Holy Transfiguration Melkite Greek Catholic Church

Guidelines:

· Teams should have at least 3 members, and no more than 5 members. Generally, you should attend the main weekend service together, unless there are important reasons for attending different services.

· Be aware of the limits to your participation, in two senses. First, you must be aware of your own limits in taking part in worship, based on your own personal beliefs or, if applicable, those of a religious community in which you take part (e.g., if you do not wish to kneel in prayer or receive communion at a church, you are in no way required to do so for this assignment). Second, you should be aware of the community’s limits in welcoming you (e.g, if visiting a Roman Catholic or Orthodox community with closed communion, and you are not a member of that community, respect that community’s discipline and refrain from doing anything that would overstep your welcome.)

· You will be a guest in this community’s spiritual home, so conduct yourself as such. You should arrive early, and, if possible, introduce yourself as visitors to the leader of worship. Dress appropriately; for some churches, this will mean shirt and tie for guys, skirts for women. At other churches, “snappy casual” will be appropriate. In churches with closed communion, respect that community’s rules. Check with Professor Flanagan about what your church will be like.

· It will be important to take notes after the service to remember what you have seen and observed. Collecting documents and/or interviewing the leader of the service and/or other parishioners will be helpful. If you interview someone, clearly explain that you are a student working on a research project.

· Your presentation should focus upon what this community thinks about God and about Jesus Christ, based upon the overall experience, the content of their prayers and any sermons, and observations of the architecture, social interactions, etc. An excellent presentation will give your colleagues a sense of

1. your experience within the community

2. the understandings of God and of Christ (the theology) that you found in and through the community’s worship

3. how your observations relate your research to our investigations of Christian theology in this course.

· Confirm the details of the services you will be attending ahead of time – service schedules change, websites become outdated, special events happen. This might also be a good chance to let your hosts know you might be coming, and perhaps get someone to help you as you do your research. Doing some research on the church and/or the denomination to which it belongs ahead of time will be essential in your own work and in being good guests at your host community.

· If you were raised in a particular Christian tradition, you and your group should visit a church different from the one in which you were brought up or with which you are most familiar.