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Hannah Huffman
Instructor: Malcolm Campbell
English 1101
November 1, 2014
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church: Mini-Ethnography
Over the past fifteen years, I have attended Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church. I recently
made two trips back home to attend a couple Sunday morning worship services. While I was
home, I also managed to speak with another member of the church I will refer to as Jane Doe.
The members of this church are a close-knit congregation, almost like one large second family.
Lutheranism is one of the oldest Protestant denominations. Lutheranism dates back to the
practices of Martin Luther who was known as the Father of Reformation. Lutherans have
many beliefs such as: baptism, individual access to God, holy sacraments, salvation for all,
scripture and worship. Anyone who believes in God can be baptized at any age, not just at
infancy. I myself was baptized at age 7 when I came to understand some of the concepts of this
religion. Individual access to God means that you do not have to have a preacher to speak to
God, you can reach him on your own anytime you want. This also goes hand in hand with
salvation for any individual. Anyone who believes in God can go to heaven according to the
Lutheran practices. Scripture plays a very important role in the Lutheran religion. This entire
religion is based on the Bible. Everything that the church talks about comes from scripture. This
connects to worship because these things are discussed in worship. The preacher always refers to
the scripture while preaching the word during worship.
During my recent visits home, I paid close attention to the Sunday morning routine in the
church. I got there approximately twenty minutes before the service started at 10:30 a.m. so I

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could observe the many people of our congregation choose their seat. While I was waiting and
before many people were there, I paid close attention to the design of the church. Everything has
been the same for as long as I can remember. The carpet down the aisle and on the pulpit is a
dark burgundy color. The main focus, of course, is the altar in the very front of the church. It is
surrounded by new flowers every week and is centered under a large stain glass window with a
very bright picture of Jesus kneeling in front of the sun with three lambs by his side in the
meadow. The chapel has very high ceilings with large wooden beams at the top. The walls are
covered with stain glass windows that each have a unique image of a holy figure.
When the people began to take a seat, I started to pay attention to the many families
coming through the various entrances of the church. I find it funny how each member has his or
her own seat, even my family and I. You always know when a non-member attends the church
because someone walks to their seat and finds an unfamiliar face already sitting there. The look
on the regulars face is always priceless. When I was younger, we always sat in the balcony at the
back of the church. My family sat there for so long that the preacher referred to the balcony as
Huffman Heaven. As I watched the families roll in, I took note of the choice of clothing by all
my fellow church members. Most of our congregation dresses up for worship. For the women,
its dresses, skirts, blouses and heels. The men usually stick to khakis and button ups with the
occasional tie. All of the children, especially little girls, get dressed up in their Sunday clothes as
well. The girls wear fluffy, colorful dresses with ruffled socks and almost always have a pink or
purple bow wrapped around a little curl on top of their head. The boys dress just like their dads,
in khakis and button ups. The only thing different about the little boys is that they wear hair gel,
considering their dads have already lost most of their hair. You could say that our church is very
formal. Everyone always looks nice and picture ready on Sunday mornings at Mt. Calvary.

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After everyone gets settled into their usual seats, they take out their bulletins and the
choir enters from the front of the church singing the hymn of that day. When they get to their
pews, the preacher enters and makes the announcements for that week. He discusses joys or
concerns that the rest of the congregation may want to know about their fellow member. The
congregation then stands and we all join together in a hymn from the tattered hymnbooks that
have a permanent spot in the hard wooden church pews. After this, the service begins with an
opening prayer followed by readings of excerpts from the bible. The children all get bright eyed
when they hear the words, we would like to have all the young and young at heart to come up
for the childrens sermon. These kids all rush up to the front of the church in their Sunday
clothes, little girls usually flashing the entire congregation because they havent quite mastered
how to sit in a dress yet. The speaker usually ties in friendship and school with the sermon
because the children all seem to understand when they make a connection to their lives. At the
end of the childrens sermon, the person doing the sermon usually hands out a coloring page or a
piece of candy to take back to the pew. On this particular Sunday morning, a female member of
the choir led the childrens sermon. She had long dark hair that she wore stick straight with a
thick headband holding back her wispy bangs. This is usually the time when one of the babies
begins to cry, right before the real sermon. You start to hear the baby and then immediately hear
a rustle from the pews behind you followed by the quiet shut of a door. Our preacher, Reverend
Wesley Scott Frye, then walks to the pulpit and begins his sermon of the week. His sermons each
last approximately thirty minutes give or take a little. He is a very intelligent man and has a
broad vocabulary that has occasionally thrown me off. He always sounds very passionate during
his sermons, which makes them very interesting to listen to. He tends to get louder as the sermon
progresses and comes to an end. Pastor Frye is very conversational when he preaches too. He

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always throws a joke into his sermon just to keep people interested in what he has to say. He is a
younger man, which is pretty uncommon for a pastor. At the conclusion of his sermon, he always
wraps up what he has to say with This is the word of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The
congregation then stands and sings yet another hymn followed by prayers of intercession and the
sharing of the peace. The sharing of the peace usually lasts about five minutes and reminds me of
an intermission. Everyone stands, stretches, and continues to walk around the chapel and shake
the hands of their fellow church members. The thing to say is peace be with you and during flu
season, everyone nods his or her head instead of shake hands in fear of getting sick. The Sunday
worship then ends with the Lords Prayer and another hymn while the pastor follows the choir
out the front door. After service, I always hear how hungry everyone is. Most families stand
around and make lunch plans for the day while their stomachs growl.
While people enter the church on Sunday morning, they are given the bulletin for
worship that day. The bulletin contains useful information about upcoming events, birthdays,
food drives, anniversaries, etc. It also consists of the itinerary for the day. It lays out everything
that will go on during worship. Each pew is filled with two different types of hymnbooks, the
WOV and the LBW. This is what the books are called by the congregation and I never actually
learned the names of them. The only noticeable difference between these two books is the
thickness, color, and content. They both contain hymns and prayers but each have different
interpretations of the prayers. The congregation uses the WOV for certain prayers and the LBW
for others. Spoken language is a very important part of this church. This is how our pastor
spreads the word of the Lord. Spoken language is used throughout the entire service with
announcements, spreading the word, and singing.

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After speaking with Jane Doe, I found out that she attends this church because she has
always been a church going type of woman and believed in God. I think that people attend
because going to worship can be a very good way for guidance when you feel lost. The purpose
of this group is to simply spread the word of God and provide a safe haven for those in need.
This church has always helped those who need it most. I think that by being a member, you can
learn life lessons. You gain a second family that would do anything for you. There is a lot to gain
from being apart of this church.
This church consists of Christians. We all believe in the same thing, God. We come
together to worship Him and everything He has done for us. We value each other and the many
blessings that we have been given in our lives. This church definitely demonstrates their beliefs
through actions. They are always reaching out to the less fortunate and doing things for the
surrounding community. A lot of volunteer service happens with the church members. This
group of people all get along very well from what I can tell. The only tension that I have ever
noticed in the church was when I was about 10 years old. There was a huge dispute between the
pastor and a few members of the congregation, needless to say, he resigned and there have not
been problems since. Everyone is always smiling whenever I step into the church and I have
never met a stranger while attending service. It feels like when everyone is at church, all of the
differences are sat aside and dont matter. This church is a huge part of the surrounding
community. It is located in a small town called Claremont. The church has roughly 100 members
give or take and they are very dedicated when it comes to attending service. The church is
always apart of the local fundraisers and parades that go on throughout the year. We have many
activities that go on to help support the surrounding community. This church is as close to a

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second family as I have ever gotten and I am very proud to be apart of the congregation. They
uphold their beliefs and values through the many acts of kindness that they do each day.