I have described the morning devotions in previous blogs. Recently, I have sat through multiple services. Each has its own style and structure. Last Thursday, to add to the diversity, we conducted a Torah service and invited everyone so they could see what it's like. I have appreciated the openness and willingness to explore each other's beliefs and customs.
We have a schedule for who leads the Protestant worship lab. Out of 20 chaplains, 15 attend the service, each coming from a different branch. When they are scheduled to run the service, they have it reflect their faith tradition. For example, the RLDS (Reorganized Latter Day Saints) service looks different from an Evangelical service, which is different from a Methodist service. From each, I learn the style of their sermonizing and the structure of their service.
Oddly, all three rabbis were on that schedule. At first, I figured it was a mistake because I would not preach in a Protestant lab. When it was initially clarified, it was explained to me that it meant that on that day, I would be in the Jewish worship lab, running services.
The more I thought about it, the more I did not and do not like that idea at all. Watching us run a Torah service or watching us pray means that they do not get to hear me give a Dvar Torah, a mini-sermon.
On Monday morning (today, 2/27), the class decided that the Jewish chaplains could give the morning devotion in the Protestant prayer lab so long as it is in fact a morning devotion and not a lecture on Judaism.
I will be speaking on Wednesday.
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