The Chapel Programming Team desires to move Chapel in a more worship-based direction. The Chapel Programming Team and I seem to have two different definitions of worship.

Right now Chapel nearly mimics what we do in church. We sing, pray, read scripture and listen to a speaker.

Is this all there is to worship? Is worship confined to what we do in church? I don’t think so.

I believe worship extends beyond what we do in the traditional church service. As Christians, our entire lives are worship-which includes our gifts, service and activities.

Hebrews 12:1 says: “I urge you brothers…to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship.” The writer does not urge his audience to worship only while in formal assembly.

He tells them that their spiritual act of worship is to be a living sacrifice. This means worship must be more than what we do in church.

Chapel should also be more than what we do in church. Chapel should be an opportunity for the ACU community to worship in varied ways and to see how others in the community worship. Students have been gifted with so many godly talents it seems ludicrous to stifle the opportunity to display these gifts in the name of worship.

The Chapel Programming Team has taken away the opportunity for many different student organizations to be highlighted in Chapel.

The removal of election speeches, Shades performances, Prickly Pear presentation, and Spring Break Campaign Chapel are examples of these lost opportunities. Why are these things not considered worthy to be in Chapel? These activities are the extension of worship in students’ lives.

Have we drawn the line of worship at singing, praying and listening to a speaker? This is a dangerous mindset.

If this is the worship-based direction the Chapel Programming Team is seeking, the student body needs to take a stand.

It is time to inform the Chapel Programming Team that our entire lives are worship, not just what we do on Sunday morning.

Katrina Keichline
junior Christian ministry major from Cheshire, Conn.