68 - A Letter from the Chaplain

A Letter from the Chaplain
By Ernest Gordon

My dear Friends:

I am beginning my letter with two quotations. The first is from the Newsletter of the Chapel Fellowship, and written by Kevin P. Van Anglen '75:

"We have, on this campus, a deeply-felt need among most under-graduates for fellowship and a sense of the believing community. This may not seem particularly evident, but most of us spend our most thoughtful moments trying to deal with the questions of love and death and meaning which cause us the most pain and the greatest joy. The student who tries to follow the Christian way can be a powerful force among fellow students in providing the friendship and the faith which are so often lacking. The impersonality and pressures of a great university can only be made less crushing by the love and faith that we share, a faith that teaches us to go out to all men, not confident of our own strength, but trusting in him who sends us to preach and live his true and lively word."

Ernest Gordon, Dean of the Princeton University Chapel, reports regularly to alumni and friends of the Chapel by way of a 'letter." This is one such letter, dated October 27, 1972, and it relates something of the Chapel existence in the years since "required chapel" was abolished. It also notes how the national and ecclesiastical reactionary-conservative trend has been turned against the campus witness of the Chapel in the form of an alumni journal, Prospect. The work of the Student Volunteers Council (SVC), to which Assistant Dean, Charles P. Henderson, alludes, is recounted in some detail in a booklet available through the Chapel office. It tells of work by university undergraduates among boys and girls in correctional institutions, remedial reading programs, and personalized caring for psychiatric patients.

69 - A Letter from the Chaplain

And the second is from Prospect, a magazine published by Concerned Alumni of Princeton, and written by T. Harding Jones '72:

"Radical activity has surrounded the Chapel and its deans for some time, with Assistant Dean Charles Henderson being one of the most prominent defenders and organizers of protest demonstrations of all sorts. Once a vital part of the life of Princeton University, religion has entered a new period. Dean Ernest Gordon was especially criticized when he accepted draft cards and placed them on the altar during one of the many radical meetings in the Chapel."

These two quotations are directly related. The first tells us what the Chapel is doing: sharing "a faith that teaches us to go out to all men, not confident of our own strength, but trusting in him who sends us to preach his true and lively word." We are engaged in a dialogue which seeks to recover the soul of the University, and to bring men and women to a saving knowledge of God in Jesus Christ.

This is an engagement which takes place among people at the personal dimension of existence. But more than that, its authority is based on confrontation with the living God who alone is sovereign over men, rulers, and nations.

Our engagement at this level has involved those of us of the Chapel in a personal confrontation with the religious, personal, and moral issues of our time. In reference to the events of May, 1970, the Chapel had an important part to play. First of all, in times of national and moral crises, there is nowhere else to go. This has been demonstrated at the times of the deaths of John

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Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy, as well as on those occasions when the conscience of the campus was touched. And the conscience of the campus was touched--that is why there were over 2,200 students and faculty in the Chapel on the first Thursday of May, 1970. At the beginning of that meeting, I pointed out our responsibility to obey God rather than men. He has shown us what is good. And what does he require of us but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with him.

At an "altar-call" on the following Saturday, some students put their draft cards on the Holy Table as a sacramental token of their pledge to God and his requirements. (All of these cards, by the way, were returned and their owners were seen personally by the Dean). The alternative was card-burning, which seemed a poor one. Had the doors of the Chapel been closed, the University would have been destroyed after the fashion of Columbia.

Secondly, the activities of the Chapel are radical in the proper sense. They are rooted in a lively tradition initiated by Jesus, the Lord of men and nations, and continued by the Calvinists of the Great Awakening, John Witherspoon, James McCosh, and Woodrow Wilson--names honored and respected in the Princeton tradition.

It may help to recall that there are two traditions at Princeton: the one I have just mentioned, and the second, which was classified in 1807 by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church when it declared that there was no longer a place for the poor and pious at the College of New Jersey. They had been replaced by the privileged sons of wealthy city merchants who advocated the tradition of Mammon.

71 - A Letter from the Chaplain

The peculiar tradition of Princeton's early days is that of Calvinism, a Christian attitude which stressed the Sovereignty of God, the Lordship of Jesus, the supremacy of the Scriptures, man's need of salvation, and the responsibility of men to use their God-endowed freedom for the well-being of their fellow human beings. It may well be that of this tradition I am one of the last visible survivors. There has been no noticeable support of it by concerned alumni for Princeton, although it is welcomed most heartily.

My colleague, Charles Henderson, has actively gone out of his way to engage those who have become indifferent to the Christian faith. Rather than leading protest demonstrations, he has been involved directly in channeling this energy into creative outlets, such as those he mentions in this brief report:

"By way of reporting to you the work of the Student Volunteers Council, I have asked Dean Gordon to enclose the SVC brochure, describing our current projects. To support these activities we raise more than six thousand dollars annually from the students themselves, the money being used to maintain a 'fleet' of five vehicles and to provide program expenses--books, art supplies, tickets to cultural and athletic events, etc. In terms of numbers alone, this represents the most significant extra-curricular activity at Princeton. In more subjective terms, it represents an extremely important element in the varied ministry of the University Chapel."

I agree with T. Harding Jones '72 when he writes that "religion has entered a new period." It has! It can be seen

72 - A Letter from the Chaplain

in the activities proceeding from the gathering of the community of faith under the shelter of the Chapel of the University. Some alumni may not like such vitality. If they don't, let them declare themselves, and which tradition they uphold.

In the time being--our time of existence in the world and in Princeton-the Chapel and its fellowship will continue "to go out to all men." In the consciousness of our weakness, we pray that Princeton may flourish by the doing of God's will.

The reference to the statement of Prospect is made in the belief that when you meet the Devil, the only way you can deal with him is with the truth. We hope that you will not only stand by the truth but pass it on.

With every blessing,

Sincerely yours,

Ernest Gordon