Black Baptist church located on the lower Northside of Youngstown surrounded by a mixed income housing development, homeless shelter, Youngstown State University, and St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. I would say the average age of a Tabernacle member is 55 years old. About 70% of the members at this church are “middle-class” families. Until about five years ago, its membership was almost exclusively middle class. There has seen an influx of membership in working class individuals and students since the arrival of Tabernacle’s young, vibrant pastor, Rev. Christopher McKee, Jr., three years ago. The church is attentive to the needs of this demographic but remains true to its historic Black Baptist church roots. The church previously struggled with this conundrum until it came to the reality that an exclusivist mindset around worship is detrimental to the body of Christ when it did not have a pastor for over three years. The church was dying because no one was welcome to it and it did not have a leader. Though it was difficult, this reassessment was beneficial in making Tabernacle more relevant and welcoming to the community it is blessed to serve.
My first experience at Bridgetown church was very long overdue and very interesting. Most all of my friends and family all have been inviting me to Bridgetown specifically because they all really enjoy a specific pastor there that speaks on Sunday services. I never saw the need to go, mainly because of my night shifts are scheduled so oddly I was afraid of falling asleep at a religious sermon that I was not interested in embarrassing myself at and also not wanting to go out of my way to attend something that I was not particularly interested in. Bluntly writing I did not want to waste my time to go to something I wasn’t very excited about, especially when I do not know what to expect. This assignment did give the opportunity a bigger reason and I am glad to have been able to make such an insightful visit that I may not mind trying again in the near future.
On Monday, I went to the local Crossroads Baptist Church, located at 850 Edwards Ferry Rd NE, Leesburg, VA. This was my first time experience as I am Hindu and my parents never exposed me to any churches. Dr. Kenneth K. Baldwin was the pastor at the time I went. Luckily, I got the chance to speak with him after the service. After our brief conclusion, I realized that he had a great vision for his church and is leading it to success through his passion. I sensed his passion for preaching and religious beliefs as they were evident during the service. Despite this being my first visit to a church, I learned a lot of valuable things about churches and Christianity.
As the only white individual entering the church on Sunday I felt extremely out of place and very uncomfortable, at first. Upon entering the church, before I could even find a place to sit, the pastor came to welcome me and showed me a place to sit for the service. The pastor was very kind and so welcoming that my nervousness and worry started to vanish. Once I was seated and more people entered the church, I was treated as if I had always been there and was part of the group. Although I was the minority at the service I did feel very comfortable with my surroundings and with the people in attendance. The whole experience was very interesting and broadened my perspective on the African American culture.
I am the minority of the usual church; typically I am one of four white people who attend the 8am service. I first went with a friend’s family after she had pass away. I was never nervous about going to a predominantly African American church. Everyone welcomed me. The family I went with had me stand up when they called for new people to the church. It then took me 30 extra minutes to get out of the church because everyone gave me a hug. Going into part two of this project I was actually very nervous about going to the Korean church. I think being by myself had a lot to do with it along with not know the language. I was very nervous about not understanding anything that was going on. Additionally I was worried they would not want me there.
As an illustration, Levine says, “Before we ended the service I led the whole gathering in a short meditation on forgiveness and gratitude, and we all offered our love and forgiveness, ending the period of reflection with a funny sound that Toby was famous for making. Everyone was laughing and crying at the same time.” (Levine 493-494) He claims that this short meditation there’s a sign of relief and forgiveness to help Toby move on to his afterlife. Levine recounted an experience of memory that a spiritual teaching has helped him oneself can bear grief, anger and fear not for a long time and at some point he or will realize the reason what, how, and why he has survived. An example, Levine described was the loss of his friend, “It felt like nothing had prepared me for this; no amount of meditation, no amount of therapy, none of the spiritual practices or experiences I’d had, prepared me to lose my best friend. I felt like without him nobody in the world really knew me.” (Levine 492) Levine explains that he lost his best friend in just a click, and he was not ready to take the outcomes that he is gone because he and his friend had such a great reminiscing and a connecting through friendship that now has disappeared into thin
t a really tough time in my life, I set out to search for a connection with God. I visited many churches and denominations. I wasn’t sure what I was searching for and if I’d recognize it when I found it. While looking for a Bible, I called and subsequently visited the bookstore of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore, Maryland. While in the bookstore I felt welcomed and cared for. That visit prompted me to attend the upcoming worship service. Upon arrival, I felt a connection to the environment and people. Behind the pulpit there is a large multi-colored mural with scenes from various functions of life. The artist depicted the people with multi-ethnic physical features. This certainly was not a Michael Angelo rendition. I felt a sense of belonging. The pastor used Psalm 51 for his text. Although the topic of sin was a part of his sermon, the message that I heard was one of mercy, love, acceptance, deliverance and restoration. My experience at Bethel felt like a great burden was lifted; I felt free. I was no longer alone; I found a community of people who were also on a spiritual journey. Although I had been in therapy for a number of years prior to my profession of faith, it was my new found relationship with God that empowered me to make some personal changes. I describe my conversion experience with three terms: liberation, empowerment and community.
For my Religious Experience Paper I decided to visit a worship center. I decided to choose this as my project piece because I had already been contemplating out of curiosity how this particular worship center worships based on previous discussions and invitations from a friend of mine that always stemmed from conversations of each other’s religious practices or functions etc. So today I was accompanied by my friend Lenore to experience her church. Multiple times during conversation Lenore has invited me to visit her church, Bandera Road City Church otherwise known as BRCC. I will admit I have wondered what kind of experience goes on behind that door at BRCC each time I’ve passed by it. I grew up Catholic and still practice Catholicism despite my concerns for some of the ways of the church. I won’t get into the personal issues as it would take too long to discuss in this paper and is not the purpose of the paper but have mentioned it in a couple of my posts in our class discussions. The way parishioners treat my sister because she is Lesbian, the outlook the church has towards LGBT is hurtful rather than the loving way of Jesus. As well as the fact that my previous parish advised me that I could no longer teach religious education since I divorced my 1st husband. Therefore, there have been times in my life that I asked myself if I wanted to continue to practice Catholicism and continue to attend Catholic Church Mass. This assignment allowed me to finally accept
I jumped at the opportunity to complete the extra credit assignment because of the topic. I have always wanted to attend an African American Baptist Church. I was raised Catholic in a predominantly white community and for the chance to experience something different was appealing. I’ve seen the stereotypes in movies and on TV about what an African American Baptist church looks like but I wanted to experience it myself. I wasn’t sure on what to expect but kept an open mind about the situation.
Throughout my entire life I have been faced with the different viewpoints between the Catholic Church and my beliefs as a Baptist. One teaching that was very interesting to me was purgatory. As I got older I began to understand sin and it’s affects regarding our relationship with God. In this paper I will be researching Purgatory and diving into what it is, where it comes from and where you can find it in scripture.
I went on a mission to share the things that I believed with anyone who would listen. I felt unqualified. What did I know of life? I felt scared, I felt anxiety. I went to Natchez, Mississippi. I felt out of place. And I felt humbled by these people that would let me into their homes and lives. How could white middle class me do this? Let me explain. I found out that no matter in whom or what you believe about spirituality, the discussion of it can come from the heart of a person. As a missionary,
The church across from my house, Wellspring Bible Fellowship, used to be predominantly white. However, within the last couple of years, myself and my neighbors have noticed a larger population of colored individuals attending the church. My neighbors and I further discussed the positive effects of diversity and the coming together of individuals from multiple races. The landscape of the church in my community may vary from the church in another students community because it took the closure of Fitch Middle School before the public united and began to bond. Therefore, in other students communities, the church may contain individuals of only one race or it may contain individuals of all different races. Lastly, the landscape of the church helps individuals understand my community because of the cultural history that has
According to Cleve R. Wootson, Jr., writer for The Washington Post, the fire took 12 minutes to be put to a stop, but the church would be forever ruined with burnt pews, vandalised walls which said “Vote Trump.” Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville, Mississippi served as a victim of religious hatred during the hectic election month. In today’s society, people’s beliefs either bring them together or take them apart; as a Catholic I gained the courage to step outside of my comfort zone to experience something different, a different kind of church service.
In my life I have never been a person to attend church or religious ceremonies. I have gone twice to church and I personally didn’t like because I think that one doesn’t need to go to church to worship god. I believe that as long as you have faith god would never abandon you. My experience in the Jehovah`s Witness ceremony was very interesting because they are very similar to Christianity but their believes are different.
Hallelujah!! Amen! Preach! are responses heard in many black churches. I have always been a shouter, a runner, a singer, a dancer, one who cries and protest during the heightened celebration of what we called Black Worship. I never thought anything about it, but always understood and accepted by faith that this was God spirit’s interacting and responding with my spirit. We were doing a dance and celebrating together. We were in agreement!!! The creator’s nurture comes near to us and envelope us when we are in spaces of nurture in black churches.