Staff Meeting

There is a tradition here at CDSP that I have had the opportunity to partake in every Thursday night and it is called Staff Meeting.  This event is the culmination of what is dubbed Community Night and it is a great opportunity to unwind after a long week of studying.  In order to understand Staff Meeting and why it is necessary I must first explain what Community Night entails.

Every Thursday evening we have Community Night and it starts with the 5:45 Eucharist.  This is the one service of the week when we go all out.  Each of the Thursday services is planned two weeks in advance by the people who will serve during the Eucharist.  This meeting usually involves some six to ten people and they design the liturgy.  So for night we used a Eucharistic prayer from the Anglican Church of Canada.  The prayer that was chosen is similar to our own Eucharistic Prayer C, only this prayer was chanted all the way through.  This service is also when we will invite guest preachers to preach, so we had the priest-in-charge from St. Mark's Berkeley because they are hosting one of our students for field ed.  This is the one service during the whole week when we will have a crucifer, two torch bearers, a lector, a lay assistant, a presider and a preacher all processing into the chapel.  The only thing missing is the incense.  Every student, professor, and administrator is encouraged to come, with their families if they are on campus, and it  is usually packed.  It is also the one service when a group of students will act like a choir and sing during communion.  So it really is a big production and the one service where we are expected to attend, though it is not required.

After the service we head over to Easton Hall, one of the several buildings on campus that serves as a guest house for visitors, for a reception.  Beer and wine are provided as well as an array of snack items.  This serves two purposes, first it allows us to gather in community and hang out with each other in an informal atmosphere, and it also allows a group of people to set up the dinning hall for dinner.  At around 7:00 we then head across the street to the dinning hall for a family style dinner.  Since we take up most of the dinning hall we have to wait until after normal dinning hours so that the students from other schools have an opportunity to eat.  Then we come in and take over the building.  the past few weeks the food has been so-so but it is nice to be able to sit down with people that I don't normally see and eat together.  Then once dinner winds down someone goes around to each table and declares that Staff Meeting will occur in twenty minutes.  Staff Meeting originally started as a Theology on Tap type of program, but when the program went mainstream and was copyrighted the students at CDSP decided to change the name and drop the "program" that went along with it to make it less formal.

So after dinner we head to LaVal's Pizzaria and stake our claim to several of the tables that are outside in the courtyard.  We then proceed to hang out, drink beer or wine, and relax.  What makes this so unique is that professors come down and spend time with us.  Several of the professors that I have for my classes have been there, especially my Anglicanism professor who shows up each week.  It is a great time to relax and talk about absolutely anything in a very informal environment.  You really get to know people outside of the seminary setting and the boundaries between student and teacher are torn down, at least for a night.

I really like this tradition because it provides an opportunity for fellowship off campus and with people whom you might not normally spend time with.  However there is one drawback to Staff Meeting.  I have to be careful because I have an 8:00AM history class on Friday so I don't want to go overboard or else I will be paying for it the next day.  Fortunately though my history professor is a regular at Staff Meeting and I figure when he leaves, it is probably best that I leave too.  While we may change what our Community Nights may look like, I do hope that we continue with our weekly Staff Meeting.