Joshua Stafford, director of sacred music and the Jared Jacobsen Chair for the Organist, turns from directing the Chautauqua Choir to lead the congregation in a hymn during the Sacred Song Service last Sunday in the Amphitheater.
Chautauquans have participated in an evening song service or Vespers since 1874. The Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle has held a vigil on the Sunday night before Recognition Day since the first class graduated in 1882.
In 2021, the Department of Religion and the CLSC began to work together to honor the CLSC graduating class. That newer tradition continues 8 p.m. Sunday evening in the Amphitheater, when the Sacred Song Service will include and honor the CLSC Class of 2024, the Oren Lyons Class.
“Wonder and Awe,” is the theme of the service, developed by Joshua Stafford, director of sacred music and the Jared Jacobsen Chair for the Organist. The class name is “Sesquicentennial Stewards” and has chosen “Reading and Responsibility” as its motto. The class symbol is a bee, and that will be reflected in a reading of “The Bee,” by Emily Dickinson.
The Rt. Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton, senior pastor for Chautauqua, will preside. Class members Sarah Masters, Lisette Alfaro-Berg and Merry Meyers will serve as readers. The Chautauqua Choir will be under the direction of Stafford. Rees Taylor Roberts, 2024 organ scholar, will provide accompaniment. The CLSC Class of 2024 will be seated in the choir loft.
One of the authors who influenced the class in its choice of class flowers — asters, goldenrod and the American Chestnut — was Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of the 2022 CLSC selection Braiding Sweetgrass.
“Our elders say that ceremony is the way we can remember to re-member,” Kimmerer wrote in Braiding Sweetgrass. “In the dance of the giveaway, remember that the earth is a gift that we must pass on, just as it came to us. When we forget, the dances we’ll need will be for mourning. … Whatever our gift, we are called to give it and to dance for the renewal of the world. In return for the privilege of breath.”
A 2023 Interfaith Lecture Series speaker, Oren Lyons, faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan and a member of the Onondaga Indian Nation Council of Chiefs of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, or the Haudenosaunee (People of the Long House), the class honoree of the Class of 2024, will also have his words included in the service: “Be your own leader. You don’t need somebody telling you what to do. You think for yourself. Otherwise how are we going to gain if we don’t have this great wealth of intelligence?”
Other readings come from The Creation, by James Weldon Johnson; scripture; a “Litany for the CLSC” and “Prayers for the Four Pillars.” The anthems include “Sure on this shining night,” music by Samuel Barber and words by James Agee; “For the beauty of the earth,” music by John Rutter and words by Folliott Sandford Pierpont; and “The Call of Wisdom,” music by Will Todd and words from Proverbs 8 adapted by Michael Hampnel.
After the playing of “Largo” on the Massey Memorial Organ, the CLSC Class of 2024 will proceed to the Hall of Philosophy for its Vigil Ceremony — another CLSC ritual going back to 1882. The congregation is invited to process behind the class and participate in the Vigil Ceremony, followed by a reception at the Literary Arts Center at Alumni Hall.
