40 Days, 40 Churches
Day 30: Marsh Chapel, Boston MA
I imagine at least a few of you are familiar with this building, even if just from walking by it. Original plans were for something much grander, but had to be scaled back due to cost and stability concerns (our campus is, in large part, built on landfill). Even so, it's one of the better on-campus chapels I've been in, and does a nice job balancing spiritual needs with secular/educational themes (where else can you find stained glass windows with Presidents Lincoln and Cleveland?).
I can't say I was a regular celebrant here. I occasionally went to the mid-day Mass on holidays, jammed in with the rest of the C&E Catholics. I went to the evening Mass more often than I'd care to remember. This is the "contemporary" service, or as I like to call it, the hippie Mass. Lots of guitar, hand-holding and other stuff that I try to avoid. Only on one or two occasions did I attend the night Mass with instrumental music, which is odd as it's the one I most preferred. I just never quite got worked up enough to make the walk down from West Campus every week.
The last couple of years that I worked at BU I would go to the Good Friday meditations, where a variety of chaplains would speak, with sermons separated by music. It takes three hours to sit through the whole thing, which I never did.
And, of course, I've been to one wedding there, complete with an appearance from Rhett. I'll let those more directly involved with the experience comment if they so choose.
06 March 2008
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2 comments:
Went to Marsh Chapel exactly once as a student for a Palm Sunday Mass, which is my personal favorite because you basically get a theatrical production (the Passion) in the middle of Mass. Was very disappointed in the Marsh Chapel version. Have been there only once since, for the aforementioned wedding.
I'm curious to see how the church of my husband's people handles Palm Sunday. Am not expecting it to be nearly as fun as the Catholic Mass, but on the plus side it seems to be a given that there will be less kneeling involved.
The other problem with Marsh is it's pew design. Let's assume it's a mid winter day. It's 1pm, immediately following lunch. You can sit in a pew and put your feet up on the hymnal racks in front of you. With the steam heat in the building, it was almost inevitable that you would fall asleep. This would be embarrassing as a seminary student, except that most of the other students were doing the same.
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