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.