On Sunday, April 25, the Rite 13 Youth Group took a field trip down to Noe Valley Ministry, a Presbyterian church where Nehemiah, Claire, Rose, and I went to see how Presbyterians run their service. We compared many things at the Presbyterian Church to Holy Innocents, such as their communion table and our altar, the way the service runs, the way they worship, the liturgy, Sunday School, and the hymnal.
We were surprised to see that there was no such thing as an altar at the Presbyterian Church. They also have communion once a month and grape juice instead of wine. It was not upsetting that there was no communion that day. At our church there is always some kind of procession, but at a Presbyterian church, we were surprised to see that there wasn’t a procession. They had only one clergy member and a full choir that led the service.
It was very unexpected to find that an article was written by our very own Tom Dipko at the back of the hymnal. We also realized that the Word or liturgy was the most important part of the service, which explained why the sermon was very long. Sunday School and the Children’s Program were also very different compared to our church. During what would be similar to Prayers of the People at our church, we all stood up in a circle, held hands, and some people said some prayers.
It was a very interesting experience to sit in a different type of church and compare the similarities and contrasts of Noe Valley Ministry to our church. We thank the Noe Valley Ministry for making us feel welcomed when the Rite 13 Youth Group came to visit. We also thank them for visiting our church and to all who made them feel welcomed. In the future, let us continue to have these opportunities for our young children to experience as well.
~Elise Mills
Rite 13 Youth Group
May 15, 2010