Jack Veatch, Chaplain at Chapman University

During worship, a chorus of Samoan voices sang The Lord’s Prayer. Their harmonies washed over me, their love for God translated through the beauty of their singing in their native language. I was transposed from Salt Lake City, Utah, where I was on a recruitment trip at the North American Pacific/Asian Disciples Convocation, into an ethereal soundscape where I was experiencing God’s love for God’s people, and God’s people expressing their love for God. It was my third day on the job.

On my first day as Chaplain and Director of Church Relations at Chapman University, a UCC student asked to talk to Executive Director of the Fish Interfaith Center, Nancy Brink, and myself. The student told us about their need for some additional money for tuition and on my first day of work I got to give them additional funding. I told the student “I love giving people money!” but what I really love is what the extra scholarship will do for them, and the legacy of the donors who made that extra support possible. I was experiencing God’s love for God’s people, and God’s people expressing their love for God.

The Office of Church Relations scholarships Disciples of Christ and United Church of Christ students, provides fertile ground for spiritual exploration and growth, and accompanies them through college and beyond. These students are leaders in the (C)church and ministers of the good news. They are inquisitive, faithful, seeking, joyful, thoughtful, and they are the (C)church.

As of writing this, it is my eighth day of work, and I am seeing that the Office of Church Relations is a witness to God’s love for God’s people and exists to be a conduit for God’s people to express their love of God. I look forward to the ways in which I can express that love with the United Church of Christ.