The worship experience at the Koln Cathedral is vastly different from that of my home church. The most prevalent difference between them is my Christian Reformed style versus the Catholic style. While my church is a simple building that just suits our needs, the cathedral is a huge, ornate building full of murals and statues. I found that the Catholic mass was almost ritualistic. The leaders of the service all wore the same traditional clothes, and used things like incense and communion pieces. Comparing this to my church, my church leaders wear whatever they want, and do not have such an exact method for worship. My Reformed church seems more focused on personal relationships and concepts, while Catholic mass seemed like less of this, but had a somewhat more serious and respectful tone, which I liked.
I thought that the tourist aspect of the cathedral slightly defeats the purpose of a church. While I really enjoyed seeing the cathedral, and was really impressed by its architecture and size, this brings a material aspect to the church. I believe that being a Christian is having a personal relationship with God, and the distraction of physical things can be unhealthy. Even though this worship is not what I am used to, and not what I think would be best, I enjoyed this trip and was very impressed by the Cathedral itself.