Around the religious world in 14 days

Thanks to a church history assignment, I was encouraged to attend a sabbath service at my neighborhood synagogue at the beginning of October. The community was small and the service was casual but mostly in Hebrew. The cantor had a voice that would be the envy of any church musican, and the whole congregation was involved in the reading of the Torah. Afterwards they welcomed us (four Lutherans and one Muslim) to their Shabbat Shuvah meal in their fellowship hall. As the challah and wine were passed around and festive sung prayers for a good new year, it made me wish we Lutherans would celebrate our feast of bread and wine with this much gusto.

The following day it was all incense and icons at a local Russian orthodox church. The most interesting aspect of the morning was, again, communion. The preparations are done by priests behind closed doors. A small amount of consecrated bread is immersed in the gold cup of wine. Only the orthodox can come forward for communion, during which the head priest places a spoonful of wine-soaked bread in their mouths. The rest of the bread bits (blessed but not consecrated) are placed in a large bowl at the back of the sanctuary, and people eat it as they mill around after receiving their communion. They also bring some handfuls to us guests in the balcony.

Then several days later, I and 200 others were guests of our campus Abrahamic Dialogue Association for an Iftar dinner to break the Ramadan fast at dinner. I am still mesmerized every time I hear the call to prayer, and at this meal I enjoyed the company of four U of Chicago phD students who are Muslims. One was particularly interested in how the Lutheran denomination differed from its close cousins. My answers were quite inadequate, I think, because I've never been interested in how my denomination is distinctive; I've been more concerned with what about our Lutheran heratige justifies the work we do, whether or not it is unique to us.

Finally, the following weekend, there was mass at an Episcopal church in my neighborhood. What choreography! Two presiding ministers and a deacon held up their portion of the feast at perfectly timed increments around a centralized altar. What fantastic Lutheran hymnody! We felt right at home. What interesting community! One rector invited the young adults present to an event at the home he shares with another man ... for whatever that's worth ... and the other rector led the young children out of the sanctuary, dancing toward Sunday School during the last hymn. Oh, oh, oh! How could I almost have forgotten? They commune children there (as we ELCA-ers don't, except when parents and local custom agree to it). A girl of about three years warmed all the Lutheran hearts in the second row (heaven forbid the first be filled) by grimacing at the taste of strong wine, but then quickly saying, "Amen."

Indeed, I have been fed by Chicago's faith community.