If you go to or went to a Christian college, you probably already know about chapel services. If you don’t, you might be able to guess: a few times a week, the entire campus will gather in one place to worship God in fellowship together. At Rochester College, the very first chapel of every school year serves another purpose: to remind the students of the sense of community which is so prevalent on our campus. This chapel ceremony always begins with a procession of college faculty dressed up in their graduation caps and gowns. Most of the students may roll their eyes or joke about “the professor parade,” but this tradition serves to remind the entire Rochester College community that great things are possible for those who work hard to achieve them. Many of the professors at Rochester College have earned their doctorates or masters degrees and others are in the process of earning them or earned them while simultaneously teaching at the college. In large part, our professors are our role models, the people we look up to. I can name quite a few professor-student duos at Rochester College: pairs who are so similar it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between the individuals. And in these pairs, the student always looks up to the professor. Our professors are part of what molds us into who we are.
The community is the other part of what molds us. It has become a tradition for the mayor of Rochester Hills to speak at the first chapel of the school year to greet the new students, welcome back the old, and remind us all of the close-knit community we have entered. Once the mayor has spoken, the college President will speak, followed by the Dean of Students and the Student Body President. I’m sure this is pretty typical to any large start-of-school gathering, but what comes next may not be. Together, everyone present will recite the Academic Covenant, which begins, “As participants in the Rochester College community.” At Rochester College, community comes first. Inclusion comes first. Being a part of something comes first. At Rochester College, the collective “we” is so much more important than “I” or “you,” because community is central to everything the college stands for.
And at the center of the community is chapel, that biweekly gathering where the Rochester College community gathers in fellowship. If you’ve ever heard of “Lord of the Rings,” you probably know that Frodo was not alone in his quest to cast the Ring into the fires of Mount Doom. He was accompanied by the Fellowship of the Ring, whose sole purpose was to support Frodo and ensure that the task was finished. The Fellowship was his friends, his companions, his comrades. They were Frodo’s community, who stood at his side and supported him so that he would not fail. The fellowship which is central to chapel meetings spreads through the Rochester College campus, bonding students and staff alike. The strength of a fellowship comes from the relationships which are forged, and at Rochester College, those relationships begin with Chapel–when the entire campus gathers together in fellowship.
