Have you ever participated in a Lessons & Carols at a Catholic, Episcopal or other church? I have attended my fair share. Long story short, it is a celebration that tells the story of the birth of Jesus (the Lesson) and interspersed between each reading is a song (the Carol). It is beautiful when done right. Elmhurst College did it right!
The chapel on our campus is directly opposite the student union with a nice sized expanse of lawn and trees between the two. Our campus Chaplain is a very charismatic and charming lad named Scott- see pic below! And his secretary is David. I love me some David. I like to get out of our office and go to the Chaplain's office and kick it with David every once in a while.
Sidebar: Yes, you read that right. We still have secretaries here. I know what you are thinking because I thought the same thing! How could a college that is so progressive and ultra liberal still have position titles that have not advanced to administrative ranks? That is a blog topic and conversation for another day my friends...
Anyhoo- we celebrate every holiday and respect all. Ramadan was awesome, and the lighting of the Menorah was this week. As part of celebrating Christmas, Lessons & Carols has been held for years on campus. The Elmhurst College Concert Choir and a variety of other choirs performed. I snuck in a little early to take the pics below before it got packed. It was enchanting! They started out by singing a cappella and walking up the aisles of the chapel in darkness, being guided by candle light. There was a Swahili version of Noel that had drums and Cassidy was just clapping and dancing. And yours truly read the third lesson. Josiah, a very talented senior who plays more than 5 instruments, played the organ and there were moments when the audience joined in on a carol or two.
This service was so awesome! I love that the whole campus gets involved. We come together as a community for everything; big and small, religious or agnostic, right or left. And have a good time doing it! Here's hoping some of that rubs off on the city the college rests in :-)
The chapel on our campus is directly opposite the student union with a nice sized expanse of lawn and trees between the two. Our campus Chaplain is a very charismatic and charming lad named Scott- see pic below! And his secretary is David. I love me some David. I like to get out of our office and go to the Chaplain's office and kick it with David every once in a while.
Sidebar: Yes, you read that right. We still have secretaries here. I know what you are thinking because I thought the same thing! How could a college that is so progressive and ultra liberal still have position titles that have not advanced to administrative ranks? That is a blog topic and conversation for another day my friends...
Anyhoo- we celebrate every holiday and respect all. Ramadan was awesome, and the lighting of the Menorah was this week. As part of celebrating Christmas, Lessons & Carols has been held for years on campus. The Elmhurst College Concert Choir and a variety of other choirs performed. I snuck in a little early to take the pics below before it got packed. It was enchanting! They started out by singing a cappella and walking up the aisles of the chapel in darkness, being guided by candle light. There was a Swahili version of Noel that had drums and Cassidy was just clapping and dancing. And yours truly read the third lesson. Josiah, a very talented senior who plays more than 5 instruments, played the organ and there were moments when the audience joined in on a carol or two.
This service was so awesome! I love that the whole campus gets involved. We come together as a community for everything; big and small, religious or agnostic, right or left. And have a good time doing it! Here's hoping some of that rubs off on the city the college rests in :-)
What a beautiful church, Jeannette!
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