The Return of Chapel
By: Heather Strube, Head of School
Chapel is back! How wonderful it is to be worshipping together as a school community again. Here’s a glimpse of what we’ve experienced at chapels the last three weeks:
In order to gather with other grades while also keeping numbers small, we are meeting at three different chapel times for half an hour each—K - 2nd students gather at 9-9:30 a.m.; 3rd - 5th students process in at 9:30 a.m.; and the middle schoolers come together in the sanctuary at 12:30 p.m. Though we are gathering at three different times, the purpose of chapel remains the same, to invite students into worship through songs, scripture, and prayer and to create experiences for them to participate actively through narrating, dramatizing, singing, praying, and journaling.
Teachers are working in chapel teams along with my guidance to design each chapel weekly. To create cohesion between the chapels and to anticipate a time when we will gather all together in the future, each chapel follows a pattern or an order of worship to guide the half hour—a processional, invocation (a welcome and petition), worship in song, scripture reading, storytelling, a response, benediction (blessing), and recessional, which includes singing the doxology. The planning template provides an outline for teachers to plan for students to have similar experiences across the grades though the content will be different.
The K - 2nd grade team is letting their students wiggle in worship through songs with lots of motions and dances led by Ms. Celano and Mrs. Wilcox. Skits acted out by the teachers help the children “see and experience” the story they have just heard. Mrs. Tahan is teaching them the doxology at the end of each chapel, showing them that prayers are not just spoken but sung! In the coming weeks, the K-2 team will continue their journey through themes in the Bible that connect with their curriculum units such as God’s creation, relationships, and community.
In the 3rd – 5th chapel, imagine the surprise on children’s faces when they realized that their PE teacher played the piano and guitar, and their third grade teacher asked for their help to sing and teach her the motions to “Lord, I Lift Your Name on High.” For the first several weeks, the 3rd – 5th grade team is walking their students through the parables of Jesus. Two weeks ago, the carpet in the middle aisle was transformed into the road to Jericho as 4th and 5th graders acted out the parable of the Good Samaritan while Mrs. Robbins read the scripture. Last Friday, Mrs. Kumpf provided a modern retelling of The Prodigal Son with props! In our response, we closed our eyes and imagined the father’s expression when he saw his son a long way off—the father was so excited and happy--and we prayed a thank you prayer, believing God looks at us with the same loving expression every day!
The 6th – 8th grades are in a ten-week series exploring Jesus’ relationships with others. Cambridge’s new office assistant, MacKenzie Bailey and her husband Ryan, kicked off this series as they sat with the middle schoolers and explored how Jesus related to and loved Zacchaeus even as he was hiding in a tree. They modeled how to read a passage of scripture in community with one another and to pay attention to how God may be speaking to them. Last Friday, they focused on how Jesus related to a lawyer who asked him the question, who is my neighbor? In response to the passage, Mr. Buresh asked the students to prayerfully consider, “what question would you like to ask Jesus?” and “how do you imagine Jesus answering you?” The middle school will enjoy the privilege of weekly guest speakers during this series including teachers, parents, pastors, and even a special visit from Mr. Toole!
Chapel is back! And chapel looks different, but with these changes, we are already receiving unexpected gifts and blessings in the new chapel design. The theme for this year is “Come and See!” and this is what we are inviting each student at Cambridge, at every level, to do on Fridays.