Chaplain in need of some help...

[DrPhil]

Think of prayer as a time of deep reflection, meditation, and spirituality that people of all faiths share. I have Christians and Jews in my family and we pray together all the time when we're around each other. "A family that prays together stays together." We do such things as referencing God but not Christ so prayer can be an inclusive venture. "Thank you for this gathering...we pray for strength (to what or whom they pray is their business)..etc.." When you create a prayer, read it to see if someone could guess what "religion" you subscribe to just based on the prayer. If they could, revise your prayer to be less "religion" and more "spiritual."

rant/
This is not an issue in every collegiate and graduate chapter because some chapter members are so close that they do know someone's professed faith, including chapters that attend religious services together. That can also have to do with the majority religious demographic in an area. However, when the religious and faith demographic of the chapter knowingly changes, they should make the necessary adjustments without making anyone feel left out. For the record, part of this involves steering away from statements like "XYZ is an organization based on (insert religion) principles" unless there is hard evidence to that fact. /rant

[ASTalumna06]

With my chapter, when it came to the more "creative" part of the Chaplain's job where she could read what she liked, it was usually a very general, inspirational quote. Sometimes they were funny, sometimes they were serious, but they always appealed to the chapter as a whole.

Some of my favorites that I'll never forget:

"Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I'll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no goals and I'll give you a stock clerk."
- J.C. Penney

"I don't believe the accident of birth makes people sisters or brothers. It makes them siblings. Gives them mutuality of parentage. Sisterhood and brotherhood is a condition people have to work at."
- Maya Angelo

You could also say a quote that was made by a prominent sister, or a sister who has had a great influence on the sorority in the past (such as one of the founders). A few times, our Chaplains have recited quotes made by national staff members at conventions or leadership workshops.

There are many different things you can do with this. Try and ask the sisters what they would like to hear. This will give you a better idea as to which direction you should be headed in when trying to come up with something to say.

[MysticCat]

The first thought I had was to wonder whether ADPi has any resources for chaplains.

Originally Posted by ADPiTigergurl

We really aren't all that diverse: we have CHristians, Jews (they use the Torah, prettys sure its like 36 books of the Old Testament . . .

Just FYI, the Torah is the first 5 books of the Christian Old Testament. The Hebrew Bible (the Tanakh or Mikra) consists of the Law (Torah), the Prophets (Nevi'im) and the Writings (Ketuvim). It basically consists of the 39 books of the Protestant, or shared Christian, Old Testament, altough the books are ordered, grouped and numbered differently, so that what is 39 books in the Protestant Old Testament = 21 books in the Tanakh.

And yes, I referred to the Protestant Old Testament. For historical reasons, Catholic and Orthodox Old Testaments have books and material that is not in the Protestant Old Testament. The original Christian Bibles used the Greek version of the Jewish Bible (the Septuagint) as a source, not the Hebrew version. The Septuagint included books and passages that the Hebrew version did not. At the Reformation, Protestants rejected all portions of the Old Testament not found in the Hebrew version, leaving the 39 books recognized by all Christian churches. The Septuagint "extras" are sometimes published separately in Protestant Bibles as the Apocrypha.

More than you wanted to know, I'm sure, but potentially helpful info I hope if you're trying to be sensitive to different traditions represented in your chapter.

Thus endeth the lesson for today.

Originally Posted by DrPhil

This is not an issue in every collegiate and graduate chapter because some chapter members are so close that they do know someone's professed faith, including chapters that attend religious services together.

It's also not an issue for some groups because some groups do not have a chaplain position and do not incorporate anything like devotions into their meetings or activities.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

The first thought I had was to wonder whether ADPi has any resources for chaplains.
Just FYI, the Torah is the first 5 books of the Christian Old Testament. The Hebrew Bible (the Tanakh or Mikra) consists of the Law (Torah), the Prophets (Nevi'im) and the Writings (Ketuvim). It basically consists of the 39 books of the Protestant, or shared Christian, Old Testament, altough the books are ordered, grouped and numbered differently, so that what is 39 books in the Protestant Old Testament = 21 books in the Tanakh.

And yes, I referred to the Protestant Old Testament. For historical reasons, Catholic and Orthodox Old Testaments have books and material that is not in the Protestant Old Testament. The original Christian Bibles used the Greek version of the Jewish Bible (the Septuagint) as a source, not the Hebrew version. The Septuagint included books and passages that the Hebrew version did not. At the Reformation, Protestants rejected all portions of the Old Testament not found in the Hebrew version, leaving the 39 books recognized by all Christian churches. The Septuagint "extras" are sometimes published separately in Protestant Bibles as the Apocrypha.

More than you wanted to know, I'm sure, but potentially helpful info I hope if you're trying to be sensitive to different traditions represented in your chapter.

Thus endeth the lesson for today.

It's also not an issue for some groups because some groups do not have a chaplain position and do not incorporate anything like devotions into their meetings or activities.

Hee hee hee...glad you said it! I remember the first time I saw a "Catholic" bible. I was like, "What book is this?!"

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

Hee hee hee...glad you said it! I remember the first time I saw a "Catholic" bible. I was like, "What book is this?!"

Not to mention the "lost" books of Thomas, Mary Magdalene etc.

See if you can get a good basic poetry anthology (this is one I like a lot) and just look through it and see what you can find. Not only can you find things that are inspirational, it can make you think. It's always fun to read a quote and have everyone think it's from the Bible, and it turns out to be Robert Frost instead.

[kddani]

Our chaplain even occasionally used Jack Handy quotes.

There's a lot of inspirational things out there that aren't religion based.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

The first thought I had was to wonder whether ADPi has any resources for chaplains.

I would look into this, as well. I know that our Chaplains have a book from which they can read if they don't wish to find something on their own. See if ADPi has a resource that can be distributed to all of the chapters for the Chaplain. Sometimes, over the years, things get lost in the mix. Perhaps there is a resource available to you through HQ, but your chapter hasn't ordered it, not knowing that there was even something like that out there.