'09, told about her mom passing away when Ladi was a freshman. Te love and support of so many friends, coaches, and teachers sitting in the front row during Ladi’s Chapel was, quite honestly, the most moving public event in which I’ve ever participated. the next Te student sermons, however, are not only about tragedy. Peter Hartwig '12 delivered a recent Easter sermon based in his indepen- dent study on 20th
Century German Teo-
logians: Bultmann, Bonhoeffer, and Barth. Devon Balicki '10, gave a philosophically vast sermon on the search for authentic iden- tity in the beautiful setting of the 3rd Annual Outdoor Upper School Chapel. From Freud to Buddha, Gita to Gospel, many a gradu-
ate student would have envied the range of references. A further indication of the com- munity nature of Chapel is the Outdoor Chapel itself, a favorite spring tradition. Te idea began with Elliott Harding '08 who also went on to give the sermon at the Moving- Up Chapel.
A similar community process has been under- way with student music. Early in their senior years, Katie Vogel, class of 2007, performed a beautiful solo acoustic version of “Morn- ing Has Broken,” followed by Patrick Chabot '07, who played Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelu- jah.” A gateway of student Chapel perfor- mance opened, and along came further mu- sicians like Genna Matthew '09, Tom Rathe
'10 Steven Decker '11, Clair Hong '11, and Ryan Sung '12. Tom played so much for Cha- pel during his junior and senior years that he became dubbed “the house band.” When the power went out prior to Kiki Franco’s Cha- pel, and only an electric piano was available, Steven stepped in to play acoustic guitar.
Head of School David Lourie participates in Chapels across all four divisions and highly values the community heart shown through the program. “Chapel is when we are at our best,” he says. “Writing and delivering a Cha- pel sermon is the epitome of authentic learn- ing, when a student takes all of the essential skills learned and honed over the course of high school, applies them to an important
God’s Presence and the Power of Prayer from the Chapel Gallery
, during Middle School Chapel. I
recently heard a story about a man hiking by himself in the mountains. As he hiked through a heavily wooded area, he en- countered a large bear. Now, experts tell us that the best thing
to do in this circumstance is not to run, but to remain still. Te man knelt down and began to pray. “God, please help me to be safe and to know how to deal with this scary situation.” As he opened his eyes, to his amazement, he noticed that the bear was also kneeling in prayer. As he listened to the bear’s prayer, he heard, “Lord, thank you for this food I am about to receive.”
I was 20 years old – not that much older than those of you sitting in the top rows. Having finished my last exam, I returned home for the summer aſter my junior year of college. I looked forward to the break and spending time with my friends. And, like I had done every sum- mer since 5th
grade, I would spend the summer building a house. My
father was a college professor and to help support a family of eight, we built houses during the summer months. However, little did I
14 – PERSPECTIVES/SUMMER 2011
by Michael Waylett
Each week in the Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools, an individual–usually a student or member of the faculty–delivers the Chapel sermon. These sermons are saved and archived, and are a living testament to the St. Anne's-Belfield School Chapel program. The homily below was given by Michael Waylett, Associate Head of School, on Friday, February 18th
know, this summer would be different. I walked into the house, gave my mother a hug, and she immediately told me I needed to call my father. My parents had been divorced for several years, and my father lived on the other side of town. It was there, sitting in his car in the driveway, that my father told me he had been diagnosed with cancer a few weeks ago. Te prognosis was not good, and he told me that he would spend most of the summer in a hospital eight hours away receiving treatment. I was in shock. How could this strong, healthy, 42-year-old man be sharing such devastating news?
As I sat there trying to deal with and understand what I had just heard, my father quickly turned the conversation to the house we were scheduled to build that summer. A contract had already been signed and, true to form, backing out of this arrangement was not an option my father would even consider. With help from two of my father’s colleagues, whose construction knowledge was minimal, and my 19-year-old sister, I would be in charge of building the house this
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