Church Service for Class
This past Wednesday night, I attended Reform University Fellowship (RUF). I know what you’re thinking. First, why would I need to attend a church service for class? And second, aren’t you Jewish? I am, and that is precisely why I decided to attend a campus ministry worship service.
This semester, I am enrolled in a special topics Communication Studies course called Rhetoric of U.S. Religions. We have studied everything from Satanism to Scientology, and from established religions to home-grown religions. Fellow blogger, Luke, is in my class, and we will actually be doing a group project together later in the semester! Anyway, the class requires two papers, and the second paper is a congregational critique. We were instructed to go to a a worship service of any type. I chose to go to RUF because a lot of my friends are involved and I thought that this would provide a great opportunity for me to experience such an integral part of their Vanderbilt experience. Also, RUF has large group worship every Wednesday night in Benton Chapel, which is the main Christian chapel on campus.
The service was very interesting, and definitely different than I expected, but I really enjoyed it. RUF is a nondenominational Christian group and the sermon definitely reflected that. Many of the people there knew that I am Jewish, but they were welcoming regardless, and offered me even more insight for my paper.
I will probably never be a regular at RUF, but I was so happy to go outside of my comfort zone and learn about the faith of so many of my friends. I didn’t take pictures, to be respectful, but below are some pictures of the beautiful chapel!
