The First Sunday Church Service

Today was the first church service that we had as a group on project. I went, with the rest of the students and staff, to Willow Creek Church in downtown Chicago. It was pretty fun getting there since we had to take the L train. What a sight to see 100 or so students and staff all getting on the subway at the same time. And it wasn't obvious at all that we were all together.

A cool thing about this church is that it's held in a theatre called the Roosevelt Auditorium. It's exactly what you would expect from an old-fashioned theatre: golden arches along the ceiling lit with old-fashioned light bulbs and covered in flowers and plants and vines. And there were these gold domes spaced across the arches that I couldn't figure out the purpose for except an elaborate decoration, a purpose which they served well. One of the coolest details of the arches, in my opinion, was the gold leaf tracings around the edges of the arches. The intricacy of the patterns in the gold leaf was amazing to look at as it shimmered in the dim light.

The golf leaf that frames the edges of the arches

The golden domes and some of the plant detail

Another intriguing part of the theatre are the murals on the walls. There was a main one over the stage that depicted various peoples doing various things. There were monks and angels and runners and fainting naked women (because for some reason that is a requirement for Classical and Renaissance art) and all of them surrounded a stone monument which read "The Utterance of Life is a Song, the Symphony of Nature." It acted as a nice headpiece for the stage and along the side of the stage were names of famous composers like Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven framing the band on the stage.

The stage, it's murals, and the golden arches on the ceiling

The main floor of the theatre

I sat up in the balcony and there were two other murals on both sides of where I was sitting. One depicted a graveyard among the trees. According to it's description, it represented the requiem of eternal sleep. I couldn't get closed to it before I left so I am unsure exactly what it said. The one closest to me showed a spring in a field and it represented life and love. It was a very neat experience to be surrounded by such intricate details and beautiful expressions of life and nature. I would be lying if I said I wasn't more enthralled by the building than the sermon. Maybe next week I'll pay more attention, but the Roosevelt Auditorium is certainly a fascinating building to be in.

The "Spring" mural near where I sat

A picture of the intricate detail in the tile floors

As always, thanks for the support. I am so glad I get to be here.
-Brad Girdwood