My first funeral service
Let's begin.
Yesterday, I went to Nicholas's dad's funeral service. The service was held in a catholic church. I've never been in a catholic church before. So far, I've only been in 3 different protestent churches: 2 of them were just halls, and the other one was just a room in a building. Well... actually I'm not sure if that last one was protestant, but it certainly wasn't catholic.
So, yeah. First time in a catholic church. And I can't describe how different it felt from protestant churches. Protestant churches are just big multipurpose halls. This catholic church, although it was still originally a hall, actually felt like a place of worship. Everything was there, from the large doors to giant cross to the tainted windows to the church chairs. It must've taken them quite a while to renovate the place to look like this.
The service was also very ritualistic and tranquil. There were several stages in the long sermon, which included songs. Even this was very different. In a protestant church they would be shouting the song and being all high from their religious fervor. In the catholic church the songs were soothing and slow, and there was NO speaking in tongues. It always appeared to me that speaking in tongues merely meant that they were letting go and basking in their high which they thought were messages from god but really, it just looks like they're high.
There were several other things that the pastor did, I'm not sure what they're called, but they were more rituals. Some involving the reenactment of the bread and wine scene from the bible and another involving some incense burning. And then there were the eulogies and the family members grouped together to share the passing with each other before the final viewing for the attendees.
Again, I imagine things would've gone very differently in protestant churches. Namely, more basking in the high, constant references to god's will, followed by more high inducing group mumblings.
The church service over, the troop moved to the crematorium for one last send off. There was a reading of the bible and a placing of flowers in the coffin. And then, when they were sending the coffin in, the dad's dozen or so biker friends gave him a very rousing send off by revving their engines.
All in all, it was a very interesting experience. It's unfortunate that my first time in a catholic church was to attend a friend's dad's funeral service.
I can not stress how much catholic churches feel different from protestant churches. The whole place felt tranquil and the whole service exuded a kind of quiet, self-assured faith as opposed to screamy shouty high-inducing must-prove-to-everyone pseudo-faith.
Needless to say I do not view protestants in a very good light, but that's a story for another time.
Yesterday, I went to Nicholas's dad's funeral service. The service was held in a catholic church. I've never been in a catholic church before. So far, I've only been in 3 different protestent churches: 2 of them were just halls, and the other one was just a room in a building. Well... actually I'm not sure if that last one was protestant, but it certainly wasn't catholic.
So, yeah. First time in a catholic church. And I can't describe how different it felt from protestant churches. Protestant churches are just big multipurpose halls. This catholic church, although it was still originally a hall, actually felt like a place of worship. Everything was there, from the large doors to giant cross to the tainted windows to the church chairs. It must've taken them quite a while to renovate the place to look like this.
The service was also very ritualistic and tranquil. There were several stages in the long sermon, which included songs. Even this was very different. In a protestant church they would be shouting the song and being all high from their religious fervor. In the catholic church the songs were soothing and slow, and there was NO speaking in tongues. It always appeared to me that speaking in tongues merely meant that they were letting go and basking in their high which they thought were messages from god but really, it just looks like they're high.
There were several other things that the pastor did, I'm not sure what they're called, but they were more rituals. Some involving the reenactment of the bread and wine scene from the bible and another involving some incense burning. And then there were the eulogies and the family members grouped together to share the passing with each other before the final viewing for the attendees.
Again, I imagine things would've gone very differently in protestant churches. Namely, more basking in the high, constant references to god's will, followed by more high inducing group mumblings.
The church service over, the troop moved to the crematorium for one last send off. There was a reading of the bible and a placing of flowers in the coffin. And then, when they were sending the coffin in, the dad's dozen or so biker friends gave him a very rousing send off by revving their engines.
All in all, it was a very interesting experience. It's unfortunate that my first time in a catholic church was to attend a friend's dad's funeral service.
I can not stress how much catholic churches feel different from protestant churches. The whole place felt tranquil and the whole service exuded a kind of quiet, self-assured faith as opposed to screamy shouty high-inducing must-prove-to-everyone pseudo-faith.
Needless to say I do not view protestants in a very good light, but that's a story for another time.