How has serving at the altar affected your spiritual life?
I have many things to be grateful for, but one of the things I am most grateful for is the way my mother nurtured my faith, planting a seed so that eventually I would be able to find water and quench my thirst and grow towards the brightness of the Sun. There were times of difficulty, times where I started to doubt in the faith I had grown up in. My leaves would start to shrivel, and the flower would hide its face from the Sun, not knowing that it needed the Sun’s bright love to grow and to flourish. In those times where I felt that stagnant growth, returning every Sunday to the altar was a reminder that I cannot grow by myself, that I as a human could not survive without the love that the Lord continuously offered, to then be able to grow and share the fruits of what I had received.
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I remember being led through each individual step, the timing, the details. After continuously practicing, each task was no longer a fear, but instead, each action started to bring joy, and awe in how the Lord had allowed me to be in close proximity to Him, on the altar. Growing up, one as a teenager starts to believe that they can do everything on their own, they believe they are unstoppable and start to hold themselves to a higher status than others. Unfortunately, I was infected by these standards, and it brought a significant amount of difficulties at home. Somehow, through God’s grace, altar serving started to form me into the person that He willed me to be. I was constantly humbled by the presence of the Lord, and I started to seek Him beyond mass, through adoration and SWYM. Through altar serving, I was able to witness the way the Lord was working in the people around me, and I was filled with wonder, wonder in the greatness of the
Gregory’s Episcopal Church. She had said that she became overwhelmed by the realization of God and that He became very real to her. Miles also talks about how unbalanced and emotional she was, and didn’t know how to handle herself, but continually came back for more (Miles, 58-59). I love hearing Sara talk about taking communion for the first time because it seems so beautiful, how Jesus was able to move through her and come to life inside of her. There have been a couple of times when I would go on retreats and mission trips and take communion in a more meaningful way because of the people I had become close to and had gotten to know on those trips would be with me. When I am take communion at the First United Methodist Church on a regular Sunday though, it can almost become just a regular thing you do at church without really remembering its sacredness. I still feel it is important, but because I’ve been doing it all my life and I think it is easy to forget all the things tied to it. Overall I feel as though this book has made me explore different ways of being a part of a community and enabled me to see that God works through all of us whether we believe it or not. It’s also extremely refreshing to see Sara’s excitement for her newfound faith and how she deals with the problems thrown at her. In Sara’s case I think God made the impossible possible. This story is an
Growing up in Jamaica, I enjoyed worship. I remembered looking forward to church. We clapped our hands and stomped our feet and made a joyful noise unto the Lord. We didn't have keyboards and drums. We clapped and sounded like timbrels. I remembered when I learned to testify and it helped me and several others to build our confidence. I would sing in the local churches when they have special events. I watched young people being filled with the Holy Ghost and I wanted it so badly that I would pray and ask God to give it to me. I remembered watching my mother and my sister speak in tongues and I so wanted to do it.
This experience was really out of my comfort zone. It was hard to be an outsider and not prepared for what was to come and not speaking one of the languages used to understand the entire service. This service learning project gave me the opportunity to try a new church and gain a deeper respect for a different religion. Everyone at the service was very educated on speaking the sacred texts and participating in the rituals practiced. I hope to have gained a better understanding for those who are new to religions and are nervous to come to a worship service. I will make more of an effort to be welcoming and accommodating to those who are new to our church.
After seeing though the eyes of my pastor I’ve come to realize the importance of faith and committing to one’s beliefs. Returning to church after two massive losses has helped my mother in many ways and it has also taught me as a young man how small things that I could do would turn to have a big impact on someone’s life the same way my pastor impacted my life and the life of my siblings.
Early one morning, in 2007, I heard God 's voice while I was praying for me at my church. I immediately answered God with a sob, “Yes, I will. I will start!” That was because I obviously understood what this voice meant. God wanted me to start worship service for infants and toddlers. At that time, in my church, a worship service for infants and toddlers was not set up. Moms could not attend worship service because of their little babies and were getting tired out their life without worship. God kept giving me a burden in the Holy Spirit to set up worship service for them. However, I was too selfish to obey God. To tell the truth, I turned my face from that burden. I wanted to go to main sanctuary as soon as possible because my daughter was almost ready to join in pre-k worship service. However, the sudden voice of God changed my life. I started to “Start!” I set up worship service unofficially, and started to worship with 3 toddlers first. Their moms finally could go to worship God. After one year, I became a director of toddlers’ Sunday school for under 3-year-old from 2008 to
Prior to reading this book I have to be honest and say that I had some false conceptions about worship. That sounds kind of scary to say but, through this booked I learned again and at a deeper level the importance of living in communion with God.
Furthermore, one of the main parts of the Mass is the liturgy of the Word, the Word of God that nourishes and help us to live a holy
During this movement, the church tried to simplify its processes for everyday use. For instance, the Church translated some parts of the Mass from Latin to the language of the country of where the church resided. The priesthood also went through advanced training to ensure that they could properly execute every aspect of the Mass. This effort by the Christian churches established they wanted people and the community to have motivation to preach and worship their particular faith.”
You no longer have to stress about your daily life issue, such as work, family, relationship problems, because you know as long as you pray to God, and ask him to provide, he will do just that. Trust also Is important in the church, some things you share with your brothers and sisters and church leaders can be
I can remember as far back as age four, getting my hair done and the whole family rushing out the door to get to Mass on Sunday mornings. My family who owned and/or rented five different homes on a typical Puerto Rican near-north side Chicago block, would all meet out in front at the van. I say van because my aunt/Godmother who has muscular dystrophy, had the largest vehicle due to her handicap. We all packed in and headed for either St Sylvester or St. Francis Church, depending on who made the decision that day. My great grandmother had the matriarchal front passenger seat. An uncle was driving, a few more adults behind that including aunts, uncles and my grandmother with all of us kids, nearly eight of us all to the rear. It was so hot with no open windows or air conditioning. Sometimes I thought we were on our way to hell. When we got there, we would have to sit quietly, stand, kneel, and repetitive combinations thereof, shake hands, a few songs then the final guitar-played song was the finale. The second part of the words, “La misa e terminado, dénos gracias a Dios (The mass has ended, thanks be to God)” was spoken by us kids over and over while we giggled. It was then time to go eat.
Individual Passion versus Professional Duties in The Remains of the Day Dignity and an image of the great butler are important for Stevens to sustain himself at Darlington Hall right in the decline of the British class system. Lord Darlington in Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day is an embodiment of dignity and Englishness with their cultural implications of honor and decency. Stevens emulates and idolizes Lord Darlington as the perfect gentleman. But he seems to focus so much on being a perfect butler that he fails to see the outside world and ignores any passions which may distract his professional duties. In the end he faces the reality that is his life and sees it for its waste.
As I was attending mass, I noticed, it was very organized. There was a lot of sitting and standing, where I found myself struggling to understand. I noticed that they read some passages from the bible and sang a lot of psalms and hymns. The only thing that was familiar to me was the Eucharist.
...rd was trying to tell me this. It was during this time I heard the word ‘seek first the kingdom’. As I heard this word, I cried out to God for the first time in my life to remember me. It was here I made a vow to the Lord in the faith that I would find remembrance. As I made this vow and fulfilled it, the Lord opened doors that I can truly say would not have been opened if I didn’t respond to the word to ‘seek first the kingdom’. Out of this time, the Lord blessed me financially, led me to buy a home and healed my anxious heart. It was here that I began to find testimony before God through offering. This is something I am still finding to this day.
The purpose of this paper is to discuss a service that I got to attend that was different from my own religious tradition. I decided to go with my chosen topic because to be honest I had never experienced or thought to experience a different type of church service other than the one I grew up in. I grew up in a Christian home and attended a non-denominational Christian church on a regular basis. I just never felt the need to experience something that was different. So I decided to attend a mass at a Catholic church. I had been to weddings in a Catholic church and even funerals with a Catholic involvement but not an actual mass.
Christ with the rest of the world, but it is to also live it out in our own lives. What surprised me about the Mass was not what happened during it, but what took place after it. It was then that I discovered what the actual purpose of the Mass really was and how God is present in every aspect of it.