CHAPEL VIEW FALL 2018 magazine
CHAPEL ADVISORY BOARD CHAIR Charlie Berardesco, T ’80 VICE CHAIR C.B. Richardson III, T ’92 EMERITUS MEMBER William E. King, PhD, T ’61, G ’63, G ’70 ADVISORY BOARD Zoila Airall Robin Barefoot D. Michael Bennett, T ’77 John A. Bussian III, T ’76 M. Keith Daniel, T ’90, D ’05, D ’16 Ellen Davis Thomas Felgner, T ’94, B ’95 Cathy S. Gilliard, D ’97 Elizabeth Grantland, T ’20 Zach Heater, T ’17 Sara Elizabeth Hyre, T ’89 Grace Lee, T ’79 and Kenneth Lee, T ’74 Jeff Nelson, D ’13 Max Sirenko, T ’11 Valerie Sirenko, T ’11 Amanda Wright Smoot, WC ’63 Kathryn Lynn Watkins, T ’19
CHAPEL STAFF OFFICE OF THE DEAN The Rev. Dr. Luke A. Powery, Dean of Duke University Chapel MINISTRY The Rev. Bruce Puckett, Assistant Dean of Duke University Chapel The Rev. Joshua Lazard, C. Eric Lincoln Minister for Student Engagement and Interim Director of Religious Life The Rev. Breana van Velzen, Community Minister Gale Pettiford, Staff Assistant for the Ministry Team MUSIC Dr. Philip Cave, Associate Conductor for Chapel Music and Interim Director of Chapel Choir Dr. Robert Parkins, University Organist Christopher Jacobson, FRCO, Chapel Organist Philip Cave, Associate Conductor of Chapel Music J. Samuel Hammond, University Carillonneur John Santoianni, Curator of Organs and Harpsichords Michael Lyle, Office Coordinator for Chapel Music Erica Thomas, Staff Assistant for Chapel Music ADMINISTRATION Amanda Millay Hughes, Director of Development and Strategy Joni Harris, Business and Facilities Manager James Todd, Communications Manager Kevin Goldfarb, Communications Specialist Mark King, Hospitality Coordinator Lisa Moore, Accounting Specialist and Office Coordinator Ava West, Staff Assistant for Development Mercedes Conely, Wedding Coordinator Oscar Dantzler, University Housekeeper Beverly Jordan, University Housekeeper Blanche Williams, Wedding Director Ann Hall, Visitor Relations Assistant Wanda Cobb, Visitor Relations Assistant Antoinette L. Bethea, Visitor Relations Assistant Jane Kelly, Visitor Relations Assistant Keshia Perry, Visitor Relations Assistant Duke Schools Abbreviation Key: D (Divinity School) E (Pratt School of Engineering) G (Graduate School) MD (School of Medicine) T (Trinity College of Arts & Sciences) WC (Women’s College)
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#FINDSANCTUARY
Students joining the Chapel Scholars program are commissioned during a Sunday morning worship service on October 21. The commissioning included a prayer that these undergraduates would “walk together on a journey of discernment which includes listening to God in the classroom, among peers and pastors, in conversation, and at work, in Durham and beyond.� This year Chapel Scholars comprises seventy-two students from various Christian traditions who have committed to seeking God’s calling in their lives.
THE GRAND INTIMACY OF CHRISTMAS | A MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN The Rev. Dr. Luke A. Powery [@LukeAPowery]
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any of you know that Christmas—and the anticipation of Christmas in Advent—is a grand affair at Duke Chapel. The annual Messiah performances draw thousands of people to hear a robust choir and orchestra fill the Chapel with beloved music written centuries ago. The nave is decorated with garlands, wreathes, and candles, which draws thousands more to see the Chapel by candlelight. And, of course, on Christmas Eve, the Chapel is filled to the brim with people attending the four worship services. You may also have a sense—at least I do—that Christmas at the Chapel is a time to notice intimate details—the flicker of a candle, the pluck of a harp, and the delicate care given to a Scripture reading. This combination and sense of the grand and transcendent with the intimate and immanent is fitting for the grand intimacy of Christmas. This is because on the first Christmas a God who is far comes near in Jesus Christ when Jesus is born in Bethlehem. On one hand, Jesus
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is “The true light, which enlightens everyone…” (John 1:9). On the other hand, when he is born, he is laid in a manger, a feeding trough for animals, to peasant parents who are far from the center of power. In Christ, we have a tremendous tenderness, a grand intimacy, both transcendence and immanence. So, celebrating the birth of Jesus finds a place in an ornate neogothic Chapel trimmed with hundreds of lights and filled with a thousand voices and reverberant organ music. It also finds a place in a single person’s heart to quietly receive anew the proclamation of the angel that, “to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord” (Luke 2:10). In the highest heavens and in human hearts, Jesus finds a home. Therefore, this Christmas, I invite the Duke Chapel community, and all who would join us, to celebrate the Incarnation of God with great grandeur and also with tender intimacy. Sing softly “O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord,” and join
in a loud shout of “Glory to God in the highest heaven!” ••• This combination of the grand and the intimate is not limited to Christmas and Advent. In this issue of Chapel View you will see examples of how the ministry of Duke Chapel plays out in sweeping gestures as well as in poignant details. You will read how our annual Messiah concerts will once again have the choir boldly proclaiming, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” But this year’s Messiah, performed according to an orchestration written by Mozart, will also have subtle orchestral colors that are new to the Chapel. You will also read how a new community arts series, which drew out hundreds of people to its opening concert, comprises two art installations and seven public events at three locations. But be sure not to miss how one former student, who is now a PathWays Fellow, credits his involvement with the Chapel in helping him understand how his Christian faith can shape his work in public policy. And you will read how our dear University Carillonneur, J. Samuel Hammond, will retire this December after more than 50 years of service. Sam’s steady and artful gift of music to Duke’s campus is surely an example of a ministry that is both grand in hammering a note from a five-ton bell yet also delicate in sensitively selecting a song appropriate to the church year or national holiday. God is great and grand, and God has been revealed in the meekness and intimacy of a baby. My prayer is that our work at the Chapel reflects this God, now and forever.
FAITH & LEARNING PROFILE
Values in Public Policy Jonathan Osei, T ’18 hen Jonathan Osei, T ’18, came W to Duke as a freshman, he found himself searching for a faith home,
jumping from church to church. What attracted him to Duke Chapel was the quality of sermons. “I get to hear Dean Powery preach; I get to hear speakers from all over the U.S. with great sermons just prepped perfectly sometimes for me,” says Jonathan, who grew up in Casa Grande, Arizona. Attending worship services at the Chapel led him to become a Chapel Scholar, and he started doing readings at the services in the Chapel. That led him to apply to become a PathWays Intern the summer after his sophomore year. Through his internship with the Community Empowerment Fund, he found a passion working to create a better Durham, especially for low-income residents. He explains that his work with CEF focused on “credit, employment, housing, and a variety of other issues the residents of Durham
face—helping link organizing, Jonthem to resources.” became a I get to hear Dean Powery athan Jonathan’s faith PathWays Fellow preach; I get to hear has guided him not this past summer. only in his involvespeakers from all over the He is spending ment at the Chapel this year living in U.S. with great sermons and in the commuChristian commujust prepped perfectly nity, but also in the nity in the Chapel’s sometimes for me. classroom. PathWays House “Faith and learnin Durham’s West ing for me—they cross paths often,” End neighborhood and working at the says Jonathan, a public policy major. StepUp Durham organization, which “In public policy class you have to aims to improve Durham residents’ make a lot of decisions based on moraccess to employment and personal als and values, so bringing in faith as development training. a good basis for my values has helped He says his goal is to “use what I’ve me to figure out which policies I think learned to better myself, to better my are best for people as a whole. community and, hopefully at some “I realized community level, localpoint, to better policies put in place at level change, is far less bureaucratic higher levels.” than federal level change,” he says. “A lot of great things can come out of Watch Jonathan’s it; big changes can come from faith-and-learning community organizing.” video profile at As a first step in pursuing his paschapel.duke.edu/student_ministries. sions for public policy and community Fall 2018 3
FAITH & LEARNING PROFILE
FAITH & LEARNING PROFILE
Engaging Across Faiths Usamah Chaudhary T ’19
unior Usamah Chaudhary found J a home at Duke in the Muslim Student Association and the student
group Duke Voices for Interfaith Action. “Muslims at Duke are really fortunate because we’re one of the only schools that have a chaplain; we have full-time staff at our Center for Muslim life,” Usamah says. “Every Friday we have our Jummah prayers— that’s a place where the Muslim community really comes together.”
Participating in the “We were sitting interfaith activities around, and there has helped Usamah We were sitting around, was a Jewish student, to understand the and there was a Jewish a Christian, a Hindu, faith of others better, it was a very diverse student, a Christian, but it has also helped group of people and we a Hindu, it was a very were writing letters to others understand his faith more completely diverse group of people the homeless,” he said. as well. Usamah is studying and we were writing “Especially being biology and computer a Muslim student it’s letters to the homeless. science, with plans to really important to study medicine. In purtake part in interfaith stuff on campus suing this academic goal, he keeps in because that’s one of the mind something a friend told him: best ways for other people “Medicine is the way of how we treat to get to know about Islam people; religion and faith tells us why and Muslims.” we treat people.” One of his fondest mo“You have to have an exigence for ments of interfaith work why to help people,” Usamah says, “I on campus was when think that’s where faith comes in.” Duke Voices for Interfaith Action organized an event Watch Usamah’s in the Chapel basement to faith-and-learning assemble care packages video profile at for people in Durham who chapel.duke.edu/student_ministries. don’t have homes.
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A MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR, DUKE CHAPEL ADVISORY BOARD Charlie Berardesco, T ’80
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t is a pleasure to once again write to you as Chair of the Duke Chapel Advisory Board. As I write this letter, I have recently returned from Duke for meetings of the Advisory Board. There was, as usual, much to discuss and celebrate. We received a report from Dean Luke Powery on Chapel events and activities, as well as updates from the Chapel’s Assistant Dean Bruce Puckett on the work of the Chapel’s ministry teams and from Joshua Lazard, the Chapel’s C. Eric Lincoln Minister for Student Engagement, on the Chapel’s student engagement initiatives. We discussed the preliminary work of the Director of Music Search Committee, which is being co-chaired by two members of the Advisory Board. There was a fascinating discussion with Divinity School Dean Greg Jones and a presentation by a student member of the Advisory Board. We received an update on the Chapel’s space planning process and the associated challenges with the existing basement area of the Chapel. And, we continued our work on providing input to the Chapel’s new strategic plan. We opened this set of meetings with a prayer service in the Chapel, led by Dean Powery, which included music from members of the Chapel Choir under the direction of Interim Director of the Chapel Choir Dr. Philip Cave, and closed by attending the Chapel service on Sunday morning, which was very meaningful for all of us. When I attend worship at Duke Chapel, I inevitably think back to my time as an undergraduate, and when I started to attend Chapel services. As I have noted before, for me, I mark my time at Duke Chapel as the beginning of a more intense relationship with my own faith,
of being challenged and inspired by the powerful nature of the messages I heard and the beauty of the music and liturgy, all taking place in a space the likes of which I had never seen But, I do not mark the beginning of my faith journey, or as some call it faith formation, as my time at Duke. I grew up in a family where my parents were not active church goers, but both of my grandmothers, to whom I was very close, were. My paternal grandmother was a Roman Catholic born in Italy, and she regularly attended mass and had a picture of the Pope on a wall of her home and crucifixes above the beds. She occasionally took me to mass if I stayed with her on a weekend. My maternal grandmother was very active in her Methodist church, which she attended for about 70 years, singing in the choir and volunteering at events such as the Christmas Bazaar. I remember my mother taking her, in later years, to Maundy Thursday services because my grandmother did not drive at night. And, while my parents were not regular church goers, they along with our neighbors made sure that my brother and I regularly attended Sunday school at the nearby Methodist Church, and ensured we were baptized and confirmed and that I obtained my God and Country Boy Scout medal. As I think back to that time, I believe that regular engagement with my local church laid the groundwork for a later expansion of my faith and engagement with the church. It made me open to the idea of attending Duke Chapel, which led me to a more deliberate exploration of my faith that included coursework at Duke’s Department of Religion. When I attended law school, I immediately found the local Methodist church and worshiped there regularly during the following three years. And, when I graduated and began
practicing law, I promptly found a church to attend, where I joined the choir and started a lifetime of local church engagement through study and service. It all came full circle, in a way, when I was approached to reengage with Duke Chapel through service on the Advisory Board. I recount all of this to make the point that faith formation is in many ways intentional, happens over a period of time and can be influenced by both those who are active participants in a faith journey as well as by those who may not be as engaged, but help to support by something as simple as a car ride. And what we do today, whether it is for our own faith formation, or to enable someone else in their faith formation, can lead to a lifetime of faith engagement through worship, music, and service, just to name some of the ways. So I encourage each of us, as people who are drawn to Duke Chapel, to think about how we can advance our own faith formation and enable others to do the same. And, each of us should also remember that by our support of Duke Chapel, through our prayers, presence, gifts and/or service, we are enabling the faith formation of Duke students at what is hopefully the beginning of a lifetime faith journey. I look forward to writing to you in future editions of Chapel View magazine, and hope that some of you will reach out to me with your questions, comments, and suggestions. And, as always, thank you for your support of Duke Chapel and its mission and ministries—it is vital to the Chapel and its work, and I know that everyone associated with the Chapel is grateful for your support. All the best, Charlie Berardesco
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A sermon preached in Duke University Chapel on Sunday, September 30, 2018, by the Rev. Dr. Luke A. Powery
Following the Founder Mark 9:38-50
Every fall Duke University celebrates its accomplishments, remembers its history, and examines its values during Founders’ Day Weekend. In addition to hosting the Founders’ Day Convocation, the Chapel also focuses on the university’s roots during its Sunday Morning worship service on Founders’ Weekend. Known as Founders’ Sunday, the service includes a Litany of Thanksgiving and Commemoration with call-and-response prayers that give thanks to God for the best of the university. In his sermon for Founders’ Sunday (September 30, 2018), Chapel Dean Luke A. Powery addresses the role of followership at the university and in the Christian faith. Here is the text of his sermon. The Mission Statement for Duke University puts a special emphasis on leadership. In the opening lines, it says, “James B. Duke’s founding Indenture of Duke University directed the members of the University to ‘provide real leadership in the educational world.’” And then, at the end of the mission statement, it says, “...Duke University seeks to engage the mind, elevate the spirit, and stimulate the best effort of all who are associated with the University; to contribute in diverse ways to the local community, the state, the nation and the world; and to attain and maintain a place of real leadership in all that we do.”The bookends of the University’s mission statement point to the aspirations of Duke to be a real leader. This is not surprising for a world class, research university. We want to lead the world in every sector of society. This may work for a university but I wonder if it works for Christianity. I want to suggest today that Jesus doesn’t call us to be leaders; he calls us to be followers. Duke wants to 6 CHAPEL VIEW magazine | Worship
make leaders but Jesus wants to make followers! Jesus beckons his disciples over and over to “Follow me” (Mark 1:17). Yet, we build books and institutes around the idea of leadership education. What about followership education? Perhaps, we need to learn how to be better followers. Apparently, this is not en vogue with the disciples, the students of Jesus. The disciple John tells Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” “We tried to stop him because he was not following us.” The disciples want to lead and be followed, rather than paying attention to the One they should be following. All of their attention has been on leading because everyone wants to be a leader. People think there’s so much glamor and glory and gains in leading but many don’t consider the losses or the costs of leadership. The disciples don’t. They seem to only be concerned with who is the greatest among them (Mark 9:34). They view their discipleship as being all about
leadership and an ascent to heights only matched by God but when you follow Jesus, it is a descent, a movement in which one empties oneself even to the point of death. We see this with Jesus all throughout the Gospel of Mark as he predicts his death and resurrection. The Gospel of Mark is a journey downward to the burial of Jesus only to end with a measly 8 verses about the resurrection. Maybe that’s where real leadership actually takes you—to the grave! Jesus is a dead man walking through the pages of Mark’s narrative but the disciples seem only to be fixated on the person who “was not following us.” The irony is that the disciples should not be followed. Jesus should. And Jesus tells them, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.” Just because he wasn’t following them doesn’t mean he had to be a fool or a foe. He might have been just as faithful as them; just-because others don’t follow us, doesn’t mean they aren’t for us or Jesus. There are other ways to follow Jesus than our own. Our way is not the only way to follow nor are they supposed to be following us; they should be following Jesus. Yet we try to stop anything that is different from our own understanding or belief often from fear, and then demonize it, and then act as if it is against us, and eventually try to stop it, even if Jesus encourages us to do otherwise. “Whoever is not against us, is for us.” Even disciples, perhaps especially disciples, can forget that there are diverse people and perspectives and approaches to following Jesus; there are variations on a theme and the variety may not look like us, act like us, think like us, sound like us, but they are followers of Jesus. When it comes to Christian discipleship, we are not the leaders; we are the followers. Followership is vital, though it may be rare in our common discourse. And remember, there are no leaders, if there are no followers for leadership implies followership. Apparently, the disciples don’t get this. All throughout the Gospel of Mark, they seem to be clueless because they just don’t understand what Jesus is doing or saying. They may need a refresher course in followership
education (can we please start this at the Divinity school?!). The disciples don’t get it, yet they want others to follow them as they lust after leadership and frown on followership. And because of the broken human condition, if we follow each other, if they follow us, we are bound to have problems. Just look at what’s happening in the public square over sexual misconduct and assault and related allegations and the perpetuation of a rape culture. Just look at how we treat women and children and immigrants and the other. Just look at how we struggle to tell the truth and love lies. We don’t need another hashtag movement or rally, we need to learn how to follow Jesus and what it means to follow Jesus and go where Jesus goes. If these public displays of human beings as wounded animals tell us anything, they tell us that none of us should be followed. If anything is confirmed by what we see, it is that none of us should be followed. Yet we so often want people to follow us like the disciples did—follow our political leanings, follow our theological treatises, follow our ethical standards, follow our way of life because we think
we should be followed—the way we do along sane and practical, as opposed to it, the way we worship, the way we pray, dogmatic and theoretical lines, is, next to the way we think, the way we serve and religion, the greatest civilizing influence.” so we try to stop anything or anyone not He also gives money to set up “a school following us. The question today then is for religious training” and says, “I advise not, “Who or what are you leading?” but that the courses at this institution be “Who or what are you following?” arranged, first, with special reference On this Founders Sunday, I find it to the training of preachers, teachers, informative to look back at some of the lawyers and physicians, because these early documentation of Duke University are most in the public eye, and by precept and its Founders, as we build on their and example can do most to uplift legacy and leadership and dare I say, mankind....”God-fearing, religion, the followership. In her 1985 address at the training of preachers—at the heart of the Founders’ Society Dinner, Mary Semans, root of the foundation of this university the granddaughter of Benjamin Duke, is the life of faith. The Founders were who died in January 2012, told that people of faith who followed the Founder audience, “The earliest founders of of the faith. This is why we have the Duke University were the plain people university motto—eruditio et religio. of a rural community in the South— The current aims of the University God-fearing, hard-working people...” even include the fostering of “a lively Then in the Indenture of Trust by relationship between knowledge and James B. Duke, the chief benefactor of faith.” To go even further into the the University, he foundation of the The Founders were people university, when says, “I have selected Duke University as of faith who followed the Duke was being one of the principal established in 1924, Founder of the faith. This is they drew upon objects of this trust because I recognize why we have the university a statement by that education, President John Kilgo motto—eruditio et religio. when conducted written for Trinity
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The Rev. Ismael Ruiz-Millán, director of the Hispanic House of Studies at Duke Divinity School, celebrates communion in Duke Chapel during a bilingual worship service in Spanish and English. Called Aposento Alto (Upper Room), the service on October 2 included music and a sermon by Divinity School Students. Rev. Ruiz-Millán was the co-presiding minister with the Rev. Bruce Puckett, assistant dean of Duke Chapel.
Fall 2018 7
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your cross, and follow We lose our grounding, the whole point of me...” (Mark 8:34). the spiritual life— even lose our faith, if we following Jesus, rather He doesn’t say study me, write about me, lose the center of our faith than being concerned pray with me. He says with who is following and forget to follow “follow me.” Jesus us and our own way. Jesus... makes followers, not The marketing and leaders. The Foundbusiness worlds are ers of the University realized that the preoccupied with leadership but Jesus culmination of knowledge and religion, didn’t call us to lead, he called us to the integration of their intellectual and follow him. spiritual lives, were found in Jesus Christ. I think we need to reboot followership The focus of their followership even at education and this, too, as the early the founding of Duke was on him. There documents of Duke reveal, is grounded was a Christic center at the heart of the in Jesus, because remember, Jesus didn’t university, thus this Chapel building at come to earth as a leader; he, himself, the center of West campus is symbolic came as a follower. Jesus is a follower, of the heart of faith at the core of this too. Later in Mark, he shows that he University. follows God, the Father, when he says, We lose our grounding, even lose our “Abba, Father...remove this cup from faith, if we lose the center of our faith me; yet, not what I want, but what you and forget to follow Jesus, but instead want” (Mark 14:36). Jesus is a follower, try to lead him or lead others without following Someone and something him. Be careful not to follow everything greater than himself. He did not come and everyone else but Jesus—such to lead; rather, we hear that “he came as our political parties or our passion not to be served but to serve” (Mark for justice or our insightful research 10:45). That means he came to minister, findings, no matter how important he came to save, he came to love but they may be. Because, we may end up he did not come to lead. Jesus shows us focusing so much on the latest scholarly how to be a follower—by giving his life a or social buzz or breaking news of our ransom for many (Mark 10:45). day that we forget the good news of And the Gospel of Mark focuses Jesus Christ. And then we will miss mostly on the suffering of Jesus and very briefly on the resurrection, as I noted earlier. That means, if you follow him, Preaching Archive Offers Resources for Teaching and Learning it is not an escape from the realities of our common life or the public square; Billy Graham, Barbara rather, it’s a deeper immersion or Brown Taylor, Gardner C. descent into it because you’ll go to the Taylor, and Desmond place of suffering. You’ll go to the venue Tutu have all preached of all victims of sexual, racial, political, the Good News of Christ and economic violence and abuse. from the pulpit of Duke You’ll go to the cross. You’ll go to where Chapel. That tradition of you can meet and serve the suffering faithful and compelling ones in our world. This is where you preaching is being will go, not because it is your civic duty chronicled and made or your volunteer hours in a nonprofit available for teaching and learning to students, faculty, ministers, and others organization or your local congressman or community organizer told you to through the online Duke Chapel Recordings digital archive. The collection—a do it, but because you are following collaboration among the Chapel, the Libraries, and Duke Divinity with funding Jesus. Jesus doesn’t need more leaders; from the Lilly Endowment—has more than 2,500 sermon texts and recordhe needs more followers. And I have ings (audio and video). As the collection grows, metadata is also being added decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, so visitors to the site can search not only by keyword and preacher name but no turning back. How about you? also by biblical passage, liturgical season, sermon subject, and other criteria. Browse the collection at https://repository.duke.edu/dc/dukechapel.
College in 1903 to set forth the aims of the new university. His statement placed the University’s purposes within “the Christian tradition of intellectual inquiry and service to the world.”And this is how it began: “The aims of Duke University are to assert a faith in the eternal union of knowledge and religion set forth in the teachings and character of Jesus Christ, the Son of God...” The pursuit of knowledge and religion or piety or faith were viewed as an eternal union found in Jesus Christ. It was a faith in Jesus that founded this great university. One may argue that a university has to distance itself from its roots of Christian faith in order to flourish fully, but I would argue that the flourishing of Duke has occurred not despite its roots of faith but because of those very roots. So although we may say that we follow the lead of the Founders of this university, even as we reflect on them and honor them today, perhaps we should not follow the Founders but follow who the Founders followed. Leadership may not be all that it is made up to be. Followership may be the desired path. “He was not following us,” the disciples said, and that was actually a very good thing because he was following Jesus. Before this episode with the disciples, Jesus tells the disciples, “Take up
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Advent and Christmas at Duke Chapel Friday, November 30 7:30 p.m. Handel’s Messiah (ticket required) Saturday, December 1 2:00 p.m. Handel’s Messiah (ticket required) Sunday, December 2 11:00 a.m. Sunday Morning Worship Service with Guest Preacher Bishop Will Willimon, a former dean of Duke Chapel 3:00 p.m. Handel’s Messiah (ticket required) Tuesday, December 4 7:00 p.m. Duke Chorale Christmas Concert Thursday, December 6 6:00 p.m. Advent Lessons and Carols Saturday, December 8 8:00 p.m. Concert: Brubeck’s La Fiesta performed by the Choral Society of Durham (ticket required)
Sunday, December 9 11:00 a.m. Sunday Morning Worship Service with a sermon from Chapel Dean Luke A. Powery Sunday, December 9 4:00 p.m. Concert: Brubeck’s La Fiesta performed by the Choral Society of Durham (ticket required) 4:00 p.m. Choral Evensong (in Goodson Chapel, Duke Divinity School) Friday, December 14 8:00 p.m. Vocal Arts Ensemble Christmas Concert Sunday, December 16 11:00 a.m. Sunday Morning Worship Service with a sermon from Chapel Dean Luke A. Powery 4:00 p.m. Choral Evensong 5:15 p.m. Organ Recital: Joseph Fala Wednesday, December 19 12:00–2:00 p.m. Christmas Open House
Sunday, December 23 11:00 a.m. Sunday Morning Worship Service with Guest Preacher Rev. Sally Bates, a former chaplain of Duke Divinity School Monday, December 24 2:00 p.m. Christmas Eve Children’s Service 4:00 p.m. Christmas Eve Worship Service 6:00 p.m. Christmas Eve Worship Service with Holy Communion 11:00 p.m. Christmas Eve Lessons and Carols Tuesday, December 25 Chapel Closed on Christmas Day Sunday, December 30 11:00 a.m. Sunday Morning Worship Service with a sermon from the Rev. Dr. Carol Gregg, pastor to the Congregation at Duke Chapel All services, events, and concerts are free and open to the public, unless otherwise indicated.
Fall 2018 9
University Carillonneur to Retire After 53 Years J. Samuel Hammond
has marked time and public occasions through his playing of the Duke Chapel bells
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ntil now, there’s been no need to ask who tolls the bells, for everyone in the Duke University community knows it is J. Samuel Hammond who plays the Duke Chapel carillon at the close of each work day. But after more than fifty years, a span that includes six Duke presidents, Hammond will retire from his role as University Carillonneur at the end of December. The ringing of the carillon bells at 5:00 p.m. every weekday is a recognizable part of campus life at Duke. It begins with a brief tune, and then Hammond sounds the largest bell five times to mark the five o’clock hour. Next, he plays a selection of hymn tunes and other compositions for about fifteen minutes. Given that Hammond plays the carillon an average of 300 times each year, the number of his performances exceeds 15,000. “The carillon marks the rhythm of our days here at Duke, providing a shared experience that—sometimes subtly—connects us with one another, with traditions that stretch across centuries and continents, and even with God,” says Chapel Dean Luke A. Powery.“ The person who has carried on that tradition at Duke for decades, faithfully and unassumingly, is Sam.” Raised in Americus, Georgia, Hammond first learned to play the carillon during his freshman year at Duke in 1964. “When I was a freshman at Duke, I met the student carillonneur at the time, John Simpson, when we studied organ together,” Hammond explains. “John invited me to see the carillon (of which I knew nothing), and in response to my intrigued interest in such an unusual instrument and in a potential opportunity of being of service to the university, kindly provided me beginning instruction and, ultimately, opportunity to play.” Soon, Hammond was playing the instrument regularly at 5:00 p.m. as well as for the Chapel’s Sunday morning worship services, university ceremonies, and certain funerals.
From his start as a Student Carillonneur, Hammond was promoted to Chapel Carillonneur in 1968 and then University Carillonneur in 1986. Along the way, he earned two master’s degrees in library science and theological studies, and worked for forty-one years as a music librarian in Duke’s Rare Book Room and other departments. The Chapel’s fifty-bell carillon is an exclusively mechanical instrument. To play it, Hammond strikes with his fists a series of wooden keys, arranged similarly to a piano’s keys, and presses pedals with his feet. The key or pedal then pulls a cable which in turn causes a hammer to strike the inside of the corresponding bell. The largest bell weighs more than five tons and the smallest about ten pounds. The carillon was refurbished in 1992 to improve its mechanical action. Also an occasional church organist, Hammond selects songs to coincide with the church calendar, a national holiday, or other public occasion. At times, Hammond has been playful with his selections, such as performing the theme songs for Mickey Mouse, Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Star Trek. On Fridays, he plays the Duke alma mater. In addition to his regular playing times, Hammond has given concertlength recitals at Duke, as well as at churches, universities, and bell towers across the country. At his most recent concert at Duke last spring, he played pieces for the Easter season by J.S.Bach as well as presentday composers. Hammond also serves as the longtime volunteer accompanist for the Duke University String School, playing the piano for rehearsals and concerts by the youth orchestras. After Hammond’s retirement, two musicians will share the carillonneur role on an interim basis: Paul Bumbalough, a senior advisor with Duke Visa Services, who already has been playing the carillon regularly at Duke, and Joseph Fala, an organ scholar at Duke Chapel. Fall 2018 11
New Musical Color for Messiah Performances
Performed for eighty-five years in Duke Chapel, George Frideric Handel’s oratorio Messiah is a beloved tradition on Duke’s campus and beyond. This year the three Messiah concerts at the Chapel, running November 30 through December 2, are being presented with all the familiar solos and choruses … as well as with a flourish new to the Chapel.
F
or this year’s Messiah, Chapel Associate Conductor Philip Cave and the Chapel Choir is using Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’ orchestration of the piece. “It was a bold move to set to music the story of the life of Christ,” Cave says about Handel’s original composition of Messiah. While retaining all of the work’s text and much of its music, Cave explains that
Mozart’s version provides “lovely touches of orchestral color.” “I hope that people will be intrigued by the differences and comforted by the similarities,” Cave says. Handel’s Messiah was first performed in Dublin in 1742; Mozart’s version debuted in Vienna in 1789. Although the forty-seven years between the two concerts may seem relatively short when viewed from 2018, Cave explains that musical styles shifted between the two times and places.
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“It wasn’t really a reflection on Handel’s music being somehow not good enough,” Cave says of Mozart’s interpretation of Messiah. “Mozart was very careful to keep all of Handel’s music, but he just filled it out with more instruments, which was the current taste at that time. “With Mozart, we get the use of the classical orchestra—that’s to say, with woodwinds and horns, which of course Handel didn’t really use. Handel just used oboes and bassoons, but Mozart added flutes and clarinets. “That’s really the main aural difference: people hear different orchestral colors.” One example of the difference in Mozart’s orchestration comes in the third part of Messiah when the bass soloist sings, “The trumpet shall sound!” For this aria, Mozart has taken a trumpet part and arranged it for two horns. “It’s a spectacular effect,” Cave says. “I think it’s a wonderful opportunity to hear this part of the composition through Mozart’s ears.” The concerts are the first time Cave is directing the Chapel Choir in performing Messiah, but his experience with Messiah—a composition he calls “an old friend”— goes back to his childhood. “I started singing it as a boy treble, I’ve played in the orchestra for it, I’ve played the organ to accompany it, I was a solo tenor in it, and I have conducted it,” he says. As a professional choir director, Cave has conducted dozens of Messiah performances by church choirs, choral societies, and professional singers in churches,
cathedrals, and concert halls. “I think it has musical rewards; it certainly has spiritual rewards,” he says about his many experiences with Messiah. For the Chapel performances, the Chapel Choir is using the same vocal scores they have in the past. “There are some changes in interpretative detail, but the gist of the choral writing remains the same,” Cave says. “The main difference is in the orchestral parts, especially for those instrumentalists—such
as the flutes, clarinets, horns and trombones—who do not usually get to play Messiah in Handel’s original scoring.” Presenting a familiar work of sacred music reimagined by a subsequent master composer—as is the case with Mozart’s gentle reworking of Handel’s original—is an ongoing theme for this year’s Chapel Music season. In the spring, all three of the Chapel’s choirs will join together under Cave’s direction to present
Felix Mendelssohn’s edition of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. Also in the spring, the Duke Evensong Singers, under the direction of Chapel Organist Christopher Jacobson, will perform composer Robert Schumann’s revival of Bach’s St. John Passion. “What we’re doing this year is looking at music in transition—how it’s not a fixed object,” Cave says. “We want to be aware of the original styles of performing but we should also be interested in how people have viewed this music in contemporary ways.”
A Musical Exploration of the Psalms
A
t a concert on October 21, the Chapel’s. Evensong Singers led an audience of hundreds through a range of human experience— from belonging and beauty to sorrow and paradox to hope and comfort—with various musical settings of the Psalms. Directed by Chapel Organist Christopher Jacobson, the choir performed music as old as the 17th-century composer Orlando Gibbons’ “setting for Psalm 47 and as contemporary as presentday composer Caroline Shaw’s composition for words from Psalm 84.“ The Psalms ... reflect the human condition as is our human emotions,” Jacobson said at the concert. “They reflect our praise, our joys, our sorrows, our anger, our frustration, and even those very deep dark unspeakable thoughts that we have sometimes. Over the course of this afternoon we will experience musical settings of all of those emotions.” One notable piece in the concert was the Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms. Widely know as a composer and conductor, in this work, Bernstein created musical
settings for excerpts from seven Psalms. The Chapel performance of the piece included soloists, choir, harp, percussion, and organ. The concert demonstrated the rich resources of Chapel Music. Organ Scholars Abraham Ross and Joseph Fala played both of the organs in Chapel’s main sanctuary—at one point simultaneously in Jonathan Dove’s “Bless the Lord, O my Soul.” For Knut Nystedt’s chorale “Immortal Bach,” the choir broke up into five groups spread throughout the nave and sang parts of the piece in five different time intervals.
Fall 2018 13
THE COLORS OF DUKE CHAPEL A new coloring book for adults and children invites visitors to Duke Chapel, as well as patients at Duke Hospital, to imagine the colors in the Chapel’s stained-glass windows.
W
ith sixteen scenes from windows in the Chapel, the Duke Chapel Coloring Book offers a new approach to the Bible’s stories. Ranging from David as a shepherd to the three wise men riding on camels, they offer the chance to color and reflect on the meaning of these narratives. The example shown here is from the Tobit window on north side of the Chapel’s nave—the photograph is on this page and the book version is on the opposite page. The window shows Tobit with the angel Raphael from the Book of Tobit in the Apocrypha. At the Chapel, visitors can pick up a coloring book in the main sanctuary where they are invited to make a donation to cover the cost of printing the books. At Duke Hospital, patients may request one through Patient Services. The coloring books are the result of a collaboration between the Chapel and Arts & Health at Duke. They are third edition in a series of coloring books by Arts & Health. This edition was designed by Bill Gregory, Coordinator of Arts Programming at Arts & Health at Duke.
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Fall 2018 15
Community Arts Series
I
Always Human:
n collaboration with community and campus partners, a Duke Chapel community arts series examines prisons and mass incarceration from a variety of perspectives and through a variety of media. The project, Always Human: Re-Visioning Justice, attempts to recognize the varied history and purpose of prisons in the United States and in Christian traditions. Prisons can be places for restraint and repentance that serve the cause of justice, and places of mass suffering and confinement that are used as tools of injustice. Prisons have also been the sites from which prophetic and inspired letters in the Christian tradition have been written by St. Paul, Dietrich
Standing on Love On display in Duke Chapel from October 30 to December 2. This collection of photographic portraits brings centerstage family members living with a loved one on death row. Their faces and words are meant to offer a chance to reflect on the meaning of values such as justice, mercy, and compassion. The Standing on Love exhibition was created through collaboration among people living on America’s Death Row, their families, and the community arts collective Hidden Voices. It is part of Hidden Voices’ series Serving Life: Re-Visioning Justice. The photographer for the exhibition is Jenny Warburg. She is a freelance photographer and former social worker living in Durham, North Carolina. Her photographs have appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, US News and World Report, The Los Angeles Times, People, Rolling Stone, US Weekly, Mother Jones, The Washington Post, Ms., The Guardian, and the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Report. Her photos have also appeared in numerous books and on book covers, as well as in many documentary films, television documentaries and news programs.
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Re-Visioning Justice Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King Jr., and others. The goal of Always Human: Re-Visioning Justice, which runs through December 10, is to both cast a critical eye on the current state of the criminal justice system in America and also to highlight ways that communities and individuals are seeking both justice and hope. The project is based around concurrent exhibitions—Standing on Love in Duke Chapel and Serving Life at the Rubenstein Arts Center—along with events that address the themes of the exhibitions. Find more information at chapel.duke.edu/justice.
Serving Life On display in the Rubenstein Arts Center from November 1 to December 10. Since 2013, the community arts collective Hidden Voices has collaborated with people on death rows across the country to envision a multi-arts project able to generate the civic will to revision justice. One result of that collaboration is the Serving Life exhibition. It aims to challenge assumptions about guilt and innocence and to provide a vehicle for the public to connect with the actual lives hidden within an impenetrable system. It is part of Hidden Voices’ series Serving Life: Re-Visioning Justice. Serving Life has three multi-arts components. The first is twelve “life maps,” which men on death row created using limited materials—such as toilet paper, nondairy creamer, and recycled cardboard—in response to an invitation to visually represent an aspect of their life journey. The second component is a collection of largescale renderings of an element from each map. These were created by artists using techniques including ceramics, assemblage, and sculpture. The final component is a series of phones on which you can listen to recordings of men on death row sharing personal stories. At the close of the exhibit, visitation booths invite you to reflect and respond to these men.
Fall 2018 17
CHAPEL NEWS
Puckett
Lazard
C
hapel Dean Luke A. Powery announced this summer that the Rev. Bruce Puckett is taking on a new role of assistant dean of Duke University Chapel. In this new role, Puckett will continue to direct worship and community ministry at the Chapel while also leading the Chapel’s ministry team. “Many people at the chapel, on campus, and in the community have experienced King Bruce’s warmth and wisdom firsthand as a presiding minister, pastor, and colleague,” Powery said. “While continuing to direct our worship life and community ministry, Bruce will bring those gifts to bear as the head of the Ministry Team and a representative for me in various university and ministerial situations.” The other ministry team members are the Rev. Joshua, C. Eric Lincoln Minister for Student Engagement and interim director of religious life, and the Rev. Breana van Velzen, community minister. In addition to announcing the ministry team, Dean Powery said the operational aspects of the Chapel’s music program will be overseen this year by Amanda Hughes, director of development and strategy. Philip Cave will serve as the interim director of Duke Chapel Choir while continuing with his regular responsibilities with the chapel’s Vespers Ensemble.
Abraham Ross is the new Organ
Scholar at Duke Chapel this year. He joins Joseph Fala, who continues in his second year as an Organ Scholar. Ross performs regularly as a soloist and an ensemble player with special interests in early music and twentieth-century repertoire. In May 2018, he completed the master of music in historical performance at Oberlin Conservatory, where he studied organ with Jonathan Moyer and harpsichord with Mark Edwards. As a performer, he has appeared in concert venues throughout his home region of the northeastern United States, as well as in Canada and Argentina. As an Organ Scholar, Ross is studying under Duke Chapel Organist Christopher Jacobson, a Fellow of
Cave
New to the Chapel staff is Mark King. He is in the newly created role of hospitality coordinator, which oversees the Chapel’s Visitor Relations Team and works closely with the Administrative Team to coordinate events, programs, and tours with staff support. King comes to the Chapel from roles at DukeEngage and the Duke Faculty Club; he also has significant experience as a small business owner. Other staff new to the Chapel since the summer include: Keshia Perry, visitor relations assistant; Kevin Goldfarb, communications specialist; and Gale Pettiford, staff assistant for the Ministry Team. the Royal College of Organists. “We are thrilled to welcome Abe to Duke Chapel,” Jacobson said. “Abe is a superb musician and versatile organist. His music making in services and concerts this year will be a wonderful contribution to sacred music at the Chapel. ”As part of their training, Ross and Fala regularly play in Duke Chapel’s Choral Evensong, Choral Vespers, and Sunday morning worship services. They also play in other worship services, weddings, concerts, and public organ demonstrations. Each of the Organ Scholars will give a recital this year in Duke Chapel. In his free time, Ross enjoys engaging in dialogue with other artists, cooking and generally enjoying food, as well as hiking, skiing, and running.
New Organ Scholar
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van Velzen
Meet the 2018-19 Pathways Fellows These four recent graduates are spending a year in service, discernment, and Christian community, as part of the Chapel’s PathWays program. Sarah Beaverson, Duke 2018, Duke Community and Family Medicine
Sarah is originally from Villanova, PA. She graduated from Duke with a double major in global health and biology and a minor in chemistry. During her time at Duke, she was involved in the Presbyterian Campus Ministry where she served as service chair and moderator, the Duke Global Health Institute where she did research on maternal reproductive health in Haiti, and Duke’s Model UN team. Given her interest in family medicine, she decided to work with Duke Community and Family Medicine to learn more about community health outreach and programming efforts in Durham. She is excited to further her involvement in the Durham community and reflect on how to bridge her passions for service, faith, and medicine in her future vocation.
Maria Luisa Frasson-Nori, Duke 2018, StoryDriven
T
he Rev. Dr. Luke A. Powery, dean of Duke Chapel, is a general editor of a new lectionary commentary for preaching and worship, which aims to help preachers connect congregations to Scripture. The first book in the nine-volume series— Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship—has just been released. Following the Revised Common Lectionary, this first book addresses the Scripture readings for the upcoming liturgical seasons of Advent through Epiphany. The approach of the series is to first view a Scripture passage in relationship with the rest of the Bible; and then see the reading through the lenses of culture, film, fiction, ethics, science, and other aspects of contemporary life. In addition to Dean Powery, other general editors of the series from Westminster John Knox Press are the Rev. Drs. Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Cynthia L. Rigby, and Carolyn J. Sharp.
Maria Luisa is from São Paulo and grew up in Houston, Texas. Her Brazilian-American experience combined with her degree in Arabic and Asian and Middle Eastern studies compel her to be a documentarian, listening to and recording stories that give witness to God’s glory. At Duke, she served as the Lecture Series student director for the Duke Catholic Center and founded Hear at Duke, a storytelling organization that produces podcasts and live storytelling events on campus. This year she is excited to be working for StoryDriven, producing uplifting video and audio content that inspires positivity.
Jonathan Osei, Duke 2018, StepUp Durham
Jonathan was born in Sacramento, CA, and raised in Casa Grande, AZ. He graduated with a bachelor of arts in public policy, an economics minor, and a certificate in markets and management. As an undergraduate, he was a Chapel Scholar, holding leadership positions in community organizations, affinity groups, and Duke athletics. This year, he is ecstatic to be working with StepUp Durham, an organization geared toward improving Durham residents access to employment and personal development training. Jonathan looks forward to furthering his involvement in the Durham community, deepening his faith, and discerning God’s calling for him.
Sara Yuen, Duke 2018, Senior PharmAssist
Sara Yuen is the daughter of a US Naval officer—she grew up on the East Coast, West Coast, Hawaii, Japan, and graduated high school out of San Diego. She graduated from Trinity with the Duke Class of 2018 with a double major in linguistics and dance and a minor in Chinese. This year, she will serve her work placement at Senior PharmAssist—promoting senior well-care by helping seniors across the income spectrum afford and manage their medications and know their healthcare rights. She is grateful to walk with the rest of the Duke Chapel PathWays Fellows leaning into God’s calling to be hands in His Kingdom on Earth. Fall 2018 19
REFLECTING GOD Dear Friends,
T
his year, the Chapel celebrates the season with our Annual Open House on December 19 from noon to 2:00 p.m. On that day, friends of the Chapel come to see the sanctuary illuminated by candlelight. The musicians enliven the Flentrop and the Aeolian organs, singers join in with carols and hymns. In two hours, the Chapel sees more than 1,500 visitors, and I hope you are among them. I understand that everyone comes for their own reason: some to see the beautiful windows, others to say a prayer. But, one thing is clear, this campus and this community love Duke Chapel and remain committed to our mission. We were reminded of this over the past few months as we reviewed the
many responses to our online surveys and focus groups. We are grateful to each and every one who responded or attended a session. Your insights will help us shape the years ahead, and we hope that you will see your wisdom reflected in our work. You reminded us of the importance of connecting “academic learning with spiritual learning to serve the congregation, the students, and neighbors.” You encouraged us to continue “to be a holy place to hear beautiful music, great sermons, and meaningful worship.” You also challenged us to remember that our “primary focus should be to continue to support the faith development of students across all traditions.” You offered important feedback on what matters most at Duke Chapel,
from worship to social justice, from caring for students to continuing our extraordinary music program. Rather poetically, one person connected the Chapel’s physical and spiritual presence this way: “Duke Chapel is...the only place big enough to reflect my longing for God.” I hope that you will continue to offer us your feedback, share your thoughts, tell us what really matters as surely as I hope that you will be generous in your support. The Chapel relies on you to continue to be the place on Duke’s campus where people gather to seek and to find hope. With every wish for a joyous and peaceful holiday season, Amanda M. Hughes Director of Development and Strategy
“ The Chapel is the aspirational
anchor of the idea of Duke, the reminder there’s something about the University that transcends and somehow binds its diverse individuals, groups, and activities.” —Anonymous Comment Duke Chapel Surveys/Summer 2018
PLEASE NOTE: It has come to our attention that our recent mailing did not include a remittance envelope. We apologize for any inconvenience and hope that you will use the enclosed envelope to make your end-of-year gift. Your support means so much to all of us. Your gift today is 100% tax deductible. Please make your check payable to Duke Chapel and send it to: Director of Development & Strategy | Duke University Chapel | 401 Chapel Drive, Box 90974 | Durham, North Carolina 27708 For information about credit card or stock gifts, please contact Ava West for assistance. (919) 684-5955 | chapeldevelopment@duke.edu | gifts.duke.edu/chapel 20 CHAPEL VIEW magazine
The Chapel’s community arts series Always Human: Re-Visioning Justice opened October 30 with a concert that highlighted testimonies of women in prison. The concert, Conviction 2018: Songs of Faith from Women in Prison, featured original songs, dance ministry, and spoken testimonials. The concert was organized by Interfaith Prison Ministry for Women with musicians from the band Apple Tree.
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