Analysis Of A Church Service At St Mark In East Village In New York (Essay Sample)

Liturgical Worship Services
Student’s Name
Course name and number
Due date
This paper presents my experience after attending a service at St. Mark’s Church on 14th August 2016. The church is in East Village in New York, United States. The congregation appears to comprise of elder people mainly, and a third of the worshipers are youths between the age of thirty-five years and below. As a tradition, this church always holds its service at 9:30 am on Sunday, and this is the only service. Therefore, this report grants an evaluation of the service at this church as well as giving my experiences based on my participation. To facilitate this, I will examine the liturgical space, hospitality, the use of songs, presentation of Bible reading and priest’s sermon, the kind of liturgy and worship leading and lastly my evaluation on the service.
St. Mark’s church liturgical space
St. Mark’s church ritual space is somehow puzzling, as I am used to more traditional service set up. The arrangement of the seats is impressing; they in align with the wall of the building rather than the reserve area. Behind the seats there exist a great alter table lit with candles. There is some space created between the seats and the table, which I later learned was meant for the priests. Chairs in this church occupy much space making the church to seem less of a worshipping place but rather a church’s annual general meeting, in my view. When I sat down, my attention was first drawn by two big projection monitors on the wall on which the notices were displayed. Furthermore, I found myself staring at the modern musical equipment fitted temporarily on the wall. I came back to my senses when a person who was sitting next to me had a loud sternutation. After a refresh of mind, I realized the small alter table lit with four candles placed at the edges of the table. Focusing on the space, I realized that attention of the believers was directed towards the displays rather than the alter table. Did this arrangement show the communities focus on where God was? That remained a puzzle for me to solve. As time progressed and worship was in its momentum, the notice on the screen showed that it was time for Thanksgiving. The notice shifted my focus towards the holy table and the priest behind it. The alter table was covered with a white linen material and lit by four candles. The Minister drew the attention of the worshipers towards the Thanksgiving.
St. Mark’s church music presentation.
Two choir masters lead the crowd in songs, and the songs were easy to comprehend even for a stranger like me. The music brought liveliness in the church, everybody danced and sang to praise his worshiper. However, the music sang were not in line with the reading of the day. To my expectations, the songs were to enrich the priest’s message. Moreover, in the entire service only three songs were sung, the first one at the beginning of the sermon, the second during the offering and lastly at the end of the service. Thus, the choice of the songs was not good since the priest’s message, and the message in the songs did not converge.
Hospitality in the church
The members of the church are very hospitable. Despite being a stranger, after the church service, I was called by the church elders who invited me to be a member of the church. I didn’t give an immediate answer, but I promised to give my feedback on the next visit. In addition to this, I was offered a cup of coffee and donuts. I also realized that there was no discrimination in the church.
Priests sermon and bible reading.
The reading was we...