Last week, Susan Kranz shared her thoughts and questions about Faith on campus. As a CII student, my experience at Gustavus rings of a similar perplexity. In Biblical Studies (aka the Bible for CII), I was shocked at the questions my classmates and I were vocalizing—things I had assumed true or false based on my experiences at home. My dad is the pastor of my home congregation, and learning to find my own “faith” away from that foundation is at times enthralling and good, and at other times quite lonely and confusing. Fortunately, part of the CII experience included a study of monastic life.

Though I enjoy social life as well as any other butterfly, I need my introverted, contemplative time. Spending time reading the basic rules for Benedictine monks opened up my eyes to the wonderment of a relationship with God based on thoughtful, intentional prayer—be that “prayer” as an actual linguistic statement, a song, a dance or an action alone or with others. My understanding of “prayer” is continuously growing, as is my acceptance of God’s grace.

As I continue to cultivate my own creative prayer task, the Catholic Church, the chapel, and other churches of the area, including my home one, raise questions within me that sometimes I wish would just be silenced. Yet, it is in the questioning that answers are established, bit by bit.

In the Chapel, I am inundated with architectural, cultural, visual and physical (not to mention social) nuances. The liturgy style and the words we sing are different than I’m used to. In a time of our lives of discovering new ways to express our love for God and each other, and ourselves, all these parts of Church are confusing (leaving aside larger questions regarding denominations, equality and inequality issues, etc!). It’s no wonder that chapel attendance is less than I expected it to be at Gustavus…

Still, if Gustavus advertises itself as a Lutheran college, why is it that chapel is at times more populated with mandatory choir members than congregation members? In response to Susan’s article last week, I pray that students grow to find and live into their own expressions of love here at Gustavus. Perhaps their way will be louder, or more trained, or more culturally aware, or whatever … But the important thing is that I find my own way to pray—be it singing with my voice in my God-created body, or dancing or skating in that same blessed body, or writing with the creative mind God gave me. The delightful thing about life is both the individual things I do to pray and the things I do to grow with others.

Being outside, making music, sharing hopes and fears, breathing and running, praying and hugging—all things that are good with others. The church is a place where we gather to support one another, pray with and for one another. I pray that Faith at Gustavus is about this definition of church—the place, time, and ultimately, SPACE, to love and praise God for our lives.