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Post by agibson on Sept 6, 2010 13:10:14 GMT -5
I couldn't quite tell from the above discussion. But, not so long ago, the Sunday night candlelight service was rather "high" church, and _still_ well attended and basically exclusively students. Particularly well attended by the fraternity and sorority set, it seemed. (And in Dan Broekopp's era, at least, with rather good and rather convicting preaching.)
This from '96-'00. At the time it was a (long-standing?) lucernarium-type sung vespers service, cobbled together at the chapel perhaps. Having something to do with the LBW or LW. With the Psalm 141 from the LBW ("Let my prayer rise before you as incense..."). Plenty of incense, robed acolyte, candles.
I thought that kept going for some time thereafter, maybe switching to something like Holden Vespers. I would assume it's still something along those lines.
So, not exactly "low" church.
I'd be curious to know what they're doing these days.
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Post by govalpogo on Sept 6, 2010 20:28:41 GMT -5
Candlelight indeed is still well attended by the Greek crowd. It's set to Holden Evening Prayer and has a homily. Sounds like that hasn't changed much over the last decade or so.
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Post by vu72 on Sept 6, 2010 20:45:53 GMT -5
The issue of form, format and attendance for Sunday services is interesting, but not one we'll solve here. However, the question about the Valpo Brand is very relevant. I participated in the alumni survey in advance of the new branding campaign. One of the concerns I noted at the end of that survey is that much of the wording was very generic: Things like faith, character, mission and Lutheran heritage are all well and good, but say very little about the distinctives of the Christian faith. Even if you search the Valpo website, you'll see few references to anything specific about the Christian faith -- you might see things like "preparing for Christian vocation" or an occasional reference to living with the Christian gospel, but again those are pretty generic. There is nothing specific about what it means to be a Christian, to be a university under the cross of Christ. I'm reminded of the vision of O.P. Kretzmann: "...Only the school with a Christian orientation can today stand before the rising generation and say: We have something to offer you which you can find nowhere else. Others may try to make men scientific; we must do that-and make them wise. Others may give men knowledge; we must give them that-and understanding. Others may try to make men useful; we must do that-and we must make them noble... We are able to give you the fellowship of men and women whose respect for Truth is not vitiated by doubts concerning its reality and permanence. We are able to offer you a school which recognizes the supreme dignity and worth of the individual human being. We are committed to the principle that the destiny of a Christian University lies in the quality of the men and women who are graduated from its halls rather than in quantitative production. Our future lies in the development of men and women, perhaps relatively few in number, whose quality will be so high that they will exert an influence on society which cannot be measured in terms of numbers. Above all, we are deeply committed to the recovery of the one great fact which our wayward world has forgotten: The reality of God and the individual's personal responsibility to Him, a responsibility which can be met only by the fact of the Atonement and the re-establishment of an intimate relationship with the Ruler of the Universe through Him who once entered the stream of time in order to tell men that they could know the Truth and that it would make them free. We can build here a school whose greatness is the greatness of freedom under God, the greatness of the free preservation and transmission of Truth, the greatness of an intelligent and dynamic application of a militant faith. It is our destiny "to enter into the labors and sorrows of the world in order to carry into it the flame of a faith truly free from the world." (from Kretzmann's inagural address, 1940) If we lose the reality of God and the centrality of Christ's atonement, I fear that Valpo becomes just one of many. Well said '95. I'm very impressed that a grad of your youth would be so well versed in the sermons of O.P.. Clearly the Christian faith, and Lutheranism, needs to remain a central part of the mission of Valpo. However, the word "CHristian" , in the words of Alan Harre, has been "hijacked" by the Bible belt. It's use implies fundamentalism and that invokes issues of non-inclusiveness for many. We need to remain dedicated to all that being a Lutheran stands for. Not to convert, but to be willing to make clear the differences and what it means to be Lutheran. For those concerned that this approach will turn off many, remember that there isn't a single course in Lutheranism offered at Valpo. So to return to O.P. for a moment, his message was always clear. He made the Chapel the center of the campus and put it on the highest point for a reason. He is famous for saying this: "If we lose our faith, Valpo will become, just another Princeton".
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Post by valpo76 on Sept 6, 2010 20:50:20 GMT -5
What's wrong with becoming "another Princeton?" We have a long way to go before we're at that level, but if my Valpo degree held the prestige of a Princeton one, I wouldn't care one bit what faith Valpo is connected to.
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Post by fwalum on Sept 6, 2010 21:41:14 GMT -5
Such powerful words! I hope we never lose sight of this vision. Thank you valpo95 for reminding us.
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