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| Dean's
Message |
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 A Matriculation Prayer
Inspire us, we ask, as we rise to meet each new day, with a full feeling of gratitude.
May this gratitude make us attentive to what makes for health, attentive to what protects against harm, attentive to ways that we may watch over one another in love. May our morning prayer of gratitude provoke a daily attention to safety.
Inspire us, we ask, as we rise to meet each new day, with a full feeling of gratitude. May this gratitude make us curious about our place in the world, curious about our emerging vocations, curious about where our passion meets the world's need. May our morning prayer of gratitude provoke a daily curiosity about calling.
Inspire us, we ask, as we rise to meet each new day, with a full feeling of gratitude. May this gratitude make us sensitive to the delight of each day, sensitive to the wonder of life, sensitive to the sheer joy of being alive. May our morning prayer of gratitude provoke a daily sensitivity to wonder.
Spirit of Life, guide, we pray, the journey of this great sailing vessel, Boston University, to the far off shore of springtime 2008. Bless those on the bridge, and those in the brig, and all of us in between. Bring us to that sunny far off springtime, safe and secure, curious and confident, delighted and sensitive, a people attentive to safety, insightful about calling, and capable of wonder.
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| Upcoming Events |
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International Students Reception
Tuesday 2 October 2007, 6:30PM
Marsh Room, Marsh Chapel
First-Year Fellowship - Organizational Meeting
Tuesday 9 & 23 October 2007, 7PM
Thurman Room, Marsh Chapel
Methodist Student Fellowship Dinner
Tuesday 9 & 23 October 2007,
5:30-7PM
Marsh Room, Marsh Chapel
Marsh Chapel Choir - Parents Weekend Concert
Friday 19 October 2007, 8PM
Marsh Chapel
Open House
Sunday 21 October 2007, 12:30-3PM
Dean's Residence, 96 Bay State Road
Haunted Chapel
Monday 29 October 2007,
7-10PM
Marsh Chapel
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| Weekly Events
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Sundays
Associates' Study
9:30AM - Robinson Chapel
Dean's Study
9:45AM - Thurman Room
Interdenominational Protestant Worship
11AM - Marsh Chapel
Mondays
Community Dinner
6PM - Marsh Room
Tuesdays
Community Lunch
12PM - Marsh Room
Taizé Prayer
8PM - Marsh Chapel
Wednesdays
Morning Prayer
8:30AM - Marsh Chapel
Evening Prayer with Communion
5PM - Marsh Chapel
Servant Team Meeting
6PM - West Campus Dining Hall
Emerging Worship
9PM - Robinson Chapel
Thursdays
Chaplain's Study:
Mere Christianity
5PM - Thurman Room
Choir Rehearsal
6:30PM - Marsh Chapel
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| Marsh Chapel Choir Repertoire
October 2007
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October 7
Prelude - Marchand: Grand Dialogue in C Major
Anthem - arr. Luboff: All My Trials
Offertory - Ireland: Greater Love Hath No Man
Communion - Stainer: God So Loved the World
Postlude - Langlais: Acclamations (from "Suite Médiévale")
October 14
Prelude - J. S. Bach: Sonata in E-flat major, BWV 525
Anthem - Stanford: Beati quorum via
Offertory - Handel: Throughout the Land Jehovah's Praise, from "Solomon"
Postlude - Walther: Concerto in B minor after Vivaldi
October 21
Prelude - Reger: Benedictus, Op. 59, No. 9
Anthem - Carraciolo: Jesus, I Adore Thee
Offertory - Rutter: O Clap Your Hands
Postlude - Vierne: Final (from Symphony No. 1)
October 28
Prelude - J. S. Bach: Prelude in E-flat major, BWV 552
Cantata: J. S. Bach: 'Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit', BWV 106 (Actus Tragicus)
(performed with period instruments in liturgical context)
Offertory - Rutter: O Clap Your Hands
Postlude - J. S. Bach: Fugue in E-flat major (St. Anne), BWV 552
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Greetings!
Welcome to the first ever e-edition of the Marsh Chapel newsletter, "Common Ground"! We are happy that you have expressed interest in the ministry of Marsh Chapel and hope this newsletter can help you better connect with our life together. Please take a moment to update your contact information using the link that appears below this email, "Update Profile/Email Address." If you have received this email by mistake or otherwise do not wish to continue to receive "Common Ground," please use the link above the newsletter to unsubscribe.
This edition of "Common Ground" looks particularly at the student ministry that is developing out or Marsh Chapel. The co-chairs of the Servant Team, our student leadership council, address the community about the work of the council. Mallory Rice reflects about our trip to Walden Pond earlier in September. Dean Hill's Matriculation Prayer is excerpted to encourage us as the school year begins. Please find of interest a review of Cape Cod pastor Kent D. Moorehead's book The Inn at the End of the World.
Future editions of "Common Ground" will focus on the various aspects of ministry Marsh Chapel takes up here at Boston University. We will look at the various religious communities that make up the Office of Religious Life. We will address concerns that affect the city of Boston, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, this country, and our world. Through this communication we truly seek to provide for the Marsh Chapel community a profound sense of common ground, grounded in a common hope.
Welcome and may this newsletter be a blessing to you.
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Servant Team Co-Chair Letter
 Greetings!
Though there have only been three weeks of class, the Marsh Chapel
Servant Team has already made significant progress in its inaugural
year. This student leadership committee plans events for fellowship,
service, study, and worship throughout the year. Approximately 20
people witnessed the beauty of Walden Pond during our first fellowship
event to the historic wildlife sanctuary on September 16. We are
currently working on creating a Haunted Chapel for a Halloween event
that will include festive food and fun holiday activities, as well as
introduce future activism and chapel events.
If you are interested in making an impact in the Marsh Chapel community
and helping out with these events, membership in the Servant Team is
open to anyone interested. Join us at our weekly dinner on Wednesdays
from 5:30-7pm at the West Campus dining hall. Contact Rachel at
rhrvstr@bu.edu or Sean at smcq@bu.edu.
See you around,
Rachel Harvester, SAR '08 and Sean McQuarrie, SMG '10
Marsh Chapel Servant Team Co-Chairs
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Walden Pond
 On Sunday, September 19th, about twenty people met in Marsh Plaza, anxiously awaiting to leave for Walden Pond. I was one of these people, and this was my first trip to Henry David Thoreau's sanctuary. Thoreau spent two years living at Walden Pond, and although his original cabin has been destroyed, there is a replica for visitors to wander through and a statue of Thoreau standing outside.
That day we were lucky, because the previous day had been a dreary, rainy day that did not exude the feeling of tranquility that was associated with Walden. That day there was a largely cloudless sky, and it was the perfect temperature.
After a quick tour led by Sherman Wissinger, a Marsh congregant, we were free to wander around the pond. There were the occasional piles of balanced rocks, and a series of stepping stones leading down to the pond. The water was amazingly clear, and we watched people swim and kayak in the lake, while a few other girls and I dangled our feet in the cool water. This was a perfect place to sit and relax and (in the case of some visitors) get some homework done.
As a sophomore at Boston University, I have spent most of my time in the hustle and bustle of the city, only going outside its limits once every few months. The chance to get away from all the nois e and rush was greatly appreciated. The clear waters and fresh air were calming and allowed for some quiet meditation. It became abundantly clear that nothing can be better for the soul that some occasional quiet reflection. Anyone who is feeling particularly stressed and overloaded should definitely consider a trip to Walden Pond, because the therapy received there is unique and lasting.
-Mallory Rice, CFA '10
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The Inn at the End of the World
 History has demonstrated to us that religion can be one of the most divisive and exclusionary forces in the world. Far from abating, this reality of discord has become increasingly apparent in our contemporary society, where some members of the major religions of the world are not only debating the truth of their visions of God and God's relationship to humanity, but are calling for the mortal destruction and eternal damnation of all others. It's no wonder that many people have become disaffected with organized religion, when the truth of a particular tradition is regarded as irrefutable to the point that anyone who holds an alternative belief will burn eternally.
Emergent from this rancor is Kent D. Moorehead's The Inn at the End of the World, in which he argues that the Church's preoccupation with question of "who's in and who's out" is entirely un-Christian. Through a thoughtful engagement with Bible stories so familiar that we have forgotten their salient details, Moorehead delicately dismantles the notion that Christianity requires the acceptance of an ethos of "exclusiveness," reminding us that Jesus broke bread with both the religious elite and the outcasts of the society in which he lived. Indeed, Moorehead observes that the message and ministry of Christ transcends issues of dogmatic disagreement, and it is therefore the mission of the Church to do the same.
Some may argue that the author's belief that the whole of humanity can be joined together by love is a cheesy Hands Across America-style pipedream into which only dewy-eyed idealists can buy. Certainly, critics may argue, any realistic person can recognize that people of different faith traditions cannot be reconciled to one another without sacrificing their religious identity. Moorehead, however, does not encourage what he calls a "spiritual Esperanto," identifying the universal truths of various traditions and amalgamating them into a "can't we all just get along" type of belief structure. In fact, he observes the only way for us to live together and grow from our contact with one another is through a scientific-sounding process he calls "mutual irradiation." By sharing what is vital and exciting about her religion, for instance, a Muslim can inspire a Christian to seek the best in the Church, effectively fanning the flames of the collective Spirit.
Moorehead presents a challenge to the commonly held, though rarely mentioned assumption that God is the property of whoever worships God in the correct way. Far from cheapening religion and relegating the infinite and unknowable God to mere symbolic status, therefore, Moorehead's theology of radical inclusion reminds us that God is the God of the entire cosmos, not just the sanctuaries of our synagogues, churches, and mosques. He reorients our understanding of what it means to love our neighbors: not through bland sentimentality, but  through a tireless advocacy for justice for all humanity. No matter how unrealistic, no matter how much of a "lost cause" it may seem, we would do well to abide by Kent Moorehead's charge to follow the example of Jesus and to work for justice as a united human community.
-David Romanik, Chapel Associate for First-year Students, CAS '07 |
Marsh Chapel, Boston University
735 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215
617-353-3560
chapel@bu.edu
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