Mandatory Chapel Attendance at All-Time High
Lipscomb’s Chapel Office hit a milestone last week as students’ rush to get in 30 chapel credits by the end of the semester resulted in chapel attendance reaching an all-time high.
The administration is thrilled at the news of so many students choosing to attend mandatory chapel services. Said one administrator, “What’s chapel? Oh you mean ‘Empty-Student-Center Lunchtime? Yeah, that’s great that so many students weren’t in the Chick-Fil-A line….errrr I mean it’s great that so many students were at chapel.” As you can tell, our respected leaders love chapel as much as we do, but what exactly is the source of all the success? What has made chapel at Lipscomb the successful event with a rock-concert like atmosphere that it is?
Many believe it’s because of how much students love earning ‘God Points’ otherwise known as chapel credits. Students are required to get 30 chapel credits per semester (unless they only have Tuesday/Thursday classes, presumably because the chapel office figured ‘If they’re smart enough to schedule specific classes to miss chapel, they’re too smart for chapel anyway’).
Many lost their love for chapel credit a few years ago when they stopped letting us buy credit via “donations” to charitable causes. Chapel credits went even more out of style when they stopped allowing blood donations to the American Red Cross to count as chapel credit. I guess sacrificial blood doesn’t have the same worth as it did a few thousand years ago.
However, many are crediting the rise in positive attitudes toward chapel to the implementation of service credit. “I love that I get to do service for chapel credit,” comments one student, “There’s nothing quite as fulfilling as selflessly giving up my time just for the purpose of serving others and not for my own gain…and then getting a chapel credit for doing it.” Upon the realization that students prefer serving when they get credit for doing so, Lipscomb administrators have decided to rename Lipscomb mission trips “Chapel Credit Trips”. After all, as our respected president often mentions, we are one of the top universities in the nation when it comes to service*.
Speaking of “the Man,” another possible reason chapel numbers are up is likely due to students hoping they might get a chance to hear the man who has been called “the voice of a generation he’s not a member of,” Randy Lowry. His words have been deemed so important to the spiritual life of students that anytime he speaks, we get two chapel credits! Two! We didn’t even get two credits for enduring the whirlwind of Spirit that Jane Heather regurgitated upon us.
But what wouldn’t we do for two credits? Even the joyful cherubs we know as “chapel scanners” get two credits for scanning. And you thought they were angels who were only scanning out of the goodness of their heart and so they could make lunch money selling chapel credits to the highest bidder. Nope, they’re shameless chapel credit guzzlers like the rest of us.
But don’t act like you wouldn’t do the same thing. The Chapel Office is flooded week after week by emails of students who love chapel** but would like to know if they can get credit from some random thing they did. The answer is no: you can’t get chapel credit for voting republican, you can’t get chapel credit for putting out a new tray after you send your plate down the conveyor belt in the caf, you can’t get chapel credit because President Lowry remembered your name, you can’t get credit for actually opening the chapel email this week, and you can’t get credit for pooping on the president of Belmont’s front porch (unfortunately).
Others have suggested that the rise in numbers at MANDATORY chapel services is due to the wonderful atmosphere that is prepared to optimize students’ forced spiritual experience. Students love to attend chapel, especially now that they shut down Wifi during chapel hours. It really allows students, who otherwise would’ve been on their laptops, to truly unwind and disconnect from the outside world for the sake of the chapel service…for the three seconds until their 3G loads.
Another part of the chapel experience students likely enjoy is being told to move if they stand in the back instead of sitting down, by who is presumably some kind of spiritual bouncer. That’s assuming they make it before the chapel lockdown at 10:55. Unfortunately some students, probably because they are Liberal, Satanist, Socialist, Neo-Nazi Jesus-haters, choose to be late to chapel. These students, of course, are locked out of chapel and the Rancor is released in Allen Circle.
"You're late, prepare to die. Unless you're a Jedi."
However, assuming they do make chapel on time, students also likely love chapel so much because they enjoy the thrill of being in the middle of a stampede out of Allen when chapel is over, akin to the lifeboat area of the Titanic after panic set in. Students also presumably enjoy standing around the chapel scanners holding out their ID card like they’re Oliver Twist asking for seconds at the orphanage, absentmindedly acting like the seagulls from Finding Nemo (“Moine? Moine? Moine?”).
Alas, perhaps all of the Chapel Office’s success in chapel attendance, that is in no way optional, is because of all the different chapel options. Perhaps students love celebrating the complexities and diverse nature of God by having the option to attend chapel with their social clones! Love feeling elite because of the friends you bought? Greek Life Chapel is for you! Enjoy drinking coffee and being arrogant? Well, head on over to Study Abroad chapel, amigo. Like to surround yourself with bros bent on physical perfection? Give Sports Chapel a holla. Like song and dance numbers? Not only is Theatre Chapel for you, but you might even get the chance to put on a performance at the Gathering because music in chapel is ok when it’s from a musical, but not ok in the form of worship music! Wow! The possibilities are endless!
Administrators are even considering implementing a new program similar to the off-campus meal plan that will finally allow students chapel credit for going to Church on Sunday morning. The off-campus chapel system will feature a points system that gives a certain amount of chapel credit based on how trendy and relevant the church attended is, ranging from Granny White to Ethos.
Experts continue to be baffled by mandatory chapel numbers continuing to rise as the school year comes to a close. They can’t seem to figure out what is causing it. Perhaps students, while devout Christians that truly enjoy serving and worshipping God, are attending chapel because they know they’ll lose thousands of dollars in scholarships (via chapel probation) if they don’t. Perhaps students would continue to be involved with spiritual life on campus even if it wasn’t mandatory, the only difference being that it’s more meaningful doing something because you choose to, as opposed to being forced to. Perhaps just because someone loves something doesn’t mean you should force that thing down that person’s throat. Perhaps chapel and all the other spiritual and service options on campus are a great opportunity for students to grow spiritually, but only if they want to grow spiritually. Perhaps forcing non-Christian students to attend something that preaches about mercy and love, and then locking them out when they're late isn’t the best way to do things.
The administration’s reaction to this observation? “Nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.”
*It's not really service if it's mandatory
**No they don't











