Church Experience Paper

I visited Lutheran Church in East Brunswick, NJ and observed the prayer service which was a great learning experience for me and an enjoyable one, too. Since I had attended prayer service at my middle school church as well as Oratory Prep school church, I had some understanding about Catholic service and I was able to compare and contrast the Catholic and Lutheran service.The Lutheran church did not have depictions of Saints or Mary in the Church. Otherwise, the service itself was fairly similar but some differences were noteworthy.
During the proceedings at Lutheran church, the candles on the altar were lit by an individual. During this time the music was being played. Meanwhile, the pastor was welcoming the visitors, went over announcements, and asked for names to be added to the prayer list. Then the formal liturgy started with the pastor saying "In the Name of the father, son, and …show more content…
The key phrase was that we have sinned, and a plea that we be forgiven for the sake of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The pastor then reassured that we will be forgiven. A key difference between is that in Catholics, there is a private confession, but in Lutherans there is general confession in the service, and anyone who feels the need for a private confession can talk to the pastor separately. Then we stood and sang a hymn followed by Kyrie (a form of prayer) where we chanted "Lord Have Mercy" over and over. Then we sang: Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth, peace, goodwill toward men. The pastor then recited the prayer and others said “Amen. The Lord be with you” and the pastor said “and you too”. I found that there was lot more singing in Lutheran church as compared with Catholic Church. During the service, there were many accounts directly read from the bible. During this period of time I came to the realization that during a Catholic mass, bible readings are not discussed as