On September 25th, Covenant had its biannual Day of Prayer. For most Covenant students, this means no school! And while this is an added bonus of Day of Prayer, it means much more than just a break from our academics. Now, I’m sure most of you are well aware of the meaning and importance of Day of Prayer, and I’m sure most of you have monk-like discipline that pushed you into prayer from dawn until dusk. However, on the off chance you need a refresher, here are a few words from some of the Covenant community to help you out.
For our first guest, he kills animals with his car, he has hair more voluminous than you can imagine, that’s right ladies and gentlemen, I’m talking about Chaplain Grant Lowe himself. Day of Prayer, affectionately known as DOP, has been around for decades, and while he hasn’t been present for them all, Chaplain Lowe can provide us with some insight into the day itself. He shared with us some of the activities and events that happen on Day of Prayer, none more well-known that the sunrise service at Rock City. Sleepy-eyed students gather together at Rock City at 7 a.m. to watch the sunrise, sing, and pray together. “The sunrise service at Rock City is a longstanding tradition that began with the Psychology Department years back,” Lowe added.
Lowe also said, “We have lately tried to be thoughtful about providing structure and content into the time at Rock City.”
One way this is done is through the worship music provided at the service, which was led this year by the ever-talented trio of Justine Blick ‘21, Will Bryan ‘20, and Susan Anderson ‘22. When asked about picking songs for DOP, Anderson said that she and Blick worked closely with the Student Ministry Coordinators (SMCs), who have a heavy hand in orchestrating the day and the sunrise service itself.
Anderson said, “The progression of DOP, as planned by the SMCs, was moving from lament, to gratitude, and into glory. When choosing songs, we aimed to match that progression.” Anderson also said that the main focus of music events through the Chapel Department this year have dealt with encountering Jesus through music with the entire student body, and DOP was no exception to this.
Along with the sunrise service, there are several other activities that have been put on for DOP. Throughout the years, Lowe says that, “There have also been times of guided prayer in the chapel (with live acoustic music and slides), daily prayer offices that the community can pray through no matter where they are at set times of the day, Carter Hall tower tours, and an evening time of worship.”
This year in particular, two new elements were added to the itinerary, which included SMCs visiting staff offices to pray for and with the staff, as well as a prayer walk through campus. Prayer request cards that are in the chapel every year also get taken back to the SMC office, and over the course of the semester, each SMC prays for every request. The chapel office has accumulated and prayed for hundreds of these over the years.
Lowe also discussed, as I’m sure many of you are aware of and involved in, that there are a whole slew of hall traditions and events throughout the day as well.
One hall that loves a good tradition is Third North, located in Carter and led by fearless leader Carly Barrett ‘21. Barrett discussed how Third North will often go to the sunrise service as a hall and then have breakfast together afterwards. This year, the hall made and ate breakfast at a house off-campus, and overall had a “good chill time,” as Barrett describes.
DOP isn’t just about the traditions; it also has a lot to do with a time of fellowship with one another. “I feel like DOP brings us closer as a hall because it gives us a chance to slow down and spend time with each other in prayer,” Barrett says. “It’s good to be able to have conversation and encourage each other in our faith during the week, when we would normally be busy with classes.”
All in all, discussing Day of Prayer with several different members of the Covenant community has presented the overall theme of resting from the chaos of everyday life and focusing on our relationships with Christ and his body.
Barrett said that as an RA, DOP is important because it gives her an opportunity to “slow down and really focus on developing relationships on the hall, as well as creating spaces where other friendships within the hall can thrive.”
Anderson discusses DOP worship by saying, “DOP music isn’t just ambience to accompany the sunrise, or a ploy to coax tears from the student body at 7 a.m., but an opportunity to dwell upon the person of Christ and our place in the story of redemption.”
Chaplain Lowe sums up the importance of the day by saying, “I believe Day of Prayer can be a wonderful time of recalibration and remembering. We need times to slow down, to be quieter, to pray together and alone, to rest.”
Boy, doesn’t all of that make you want a Day of Prayer every month, maybe every week? While that may not be possible, I can tell you that we do have the privilege of having one every semester. So mark your calendars, another Day of Prayer is coming to a campus near you on February 11, 2020.