St. Herman of Alaska

I got up early this morning, especially because of the time change. I met a group of people at Ethical Addictions. Brian told about the Orthodox church he was taking us to as I drank my Chai tea. I was pretty excited because I have been looking for someone that goes to this church so that I could go with them. The church is called St. Herman of Alaska. Form outside the building looks like a normal small church. We went in and the service had already started. The room was not very big, the ceiling was made of cedar ( just like my house, haha ) and there were no pews or chairs. The room smells heavily of incense and the choir sings from the back left corner of the room. I stand right in front of them with the rest of my friends. One lady from the choir came over to us and explained some things about the service, so that we would have an idea of what was going on. Everyone is standing and there are priests and deacons behind a screen in the front performing some rituals that we cannot see. People of every age were there, listening, crossing themselves, and responding together as one man reads. He did not just speak the words, but instead he sung them. This is how scripture was read throughout the whole service, and always just a voice, never with an instrument. All of a sudden a curtain in the screen was drawn back to reveal the altar table with many ornamental objects covered with bright lights shone down from above.
A few people came in late and they went forward to the front of the room and bowed before a picture of Jesus. They then light a candle and placed it in a little box of sand on one side of this picture, where there were already a bunch of candles from the other people. Parents and children do this together and some even kiss the picture.
A few time during the service there is a procession where the priests and deacons come out into the congregation with incense and candles. One instance of this is before the scripture reading, where they come out with the Bible raised high.
During the sermon, most the people sat on the floor, while a few sat in pews that are against the walls. The sermon was the only spoken part of the while service. It also contained a few jokes and was not that different from a Protestant sermon.
During communion the people line up and the priest serves them. You must be a member of the church to do this, so I just watched. There was also bread up front for the fellowship meal. A couple people grabbed some of this bread and brought it to the people that did not participate in the Eucharist.
This was a special Sunday for them and they had a relic there. That one lady that had explained some stuff in the beginning told us that is was a little piece of the actual cross. People went forward and prostrated themselves before it a couple of times and crossed themselves and kissed it. She said that I could too, if I wanted. So, I was towards the end of the line and went forward. Who knows if I did it right, but everyone stands and watches you, so it is kind of intimidating.
The very last thing was were we go forward and hold out our hand and the priest puts some bread in your hands and gives a blessing. Some people would kiss the preist's hand, so I did that too. It was pretty funny, I was wearing one of my Further Seems Forever shirts and the priest kept me there for a while because he wanted to read it. On the way out the door, people would turn and face the front and cross themselves. The whole service lasted two hours.
One of the priests greeted me in the foyer and talked with me for a little while. I also talked to this girl from Trinity that is a friend of Sheri Nelson. I had to go back to school after this so I could go on my field trip. I wish I could have stayed though, because they have a meal together every week and then classes later on where you can ask questions.
For my worship class field trip that I also went on today, I had to examine how the churches we visited related to culture and stuff like that. The Orthodox Church seems largely by culture in their worship. They continue to do things just as they have been done for hundreds of years. They make no changes in their worship in order to be more seeker sensitive. They are however extremely friendly. Many people greeted and talked with me, more than probably any church I have visited before. It is also obvious that they are very close as a family and get together throughout the week. I think that is why my friend enjoys going there so much. He says that church is now the highlight of his week.