Dear St. Paul’s Family,
As some of you know, last Saturday afternoon I decided on a whim to attend Catholic mass at our local Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. It had been years since I attended a Catholic service, as I frequently attended them when I was a child (mostly as a ring bearer for countless weddings involving Filipino nurses). My mother was raised a devout Roman Catholic, and though she now considers herself a United Methodist, she prays with her rosary beads on a daily basis.
The people of the Philippines, after all, are over 80% Catholic, so when I was a child growing up in Florida, we would often attend the St. Jude’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg, where Father Bernabe, a Filipino priest, would often preside. I think the last Catholic service I attended was in 1986, when we attended a peace vigil that my father organized during the famous People Power Revolution in Manila, when the regime of Ferdinand Marcos was remarkably overthrown without a single drop of blood.
I’m not sure why I decided to visit last Saturday. Just last Thursday I attended a ministerial association meeting that included my friend Father Dan Guenther, the recently appointed priest at Immaculate Conception. “You’re welcome to join us,” he said, in response to my inquiry on the starting time for worship.
So, at 4:00 in the afternoon, I arrived at the church. I was coming in close to the last minute, so I tried to sneak in through one of the side doors unnoticed. Big mistake. I soon found myself alone in a small hallway with no sense as to how to get into the sanctuary. I opened the nearest door I could find, only to be greeted by total darkness. (Nice going, Magrey. I found out later from a parishioner that I had walked into the confessional booth.)
Eventually, I found my way into a sanctuary nearly filled with parishioners, and was immediately greeted by Father Dan, who was about to start the service. He looked at me warmly and said, rather wryly, “Welcome to the Catholic faith.” I shook his hand and replied, “It’s good to be here,” which is Methodist-speak for, “Whoa, hold on. I’m just visiting, not converting.”
Instead of printed bulletins or orders of service, all of the play-by-play was found on the hymn board at the front of the sanctuary. The numbers corresponded to pages in the missal and the hymnal, the books that are readily accessible in the pew racks. For all the trepidation that some Protestants have about feeling lost and confused during a Catholic service, it was really just a matter of Follow the Leader. And in some cases, Copy Your Neighbor. The liturgy was fairly easy to navigate, the hymn tunes quite familiar, and the music was led by an experienced cantor. There were only a few times that I had to look at the people around me to know when to stand, sit, or kneel, mostly because I forgot to read the rubrics in the missal.
Of course, I didn’t go up to receive communion. But simply joining with other Christians in a spirit of prayer and worship provided a keen sense of unity and camaraderie. The combination of ancient liturgies, unison acts of physical movement, lengthy moments of silence, and dramatic ritual evoked a deep sense of holy time and place. And the forty-five minute mass was over before I knew it.
I offer this report to you perhaps as an encouragement for you to attend mass yourself and gain a different appreciation for the historic church. But mostly, it is to remind us that we are united in faith with our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters. For all of the differences we might have in certain parts of our theology and practice, we share much more in common in our beliefs. We commonly affirm the centrality of Scripture, and the saving work of Jesus Christ. Protestants and Catholics share three-fourths of Christian history in common, after all. And in a time when the culture around us would rather delineate our differences and divide people into camps, we can affirm that we really are the body of Christ together
I came home from the service and read one of my favorite sermons by John Wesley, called “Catholic Spirit.” Listen to the way he described the kind of unity in the faith that reaches across denominational and faith traditions:
Although a difference in opinions or modes of worship may prevent an entire external union, yet need it prevent our union in affection? Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike? May we not be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion? Without all doubt, we may. Herein all the children of God may unite, notwithstanding these smaller differences. These remaining as they are, they may forward one another in love and in good works.
Grace and Peace,
Magrey
The Rev. Magrey R. deVega
St. Paul's United Methodist Church
531 W. Main St.
Cherokee, IA 51012
Ph: 712-225-3955
Email: mdevega@sp-umc.org
WORSHIP THIS SUNDAY
Join us this Sunday as we continue our sermon series on the Kingdom of God with a sermon based on the most famous sermon Jesus ever preached. It begins in Matthew 5:1-12, popularly known as "The Beatitudes," and serves as our text for the service. We'll discover the new way that Jesus opens the Kingdom of God to surprising groups of people.
(Photo courtesy of the Cherokee Chronicle Times, by Mike Leckband)
No comments:
Post a Comment