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Duke Chapel to Commission New Minister During Opening Sunday Service Aug. 31

Chapel Choir

The Duke Chapel Choir returns from its summer hiatus Sunday. An open rehearsal will be held Wednesday.

Duke Chapel will recognize the start of the school year with its Opening Sunday worship service at 11 a.m. on Aug. 31. Free Locopop popsicles will be available to students on the Chapel Quad after the service.

The service is open to the public and will be webcast live on the chapel website.

Sunday’s liturgy will include the commissioning of a new campus minister. Joshua Lazard was hired this summer as the chapel’s first C. Eric Lincoln Minister for Student Engagement and will be commissioned during the service on Sunday.

Lazard comes to Duke from Dillard University, where he directed student ministry programs within the Office of the University Chaplain. In his new role, he is charged with taking inspiration from the late C. Eric Lincoln, a scholar, social activist, novelist, hymn-writer and pastor who taught religion and culture at Duke from 1976 to 1993. Lincoln was known for his radical hospitality and boundary-crossing on matters of race and faith.

The service will also include participation from PathWays fellows, singing by the Chapel Choir and preaching from Chapel Dean Luke Powery.

“We welcome the entire Duke community, especially students, to join us in worship as we begin a new academic year,” Powery said. “Students are the heart of an university and an integral part of our faith community. We pray for them; we are often challenged and surprised by them. We learn from them and we love them.”

Four of the Chapel PathWays Fellows will have roles in the liturgy. The recent Duke graduates share a home as they live together as a Christian community, work in Durham and seek vocational discernment. In addition to the fellows program, PathWays provides other opportunities for students to hear and respond to God's call for their lives.

The Chapel Choir has returned after taking off the summer. For those interested in singing with the choir, an open rehearsal will be held at the chapel 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Powery’s sermon on Sunday will be on hospitality in a hostile world.

Guest preachers later in the semester include: Anathea Portier-Young, associate professor of Old Testament at Duke Divinity School; the Rev. Brian Blount, president of Union Presbyterian Seminary; Shane Claiborne, a found member of The Simple Way faith community in Philadelphia; and the Rev. Peter Storey, a former chaplain to Nelson Mandela.

The chapel also supports 24 campus religious life groups in their work with students. Find a listing of them here.

This week the chapel released its strategic plan.