Dear St. Augustine’s community,
As we enter the warm days of August and our campus becomes full again with the bustling of students, faculty, and staff, I am writing on behalf of our clergy and staff to share with you that Benton Chapel, where we usually worship on Sunday mornings, will be undergoing a major HVAC renovation starting October 1st that will require us to move for the remainder of the school year. We hope to be back in Benton Chapel by April/May of 2026, but it is hard to estimate how long the construction will take.
I am proud of our St. A’s staff who have been working relentlessly to find the best solution for our congregation to sojourn. We considered a great many factors/locations and feel that the best plan is to return to our beloved A-frame chapel for this season. We are meeting this challenge head on with joy, seeing this as a chance to come home to our roots at our beloved A-frame. If you have spent much time at the A-frame, you know it’s a deeply sacred and special place which has seen our St. A’s community through a great many seasons. We are excited and grateful for the chance to make memories there this school year.
Starting Sunday, October 5th, we will host two similar services on Sundays at 8:30 am and 11:00 am with Sunday School in between from 9:45-10:30 am. We know the chapel is small but mighty, which is why we are moving to a temporary 2-service plan during our time back at our home base. We will have overflow seating in the dining area and there will be nursery care available for our services. We will have a hospitality gathering from 10:30-11:00 am that will be a chance for us all to hang out and catch up. Rev. Scott will also be hosting a contemplative Wednesday night Eucharist at the Center for Contemplative Justice later this fall.
We know this is a significant change for our congregation! But we trust that God is ever present, walking with us as we go back to the A-frame to worship for the school year, and that something beautiful will happen that we can only hope for now.
We know that parking is an ever-present challenge for our congregation on Vanderbilt’s campus. Rest assured, we are working hard on solutions and know that the USN parking lot will still be available to us. We are also working on parking for folks with accessibility needs and those with young children. We'll provide more details on this as we approach our move date, so please keep updated via our weekly newsletter.
I also want to thank the Worship Guild, Altar Guild, greeters, musicians, sound and livestream volunteers, and all the folks who are working hard to make this transition as easy as possible for us.
Thank YOU for being an integral part of our St. A’s community! Our prayer is that this will be a season where we get to know each other even better as we continue to show up for one another faithfully. It is an absolute joy to serve as your chaplains and partner with you in the powerful work of love that we are doing in Nashville and beyond.
Love heals,
Kate Fields & Scott Owings