As an ecumenical Christian divinity school, YDS is committed to maintaining worship at the heart of our community and the foundation of theological education. For that reason, every day that classes are in session, Marquand Chapel offers ecumenical Christian worship services at 11:30 a.m. No YDS classes are scheduled during that time, providing an opportunity for the whole community to gather for worship and fellowship.

As a collaboration between YDS and the Institute of Sacred Music, Marquand Chapel’s ministry connects students, faculty, and staff to God and to one another in community; expands experiential awareness of diverse Christian traditions, practices, and sacred arts across lines of denominational, liturgical, and cultural difference; and helps integrate the intellectual, vocational, artistic, relational, and spiritual formation that occurs in classrooms and practical training. 

Marquand worship draws on a wide range of Christian traditions represented at YDS as well as engaging from time to time with the voices of other faiths. While Marquand services are specifically and diversely Christian in orientation and content, the ministry welcomes people of all faiths and spiritual perspectives to attend and participate.

Services are about thirty minutes long, extended to forty-five minutes on Fridays for the weekly Communion celebration. Students, faculty, and staff from across the school participate as service leaders, and many services feature sermons preached by faculty and staff, as well as guest preachers. Students are invited to apply to give a sermon in their senior year. Community singing is central to our worship, supported by student singers and instrumentalists, as well as visiting musicians. Many other liturgical arts are employed, including poetry, dance, theater, and visual arts.

The Marquand Chapel program is led by the dean of chapel and two professional staff: the director of chapel music and the chapel liturgy and operations manager. The professional chapel staff supervise the student chapel team, which includes student chapel ministers, student coordinators, communications and art ministers, choir directors, organists and other 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, student groups, faculty, staff, and visitors regularly involved in planning services. Faculty are invited to propose chapel services in conjunction with their YDS and ISM 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, including 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, as well as in Marquand, are organized by various denominational groups and student clubs. 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 people of any faith or worldview. The room has no specific religious imagery posted and includes prayer rugs, prayer beads, icons, 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 an 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.