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

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

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

A New Religious Journey: Universal Unitarians

  

   We are continuing our religious journey tomorrow by attending a Universal Unitarian church; a friend will be guiding us. We were very interested in this religion because we were told that there are many forms to this religion. Tonight, we learned a couple main Unitarian ideas. We learned some facts about Unitarian beliefs by visiting the UU Church of Nashua website, which includes 100 Questions that Non-Members Ask.
    

•  Not all Unitarians believe in God. Unitarians ultimately believe that one should respect, be kind, and basically be a good person--but not all Unitarians believe in God.

• Many Unitarians don't have sculptures or icons inside their churches. Some, however, have symbols from many religions. The ultimate decision is left up to each individual parish--there is no rule about the use of religious symbols. 

As you can probably see, Unitarianism is a very unique religion--mainly because not all of the people inside the same place of worship have the same beliefs. We are very excited to attend a Unitarian service tomorrow, and will definitely write more about it. If you are a Unitarian, we invite you to let us know about your church. Do you believe in God? What does your church look like? How do you pray--at home, at church, or both? Let us know--we will be very grateful to you, and interested to find out some more information about this interesting religion.

To be continued...

Wondering about heaven

We have a question about heaven. What happens in a family, when two members of the family die, if one goes the heaven and the other does not?  How can the person who went to heaven be completely happy without the member of the family who isn't there? After all, the other person was a loved one of the person who went to heaven, no matter how many sins they committed. And since perfect happiness is supposed to exist in heaven, how can they be happy without one another? This situation seems not to make sense. We hope that this post will give our followers something to think about and we also hope that the people who read this post will post a comment or solution to this most puzzling of thoughts.

Book Review: Theo's Odyssey

Often, people don’t have any interest in learning about religions because of how these religions have been introduced to them. This is definitely understandable—stuffy textbooks that go on for about one hundred pages on the origins of the Copts do not inspire people to learn about this religion or any others. In order to have your knowledge of world religions stick in your head, you need a good book with a lively dialogue and a good story line to it.

Theo’s Odyssey by Catherine Clement has all of these elements—and is quite humorous at times, as well. What really hooks readers as they begin the book is that the story doesn’t begin with an analysis of a religion: it begins at the house of the Fournay family in Paris. The author introduces our main character—Theo, an intelligent 14-year-old who adores his computer games and books on ancient Egyptian and Tibetan mythology and is proud of his Greek heritage. Clement also introduces Theo’s best friend (and perhaps girlfriend) Fatou, a girl his age from Senegal who tells him stories about her homeland and her religion—Islam.

When the story begins, Theo is diagnosed with a mysterious terminal disease. Doctors expect him to die, and his parents, siblings, and Fatou lose hope for him. Theo stays at home all the time, “drifting on a sea of weakness,” slowly but surely pining away.

Then his eccentric Aunt Martha comes to the rescue. Aunt Martha arrives in Paris and announces that she will be taking Theo on a tour of world religions. They will travel to Jerusalem, Istanbul, Rio, New York, Prague, and more—except she makes a game out of it: Theo must read a clue at every city, and guess the next city that they will be traveling to. Fatou will be his “Pythia” or oracle, and will read him clues and teasers over the phone.

Theo and Aunt Martha depart soon after, and arrive in Jerusalem, their first stop. Here, Theo is introduced to three of Aunt Martha’s friends: Rabbi Eliezer, Father Dubourg, and Sheik Suleiman. Thanks to them, Theo is taught about Judaism, Catholicism, and Islam, and visits the Wailing Wall, the Basilica, and Bethlehem, among other places.

Next stop is Egypt, and after that, Rome, and after that........Theo continues to journey all over the world, battling his illness—and learning about a strange “twin” from the Underworld who speaks to him.

Theo begins his journey not affiliated with any religion. Aunt Martha is an atheist, and doesn't encourage him to follow a religion during his odyssey--the book, therefore, does not advocate conversion or adopting a faith, but it promotes unbiased learning of world religions. My personal favorite chapter is when Theo is learning about the whirling dervishes of Islam in Istanbul. This chapter shows the mysticism that goes along with many religions.

So, if you would really like to study world religions—but haven’t found a good book yet—I would really recommend Theo’s Odyssey. This book combines learning religions with humor, sadness, and joy. It’s a great read for late elementary and up, since it does contain some content inappropriate for younger ages.  Read it again and again—and you will have a complete knowledge of the major religions of the world.

What we see every week

This is a lamp that hangs from the ceiling of our church. It is enormous and it looks like a spaceship. It is very unusual. We wonder why it is there. Around the lamp there are windows and curved beams of wood. Since we've been looking at this all our lives, to us it just looks like church. We wonder what other people might think it looks like.

We also wonder what other people would think if they went to our church. Here are some things Catholics do: they sing hymns, they kneel and pray, they listen to the priest talk and pray, and they take communion. In case you didn't know, communion is blessed bread that Catholics believe turns in to the body of Christ.

We recently took the US Religious Knowledge Survey from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (you can take it, too: Religion Quiz). After getting 13 out of 15 correct, we discovered that not only were we did better than 94% of people who took the quiz, but that Atheists, Agnostics, Jews, and Mormons were also among the top scoring groups. Despite being pleased with our score, we couldn't help wondering why these particular groups were so good at the quiz. We encourage you to take the quiz and find out how much you know about religion.

-Soklabi