New Sculpture, New Job, New Ideas

One of the very cool things about APTS is the fact that we have an artist in residence, C.D. Weaver. C.D. is a retired pastor and former faculty member here. After retiring from active ministry C.D. learned metal working and began his second career as an artist. All over our campus are pieces that he has created and added to the seminary collection. This is his latest piece that he brought in on Friday. I helped him move it into position and talked with him about it for a couple minutes. He and I were both very excited about the possible uses the sculpture could have in a worship/ministry setting. He said you could place a large bowl in the center as a baptismal font, use the center to hold the fire for the Easter Vigil, or use a very large diameter candle as the Paschal Candle, plus many more ideas.

One of the things that really excites me about this sculpture is the fact that it shows how people can add to the worship experience without preaching, or singing, or playing the piano. All of those traditional ways of leading and adding to the worship experience are great and useful (I hope preaching is useful) but they limit so many people that would like to give their gifts for worship.

This year I've begun a new job on campus, Chapel Beadle. Most of my duties center around worship and making sure the chapel is in decent order. This year I also put together the signup sheet for chapel worship.  I added places for students to volunteer to bake communion bread and contribute graphic art and contribute in other ways. I'm excited about the ways that students (and student's spouses and family members) can contribute to worship.

I'm excited about the new semester in general and all of the new opportunities that are before me; Student Senate, our trip to Israel & Egypt, my work at University Presbyterian, and the Company of New Pastors, plus all my classes (or at least some of my classes). But I'll have more time to talk about all those later, right now I have to assign chapel teams and encourage students to find new ways to contribute to worship.