Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod

Today we continued our odyssey by visiting a Lutheran church that some of our relatives attend every week. We have attended special services in honor of some of our cousins’ confirmations, but have never been to an “ordinary” Lutheran service. We learned quite a lot there today, and would like to share some of the differences between our own Catholic church and this Lutheran church.

One of the first things we noticed as we walked into the chapel was that there was no crucifix—only a cross, at the front of the chapel. This is because Protestants don’t believe in reproducing an image of God. However, other than the cross, the front of the chapel was set up basically the same way that our church is set up—candles around the altar, a chair for the pastor, and a “stand” where the pastor delivers his sermon.

The service also was very similar to a Catholic Mass—there were three readings, (although two of them were from the New Testament and only one was from the Old Testament) including a reading from the Gospel. However, the sermon was structured around one of Paul’s epistles to the Ephesians, instead of being structured around the Gospel reading, as it is in a Catholic church. Two of us especially liked the written program that we followed during the service because it told us when you stand, sit, and sing. At our church, if you are new to the service, you have to just copy what other people are doing because there is no written guide.

Our relatives explained to us that at their church, they take Communion on the first and third Sundays of the month. This is a difference from the Catholic tradition of taking it any time there is a Mass—since Communion is served at daily Mass as well as on Sundays.

When we read on the official Lutheran website that “Lutherans believe that Christ's body and blood are truly present in the Lord's Supper, but they do not believe, with Catholics, that the bread and wine, are permanently "changed into" Christ's body and blood,” we were very confused. After all, didn’t this mean the same thing? We decided to ask the pastor of the church after the service. We asked our question, and after giving his answer some thought, he told us that Lutherans believe Christ’s body and blood are inside the bread and wine, but they do not literally become the body and blood of Christ. In comparison, Catholics believe that the bread and wine literally become the body and blood of Christ—that there is no element of bread or wine in the substance after the bread and wine has been blessed. This was a very interesting concept, since most Protestant churches believe that the bread and wine is only a symbol of the body and blood of Christ, and nothing more. The pastor explained that the Lutheran beliefs about communion are much closer to Catholic beliefs than other Protestant faiths.

We are very glad that we visited this Lutheran church today, because we truly uncovered many similarities—and some differences—between the Catholic and Lutheran churches. 

-Soklabi

Yoga Reflections

People don't all agree, but yoga is not a religion; it is a way of life. Rather like Druidism, devoted practicers of Yoga (called "yogis") consider Yoga a "path of life" rather than the more restricting term religion. Yoga relies on practice and discipline to relax and calm the mind and body. This is achieved by a series of poses, from the easy and relaxing "child's pose" to the more challenging and complex "lion's pose."

The goal of Yogis is to achieve spiritual repose, calm in the face of pain and discomfort, and physical and mental strength. These goals are the ambitions of a true Yogi, however there is a difference between being a true Yogi and just practicing yoga. Some people practice yoga just because they want less physical discomfort and more calm and peace. They do it as an exercise.

Some people disagree with this idea. For example, a Southern Baptist preacher says that yoga is sacrilege because it is self-centered and not centered on God. He believes that the body is not a vehicle to the divine. Do you think Christians can or should practice yoga? What about Muslims? Here is an article about this debate.

We recently attended our first yoga class. We did some poses, like Warrior, Savasana (corpse pose), Child's Pose, and Downward Facing Dog. Yoga can be very relaxing, so relaxing that one of us came very close to falling asleep at the end during the Savasana pose. In our opinion, there is no conflict between the goals of yoga and religion.

Jehovah's Witnesses

Yesterday we interviewed L., a woman who is a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Jehovah's Witnesses hold beliefs that are very different from mainstream Christian religions, and we learned many interesting facts about this faith. If you want to learn more about this faith after reading our interview, you can visit the Watchtower website, which is the official homepage of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

The interview started with our standard question: Were you raised in this religion, or did you convert? We learned that L. first started attending the Jehovah's Witnesses Kingdom Hall when she was five years old with her mother and then was baptized ten years later. Jehovah's Witnesses do not baptize infants. They believe baptism is for those who have studied the faith and are able to make choices.

 We also learned that Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate Christmas because the tree, the presents, and even the date originated from pagan traditions. In fact, the Witnesses do not celebrate any holidays. They only remember the date of Jesus' death, and that date is not the same as Easter. Witnesses do not believe in celebrating birthdays because we were told that in the Bible, there are only two birthday celebrations mentioned and neither of those people were Christians. L. said it was sometimes difficult not to celebrate birthdays as child, but she understood the reasons. She added that most Witnesses prefer to marry within their own faith to avoid difficulties with holidays.

We also asked L. if Witnesses have any symbols in their Hall. She told us that they have no symbols, because the Bible says we are not to make any images of God. Witnesses do not have any images of the cross, either, because they believe that Jesus died on a stake. She told us that the direct translation in the Hebrew language amounts to "stake" and not "cross." They believe the cross is a pagan symbol.

Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe that people go straight to heaven once they die. They believe that when people die, they are unconscious, unaware of anything, and stay this way until the Resurrection. They believe that 144,000 people will go to heaven to live with Jehovah and the angels at that time, and the rest will live on a paradise on earth.

Unlike most other Christian religions, Jehovah's Witnesses believe that because the Bible says people must abstain from blood, that this means they cannot receive blood transfusions. We felt odd asking about this because there was a card advertising a Red Cross blood drive on the table of the restaurant where we interviewed L. She told us that if Witnesses need a blood transfusion, they will refuse to have one. Even if it means they will die, Witnesses are awaiting the time of the eternal paradise and do not want to break Jehovah's law. L. told us that Witnesses can have problems when their children require blood transfusions and there have been cases where hospitals filed reports against them.

L. told us that Witnesses have been persecuted, which means that they are a minority group that others don't respect. They do not want to be involved in politics or government and because they are waiting for the paradise on earth, they do not vote in elections, and they do not join the military. She told us that Witnesses were taken into prisons and concentration camps along with Jewish people during World War II.

We asked L. whether she believes that hers is the one true faith. She said yes, otherwise she would still be looking for a religion. We asked if she believes that people who are not Jehovah's Witnesses can live in the eternal earthly paradise or go to heaven, and she said she is glad that people are not the judges of who will get eternal life, but that millions of people will go and they will not all be Jehovah's Witnesses.

-Soklabi

Oplatek: Polish Tradition

In eastern and central European countries (particularly Poland), "oplatek" is a Catholic tradition practiced at Christmas time. Oplatek (pronounced "oh-pwa-teck" is a wafer, always made of wheat flour and water. It looks like a Catholic communion wafer but it is embossed with scenes from the Bible, usually nativity scenes. People started the oplatek tradition because they wanted to have something like communion (the body of Christ) to share in their homes on Christmas eve. While oplatek wafers look a lot like communion wafers, they aren't blessed in the same way as communion wafers, so anybody can offer or eat them (not just Catholics and not just during Mass).

On Christmas eve, during dinner, people have two members of the family break off a piece of the wafer and offer each other good wishes usually related to good health or good luck. They start their supper with the wafer, breaking it and wishing another person good luck.

Many Catholic churches in the United States provide the congregation with oplatek wafers to take home and enjoy for Christmas. Today was the fourth and final Sunday of Advent (the waiting period before Christmas) and our church distributed them at the end of Mass.

There are so many Christmas traditions that different Christian denominations have. Some religions that do acknowledge Jesus do not celebrate Christmas at all. One religion that we will be learning about next week is Jehovah's Witnesses. We will interview a woman who is a practicing Jehovah's Witness. We have heard very little about their beliefs up until now but we have heard that Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate Christmas and we are interested in learning more about the beliefs of this religion. We will be sharing what we learn on this blog. If you have any questions you'd like us to ask, please let us know!

Catholic New Year

Today, we decided to go to Mass--but do something slightly different. We visited a different Catholic parish in our neighborhood. This visit showed us that although the main structure of the Mass is the same, each church is slightly different.

 

For example, we knelt at different times, the congregation welcomed three new members to the church, and we noticed that instead of drinking the wine from a chalice at communion time, most people just dipped their wafers in the wine. At this church, after the Gospel reading, a woman gave a speech that seemed to be the homily. Usually the priest or the deacon gives the homily, but apparently a woman  was permitted in this church. It also used to be that only boys could be alter servers. We wonder why. Our church has boys and girls as altar servers. The church we visited today had adult altar servers, both men and women.

Just like at our church, when we sat down, we noticed the four Advent candles--which told us that there were only four weeks until Christmas. The picture above shows the four candles, three of them purple, one of them pink. The first two purple candles show us that we are waiting hopefully for the birth of our Savior. The third candle, the pink one, is a sign of celebration, since that is the last week before Catholics light the final candle, the Christmas one, on Christmas Eve. Catholic churches all over the world have wreaths such as this one at the time of Advent--and, like the Mass, each is slightly different. 

Another cause for celebration this week at Mass was the Catholic New Year. The Catholic Church's New Year is celebrated on the first week of Advent, which is, of course, a different date than the January 1st New Year. Catholics celebrate the new liturgical year on the first week of Advent because the start of a new Christmas season begins the new liturgical cycle.

All over the world, Christians are beginning to prepare for Christmas. Churches are lighting their Advent wreaths, families might be setting up their Nativity sets and perhaps even lighting their own wreaths as well. Different Christian denominations might have different traditions. What do you and your family do in order to prepare for Christmas? Comment on this post and let us know. 

Holocaust Memorial Museum Visit

Today we visited a Holocaust Memorial Museum to learn more about Judaism and also about the Holocaust. The museum we visited had a detailed timeline, which covered not only the history of Judaism but also other historical events that took place from the time of Abraham to the bombing of the World Trade Center.  This first part of the museum had explanations about Hebrew beliefs and covered everything from synagogues to religious ceremonies such as Bar Mitzvahs and weddings as well as festivals and holidays. This exhibit had several interesting artifacts including a Torah (the holy Hebrew text),  a Hebrew marriage certificate, scale models of a synagogue, and a section on the importance of music and theater in Jewish culture. 

We then moved into the Holocaust section of the museum. The design of the building changed. At first the rooms had been large and relatively airy, but now they were much more closed in and dark. We realized that this was the intent of the architects, because the farther we got into the exhibit, the darker and smaller the rooms got, probably symbolizing the feeling of being trapped that people must have felt in the concentration camps.

We learned about the Kindertransport establishment, which the British government set up to allow Jewish children from the ages of 3-17 to escape from Germany. Most parents told their children that they would come in a few weeks and join them. 10,000 children were saved, but four out of five children who left on the Kindertransport never saw their parents again. You can learn more about the Kindertransport program online.

We also saw a prisoner's uniform, Nazi uniforms, a model of a train car used to transport prisoners and even a wreath of hair that a survivor made from prisoners' hair. We decided to walk quickly through the "Abyss," a dark room in which videos were played showing what the Allied soldiers found when they liberated the concentration camps at the end of the war.  One of the museum guides said that the videos really weren't meant for children.

Learning about the Holocaust is hard. The horrible things that happened in the camps lead some people to wonder how God could allow such things to happen. In fact, some Jews that survived the concentration camps gave up their faith after they were released, since they didn't understand why this had happened. Others, however, had strengthened their faith.

In one section, we saw a "thought wall," a plain polished metal wall that small pieces of paper were stuck to. On the papers, people had written why they were glad that they had come, and some emotions they had felt while they looked at the exhibits. We were reminded of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, the only remnant of the old Jewish Temple that Jews come to and stick small pieces of paper with prayers written on them in the cracks of the wall.

In one of the last sections, we were able to see a quilt made of beautiful patchwork squares, each square made by a Kindertransport survivor or survivor's descendants. One of the squares said something to the effect of "Thank you to the Kindertransport for saving our grandfather, (a name). From ___, ___, and ___. This message was obviously from a Kindertransport child's grandchildren--and without the Kindertransport, they wouldn't be there. You can see the actual quilt square at this link. The quilt squares were beautiful and they gave a message of peace, hope and faith to all. 

Skipping church and other thoughts . . .

Last week, we learned about Druidism and then we went to our own church, where two of us were signed up as altar servers that day. This week, we didn't make it to Mass, and we didn't have a chance to visit another church.

Do you feel as if you must go to church every week? Or do you feel as if it's no big deal if you don't go? For instance, we didn't go to church today but does this mean that we can't pray or reflect on our deeds? We don't go to church every single week. Sometimes we visit a different church. Here is a picture of a Catholic church we visited while we were on vacation in August:

Some weeks, somebody in the family doesn't feel well, or we just have a very busy weekend. We wonder how most people feel about going to a church of a different religion. Would you feel that this would not be loyal to your own beliefs, or that it "doesn't count?"

In this post, we'd also like to share more facts about Druidism. Last week, our hosts D and T gave us some background information about Druidry, for example, Druids originated in England, Scotland and Ireland, and Druids draw practices and traditions from Arthurian legends. We are familiar with the legends of King Arthur, and we knew that Merlin is a Druid from the stories. Our host told us about another famous Druid, the poet William Blake. We have read Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience. Druids also draw their practices on deities individual to their elements. These deities are associated with the four elements (air, fire, water and earth) and to the land surrounding the worship space. Our host called on the Great Bear of the North, the Fierce Hawk of the East, and the Swift Stag of the South, and the Snapping Turtle of the West.

Some Druids might not feel comfortable about sharing their religion. As our hosts told us last week, the word "pagan" has many negative connotations--therefore, many Druids face prejudice. This means that you might know a lot more Druids than you think! Mainstream religions such as Christianity and Judaism define themselves with symbols, such as crosses, or the star of David. Druids also have symbols that they might often recognize each other with.  Here is a photo of a pendant that our host T wears:

It is a good idea to be familiar with the symbols of various religions, because it can make you more aware of the many different ideas and beliefs in the world.


-Soklabi