Marquand...say WHAT!!!

Hey all:

Now it's my pleasure to introduce you to something that many people have talked about in interviews: Marquand Chapel. Marquand is the main chapel at YDS, and every weekday at 10:30 it holds an ecumenical service. As students you will have an active role (if you wish) in leading, participating, and planning services. YDS has a million and seven ways to get involved, and a thousand and six ways to worship. From 10:30am - 11:30am, and again from 12:30pm - 1:30pm every day, there are no classes scheduled on Holy Hill. Instead, we worship and eat together.

The 10:30am Marquand service is ecumenical, and takes a very different form each and every day. The only constants are that Wednesdays are always sung morning prayer, and Fridays always feature a Eucharistic celebration of some kind. Lets take a gander at what went on one random week in the past (direct from the Q Source, our weekly newsletter that hasn't been updated online since 2009):

Monday: "The Healing Balm of God's Word through Song and Dance" Liturgical Dance led by Kathleen Turner with the YDS Liturgical Dance Workshop and the CT Chapter of National Liturgical Dance Network
Tuesday: Quaker Meeting led by YDS fellow Sarah Ruden
Wednesday: Sung Morning Prayer: Songs of the Americas led by Patrick Evans
Thursday: A Bright Week Service in the Byzantine Tradition
Friday: Community Eucharist for the End of Term with Emilie Townes, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, preaching, and Dale Peterson, Dean of Students, presiding.

When service is done at 11:00, there is Coffee Hour in the Common Room. Grab some tea, coffee, an apple or doughnut, perhaps a granola bar, and talk with friends for a bit.

At 12:30pm we have "lunch hour." This is a great time to catch up in the refectory, meet with professors, go to The Carts down the hill a bit, or take part in a meeting. As the Div School does not have classes at this time, groups on campus usually try to hold meetings at this time. Often, this means eating and working at the same time.

Marquand, Coffee hour, and lunch hour for me are some of the greatest things about YDS for me. Other than BTFO (shameless plug), these have helped me feel a sense of community more than other events. Day-in, day-out, knowing that time is set to be with my colleagues and professors and staff support is both comforting and liberating. I look forward to seeing everyone there!