Social club Alpha Gamma Omega is hosting a weekly hymnal worship service for the third semester in a row. Participants gather for Singing Night at 7 p.m. for worship with hymnals from the ‘70s in the Student Center.
Matthew Kearney, current chaplain of Alpha, is responsible for managing spiritual events.
“Since the beginning, the club has been about spiritual development. Our original charter in 1975 was for the spiritual growth of young men and for winning at sports,” Kearney said. “We do the former but not the latter.”
Kearney said Singing Night is the result of a generous donation from a previous Alpha member.
“A previous member gave us 30 song books from 1978,” Kearney said. “It was just really generous. I keep them in my car, and every Thursday, we bring them over there, and different guys lead songs in the student center. It’s a really good time that is open to anybody.”
Kearney described what happens at the event.
“It’s very simple,” Kearney said. “We show up, and everybody grabs a song book. The chairs are in a U-shape. Somebody will suggest a song and somebody will lead it. It’s not always the person that suggested it, but a lot of times it will be.”
Kearney said hymns are special because they sound beautiful when sung in a capella and connect participants with Church of Christ heritage.
“There’s something about the hymns that works well in a capella,” Kearney said. “All of us love Great Songs Chapel, so that’s kind of where that came from. It’s just the heritage behind it and that they work well with acapella.”
Kearney said he believes in ecumenical Christianity and welcomes all to attend.
“The churches of different denominations and different backgrounds should get along and engage with each other, not just exist in their own little bubbles, but I don’t think that means that we should forget what we have,” Kearney said. “Let’s be welcoming and simultaneously maintain our heritage so that it doesn’t get erased.“
Kearney said he tries to end Singing Nights with “Doxology,” one of his favorite hymns.
“‘Doxology’ is because it’s short, but it’s straight praise. It’s very unifying I think because it’s not some long narrative or anything,” Kearney said. “It’s literally just two lines. It’s ‘praise God because all the blessings flow from him. Praise the Trinity for the mystery of it.’ You just sing it twice and say amen. It’s just a quick prayer. I love it, so I try to end the singing nights with that song pretty often.”
Kearney said students should attend Singing Night because worship is part of God’s design for people and it sounds beautiful, regardless of denomination.
“We were made for worship,” Kearney said, “and I think there’s something about a small group gathering together to praise God in the most simple way possible through hymns that’s really powerful. If you’re from the Church of Christ tradition or not, it sounds beautiful.“
Connor Giese, a Computer Science major who joined Alpha a year and a half ago, said he tries to attend every Singing Night.
“So far, I think I’ve been able to go to every one,” Giese said. “It’s one of the highlights of my week. ”
Giese said he likes how participants choose what songs to sing.
“I like that we get to choose our songs,” Giese said. “What we do is show up, and anybody that has a song from our song books that we provide, they get up, and they lead it. Anybody is welcome to go up and lead a song. You get to choose exactly what you wanna sing.”
Giese said Singing Night is different from other campus events because it is less structured.
“Most spiritual events on campus are usually pretty corporate and organized and planned out,” Giese said. “We make it so that every single time you go, if you show up and you want to lead a song, you can do that. We also like singing songs people usually haven’t heard before, and we try to learn a new one every week or so.”
Alpha’s singing night takes place every Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Student Center. Anyone is welcome to attend.
0
0
Be First to Comment