For Alumni For Community

Worship

A Vision for Worship

Worship is the wellspring of life in community. In daily corporate worship, we unite with others to glorify God and to receive God’s grace, which flows from our worship to guide us in everything we do. Daily corporate worship grows out of and contributes to the whole of life together as we seek to know the truth as it is in Jesus Christ. Or, as the informal VTS Rule of Life puts it, “Go to class, go to chapel, go to lunch.”

Worship is at the center of life at Virginia Seminary, which is why each student and faculty member is expected to attend one service of corporate worship daily. One of the great benefits of residential theological education is the opportunity to worship together daily, and thus to regularly bring oneself back to the living God whom we study and seek to serve. This rhythm between classroom and chapel allows for a relationship with God to become the core of studies and ministry.

Virginia Theological Seminary Fall Photo of Campus

“One of the great benefits of residential theological education is the opportunity to worship together daily, and thus to regularly bring oneself back to the living God whom we study and seek to serve. This rhythm between classroom and chapel allows for a relationship with God to become the core of studies and ministry.”

The Rev. Shawn Strout, Ph.D. ’12
Associate Dean of Chapel,
Director of Assessment,
and Assistant Professor of Worship

shawn strout staff headshot photo

Worship on Campus

You are invited to join us for Community Worship at Virginia Theological Seminary. The Seminary community gathers to worship regularly, usually in Immanuel Chapel. All visitors to the campus are invited to join us in the Chapel.

You can find the worship schedule here.

Multicultural/Bilingual

In these services, we worship using El Libro de Oración Común and Flor y Canto. We often invite guest preachers and presiders from the community who are native Spanish speakers.  This lively service offers all students, native Spanish speakers and others, the beauty of worship among Latinx cultures.

Ecumenical

These services seek to recognize our ecumenical commitments.  Through Common Cause, we have a communion-sharing agreement with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America in which Episcopal priests and Lutheran pastors may serve in each other’s traditions.  In addition, we enjoy services from the Presbyterian and Baptist traditions in our chapel.

Innovative

These worship services use An Order for Celebrating the Holy Eucharist (BCP, 400-405) to offer services that allow extra creativity in how the service is structured.  Our community experiences the great breadth of the Episcopal tradition.

Contemplative

Seminary life can be quite full.  Having the opportunity for quiet contemplation is precious.  These services seek to allow the silence to speak to our hearts through the use of contemplative practices like breath prayer, lectio divina, Taize, and silence.

The campus also offers many quiet, beautiful spaces for private worship, reflection, or meditation.

Immanuel Chapel

Completed in 2015, Immanuel Chapel sits at the entrance to Virginia Theological Seminary, within a “Worship and Welcome Quad.” Worship at Virginia Seminary is first and foremost a communal act of thanksgiving and praise of the God who has created and redeemed humankind through Jesus Christ. It is at the heart of what we do, central to understanding that theological education flows out of worship. The VTS community shares this holy space with the parishioners of Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill and Church of the Redeemer.

Chapel Garden

The garden sits on the site of the Seminary’s 1881 chapel that was destroyed by fire in 2010 and is enclosed by the remains of the chapel’s walls. The brick cap along the ground of the garden is to indicate the walls of the old chapel. The garden has become a favorite site for students, faculty, staff, and neighborhood friends allowing gathering and reflection. The Chapel Garden is also used for worship, baptisms, weddings, funerals, and other gatherings. A few of the remaining artifacts of the 1881 Chapel were incorporated into the Immanuel Chapel, including several stained glass windows on display in the Chapel Oratory. The Chapel Garden also serves as a columbarium for those who lived or served this community. 

Additional Spaces for Worship

The Octagon Room
St. Cyprian’s Labyrinth
The Chapel Oratory
Cemetery