Today the chapel at Virginia Theological Seminary was destroyed by fire. It is amazing how quickly someone, me, can become attached to a building. But the chapel at VTS was more than a building, it was a place of worship and formation. My mentor worshipped there as a seminarian about 60 years ago. Countless students worshiped there three times a day for 130 years. The formation of deacons, priests, and bishops occurred within the chapel. The joys and sorrows, the prayers and tears that filled the chapel have all been laid to rest by fire.
There are physical aspects of the chapel that can not be replaced like the Tiffany window or the African wood of the altar rail. Another window and different wood will be used when the chapel is rebuilt, but it is really the spirit of the chapel that is lost forever.
When I visited the VTS campus last spring it was Eucharist in the chapel that helped me to know I belonged here. As a student this fall I looked forward to 8am Morning Prayer in the chapel on Monday, it was a great way to start the week. During our Quiet Day this fall I spent time praying in the chapel and getting to know the chapel. I sat in different places, I read the plaques on the wall, I touched the wood of the altar rail, I became very attached to the chapel.
Now I am looking at the probability that my time here at VTS will not include a chapel. Yes the chapel will be rebuilt. And yes I will be here for the ground breaking of the new chapel. But it is probable that the consecration of the chapel will not occur while I am still a student, these projects just take too long.
Of course worship will continue somewhere, but it won’t be our chapel. It will be some other temporary building and that seems to fall short of what our chapel brings to everyone.
I am not certain what my formation as a priest will be like without the chapel. With God and the VTS community formation will occur, even without the chapel, but it will be different.
In closing this is the prayer offered by the Very Reverend Ian Markham as the VTS community gathered:
Loving God, we give you thanks. Our sense of loss is great—so our pain, our worry, our concerns. We give you the thousands of memories that go with our chapel. We trust that in you our memories are captured and saved for our eternal life. We give thanks for the community services that came to help us—firefighters and police. Our community is at prayer, and we give thanks that the fire was contained and that no lives were lost. We give you our concerns and worries. We pray for wisdom and discernment and we offer this moment and ourselves to you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen
