Ordinary Days #29: Chapel

The place God chooses

    as a dwelling for His name.  (Deuteronomy 26:2)

Dear Priscilla,

How was chapel? So, you are required only two semesters of chapel. I suppose that’s the way it has to be in a big school of over 14,000 students. A chapel of over 14,000 isn’t a chapel. There were less than 300 students at Papa’s college. So, we were required to attend chapel every day of every semester. I fussed some; but looking back on it, that’s when I learned great hymns like For All the Saints, and Jesus What a Friend for Sinners accompanied by a grand pipe organ.

The first universities were formed by the Church—monasteries in particular. Monks collected, preserved and taught the ancient texts of antiquity. As one of the best of them taught, “Faith seeks understanding” (Anselm, 12^th cent.). That means, authentic faith in God causes us to seek knowledge and understanding of all God’s creation.

Chapel is the place God has chosen as a dwelling place for his name: “I AM WHO I AM” and “I WILL DO WHAT I WILL DO” (Ex 3:15). That’s the Divine Name God gave to Moses out of the burning bush. The name gets summed up as YaHWeH, the great I AM who IS and DOES. The name is so precious you best not just blurt it out. It’s THE NAME we must never use in vain (3^rd commandment). So, just in case we misuse the name, we use the word “Lord” when we speak the unspeakable name. That is the first confession of the church: “Jesus is Lord” (Ro 10:9). It requires the Holy Spirit’s prompting to actually say it: “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1Cor 12:3). Someday, “every knee will bow, …and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil 2:10-11).

In chapel we listen again to God’s Word—the Gospel; and we speak, sing, and praise His name: Lord our God, Father, Son, and Spirit; One God, forever blessed. And then, in the classroom we ponder the wonder of God’s doings. Chapel and classroom are meant for each other. Real universities have a chapel. Even Stanford has a chapel—a beautiful chapel as you might guess.                                                                                                    

Love, Papa