and ZACH NORD
St. Michael Orthodox awes and confuses
THIS MONTHS CHURCH HOP
Name: St. Michael Orthodox Church
Location: 3701 St. Michael Drive (near the corner of Hikes Lane and Furman Boulevard), Louisville
Service Times: Sunday at 10:30 a.m. (Vespers and Matins services are offered on weekdays)
Website: www.stmichaelorthodoxchurch.com
Size: Medium the church boasts 750 members
Denomination: Eastern Orthodox
Senior Pastor: The Rev. Alexander Atty
You Might Like This Church If: You appreciate very formal, ritualized worship
The Church Hoppers visited on May 4, 2008. Source for church facts: www.stmichaelorthodoxchurch.com
As we walked into St. Michael Church,
I was overwhelmed with a sense of holiness.
Candles flickered in glass jars and the sweet smell of incense permeated the air. My eyes were immediately drawn to the painted icons (stylized portraits of saints) that adorned the walls. On a huge rotunda over our heads, a beautiful icon of Jesus looked down over the congregation.
While I tried to absorb the surroundings and quiet my soul, hidden voices softly chanted prayers. Ive never been in a more reverent atmosphere.
By definition, God is perfect and set apart. He infinitely surpasses any human conception. So to encounter him on Earth, say the theologians, we must approach through metaphors. Words to describe the indescribable. Beautiful art that lifts us above the mundane to contemplate the infinite.
If thats all there is to church, this one has the market cornered.
However, theres an uneasy balance that every faith has to find. How can you bring deep encounters with God to lifelong Christians without making things incomprehensible to newcomers? If folks dont know when to stand up and sit down, they might not come back. If they dont understand what the pastors saying, theyll tune out with good reason. You cant encounter God through metaphors without understanding the symbols.
That was the Church Hoppers problem at St. Michael. We figured out it was a holy place but thats all we understood in a 90-minute service.
Trying to follow along
Most worship services are a conversation among the pastor, the people and God. But St. Michael was different: The discourse here was between the priest, the choir and God.
Oh, the congregation stood up and sat down a lot. The regulars crossed themselves so many times I lost count. But we barely said a word and never sang. When we finally got to talk like when everyone recited the Nicene Creed it was jarring after the long silence.
The people were being quiet and obedient, just listening, Zach observed. It felt like they were treating themselves as unholy as mere peasants before the holy priest.
If the people dont even participate in worship, how likely are they to walk out the door and live like Jesus? Instead of being a rehearsal for life listening and responding to God worship felt like a choir concert.
Nonetheless, it was a really good choir concert. Almost the entire service was chanted a cappella, and the singers were incredible.
I thought the angels in heaven were singing down on this church, Zach said. I felt like I was in another world.
The priest, on the other hand, seemed prone to mumbling. I often couldnt make out his words (and the service was hard enough to follow already).
St. Michael provides a handy guide for visitors, detailing all the prayers and responses. Unfortunately, it wasnt very reliable, as they seemed to skip sections without reason. Zach and I were perpetually flipping pages, trying to figure out where we got lost.
I couldnt tell if it was the reading or the incense that was giving me a headache, Zach said. The whole time, I was like, Where are we? Did we just jump 12 pages? Oh, yeah we did.
A foreign tradition
If your Church Hoppers ever pay a return visit to St. Michael, well have to do some research first. Eastern Orthodoxy is very different from our Western traditions, and Im sure it would make more sense with some advance study.
But I wouldve hoped that St. Michael could make it easier on the visitors. Standing up and sitting down without knowing what was happening got old in a hurry.
The Church Hoppers are celebrating their sixth article in LEO Weekly! If youd like to help them party, gift cards and dead presidents are always the right size.
This article appears in September 2, 2008.