Opinion

More chapels, please

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Changes in this semester’s chapel regimen have left reporters feeling dismayed. Besides an unusually high number of all-worship nights at The Gathering, we have also noticed a distinct lack of additional opportunities for chapel credit.

Only two talkback sessions occurred, with Phil and Rici Skei back in September and Tony Kriz more recently; this despite the fact that we have had a guest speaker nearly every week. By the time school is out for December, only two more additional opportunities will have surfaced, besides Vespers: Constitution Day and the end of the 10 Days project. Not even a chapel movie night.

We The Threefold Advocate believe that chapel is an opportunity to humble ourselves before God and fellowship with believers during the week. Chapel can refresh attendees in a time of stress and challenge them to think about God in new ways.

Therefore, we find it disappointing that so few additional chapel credits have been offered this semester. In past years, history talks have helped us reflect on the context of our world, talkback sessions have taken us beyond the half-hour chapel sermon and movie nights have encouraged us to think about pop culture through the lens of our faith.

We are unsure about the cause of this shortage. Perhaps few of the chapel speakers have had time to talk with students. Perhaps higher-ups want to make chapel credit more formal. Perhaps low attendance in the past has prompted administrators to do away with the opportunities altogether.

Whatever the reason, we fondly remember the variety of chapel credits we have had in the past, and hope that the Office of Christian Formation takes our thoughts into account in the coming semester.

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