Conversations about the Lord’s Day have been swirling around the Covenant campus for quite some time, evidenced by various articles in The Bagpipe by frustrated, confused students and President Halverson’s chapel talk concerning perspectives on the Sabbath. Recently, Student Senate has opened a dialogue of their own regarding Covenant’s written Sabbath policies.
Initial confusion arose among Senate members within Senate meetings when they explored what can and cannot be done on Sundays according to Covenant’s policies and why some activities are permitted while others are not.
Travis Hutchinson, Student Body President, says these discrepancies have been present for a while because Covenant’s policies about the Sabbath have not been updated since the college’s founding. Senate has brought this to the attention of its faculty advisors and Dean Voyles .
Hutchinson explains that the goal of the dialogue is to respect those who want to literally rest on the Sabbath by sleeping but also to, “balance the tension with others whose way of resting is to play Spikeball.” Covenant’s policies as of now do not prevent recreation on the Sabbath, as the cross country trails and the fields at Shadowlands are still available for student use.
Even so, policies are outdated as Brock wasn't even built when the policies were formed. “The policies deserve to be relooked at as this will be healthy for the growth of the Covenant community,” Hutchinson stated.
Hutchinson and the Senate wish to investigate the confusion further but are still in the discussion stage. Their next step, according to Hutchinson, is to sit down with Student Development, the Bible Department faculty, and perhaps Chaplain Lowe to collect more theological information regarding the Sabbath and its purpose for God’s people. Student Senate hopes to continue getting student feedback on the issue.
All Senate meetings are open to the student body and the minutes from its meetings are available online. Non-Senate Covenant students are encouraged to engage in this dialogue concerning the Lord’s Day.