Chapel

About the Chapel

The Name

The name, Smith Memorial Chapel, reflects the unusual devotion of a sister and brother, Drs. Alida and David O. Smith of Washington, D.C., to their parents and their alma mater.  After attending Simpson as undergraduates Dr. Alida Smith went on to earn her Master of Arts in Classics at the University of Michigan and Dr. David O. Smith to receive his Doctor of Medicine from the same institution.  Both subsequently had outstanding professional careers in their respective fields, and hold honorary degrees from Simpson.

The name of the Chapel is in appreciation of these two alumni for their generosity and in memory of their parents: Annie Catherine Smith and Henry Gardiner Smith.

The Carillon

A prominent feature of the Chapel is a tower, or Campanile that holds a bell which for many years was located in the Old Chapel and which rang at the change of class periods and the hour of special events on campus.  It was caste in 1856 by a famous bell foundry in Philadelphia, and now is a valuable collector’s item.  It once again will ring on special occasions, but now with an electrically operated clapper, instead of a rope that a number of students tugged in earlier years to earn their way through college.  Many living alumni recall this responsibility.

outside view

Architectural Statement and Style

Good architectural pieces have a spirit of their own and, at their best, make inspiring statements artistically, for those who use them.

Specific idiom of the Smith Memorial Chapel is that of fellowship, or communion, around centers that suggest the presence of the Divine, or a transcendent dimension, in human experience.  In the Nave, as in the Small Chapel, for example, there is no altar in the conventional sense.  The officiating clergyman, or layman, does not turn his back upon the people in the ministries of worship, but rather stands behind a communion table or in the pulpit facing them, thus completing a circle instead of symbolically assuming a meditational role, between man and God, in the divine-human relationship.

The style of the Chapel is contemporary.  It speaks to the aesthetic language of today’s world and is intended to be exciting, as it has proven to be, to the youth whom it was built primarily to serve.  Other architectural styles, of course, will develop in the future.  When this happens it is hyped that this structure will still be recognized as a superior expression of the best design of its time, and will remain functionally useful.

Chapel

The Symbols

The iconography, or symbolism, of the Chapel has received careful consideration.  In the first place, it was determined that this should not be overdone, that each person who enters should be free to find his own meanings in surroundings which respect the integrity and differences of individuals.  Hence there are no symbols or inscriptions in the side windows of the Nave.  On the other hand, a reasonable number of distinctively communicative symbols were felt to be important.

Simpson has maintained a historic relationship to the United Methodist Church, a denomination of the Christian tradition.  There is a cross on the top of the Campanile and on the docile wall of the Chancel.  These crosses speak clearly of this heritage.

Simpson, though Methodist-related, is non-sectarian in spirit and program, and feels a particular closeness to Judaism, out of which Christianity emerged as a separate, but in many respects similar, movement.  Hence the symbolism in the faceted glass in the entrance is inter-faith and ecumenical within a Judeo-Christian frame of reference.  Above the door is a Dove, a symbol of hope (the dove back to the Ark), of the Holy Spirit, and of peace.  To the left as one enters is a Menorah (seven-fold candlestick, a major symbol of Judaism, of the seven sacraments in Roman Catholicism, and a frequent altar appointment in Protestantism.  On the right is a lamp, a symbol of the Law in Judaism (“Thy word is a light unto my path, a lamp unto my feet.”) and of knowledge in academia.

The north Chancel window is even broader in its religious inclusiveness, because it is intended that any student who comes to Simpson from anywhere in the world, or from any of the major religious traditions, shall find in this Chapel something with which he shall be able to identify in terms of his own background.  This is the Religions of the World Window, which is designed to recognize faiths other than Judaism and Christianity, which are treated separately in ways already indicated.  Moving from the top of this window down, there is a star and crescent for Islam, a lotus for Hinduism and Buddhism, the Yen and the Yang for Taoism and Confucianism, a torii gate for Shintoism, and a totem animal for primitive religions.

Opposite on the south side of the Chancel is a window in the iconography of which was specifically requested by the Drs. Smith in the memory of their Mother.  This is the Mary Window, which in abstract figures portrays Mary, the mother of Jesus, at the foot of the cross with a lamb superimposed, emblems of Jesus at the time of his crucifixion.  At the bottom is a bent figure with two large tear-shaped pieces set in the aggregate.  This is Mary weeping at the foot of the cross.

In broader terms this window is a symbol of the transcendent entering human experience through specific acts of self-disclosure to speak to a broken and troubled mankind.

There are two candles on the communion table in the Chancel of the Nave, symbols of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, the two sacraments of Protestantism.

The Spaces

There has been repeated reference to the Nave, sometimes called the Main Sanctuary, which has a seating capacity of four hundred and sixty stations, exclusive of the Chancel which holds seventy persons.  This includes the fifty spaces in the Balcony, on the north side of which is a control room for lighting and sound equipment.

Chapel

The Small Chapel is located in the basement and is available to all Simpson students.

Last Updated: 7/6/09