As the new Director of Religion and decades-long Chautauquan, I’m pleased to announce the following transitions and enhancements in our program offerings that the department has been working on since last fall.  

We welcome Sonya Subbayya Sutton as our new Interim Director for Sacred Music. She is an organist, pianist and choral conductor with more than forty years of experience leading sacred music programs in many ecumenical settings. We have all appreciated Joshua Stafford’s extraordinary leadership and music these past six years and wish him well with our deep gratitude.  

As for worship experiences, we are as committed this season as ever to offering high-quality worship services six days per week with no changes in time.  Sundays through Wednesdays we will continue to have the morning Ecumenical Worship services in the Amphitheater, featuring music from our choirs, the Massey Organ and full sermons by our excellent lineup this season of weekly Chaplains.  

At 9:15 a.m. Thursdays and Fridays, the morning worship services will be held in the Hall of Philosophy, affording us a more intimate outdoor setting that will feature a diversity of musical offerings and styles that are better suited to that space.  On Thursdays, the Chaplains will share with us their “Journey of Faith” — returning to an old tradition at Chautauqua of the Chaplain speaking more from their heart about their spiritual pilgrimages.  And on Fridays, the Hall of Philosophy will enable us to have a weekly Ecumenical Communion Service, featuring Taizé and other music led by the choir, as well as a brief homily given by various denominational clergy.  

At 12:30 p.m. Fridays, the Muslim community will hold its Jumu’ah Prayer service in the Hall of Christ, and the Jewish community will continue to hold its Kabbalah Shabbat service at 5 p.m. in Miller Park. So, together with the Christian community’s Communion service in the morning, the Department of Religion thinks of Fridays as a day to particularly welcome the religious presence on the grounds of all three Abrahamic faith traditions. All are invited to attend any of these services either as worshipers, or simply to learn about the worship practices that are so central to Judaism, Christianity and Islam.  We also acknowledge that Chautauqua increasingly reflects the growing diversity in America of spiritual practices across a broad religious landscape, and we continue to rejoice in the offerings of such groups as Mystic Heart, the myriad Denominational House programs and many more. 

NEW for this season, we will have a Children’s Worship Service!  All are welcome, but it is especially geared for kids and their families from 4:30 to 5 p.m. Sundays outside in the Grove (between the Hall of Missions and the Hall of Philosophy), led by Senior Pastor Eugene Sutton. It will feature simple prayers, a brief Bible lesson and sharing and lots of singing by guitar. This is in place of Sunday School that is no longer held Sunday mornings. In case of rain or wet ground, the service will move into the nearby Hall of Christ.   

Our other beloved Chautauqua Sunday traditions of the Sacred Song Service at 8 p.m. in the Amphitheater, the Blessing of Animals at 5:15 p.m. in the Grove and the Palestine Park tour at 7 p.m. will remain vital parts of our community’s life. 

Blessing of the Animals will continue at 5:15 p.m. Sundays in the same Grove area (weather permitting; no pets in the Grove if wet and/or raining!)  

We celebrate and look forward to each of our 36 amazing Religion Interfaith Lecture Series speakers and Weekly chaplains, with too many highlights to mention. Recall we have ILS lectures at the Hall of Philosophy (HOP) at 2 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. We are thrilled to have announced such outstanding leaders and speakers representing diverse religious backgrounds and intellectual perspectives across the nine weeks, leaders such as Diana Butler Bass, Yolanda Pierce, Greg Boyle, Susannah Heschel, Mariann Budde, Frank Thomas, Micah Hendler, Rita Nakashima Brock, Bill McKibben, Elizabeth Dias, EJ Dionne, Najeeba Syeed, Amy Grant and so many others.  

Imagine the smile on my predecessors faces at these announcements — I have had the pleasure of knowing many of them. From 1874 to the present, through hard times and easier decades, we have sought to include and enhance “the spiritual dimension within our leisure time,” as early Chautauqua religious educator William Rainey Harper and Director of Religion Shailer Mathews emphasized.  

I look forward to meeting each of you throughout the summer, singing hymns together, sharing the ideas of my religion scholar friends and hearing each other’s stories of Faith and Interfaith, alongside deep and difficult spiritual questions. When we disagree or are exuberant about ideas presented in our lecturers, we can share them together at CHQ Dialogues. If you’re curious about my early reflections on my service to you in this role, please join me for the Shirley Lazarus lecture from 7 to 8 p.m. Sunday, July 5, titled “Why Religion, Why Chautauqua, Why Now?” at Smith Wilkes Hall. I hope to see you soon. 

Rob 

Robert Wilson-Black, PhD 
Director of Religion 
Chautauqua Institution