“In the same way, though there are many of us, we are one body in Christ, and individually we belong to each other.” This quote from Romans 12:5 is the tagline for North Central’s newest worship gathering which meets at 12:05 p.m., aptly named 12:5.
“We’ve noticed that any of the times where faculty and students get together, it’s usually just for bigger, semi-annual services; or, unfortunately for prayer vigils or times of tragedy,” said Brian Rainville, director of ministry and service at NCC. “We wanted a quick, regular time of encouragement and time to worship together … we always talk about the ‘NCC family’ and this is just another extension of the community here.”
And a quick time of encouragement and worship is just what the students, staff and faculty got during 12:5’s test-run on Tuesday, May 8. With Koten Chapel packed full, Rainville walked up to lead the group of students in a short prayer before students took to singing and playing music and ultimately introduced College Chaplain Eric Doolittle. Doolittle’s address to the crowd intertwined not only the typical elements of religion, like interconnectivity with your fellow man, but also more modern elements like Legos, car parts and humor.
The next 12:5 is slated for May 22, in Koten Chapel at 12:05 p.m., and following these test runs Doolittle says he would like to make it a regular time for students, staff and faculty to come decompress in the middle of the week. “So for the whole community, (it’s) a time for everybody to come together. We were looking at the places that we have offerings and stuff like that, and we have small groups and student organizations, but there wasn’t really a time for the whole campus to gather; so we thought that community time was a great time to do that,” Doolittle said. “So, 12:5, it’s short, it’s easy, it’s 20 minutes and we’re really hoping that people can make that kind of time in their week.”
All photos by Kara Kots and Tom Miller
