Open letter about college chapel

Before you read this I want to qualify my remarks in this stated opinion. Please as you read this, and I hope you all will, know my heart. I do not desire defensiveness or explanation I am merely reminding us of my view of the purposes and benefits of Chapel/Assembly. I do not have an expectation that this communication will alter everyone’s mind or that everyone will be able to attend every chapel. With our new schedule we certainly will not be able to have all the participation but that should not take away from the community that is offered in Assembly or the support that this campus wide initiative needs. That being said, please read.

“It’s not that I don’t like Assembly. I just don’t have time to go – I could use that time to study in the library."

“I am an older adult and don’t really need the spiritual encouragement that happens in Chapel."

“I, know, as a faculty member I should go, but I just don’t like what happens in there. The praise & worship is not my style and the whole time seems geared toward students”

“I don’t like being made to go, and so I usually don’t."

“I love Chapel/Assembly – it’s great to see everyone and get a chance to be still and remember why we are here.”

“The student leaders who give announcements do a bad job, and I just can barely stand to go.”

“Sometimes as a employee getting to be in chapel regularly gives me the chance to look around and see the faces of our students, some happy, some disgruntled, some sad and it reminds me that I need to get out and reach out to the ones who may be really struggling with things behind the scenes. A face says so much.”

For the past 16 years, the Assembly program has been under my oversight. I have heard the comments listed above, and at times, I have thought and said some of them. Most particularly for me, the time devoted to going to Assembly seems like an interruption, but I have learned it is a valuable time. Not only from the standpoint of my job but from my desire to be a model, I have decided that I need to go. For me allowing the students to see me in a venue that is out of my office is important. It seems Assembly is a time when we all, if we choose, get to see one another out of our normal element whether it be the classroom setting, the library, the student center, cafeteria or whatever. We come and all have a chance to participate for a few minutes.

In fact, if I have an analogy for Assembly it would be dinner time within a family. When I was growing up, many families always ate dinner together. Everyone came to the table from whatever activities they had been involved in to share news, concerns, verify schedules and for those of us who are believers we got to pray together. Dinner time wasn’t just my mother's or father’s idea; it was for all of us.

I am a believer that the loss of dinner time created a breakdown in the community that families experienced. This community happened in family dinner time even when it was mandatory. I, myself, remember begging to be excused to be involved in some other worthy cause, but my parents felt this dinner time as necessary and sacred so we could remain connected as we all went out into the world. Many of my friend’s families did give up dinner time, and as the stats show, something beneficial was lost. We let our busy-ness overtake the subtle yet authentic nuances of lives that were integrated and conversation that occurred around the dinner table.

Coming back to the concept of Assembly, I feel the same way about this avenue of community. Most colleges and universities who have abandoned the concept did so for very good reasons. Maintaining chapel and its place in an institution that values time, money, GPAs, and college credit meant that daily chapel just didn’t make sense. And for us often Assembly has been viewed as an event that was out of Student Services or Campus Ministry. When in truth, it is commissioned by the Board and they didn’t come up with this concept to strangle our plans but actually had thought and reason behind it. Though, as we often reside in our own overworked and underpaid world, we can easily forget the “whys” behind Assembly. Studies indicate that the colleges and universities that have given up chapel programs have major regret and a sense of unique community has been lost.

In Jim Collins book, “Good to Great” (New York: HarperBusiness, 2001) he indicates that greatness for an organization comes from having integrity and focusing on your niche. At Rochester College, I truly believe Assembly is one of our niches and sets us apart from others. During this 30 minute daily event, we as a community have an opportunity to deal with life as a group. We cannot teach living in community if we are not indeed modeling it. Events such as 9/11, the war in Iraq, the deaths and illnesses of our families, the chance to celebrate community accomplishments, praying about life, peace, catching up with campus news—all these draw us together. Lastly, like a family dinnertime, it is a time where we all come together from our different walks of life to just be together.

I say all this because I believe Assembly is worth endorsing with our presence. None of us has time for the many things we fill our lives with and yet here we have a chance to just show up and like church (because in the truest sense of the word – we are “church”) we can participate by just being there. It saddens me that a few come here as employees or students and choose to see Assembly as a distraction, interruption or event that they feel doesn’t meet their needs. It is a tremendous tool – it is our dinner time and I am asking everyone to make time for it in their week so we can come together even when we don’t like what’s being served. Meatloaf night was not my favorite night but I still ate what was served. Even what a family eats fits in with the idea. My parents didn’t make us hot dogs or grilled cheese every meal when we didn’t like what was being served. We were introduced to challenging foods and learned to appreciate them. The same is true with Assembly. It’s a place where we can introduce students to different thoughts, worship styles, ideas, etc. Some might be hard to swallow at first, but with the community around them, they are given the opportunity to expand themselves and their horizons through the experience. Also remember that the meal isn’t only the cook’s meal because she/he cooked it. The meal belongs to everyone and is best enjoyed when everyone contributes by cooking, cleaning up, and most of all, showing up. No wonder our alumni remember and miss Chapel as much as any other major happening in their time here at RC.

Getting to hear about Matt’s battle with cancer, Dave’s trials in his life journey, Keith's helping us understand why we are perhaps hated by the Middle East, and the time we get to praise God should not be missed. I am fairly certain that regardless of whether I enjoyed or got anything out of these presentations that my presence meant something.

And I truly believe each of us making a time to be there to support this campus-wide initiative, which was put in place by the men and women who founded this college, is not only worthwhile but is respectful and honors their intentions. I hope you join me in sustaining, creating and participating in our daily assembly program.

Thanks for taking time to read this.

He believes we can save the world!

Years ago during Christmas holiday I had reluctantly accompanied my parents to one of my brother’s homes for the week of Christmas. I say reluctantly because I was very down and it seemed to me which ever way I turned things were not working out. I knew I wouldn’t be much company but I needed to be around familiar faces and hoped that that might distract and comfort me.

But the truth was that being in a crowd of people, even ones I knew, only seemed to make my failures increase in my estimation as I contemplated on them instead of the conversation occurring around me. I felt like a lead weight.

One night after everyone had retired and all the lights had gone out I lay in bed and I heard voices which were quiet but distinct. It was my Mom & Dad and they were talking about me. I listened intently and my Mom was saying that she was worried about me, that she had never seen me so down. There was a pause and my Dad spoke up in his noted southern accent and stated, “Mom, Candy is the most resilient person I know – she will make it through this”.

As I repeated his words back in my head I felt renewed somehow. To hear that my Dad believed in me was wonderful. I always felt I had been a major disappointment and truthfully I had, but my Dad believed I would make it.

Do you know what it feels like to be believed in when everything you have done says you’re a failure?

The disciples were told many times that those who have eyes to see and ears to hear and yet again and again they didn’t see or understand. As we take time to remember Jesus and his life death and resurrection let’s go back to the last meal with them and read what was recorded in Matthew 26:26-32

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body." Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom." When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus told them, "This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: " 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.' But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee."

And in Luke 22:14 -20

When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God."

After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."

And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

Our participation in communion is one way of remembering Jesus and his demonstration of his belief in us:

· Jesus went ahead and chose death even though it seemed his disciples didn’t get his message and even abandoned him. He believed his disciples heard his message and saw his model and that they would fulfill the work he left them to do. I am pretty sure if I had been Jesus that I would have asked God for either a few more years or a whole new group of followers :-)

· Jesus told Peter when you have turned back strengthen your brothers.

· Jesus told Mary to tell the disciples to meet him in Galilee after he had risen.

Jesus believed in them and I will say he believes in us! Just as he had faith that the disciples and those who followed him would carry on the message of his life, Jesus has faith that those of us who are also the result of that faith will carry on his mission.

As we celebrate this communion and this remembrance let us be renewed in our belief, in our faith and commitment to Him, Jesus, who chose a bunch of misfits who he knew with only his help could they begin to rescue the world. Becasue he believes in us let us rise up from our disappointment and forgive and be forgiven.
Let us join Jesus in his belief that we may join Him in saving the world.

Barbara Brown Taylor's Leaving Church

I finished Reading "Leaving Church" by Barbara Brown Taylor and truly appreciated the read. It was an easy read full of feeling and heart as this one time female priest shares her journey from pastoring a large congregation in Atlanta where priestly duties never ended to a rural white-picket fence-like town where her greatest lessons are revealed.

Brown takes us through her personal journey where she learns that “church is broken and we know it, even if we don’t know what to do about it”, “We speak and sing of divine transformation while we do everything in our power to maintain our equilibrium. If redeeming things continue to happen to us in spite of these deep contradictions in our life together, then I think that is because God is faithful even when we are not”. This is a wonderful book that helped me see myself along her journey and the last few chapters were particularly heartening as she finds peace with leaving Church as she once knew it and yet finds aspects to keep in her new vocation as a college professor. Walking away from the collar, so to speak, gave Brown a new found faith and a new way to live out her beliefs that are truly challenging yet peace-filled to her own ministry.

Although the first chapters were good I felt I had already been there so the last few chapters were where I found the most meaning. So the initial journey though well rehearsed by me was totally worth the last few chapters which opened my eyes and heart in a way that makes me rethink how I live and think about church and my participation in it.