St. Paul’s Chapel, one of the first buildings to be designated an official landmark by the city of New York, stands on the Columbia University campus at the top of a hill. Walking through Harlem for the first time to get there on a November Sabbath, I was enchanted by the time we reached the 1904 structure of stone and brick built in the Renaissance Revival style, it is as impressive on the inside as the out. (But it is not to be confused with the St. Paul’s Chapel vintage 1766 that stands near the World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan.)

It was at the Columbia University Chapel that Adventist graduate students gathered to worship in 1968, and where the Adventist Forum chapter they formed came into being. So it was only fitting for them to return to this site for a worship service on the 40th anniversary of the chapter’s founding. As Judy Rittenhouse, one of the original members, noted in her remembrances of times past, location, location, location made the services special.

A songfest started the service. Then there was a liturgy with Scriptural readings from Judges, 1 Thessalonians, and Matthew. In his homily Dr. Les Wright drew on these Scriptures to talk about God and His Plan for the future.

Soaring musical numbers made the anniversary event a worship service to remember. Baritone Ralph Candelaria’s gentle rendition of “Give Me Jesus” brought tears to my eyes. Soprano Faith Esham, who planned the service, sang “Bist de bei mir” by JS Bach, her glorious operatic voice soaring through the vaulted space. Glazunov’s violin “Meditation” played by Lynelle Smith and Liszt’s piano “Paysage” played by Russell Chin were punctuated by original poetry by Gina Rae Foster and a reading by Jan Anderson. Don Shortslef on the piano accompanied himself singing an original composition “It Could Have Been Me.” Then it was time for chapter history. After Ron Lawson shared stories from earlier days, one member reminded him of the time limitations in the chapel, and the music awaiting. Tenor Ronoldo Appleton performed a heart-rending version of “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child.” To close the service all of the soloists plus more musicians from the audience formed a chorus to sing Brahms “How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place.”

Lovely indeed was the place and the time together. Conversations, usually the centerpiece of Forum meetings, this time were reserved for the steps outside the chapel as people from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and New York greeted each other.
This Forum chapter has made worship a centerpiece of their time together. Visiting with them on this special occasion demonstrated the beauty and power of the worship experience.

Bonnie Dwyer is editor of Spectrum Magazine

For more on the history of the NY Adventist Forum click http://www.mnyaforum.org/ and select the 'History' link on the left-hand-side of the page.

by tedMEDIA productions

On Saturday night, November 15, between 100 and 150 people visited the CREDO Art Show, held at the Hollywood Seventh-day Adventist Church. The CREDO Art show was an artistic exploration of The Apostles’ Creed and the culmination of nearly a year of thinking and planning and nearly three months of worship services and sermons.

The evening began at 7:00 pm when the doors to the church opened. Behind the scenes, a team of about a dozen people were scurrying to put the finishing touches on the main gallery. By 7:30 pm there were 70–80 people in the foyer of the church, eating refreshments that were also artfully created by another team of church members and friends. At 7:30 we gave a very brief introduction and opened the door to the main gallery. For the next two and a half hours people came and went, enjoying some incredible art and having conversation.

For years I have wanted to do a sermon series on The Apostles’ Creed, exploring the ancient statement of faith phrase by phrase. While many Christians repeat the creed weekly in worship it is quite foreign to most Seventh-day Adventists, so I felt it would be an ironically fresh and almost edgy way to approach the subject of “belief” and “beliefs.” Our congregation is also pretty action oriented. It’s unusual for us to spend several months talking about our beliefs, so I felt it would be a good change of pace.

But I wanted more than just a one-way conversation about the Apostles’ Creed, where I stood up front week by week and intoned about orthodoxy. I wanted a real conversation. Most worship services are not set up for this, including our own, but we devised some ways to increase the interactivity.

Each week there were blank sheets of paper in the bulletin with the subject of that week’s sermon, the creedal phrase we were exploring and the question, “What do you believe?” We invited people to write their expressions of faith and conviction or to draw sketches of their beliefs, during the sermon. We collected close to 100 of these pages during the course of our 12-week series. These results were beautiful and thoughtful. You can see a sample of these God, believe about Jesus, and and Jesus’ Nature. A more comprehensive feature will be coming soon.

The CREDO Art Show concept was hatched nearly a year ago in conversation with our leadership. Scott Arany, who is pursuing his M.A. in Worship, Theology and the Arts at Fuller Theological Seminary, and one of our church elders, wrote to me on December 4, 2007:

Something in my studies tonight prompted this idea that could go along with your idea for a sermon series on the Apostles Creed. Here are my rough thoughts. Let me know what you think.

Credo, “I Believe.” An artistic and musical representation of our faith…. Present as an art gallery with a concert. Music could be composed in advance…. I’ve long wondered what a visual statement of belief would look like, instead of only a printed sheet of bullet-points.

To see this dream fulfilled was inspiring. The goal was conversation; and a broader conversation than just words and the traditional vernacular of modern theological discourse. For centuries, music and the arts have been a central part of theological conversation. We wanted to revive this in our congregation. Our gallery—indeed, all art galleries or concerts—are about listening. One guest said to me, as we were looking a mixed-media piece in the gallery, “I like the fact that you guys are listening.” The comment took me by surprise. Not everyone would ‘get’ what we were doing so quickly, but he had discerned our intentions perfectly.

Among the paintings, photographs, poetry, an architectural model, a listening station, a sculpture and other mixed-media pieces, people’s faith was on display, and not just the faith of our church’s members. There were contributions from a local public high school, from friends of our members, and from friends of friends. Dozens of people visited the gallery that night that I had never seen before. We knew we didn’t want to spend a lot of money and time putting on an art show for our members alone. It just didn’t seem worth it. But the prospect of widening the conversation about faith through art to include our community outside the church was something that really excited us.

Our congregation is blessed with some incredible artists. If I tried to name them all I would certainly miss several, but one example will do. Sean Amlaner is a graduate of Southern Adventist University. He has been in Los Angeles for the past two years working in Hollywood as a special-effects artist on major motion pictures like The Incredible Hulk. Sean was the mastermind behind the transformation our very ordinary Chapel into an art gallery. He marshaled the energies of more than a dozen volunteers who worked tirelessly until the moment the doors opened.

It was a group effort that involved dozens of our members, friends in other churches and in our community, over almost a year.

If you attended the show, we would love to know what you thought. Please leave a comment below about your experience.
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Ryan Bell is Pastor of the Hollywood Seventh-day Adventist Church where this report was originally posted.