Our Sunday Service Experience
Image via yours truly. Sunday Service; Los Angeles, California (February 2020).
Back in February, my husband and I got an opportunity (through a family friend with connections) to attend Kanye West’s “Sunday Service” in Los Angeles. I intended to publish a recap much sooner than now… and then corona happened. Since then, to be candid, not only has my motivation been lacking, but I’ve found it pretty difficult to focus on anything - much less writing. I’m sure I’m not alone there! However, I think I’ve found my quarantine rhythm and am feeling better the past week, so I’m finally sitting down to reflect on our incredible experience and recount it (the best I can) to y’all.
When our friend asked if we were interested in attending, we of course jumped at the chance and quickly booked flights to LA for a quick, 36-hour trip. Just long enough to land, get settled at the hotel, attend service the next morning, and fly home Sunday evening.
I should start by saying, for those who don’t already know, that I’m a huge Kanye fan. For reference, he was my “Artist of the Decade” on Spotify, and I’m apparently in his top 1-2% of listeners on the platform. I’m also a big consumer of reality TV and have seen every single episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians. I consider following pop culture a hobby. I’m also a Christian. I say all that only to provide perspective for you, the reader. The cultural moment that is “Sunday Service” is right up my alley, and I was certainly predisposed to have a great experience.
It definitely didn’t disappoint!
I know there are a lot of Kanye-skeptics out there (to put it mildly), including some of my closest friends and family members (who I continue to love anyway 😘). And trust me… I get it. Specifically, there seem to be a lot of questions surrounding Sunday Service, particularly from the Christian community. Like wait… is he starting a church? A cult? Is this a Kanye God-complex thing?
From where I sat in Sunday Service though, this was none of those things.
That’s not to say those aren’t fair questions, by the way. It’s wise to think critically about any public figure who begins to dabble in a religious exercise. I just think such discussions should stop short of questioning someone else’s personal faith. We’re never going to get to the bottom of that, people!
What I’d much rather discuss here is the impact Sunday Service had on me personally, why I think it’s a positive force in Christianity and culture, and to give y’all a peek inside (complete with videos, if you care to watch).
The service we attended was held indoors at a well-insulated, professional venue. It was intimate, and the sound quality was incredible. The audience stood on circular risers with the choir and band in the center. In person, the music and beautiful voices just envelop you. I wish my iPhone videos could do it justice, but unfortunately they don’t come remotely close to capturing that sensation. It’s a shame because that feeling of being completely surrounded by worship music is so key to my personal experience, and I so wish y’all could experience it too!
The only decoration of any kind were dried leaves strewn about the floor and stuffed into the risers and wall behind us. I would describe the aesthetic as minimal and earthy. Very Yeezy. I found it to be quite zen and thought it was a perfect neutral background so as not to distract from the worship service itself. At various points between songs, the lights shifted from white to blue, briefly to purple, then to red, and eventually back to white.
As far as celebrities in attendance (which several people asked about on Instagram, haha)… Yes - Kim was there. Kourtney was too. They are both stunningly beautiful (and tiny!) in person. Also there were Justin Bieber and his wife Hailey, who were adorable together. They were very cuddly and seemed very much in love! At one point Justin took the stage to sing and said a few words. He was pretty emotional and you could tell he was nervous. For what it’s worth, his performance seemed really heartfelt and authentic to me (I know my husband agrees). Jen Atkin Hair (😅) sat directly in front of us, and Babyface was to our left. Jon Batiste, the bandleader and musical director for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, performed on the piano (video above).
The service itself lasted right around two hours, which supposedly was the longest one they’d had so far. Lucky me! From what I understand there aren’t usually sermons at Sunday Service, but during ours a pastor gave a brief 10-12 minute message. I really wish I could remember his name, but he was good.
I know Kanye sometimes performs, but he didn’t say one word on the microphone at this particular service. From where I sat, I couldn’t even see him until the very end when he stood on stage during the last couple songs. He had a huge smile on his face, and North was there dancing right beside him. Seeing someone in “dad mode” is always super relatable!
Some of the songs performed were originals by the choir, obviously some were Kanye songs, and others were remakes of contemporary hit songs (“The Box” by Roddy Rich for example, which you can watch in the video above) and also classic songs (like “Bennie and the Jets” by Elton John, which you can watch in the video below).
One observation my husband and I both had that I wanted to share here was that the service itself had nothing to do with Kanye. He wasn’t seated in a prominent position, was never introduced, and - like I mentioned earlier - didn’t perform or speak. He didn’t play any sort of leadership role really - pastoral or otherwise - until the very end when he stood up to help direct things alongside the choir director (who was INCREDIBLE, btw). Again, I couldn’t see him from where I was seated, but from what I could gather I think he might have been playing a keyboard?
Of course he’s the facilitator, is obviously very involved, and we know he spends tons of money putting it on, but my point is just that he was very much NOT the center of attention. God was. It wasn’t a concert, it was a true worship service.
Which honestly, it’s the freaking 🙌🏻 choir 🙌🏻 and those musicians who made that service so special. The talent in the room was indescribable. The voices were IN-sane. At one point my husband put his arm around me and just gave me this look like “can you believe how incredible all this is?!”. It was so moving to be there, and the experience has had a lasting, positive effect on my personal faith. For me personally, I felt God’s presence in the room.
So I guess in summary… it definitely wasn’t a God-complex thing, and I don’t think Kanye’s starting a cult. I think he’s just a guy on his own faith walk with the resources to explore the concept of worship outside of the traditional church setting. Brilliant, in my opinion, because he’s created a safe and “cool” space where people can explore their own faith. People who otherwise may never feel comfortable or motivated to walk into a church. There were a lot of young people there who woke up preeettttty early on a Sunday to have clean and sober fun, after all! It was a wholesome and moving, spiritual experience.
It also seems to me that Kanye wants other people to experience for themselves what God has done for him. Simple as that, really. And I hope after all this COVID-19 mess is behind us that he takes the show on the road since I know it will impact anyone - Christian or not - who gets an opportunity to experience it.
Shifting gears to more trivial matters… the only celebrity I walked up to afterwards was Kanye himself. I didn’t ask for a picture, I just wanted to tell him how impactful the service was for me. A picture just didn’t seem appropriate in this setting! I got the impression he didn’t want anything that day to be about him. Everything was very much to glorify God. In fact, I heard him politely decline photos to a couple people on my way out, and I know he does say yes to fan photos because my friend Terah met him and got a photo a few months ago.
Ok I’ve got to wrap this up now. Sunday Service was incredible. It was fun. It was moving. It was just pure and positive, and I left feeling so uplifted. Little did I know I’d need to carry that feeling with me into a pandemic! 🤪 I’m so grateful I had the experience. I hope more people get the opportunity to experience it in the future. If Sunday Service does go on the road and you can swing it, jump at the chance to buy tickets.
Finally, if you’d like to see smaller snippets of the full service, check out my “Sunday Service” highlights via my Instagram.