On Wednesdays throughout the academic year, students, staff, faculty, and friends of the School can be seen walking across campus just before 12pm. Finding their way to the Williams Chapel (or the designated location for that specific week), members of the HDS community gather for a beloved tradition at HDS: Noon Service.
“Noon Worship” (as it was originally known) was offered daily in the 1950s and 1960s. “Held in what was then known as Andover Chapel, the service was grounded in the Christian, Protestant, and Unitarian Universalist traditions,” says Kerry Maloney, HDS’s chaplain and director of religious and spiritual life. The service that continues today is hosted by a different organization each week—modeling the School’s evolution from nonsectarian to multireligious.
Hosts include religious groups that span the 40+ different faiths represented by HDS students, as well as other Divinity School organizations (e.g., musical ensembles, Eco-Theology Fellowship, and Harambee). Facilitated by a steering committee of students and the Office of the Chaplain and Religious and Spiritual Life, this service allows all in the HDS community to pray, meditate, and/or engage in rituals across the boundaries of many traditions. Describing the opening to each service, Maloney explains: “Noon Service begins with a call-and-response to help individuals center themselves and make commitments to one another grounded in respect and love.”
HDS’s director of music and ritual, Chris Hossfeld, offers his expertise to each host group to feature different musical elements. From soft piano accompaniment to large choral arrangements to student-led drum circles, he ensures a harmonious experience for all who attend. Hossfeld notes that “vocalists and instrumentalists of all abilities are encouraged to participate in the lively music program of the School.”
An Invitation to Pause, Reflect, and Connect
Noon Service offers the opportunity to pause each week and connect with spiritual practices that help ground the community in the Divinity School’s mission. The invitation to reflect, both as an individual and as part of a larger whole, represents a vital intention set by the religious and spiritual life team.
Ever the chaplain, Maloney remarks: “Throughout life, each person moves along the great continuum between ultimacy and intimacy. To live consciously and conscientiously along that journey is the very definition of spirituality; and authentic spirituality—regardless of religious tradition or lack thereof—issues in a zeal for justice, the habit of compassion, and a character firmly rooted in humility and love. At HDS, we strive to inflect all our research, study, activism, and interactions—within our walls and beyond them—with that kind of authentic spirituality.”
One well-known community member frequently in attendance, David Hempton, describes Noon Service as “a real gem of the Divinity School.”
“As I’ve shared before, in order to have a multifaith community, you have to have different faith traditions—and have people bring those different traditions together,” says Hempton. “What I have always enjoyed about Noon Service is the authenticity of students sharing their own traditions and celebrating together through music, testimony, reflection, prayer—rituals that are deeply meaningful to people’s lives.”
Finding time in the middle of the day, in the middle of the week, during a busy academic year may not always be easy, but the invitation to pause can create moments of meaningful reflection and connection. As such, Noon Service has become a quintessential way that HDS models—and celebrates—multireligious community.
Why We Gather
“I had been on campus for only a few days, and I felt inundated with all the new information I was absorbing at once. I desperately needed a moment to rest and reflect, and I found that in Noon Service. When the clock struck noon on that first Wednesday, HDS students, faculty, and staff migrated onto the front lawn for the first Noon Service gathering of the year. Students from all sorts of faith traditions (and no tradition) sat side by side in makeshift rows, listening to their Buddhist classmates lead us through a time of meditation and reflection. It was the first time I’d been to a religious service where most of the attendees weren’t a part of the same faith tradition as the service’s leaders. I was deeply moved by my peers’ willingness to engage with the unfamiliar, and it served as a welcome reminder that, at HDS, learning about religion isn’t confined to the classroom. Each Noon Service is hosted by a different HDS-affiliated spiritual group, and the opportunity to experience my friends’ faith traditions firsthand keeps me coming back week after week.”—Kat Woodward, MDiv candidate, on her first experience with Noon Service
Noon Service Opening Sentences
One: Welcome to the Harvard Divinity School Noon Service. Each week, we aspire anew to be welcoming and vulnerable with ourselves and one another.
All: In this hour, may we find ourselves in a space of truth and openness.
Host Group: As leaders, may we share our traditions in a spirit of hospitality with those who may not understand what we do or why, having the courage to be true to our traditions with an open heart.
Participants: As participants, may we be open and present with our peers in their own context. May we be willing to experience the unknown.
All: In this time and in this assembly, may we embrace each responsibility with earnestness and compassion for our companions. Though we may travel different paths, may we find solidarity, comfort, and hope in our common purpose as a community of seekers, working towards collective liberation from white supremacy and other forms of oppression.
—by Amie Montemurro