FROM THE RECTOR
The Blessings of Chapel KATHLEEN C. GILES
What a blessing we have in chapel. Certainly, the Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul is an extraordinary place. Whether awe is inspired by the grandeur of the architecture and ornate carvings, by the extraordinary music created by organ and voice (and often other instruments, as well), or by the Gothic space that in its height and depth introduces room for the Divine among us, awe is most certainly inspired. Chapel as we know it is, perhaps, something more than the building. Chapel is our morning practice of coming together — in New Chapel, and also in Memorial Hall — to spend a moment on things of this world and not of this world, and to cultivate our spiritual selves. The blessing of chapel is this dynamic, as we take the individual seats expressly saved for each of us, face each other, and listen, learn, and grow. In this time of intense acrimony, division, and turmoil throughout our world, the blessing of chapel has never been more important. Chapel has evolved throughout the School’s life. Without retracing the entirety of our history, I am finding that through much of it, our School has looked to chapel to center the community in values, spirituality, and traditions. Perhaps Dr. Samuel Smith Drury, our Fourth Rector, sped up this evolution when he changed Sunday chapel from three services to two and allowed students — then “the boys” — to play outside on Sunday afternoons instead of sitting inside for the midday service. Perhaps others continued this evolution by changing Sunday chapel to one service and then to an optional service. During the pandemic, when we could not be in person on the grounds, we held chapel online; when we returned to Millville during the pandemic’s later stages, we experimented with ways to get students, masked and socially distanced, to chapel. Central and immediate to our
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Alumni Horae | Issue II 23/24
thinking was how the health, vibrancy, and essence of our community’s spirit are inextricably entwined with chapel as both experience and place. Over the past few tumultuous months, so much good has happened within that space. After the devastating October 7 terrorist attacks in Israel, our consulting Rabbi Robin Nafshi reminded us that we study history, and specifically religious history, to strengthen our hope in our faith and future, as we see how people who have suffered found ways to persevere. A week later, theologian Dr. Kwok Pui-lan built on this theme, describing the Bible as “chronicling the story of the losers” with the express purpose of proving Divine Love through human faith, strength, and love. In October, Dr. Bruce Duthu of Dartmouth College offered us an incredible way to think about empathy and compassion; he told us, “if your curiosity and care extend no further than yourself, you limit your understanding to yourself. But if you reach out to others with curiosity and compassion, you move yourself beyond your own limits. That space in between yourself and others, that reach and stretch, is the space where understanding, relationships, and learning happen.” More recently, the Rev. Rebecca Copeland spoke to us about “wicked problems”: the problems that we did not create but whose damage on others we can see, and about the way we exercise moral agency when we choose to act, even if it is hard to see how our actions create good given the scale of the wicked problem. And as she drew on the life and works of civil rights leader Howard Thurman, the Rev. Arleigh Prelow encouraged us metaphorically to find our own “water’s edge, that sacred place to seek and encounter the divine,” where we can retreat and spiritually refuel ourselves from some of the endless activity around us. “And when you make that trek to water’s edge,” she told us, “lead others to it.” Our students’ voices give so much life to chapel. Student lectors offer the Opening Sentence and the Reading. This year on the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., student lectors offered readings from King’s famous talks on “creating a blueprint for life” and “being the most excellent streetsweeper.” On another morning, Darnell ’25 told us about finding his courage and voice by daring to step out onto the New Space stage. Georgia ’24 talked about the joy she found in playing on the JV basketball team and challenged us to re-think priorities that are fixated on credentials and instead reaffirm the values of a team, shared goals, and simple joys. Annabella ’24 reminded everyone of the