Union Chapel trustees decided to return to the Chapel’s roots as an open-air Methodist camp when they moved Sunday morning services outdoors this summer. What no one could’ve predicted was that during this time of uncertainty, the outdoor services would give each of us a sense of community, of real, face-to-face, non-digital communication, even if socially distanced.
The welcoming aspect of being surrounded by people worshipping together, sharing a common focus. As one trustee mentioned, they’ve become a way to give his “spiritual battery a summer charge.”
July services were informal, with readings and poetry, hymns spoken instead of sung. August brought three memorial services: Shelter Island Heights, the Garden Club, and the Yacht Club, with the antique bell tolling for as each name uttered of a member deceased in the past year.
When the weather turned stormy last Sunday, just in time for the Yacht Club Memorial service, Chairman Jay Sterling decided to move the service indoors rather than cancel. Those who weren’t comfortable indoors sat outside, listening via speakers set up under the eaves.
“The easier decision would have been to cancel the service, he said, “but then these traditions and our memories of those we have honored would have been lost.”
Flexibility has been key.
“Each Sunday has been an adventure,” Sterling said, “We’ve been able to make quick decisions on the fly, including [finding or changing] readers, preachers, and themes, buying audio equipment, and moving services inside.”
The trustees have joined together to set up and break down equipment, to haul chairs, and to act as readers, bellringers, and sound engineers. Music Director Linda Betjeman has played organ to an empty room, remotely accompanying the singer or musician outside.
“This summer brought out the best in the chapel community,” Sterling said.
Strong sense of a community ‘a blessing’
That strong sense of community has been a “blessing,” said Duke Reich, the large attendance showing a “spiritual void during these COVID-19 times that the socially distanced gatherings are filling.”
Doug Sherrod agreed that the services provide a “time for reflection, plus an all-too-rare place for low-key socializing, despite the physical distance and need for masks.”
For Joan Wicks, worshipping under the “beautiful canopy of trees” has been one of the best parts of this strange summer. She remembers “looking around at the first service in July and seeing families and friends sitting near each other, and appreciating being a part of a true community again, not one that takes place on Zoom.” And as a history buff, she loves that we are “back outside where the first services began.”
Christina Cunningham describes the service outdoors in the Grove as a “wonderfully warm and open-hearted experience,” reminding her of Sundays from her childhood in a small town. “That sweet nostalgia has become a spiritual inspiration.”
Memories of his North Carolina boyhood are reignited for Bill Buice attending the services outdoors, reminding him of summer camp and another non-denominational service, much like Union Chapel, a devotional service held on a wooded hillside, overlooking a lake.
“I was quite moved by those hours on a North Carolina hillside,” he said, “as I have been in our Shelter Island grove.”
This week’s service
The summer season isn’t over yet. On August 23 at 10:30 AM there will be an informal service with readings and an exploration of the work of Pulitzer-prize winning poet Mary Oliver. Colin Van Tuyl will play his trumpet, joining Betjeman.
Harvest Sunday is August 30, celebrating Sylvester Manor Educational Farm. Katie Herbst — a member of the Manor staff who sang at the first service in July — will lead her Manor co-workers in song. The guest preacher will be the Rev. Galen Guengerich of All Souls Unitarian Church in Manhattan.
