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#1 Mt. Olivet Lutheran Church

11/11/2014

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I was not expecting to see cops outside Mt. Olivet Lutheran church when I arrived shortly before their 11 o’clock service. But then I realized they were just directing traffic, which is a good thing considering there were nearly 3,000 people coming and going from one of the four services offered each Sunday morning. I joined the throng inside the gathering space of the church and did not in the least anticipate being greeted by not one, but two, of the pastors. Having one of the pastors engaged me in a brief conversation while we stood in the gathering space with hundreds of other churchgoers was a delightful, personal welcome to the world’s largest Lutheran church.

First off, what is a Lutheran church? Lutheranism is a branch of Protestant Christianity which traces its beginnings to Martin Luther, a German monk in the Roman Catholic Church who sought a married clergy (priests), worship conducted in the local language instead of Latin, and an end to the selling of indulgences  (paying now on Earth one’s debt to God caused by sinfulness, rather than after one dies). Luther’s big theological statement was that we are saved by faith in Jesus alone (sola fide is the technical term) rather than by any merit from works performed. In 1517, Luther made a laundry list of issues he had with the Church and posted it on the community notice board (i.e. church door) in Wittenberg, Germany. This list has become known as the 95 theses. Eventually Luther was driven out of the church and today Lutheranism is a separate branch of Christianity with about 70 million adherents worldwide and 6 million adherents in the US. Today Lutheranism is prominent in Germany, Scandinavia, and those parts of the U.S. where German and Scandinavian immigrants settled (like Minnesota). Today there are two major Lutheran denominations in the US: the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod which tends to be more theologically conservative, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) which is the denomination to which Mt. Olivet belongs. 

With 13,000 members, Mt. Olivet is the largest Lutheran church in the world and maintains two campuses, a camp, a retreat center, and several care homes. I attended their Minneapolis campus, which features an English Gothic Revival church dating from the 1920’s. The church interior was rather traditional, with parallel rows of pews facing an altar, in the center of which was a white cross standing in front of a red backdrop beneath a stained-glass window with an image of Jesus. Like most protestant churches, there were no statues. The building has been expanded several times, but felt unified, if huge, the church can seat nearly 2,000 people at once (my usual church seats about 200).

In many ways the service resembled the Catholic Mass I’m used to, with the largest difference being the lack of any Eucharistic celebration (i.e. no communion.) The pastor who led the service began the service “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” we confessed our sins, recited the Kyrie (Lord, have mercy) and the Gloria (Hymn of Praise), and professed the Apostles’ Creed, all of which are components of a traditional Catholic Mass. As a Catholic, I was at first surprised to hear Lutherans professing belief in “the holy catholic Church.” Then I realized that, regardless of denomination, Christians view the Church (the community of all believers) as catholic, meaning universal. (When spelled with a capital C, “Catholic” refers to the church which regards the Pope as its spiritual leader.)

At the beginning of the service six pastors processed in (along with a hundred middle school choir girls) but I didn’t see four of the pastors again until they processed out at the end of the service. Not sure where they went… The service was led by a woman pastor with an inviting manner I could sense 30 yards away. (The ELCA, along with several other Protestant churches, welcome women as pastors while the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has an all-male clergy.) The presiding pastor alternated between facing the congregation when speaking to the congregation, and facing the same direction as the congregation when speaking with the congregation. There were no prayers offered by attendees and community announcements were given very briefly at the start of the sermon. Two readings from the New Testament were given and each had a brief paragraph in the worship guide explaining the biblical context of the reading (I really liked this idea). The sermon, which was built around the idea of Veterans’ Day and broadcast on the radio, was the only part delivered by a different pastor (a man). Everything about the service, from the processional and hymns, to the prayers and the sermon moved at a rather brisk pace and lasted about 50 minutes. I guess with 13,000 people to minister to, one must move quickly.

As I left Mt. Olivet, I decided to take the “scenic tour” out of the church. This lead me past a lounge, a library, an information desk with a receptionist, half a dozen offices, several classrooms, hallways leading to more classrooms, and a fellowship hall. (By the way, they’re currently expanding their building.) Although Mt. Olivet is huge, it still felt welcoming, and offers its parishioners plenty of engagement opportunities from mens’/womens’ groups and summer camps, to service projects and lutefisk dinners. It opened my eyes to how effectively large parishes can touch the lives of its members.

Until next time, peace.

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My Neighbor's Religion: Encountering the Diversity of Religious Expression in the Twin Cities.

11/7/2014

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When I was in sixth grade, my family decided that, once a month, we would attend a service at another tradition's place of worship. Now, more than 10 years later, I think it is time for me to once again visit your church, and my friend's synagogue, and the mosque I pass by everyday, and that temple I've always been curious about yet never visited.

And so, over the next eight months, I will be visiting different traditions' places of worship, attending their services, and writing reflections about my experiences here on the MSC blog. Each post will feature a brief history of the tradition (which I will take
largely from the book "How to Be a Perfect Stranger",) a description of what occurred during the service, and the impression it left on me. My plan is be an active observer, engaged in what is happening around me, yet aware that complete participation in all rituals may not be proper. I will be doing my best to keep my posts non-judgmental and I will strive to use language which each particular tradition uses.

I will approach this adventure with openness toward all I encounter, while maintaining an awareness of how a given religious service fits into its historical and social context. However it is inevitable that I will (unconsciously or otherwise) judge everything I encounter with respect to my 'spiritual home base.'

So before I take off, let me give a bit of background on myself.

I was raised in a Catholic family where church was a large part of life. My entire family went to church together, I was an altar server for many years, and I can't ever remember missing a single Sunday Mass. Growing up, church for me meant sitting reverently with my family, listening to scripture readings, trying to understand the sermon, and striving to appreciate the sacredness present during communion.

Since college I have found a spiritual home in a Catholic church (St. Frances Cabrini) where I feel engaged both intellectually and spiritually, where I feel safe coming with my not-entirely-Vatican-approved theology, and where I leave feeling embraced by a strong, justice-oriented community. I am tremendously curious about the historical development of religious beliefs, and driven to understand how to connect those beliefs to real life. Consequently, my idea of the perfect sermon is a cross between a biblical history lecture and a union worker's call for solidarity. Yet while I love leaving church with my head spinning with new ideas, the intangible aspects of the service are what keep me coming back. Singing together with all present, receiving communion from a single loaf, and being welcomed as I am are just a few ways in which I encounter God's presence at church and why I go to church to find myself in God's presence. Unlike as a child, when the holiest part of the Mass was receiving communion, I now view the act of coming together and sharing our spiritual journey as a community to be the most sacred aspect of Mass.

As I visit other traditions and encounter their wide variety of prayers, chants, spaces, music, and rituals, it will be with this background that I will view them. I will strive my hardest to appreciate the myriad forms of spiritual expression which I will encounter, especially those forms which seem most foreign to me or those which do not align with my beliefs.
My experiences will be shaped by my being Catholic, and so my impression of any given religious event might be very different from yours.

It is my hope that this experience will enrich my appreciation of my community, challenge my preconceptions of other traditions, and generate positive dialogue about our traditions' beliefs, histories, and practices.

My first stop will be Mt. Olivet Lutheran Church. With 13,000 members, it is the largest Lutheran congregation in the world.
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