The Student Ministry Board will host its third EvenPraise service on Nov. 10 at 6 p.m. in Christ Chapel. 

EvenPraise, following the traditional liturgy of Evensong, adds intentional and contemporary supplementation to the service, senior Alex Schrauben said. 

“The liturgy is the same and it stays very, very traditionally and biblically rooted,” Schrauben said. 

EvenPraise expresses intentional worship differently than Evensong by incorporating contemporary praise music, hymns, and chanting into the Anthem, according to Schrauben.

Within the traditional Evensong liturgy, the Anthem is the choral climax of the service, which connects the Old Testament to the New Testament in which God fulfills his promise, Schrauben said. 

According to Schrauben, the music is intentionally placed and slightly altered from the original hymn, yet it is meditative and thoughtful. 

Senior Nathan Stanish said EvenPraise expands on the ecumenical spirit of Evensong while maintaining the worship aspect between different denominations.

Schrauben and Stanish serve on the five-member Student Ministry Board, founded by College Chaplain Rev. Adam Rick last year, to unify the different denominations through worship. The group organizes an EvenPraise service each fall and spring. 

Unlike weekly Evensong services, the Chapel Choir is not involved in EvenPraise. The Student Ministry Board puts on the service with its board members, volunteer students, and musicians.

In preparation for EvenPraise, the Student Ministry Board reads documents from the Second Vatican Council to respect the worship of the Catholic Church, and it analyzes the contemporary forms of music in other denominations with an extensive rubric, Stanish said. 

“The biggest section of the rubric is on the theology of the song,” Stanish said. “So it goes through questions like, ‘Does it have a clear trinitarian theology behind it? Does it make sure not to violate any serious portions of Christian doctrine?’” 

Stanish said the Student Ministry Board intentionally reviews the music used for EvenPraise to prevent any miscommunication between the denominations.

“Different denominations have rigorous ideas of what worship should look like and we want to respect that,” Stanish said. 

EvenPraise, much like Evensong, serves as an event where all denominations can come to worship God, according to Schruaben and Stanish.

“If we are a Christian institution, we ought to be coming together as a college and praying, regardless of different beliefs on theology,” Schruaben said. “The essential thing is that we are all in the body of Christ.”