Moravian’s Vespers service is one of those moments in life where you never thought you’d need it until it finally happens.

Like when, by fate, you miraculously stumble across your new favorite restaurant in an attempt to find something new to eat, or you just happen to meet your future best friend through a group project in a class you desperately want to get out of. These moments are impossible to see coming, but regardless of their unpredictability, they stick with you forever.

My first Vespers experience wasn’t supposed to redefine my time at Moravian. Due to it being online my Freshman year, my first Vespers was serving as an usher after being recruited by the Head Usher, standing MAC president, and friend of mine, Gabby Demchak ‘23. She had always taken the initiative to recruit the MAC board to help out with Vespers, and that year, we did.

Little did I know it would set me up for so much more.

The entire experience was fun at first. It was my first time entering the Central Moravian Church and getting to explore it with my MAC friends was a blast.

My job at the end of the service was simple: Make sure no one catches fire when the candles are lit. Easy enough, assuming there aren’t any arsonists in the crowd. So, the service carries on and I arrive on the top balcony. Armed with a fire blanket, I fully anticipate peace and quiet as the events come to an end. 

I couldn’t have guessed what happened next.

The last verse of the finale performed at every Vespers service, “Angels, from the Realms of Glory,” sees the organ erupting as the choir delves into their final harmonies. The candles distributed to everyone rose high, and for that one moment in my life, amidst the transcendent music and endless chills, I felt ethereality. 

From that point on, I found myself getting more involved with Vespers.

For both my junior and senior years, I served as a Corner Captain, in which I helped to orchestrate the event itself. During this time, I grew closer to all of the other corner captains as we all worked to ensure that Vespers maintained its magic. Through our successes and endless fun, I wouldn’t trade the time I spent with them for the world.

During my senior year, I was fortunate enough to re-experience that other-worldliness up from the pulpit, as I was selected to be one of the student readers during the Liturgy of the Word. I cannot express enough how magical it is to be able to see the entire service unfold from up there. If anything, it just re-solidified my love for Vespers as a whole. 

I have nothing but love for this event and the people who work tirelessly to ensure its success each year. Between Chaplain Jennika Borger leading the whole event, the stellar choir and musicians whose talent carries the service to the paramount, and the Moravian community who helps the entire event feel worthwhile, Vespers is a light that, for me, will never go out.