As an ecumenical Christian divinity school, YDS is committed to maintaining worship at the heart of our community and the foundation of theological education. Every day that classes are in session, there is a community hour when no classes or meetings are held, providing an opportunity for daily Christian worship and community fellowship, which are central to our purpose.

Worship services are held in Marquand Chapel at 11:30 a.m. and last thirty minutes, except on Fridays, when the service is extended to forty-five minutes to celebrate Eucharist, Holy Communion, or the Lord’s Supper.

Daily worship in Marquand Chapel draws on the many Christian traditions represented at YDS as well as engaging from time to time with the voices of other faiths. Services are led by YDS students, faculty, and staff from across the school. Many services feature sermons preached by faculty and staff, as well as guest preachers, and students are invited to apply to give a sermon in their senior year. Community singing is central to our worship, supported by student choirs and regularly visiting musicians, and many other liturgical arts are employed—from dance, to visual arts, to theater, to poetry.

The Marquand Chapel program is led by the dean of chapel and two professional staff: the liturgical minister and director of chapel music. The professional chapel staff supervise the student chapel team, which includes student chapel ministers, choir directors, musicians, and chair movers. Opportunities to join the team are posted each year. Worship planning is highly collaborative and varied, led by the chapel staff and chapel team, with other students, faculty, staff, and visitors regularly involved in planning services. Faculty are invited to propose chapel services in conjunction with their YDS courses, providing a concrete way for students to consider their theological education in the context of worship and to share what they’ve learned in the classroom with the wider YDS community. An advisory committee with faculty, staff, and student representatives works with the dean of chapel to provide regular feedback and counsel about the chapel program and chapel worship experience.

There are other opportunities for worship at YDS—in the Henri Nouwen Chapel on the lower level of the library, and at St. Luke’s Chapel at the Berkeley Center. Services in these chapels are organized by various denominational groups. Daily and weekly worship services offered by Andover Newton Seminary and Berkeley Divinity School are open to all YDS students.

In addition to these Christian-centered worship spaces, in which all are welcome, YDS has a prayer/meditation room specially designed for any faith or worldview. The room contains no specific religious imagery, and includes prayer rugs, prayer beads, meditation cushions, flameless candles, and other implements, as well as prayer books from different faith traditions, to aid spiritual practice. Guidelines are posted in the room, and no worship services or meetings are held there, in order to keep it available for its primary purpose as in inclusive space for individual prayer and reflection.

A rich variety of worship is offered by many religious traditions throughout the University. Yale’s historic University Church at Battell Chapel offers ecumenical Christian Sunday morning worship. The Chaplain’s Office, directed by Yale University Chaplain Maytal Saltiel, offers or coordinates programs of worship and spiritual reflection throughout campus and is a point of contact for connections with all major religious faiths within Yale and throughout New Haven. Resources are listed at http://chaplain.yale.edu.