Religion

Perhaps you’ve seen the houses on the red brick walk replete with huge white banners: “CELEBRATING 93 YEARS: THE INTERNATIONAL ORDER OF THE KING’S DAUGHTERS AND SONS!” and wondered what an international order was or why it necessitates three houses and a chapel on the grounds.

Echoes of weeping, wailing, worrying and lamenting will fill the Amphitheater today. But don’t worry — it will just be the Massey Memorial Organ as organist Jared Jacobsen performs a somber mini-concert at 2 p.m. Jacobsen will play Franz Liszt’s “Variations on Bach’s ‘Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen,’” which translates to “Weeping, Wailing, Worrying, Lamenting,” and Olivier Messiaen’s “Dieu Parmi Nous,” or “God Among Us.”

It’s cool outside and probably cloudy, since the sun is still deciding whether to make an appearance this morning. You blink several times, shove your gate pass blindly in the direction of a sleepy attendant and wheel your bike through the Main Gate. You enter the Welcome Center, glimpsing a simple black-and-white sign guiding you toward your destination. You open the door. A blast of heat. You take a seat with 20 other Chautauquans of all ages. You breathe deep and begin.

For one of the only times during the Chautauqua Season, the music at this Sunday’s Sacred Song service will not be the main element of the evening. Some audience members may zone in on the candles; others may notice the robes; and many in the back of the Amphitheater will take in banners that run from ceiling to floor.

The Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, director of the Interfaith Alliance, a national non-partisan grassroots and educational organization, and pastor for preaching and worship of the Northminster Baptist Church in Monroe, La., is the chaplain for Week Four. He will preach at the 10:45 a.m. morning worship service on Sunday in the Amphitheater.

If there are traits that the Rev. Tony Campolo embodies, they are enthusiasm, energy and joy in taking action, so I was surprised that he and his wife Peggy had moved into a retirement community. “Yes,” he said, “I did move into a retirement community, but you should not retire. I was with some UCLA students. They were so cynical. I said to them, ‘I am 76, and you are 23, and I am younger than you. You are as young as your dreams and old as your cynicism. I am still dreaming.”

Emma Morehart | Staff Writer Nearly a century before the Massey Memorial Organ’s birth, César Franck, Franz Liszt and Aristide Cavaillé-Coll formed a trinity of

The Sacred Song service will take on a somber tone this Sunday as the choir and congregation sing in honor of lost loved ones. At 8 p.m. Sunday in the Amphitheater, Chautauquans can memorialize their lost friends and family by singing and signing books during the “In Remembrance” service.

Before he was the abbot of a Zen Buddhist center, Michael O’Sullivan was a New York City detective for 20 years. You read that right. In fact, if it weren’t for an accident while he was on the job, O’Sullivan might not have discovered meditation at all.

In 1978, the Rev. Anthony Campolo came to Chautauqua and spoke for the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle on William Easum’s Sacred Cows make Gourmet Burgers. Since that time, he has returned to Chautauqua frequently to speak from various pulpits on the grounds. He returns as the Week Three chaplain beginning at the 10:45 a.m. Sunday-morning worship service. His sermon title is “An Emerging Church for a Post-Modern Era.” His Scripture is Matthew 6:25-30. He will speak about his faith journey at the 5 p.m. Sunday Vespers and at the 9:15 a.m. morning worship service Monday through Friday.

A Methodist, a Presbyterian, a UCC and a rabbi walk into Chautauqua, and what do they find? A safe place, space and time for interfaith dialogue through the New Clergy Program sponsored by the Department of Religion. During this week, 16 religious leaders who have been out of school no more than seven years are participating in a unique seminar that uses the programs of Chautauqua to provide an interfaith experience.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori shared some of her faith journey at the 5 p.m. Vespers Service Sunday. Ruth Becker, registrar at the United Church of Christ denominational houses, served as liturgist, and Janet Miller provided accompaniment on the piano. Born in Pensacola, Fla., while her father was in the Navy, Jefferts Schori grew up outside of Seattle until she was 9 years old.

Joan Brown Campbell labors over the prayers she writes for the service on the Fourth of July. “Joan probably spends more time working on her prayers for the Fourth of July weekend than any other day of the year,” said Jared Jacobsen, organist and coordinator of worship and sacred music. Actually, Campbell and Jacobsen work well in advance to plan the Fourth of July services.

“Unless you educate the young people, you will not succeed,” said featured speaker Eboo Patel to representatives of Chautauqua Institution at The Ismaili Centre in London in fall 2005. Patel lauded Chautauqua Institution for its dedication to promoting interfaith education and teaching about the relationships found within the Abrahamic tradition and particularly about Islam.

The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson will be the chaplain for Week Two at Chautauqua. He will preach today through Friday at the 9:15 a.m. worship service in the Amphitheater. Today, his theme is “God Bless America: Be Careful What You Pray for!”; Tuesday is “Religion and Politics: A Controversial Brew”; Wednesday is “Give me your tired, your poor: ‘Who is My Neighbor?’”; Thursday is “From ‘More’ to ‘Enough’: Moral Economics in the Me-First World”; Friday is “Putting the ‘Common’ Back into the “Common Good”: Critiquing the American Dream.”

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church in the United States, will preach at the 10:45 a.m. Sunday worship service. Jefferts Schori will also speak on her faith journey at the 5 p.m. Sunday Vespers Service at the Hall of Philosophy. Her sermon title is “Applied Ethics: Government and the Search for the Common Good.” Her text is Deuteronomy 10:17–21.