Day 11: Pluralistic Chapel Services

Today I attended two chapel services on base for church. We are required, within three weeks of being given the assignment, to attend three different chapel services of faith traditions (including denominations) different than my own and do a report on them. This means I needed to go to chapel from anything other than one given by a NAMB chaplain, potentially avoiding general Protestant services. Keeping in mind that Sunday is normally my Sabbath, I tried to ensure that at least one of the services I attended was a conservative evangelical denomination. So I decided on first going to the Anglican service and then we would go to the Mormon service.

I really enjoyed the Anglican service and I felt like it striked a balance between the historic catholicity of the church I grew up in (the Roman Catholic church) and the Protestant understanding of salvation by faith through grace in Jesus Christ. I loved the liturgy but I also enjoyed how the chaplain leading the service was sure to explain everything we did as we performed each section of the liturgy.

Today was Pentecost sunday and he led us through the story of Acts and how the Holy Spirit descended upon the church. He explained the story all the way from the beginning: how did we get to a state of sin, how did God intervene on our behalf, where did the OT prepare us for the coming of the Spirit and where did Christ prepare us for the coming of the Spirit. He didn't just start at explaining the gifts of the Spirit, but made sure we knew exactly who the Spirit was and how we got to this point in the story and then challenged us to use the gifts that God has given us through the Spirit knowing that we have been sufficiently equipped by God.

The Mormon service was interesting. One of our CHBOLC students was preaching during it. I believe most of us who were attending for the assignment were uncomfortable during the service. There is not much common ground that we share with the LDS. I won't go into detail about my thoughts on the service but I will say that I did not take much away from it outside of understanding the perspectives of those who attend it.

After the services we went to eat at a local BBQ restaurant. It was quite good. I had burnt ends and fries with hush puppies. A perfect meal before our first PT session of training. As a Texan, I feel I am qualified to give it a stamp of approval. Not the biggest portions I have seen, but the food was delicious.

We swung by the PX where I bought some writing utensils and waited for my friends to get a hair cut. I am slightly frustrated with myself because I went through the trouble of getting my patches sewn on for my OCP's but I realized tonight I forgot my Patrol Cap with the sewn on ranks and patches at home. So I guess I will be wearing my velcro ones until I can get ahold of a sewn on hat. (EDIT: I found it! It got stuck behind the shelf in the dresser they give us.)

I spent the rest of the day resting and doing various assignments.

Tomorrow is our first day of PT so I will be getting up early ready to go train in the pouring rain. If it ain't raining, it ain't training as I have heard our cadre repeat numerous times.

When I asked where I could find some shirts at the PX, a lady said I should go look in the Hooah shop. At first I thought she was joking with me, but it turns out it exists.