RELIGIOUS SPIRITUAL LIFE and
About Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as you ever can.
— John Wesley Founder of the Methodist Church, and the one for whom Illinois Wesleyan University is named
Spiritual and religious life at Illinois Wesleyan University is rooted in the heritage of the United Methodist Church. The Office of Multifaith Engagement (OME) celebrates the religious and secular diversity of today’s students, faculty, and staff. Diverse beliefs, convictions, and spiritual practices are welcome here as are a diversity of questions. Questions–about who we are and what we are for–are perennial in and for the liberal arts tradition.
Through weekly programming and special events, the Office of Multifaith Engagement seeks to provide a venue for asking those questions, and we work at the crossroads of intellectual exploration, spiritual reflection, community service, and interfaith dialogue. Additionally, our home in Evelyn Chapel is a warm and inviting space to be. During the school year, the Chapel is open seven days a week from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. There are always spaces available to study, gather for conversation, or make a cup of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. OME staff is also here to offer spiritual support and care for the IWU community. Students may call (309-556-3814)or email (sharuyam@iwu.edu) to make an appointment, or just stop by during office hours, which are posted on the website iwu.edu/multifaith. The Office of Multifaith Engagement is a Safe Zone for LGBQA TGNC students.
Office of Multifaith
ENGAGEMENT
STAFF
Rev. Elyse Nelson Winger
Associate Dean of Students / Chaplain Elyse Nelson Winger serves as Associate Dean of Students and Chaplain at Illinois Wesleyan University. She leads advocacy efforts related to students’ thriving, belonging, and wellbeing on campus and serves as a Title IX deputy coordinator for student affairs. She also works directly with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, which focuses on peer mentoring and student leadership programs for underrepresented students. Elyse also provides vision and leadership for religious and spiritual life on campus; leads and participates in the ceremonial life of the University; encourages, and collaborates with, the Coordinator of Multifaith Engagement and student leaders in multifaith and social justice programming; partners with faculty and staff on a range of initiatives designed to support the University’s mission commitments to global citizenship, critical thinking, diversity and the arts; provides spiritual care to members of the campus community; and serves as Associate Director of the Center for Human Rights and Social Justice. She received her undergraduate degree in Religion from Wellesley College and a Master of Divinity degree from The University of Chicago. Elyse is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Stuart Haruyama
Coordinator for Multifaith Engagement Stuart joined IWU in Fall 2019 after completing his Masters of Theological Study at Harvard Divinity School. At Harvard, Stuart specialized in comparative theology, religious literacy, and nonreligious forms of ministry. He has a passion for supporting the spiritual and intellectual growth of students, regardless of their faith tradition or worldview. As the Coordinator for Multifaith Engagement at IWU, Stuart manages the Multifaith Ambassador and Alternative Break programs, advises spiritual & religious student groups (RSO’s), and supports various religion or social justice-based initiatives on campus and in the wider Bloomington-Normal community. Previously, Stuart has worked in a variety of non-profit and educational institutions, including leading volunteer and leadership programs at the Rhode Island School of Design. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from Seattle University. An Oregon native, Stuart holds strong affinity to the mountains and forests of the Pacific Northwest!
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Multifaith
AMBASSADOR
PROGRAM
Launched in Fall 2013, The Multifaith Ambassador Program is a unique leadership program for students who represent a variety of religious and non-religious perspectives and beliefs. Multifaith Ambassadors are passionate about understanding and engaging religious diversity on campus, in their own communities, and in the world. Working collaboratively with one another and University Chaplain Elyse Nelson Winger, Ambassadors build and create interfaith community through weekly programming like Multifaith Hour and ReligiosiTEA, as well as special events throughout the year. Participation in this leadership program includes the willingness to respectfully engage multiple worldviews and traditions, and seek places of both common and contested ground for the sake of learning, cooperation and action. Ambassadors have the opportunity to learn more about their own beliefs, to explore what interfaith means within their traditions, and to deepen their understandings of global citizenship, justice, and peace in a pluralistic world. Ambassadors also have the opportunity to participate in leadership development across campus and at conferences throughout the year.
Highlights from past years include: “Revolutionary Love: An IWU Interfaith Summit” featuring a keynote address and workshop by interfaith leader Valarie Kaur Our annual “Light the Night: A Multicultural Celebration of the Season of Light” where students tell the stories and sing the songs of Diwali, Hanukkah, Yule, Christmas, Kwanzaa and other winter holidays
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“Welcome Home Refugee Project” in partnership with the Muslim Student Association
Founders’ Day Convocation and workshops with Eboo Patel, founder of Interfaith Youth Core Harvesting Help: An annual Interfaith Service Day Publication of Encounters: An IWU Interfaith Journal Leadership of ReligiosiTEA and the student organization IWU Interfaith
Multifaith Ambassadors “The Multifaith Ambassador Program has provided me with the skill set that is necessary for traversing difficult conversations, building bridges of compassion, and seeing through the eyes of the other. I have utilized these skills in the classroom, in the community and in every internship I have held throughout my academic career.” —Isaac Simmons ’20
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Signature
INTERFAITH
EVENTS
ReligiosiTEA Every Wednesday during the semester 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Evelyn Chapel ReligiosiTEA is IWU’s place for interfaith conversation and community. Each week, different themes and questions related to religious literacy and diversity are engaged by Multifaith Ambassadors, faculty, and students. All participants are encouraged to share their convictions and questions in this multireligious context. ReligiosiTEA is a gathering where all religious, spiritual and secular perspectives are welcome and where we work to create safe, brave spaces for honest and enlightening conversation across worldviews and beliefs. Tea, coffee, sweets, and fruit are also always served!
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Harvesting Help: An Interfaith Service Day November 17, 2019 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Evelyn Chapel Join the members of IWU Interfaith and other campus RSOs for a halfday of community service, interfaith engagement, and fun! This year, we will be repackaging rice at the School Street Food Pantry, and will host a speaker to talk about the power of civic interfaith leadership for social justice and community development.
“I love ReligiosiTEA because...every time I attend, I leave with a new idea to think about and a better understanding of the world and the people in it.” —Emily Heim ‘21
Light the Night: A Multicultural Celebration of the Season of Light December 5, 2019 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Evelyn Chapel On this night, the Chapel fills with students who celebrate Diwali, Christmas, Hanukkah, Yule, and Kwanzaa. Shared stories and songs, dramas and dances point to the amazing religious and cultural diversity on our campus. Together, we celebrate the shared image of light as a symbol of peace, wisdom, and illumination. Musical groups perform, the audience sings, and all then light candles and walk across campus for a beautiful party with a bountiful buffet of holiday foods.
“During college, interfaith gave me a family and a place to grow in ways I didn’t even know I could academically, personally, and spiritually. Now post-grad, I use the interpersonal and communication skills I honed in that setting daily as a bedside nurse.” —Karen Matkovich ’16
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Self Care Meditation Mondays Monday Evenings 7:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Multifaith Meditation Room (Memorial Center) Enjoy a relaxing time of stories, music and meditation. Students from all spiritual, religious, and secular backgrounds are encouraged to join. The Multifaith Meditation Room is located up the stairs from Campus Security and Young Main Lounge is open any time for students seeking a quiet place to meditate, pray, or just relax in silence.
Sunday Suppers at Chaplain Elyse's
Three Sundays each semester Dates TBD 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Come and share a home-cooked meal at Chaplain Elyse’s and participate in fun and meaningful conversations about faith and life. Each Monday, a different podcast from programs including “This American Life,” “On Being,” and “Interfaith Voices” will be posted online and will serve as the theme of our week’s dialogue.
“Sunday Suppers at Chaplain Elyse’s provide an amazing, grounding recharge for the upcoming school week. Filling both the stomach and the spirit, I couldn’t ask for a more engaging way to talk with my peers – and professors! That dining room will be the birthplace of a (peaceful) revolution, I swear it.” —Adna Mujović ‘21
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Pursuing Passion, Claiming Callings: A Lunchtime Vocation Series Jan. 29, Feb. 5, and Feb. 12 We’re often told: find your passion, and then go do it! Or: do something you love and you’ll never work a day in your life! Well, what if you aren’t sure about your passions? What if you don’t yet know what your talents are and certainly not what you love? This lunchtime series retreat provides opportunities for students to discover these commitments and to consider the ways religious and secular perspectives approach the idea of vocation, or calling. This series is cosponsored by the Hart Career Center.
To Be Of Use It may be that when we no longer know what to do we have come to our real work, and that when we no longer know which way to go we have come to our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings. —Wendell Berry
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SACRED SPACE at
Illinois Wesleyan University
“Embracing religious diversity on campus means accommodating the spiritual needs of students not only through staffing and programming, but also through architectural spaces that accommodate a variety of religious, spiritual, and ethical practices. Interfaith spaces are a visible symbol of an institution’s commitment to welcoming religious diversity, and whether large or small can provide support to diverse students. Interfaith spaces communicate inclusivity, support of a religiously diverse student population, and foster a campus’s commitment to pluralism. In addition, these spaces bring together religious diverse students and value and the spiritual practices of the student population. Finally, by being inclusive of non-religious students, the space can create an opportunity for students who do not identify with a particular tradition to find opportunities to gather and reflect.” — from Interfaith Youth Core’s resource: “Creating An Interfaith Room or Space on Campus” The Multifaith Meditation Room is located on the second floor of the Memorial Center and was remodeled and dedicated in August 2015 as an inclusive space for all students. Cushions make it a comfortable place to sit and reflect, and an interfaith library of books and resources is provided in the cabinets within the space. This space is open whenever the Memorial 8
Center is open and may also be reserved for private or small group use by emailing ome@iwu.edu.
Evelyn Chapel is a beautiful space, rightly recognized as an outstanding example of 20th century ecclesial architecture. Its sanctuary is sought after as a space for weddings and recitals. The lower level contains rooms regularly reserved for meetings, bible studies, and receptions. There you will also find a set-apart space for study and contemplation. The Office of Multifaith Engagement offices are also located there. The second floor, with seating set around a large picture window overlooking the Quad, is an especially quiet space and may be reserved for small-group gatherings and meetings. The Meditation Garden, on the east side of Evelyn Chapel, is a new outdoor space designed by Multifaith Ambassador and Environmental Studies major Nicole Chlebek ’16. It is offered to the community as a place to sit and reflect amidst a diversity of native prairie plants and wildflowers.
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FIELD TRIPS
AND
Alternative Break PROGRAMS
Each year, OME staff provide leadership for one or two of Illinois Wesleyan’s Alternative Break opportunities. Past breaks have included: A Local Service Break, giving students the opportunity to engage with local communities in West Bloomington; An Interfaith Engagement and Service Trip to Chicago; a trip to Mission, South Dakota and the Tree of Life Relief Agency at Rosebud Reservation; Habitat for Humanity Collegiate Challenge Programs in North Carolina, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Alabama; and the Appalachian Service Project in Kentucky.
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Alternative Fall Break: Fall 2020 This trip, for up to twenty participants, is designed to promote religious literacy, encourage interfaith dialogue and appreciation, and make connections between spirituality and social justice. The cost to each student for this trip is $150. Scholarships are available. Student may apply online beginning in September 2020.
Alternative Spring Break: Habitat for Humanity Collegiate Challenge March 8-14, 2020 For many years, the OME has partnered with the Habitat for Humanity Registered Student Organization to coordinate a Collegiate Challenge trip. The purpose of these trips is to provide students the opportunity to volunteer with peers, to explore social justice issues in a unique community, and to reflect on their own spiritual and/or ethical commitments to service. A student leadership team works with OME staff and other University faculty and/or staff to select the site and to
lead team meetings on and before the trip. The cost to each student for this trip is $300. Scholarships are available. This year’s trip will travel to Newland, North Carolina, a small town located in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
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Additional
SIGNATURE
Events at E v e ly n C h a p e l
Evelyn Chapel’s Religion, Music and the Humanities series is coordinated by University Chaplain Elyse Nelson Winger and Associate Professor of Music Adriana Ponce, and is made possible by the Merwin Multifaith Fund. This series–through lectures, discussion, and performance–enlivens the connections between music, religion, and the humanities in today’s multifaith and multicultural context; educates students and the community through the offering of annual programs that highlight artists, theologians and scholars from across the ages and across the globe; and enriches the understanding of both their original contexts and lasting importance for today.
Programs from past years include: Hildegard’s Light
Many Voices, Many Sounds: a concert for
St. Matthew’s Passion: Drama, Religion, and the Baroque An Odalan Celebration: An Offering of Music and Dance Bach Against Modernity: Revelation, Revolution, and Religion.
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tolerance and compassion THIS CONCERT will feature performances by students and faculty that illuminate our common humanity, affirm our religious and secular diversity, and celebrate our shared values of tolerance, compassion, peace, and justice.
Tuesday, March 28, 2017 at 8 pm Westbrook Auditorium, Presser Hall 1210 North Park Street, Bloomington, Illinois
PLEASE JOIN US FOR A RECEPTION immediately following the concert. Free and Open to the Public
Evelyn Chapel THIS CONCERT IS A PART OF EVELYN CHAPEL’S
RELIGION, MUSIC AND THE HUMANITIES SERIES
Council on
RELIGIOUS LIFE
and
Registered Student Organizations The Council on Religious Life, composed of faculty, staff, and students, protects encourages, and supports religious and secular diversity at Illinois Wesleyan University; monitors and discusses matters pertinent to the religious and spiritual climate on campus; and supports the worldview focused Registered Student Organizations In partnership with the Council on Religious Life, Evelyn Chapel supports these Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) and the broad diversity of religious life on campus. These organizations include: Death, Resurrection, Life (Christian) Fellowship of Christian Athletes Intervarsity Christian Fellowship IWU Interfaith Pagan Student Association
Jewish Student Association Muslim Student Association Secular Student Alliance Titan Catholic Hindu YUVA
Annual Special Worship Events at Evelyn Chapel Turning Titan All Campus Service: August 25, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. Homecoming Service: October 6, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. Ash Wednesday Service: February 26, 2020 at Noon https://www.facebook.com/IWUmultifaith Evelyn Chapel 1301 N. Park St., Bloomington, IL 61701 • (309) 556-3815 sharuyam@iwu.edu