Religious Field Trip Experience - Essay Sample

Introduction

Religion can be defined as a cultural system of designated behaviors and practices which are exercised by different communities or groups of people to satisfy their unseen needs. It is, therefore, a faith-based organization which the members believe in. there exist so many religious setups in the world with people having the freedom of religion. It means that are free to worship and participate in activities of a religion that they feel suits them well and can cater for the wants. Among the religious believes that exist includes; Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism Daoism among others. The practices within these religious groups differ from one religion to the other.It was my privilege to visit a church one of the Sundays when the church service was ongoing. A church is a religious site used by Christians for worshiping God. The visit was my second time attending a church service since I am not a Christian. The church view and arrangement was pleasant and the look of things, all the decorations and podium settings brings about the spirituality before even the sermon begins. The sitting arrangement was organized in such a way that, the male congregates sits on one side and the female on the other side. The sitting arrangement is organized so in order to avoid lustful destructions during the service. It, therefore, means that everything must be set so that when the service begins, everybody becomes ready to receive the sermon without any interference (Cannon & Vauchez 1999)

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One of the unique things I noticed was the hierarchical segmentation of congregates which brought much order and admiration. From the top leadership was the church priest who was deputized by about three pastors. Just after the pastor is the church elders who also play very important roles in the church. They are always consulted before any decision is made as a way of honoring their wisdom. The first three leaders have their special place on the podium and therefore sit facing the believers. After the church elders various heads of church departments such as the head of praise and worship team, prayer leader and many other departments. The believers are then lowly ranked in the ladder whose role is to support all the activities which are taking place during and even after the service.

Before the service began, the choir members were busy keeping the anxious believers with hymns and songs which made the place to have a general mood of love and care. Their voices were very soft and soothing and as they sang, congregates joined in the songs hence leading to the production of mixtures of lullaby sounds. During this time, even the nonbelievers like me could find themselves joining in chorusing even if it meant groaning. On this day, the church was preparing for one major event which was scheduled to take place immediately after the church service. The activity to take place after the service was a church marriage of one of the young members of the choir who had decided to tie a knot.

All along, the church priest and his team had not arrived. They were still in the pries chambers preparing for the events. However, their arrival was unannounced but from the change in the tone and volume of the hymns, one needed not to be alarmed about the abrupt change. I found myself up following the beats and dances. The arrival of the man of God as he was referred was very significant. Singing and dancing escalated and those who could not sing remained waving in the air. The priest went round ushering his congregates with water which he swirls around to reach people's heads a way of showering blessings on them (In Hurlbut 1968)

The service began with a brief prayer from one of the pastors who ushered in the church secretary to make his announcements. He would be followed by the praise and worship team who took on stage to start the long-awaited service. The praise and worship team led the singing of many songs which according to my neighbor was meant to make the believers be in the mood and feel the presence of God around. After the songs, a short prayer was made by one of the members. The short prayers were basically made to signify the end of one activity and the ushering in of a new activity as I came to realize later on.

The church sermon was a well-organized flow of wise words, guidance, and counseling. The pastor used life experiences to convey his message amid claps and chants of the Yes lord! I was not sure what the chants were all about but I thought they were meant to encourage the pastor to continue preaching. His message was repentance. He preached about the life of Jesus Christ, how he was betrayed by one of his disciples and later shamefully crucified to save humanity. He divulged that life without Jesus was like tea without sugar. His message was so clear that I got convinced and almost shed tears. I had never seen such an intelligent man before. He had the mastery of the holy book (bible) and one could think that he was the author. The pastor was truly a man of God because from every word he said he followed it with a biblical quote. He urged the church to repent, turn away from their sins and follow God. The message was precise and very clear. Towards the end of his sermon, it took him about only 3 minutes to make almost everybody break into tears by his heartening message. After the sermon, a hymn followed which signified the collection of offerings and a short prayer thereafter to bless the offerings.

The Sunday was a special one since after the service was to follow a wedding ceremony. The ceremony was to be presided over by the priest who was considered to be endowed with blessings. The setup arrangement for the marriage was that the bride and the groom would ascend to the podium and blessings showered on them before the ceremonial cake sharing. This would be followed by oath taking and commitments. The commitments were meant to confirm ones loyalty and service to the other until death separates them. The ceremony was a quick one for both the bride and the groom were not far away.

A short prayer was made marking the end of the service and people were given five minutes to prepare for the wedding ceremony. After the elapse of the five minutes the master of ceremony introduced the session by citing a prayer which was followed by some performances. The bride and the groom then presented themselves and the priest joined them together by reading a verse. The verse was so inspiring that even the bride and the groom found themselves a reason to tie the knot.

Historically, marriage and weddings were performed by either chief priests or sheers who presided over the ceremony. The ceremony involved the boy's parent approaching the girl's parents for the marriage proposal. It would be followed by paying of dowries where the boy's family would bring a specified number of animals and other gifts as dowries. The two families would then sit together and merry as a sign of good agreements made. After the payment of the dowry, the boy would choose when to pick his wife since the marriage had been legalized. The legalization of any marriage from the traditional perspective was the payment of the dowry.

Conclusion

Generally, the church service that I attended was a very good experience to me. I had never been inspired that much and the hospitality that congregates had was enough to feel me loved and cared for. Visiting a religious place is important since it makes an individual grow with a good knowledge of the various religious believes which makes people understand other people's faith. The understanding thus brings togetherness and good coexistence among different communities. It also shows that no religion is superior to another. My visit to the church also enabled me to learn how marriage and wedding ceremonies are conducted in churches with the help of a priest who acts as the judge in legalizing the marriage. It is important to know that such ceremonies are considered to be very important since they act as a passage of right and its similarity with the traditional ceremony makes it awesome.

References

Cannon, J., & Vauchez, A. (1999). Margherita of Cortona and the Lorenzetti: Sienese art and the cult of a holy woman in medieval Tuscany. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.

In Hurlbut, S. A. (1968). The liturgy of the Church of England before and after the reformation, together with the service of the holy communion of the Episcopal church in the United States. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.