With more office space and a new chapel, Naval Support Activity Bethesda’s chaplain is looking to expand the programs and services of NSAB’s Religious Service Ministry.
The chaplain’s office moved to the basement of Building 11 in August and since then, NSAB Chaplain Lt. Cmdr. Christilene Whalen and Religious Program Specialist 3rd Class Heath Steffey have been painting, getting furniture and readying the area for an Oct. 5 open house at 11:30 a.m.
The new chapel is located on the main floor of Building 11 above the chaplain’s offices. A piano was donated to be used in the chapel. The plan is to install decals of stained glass window and add seats so the area can be a place of prayer and meditation, Whalen said.
“We’re in a building where people come to get help,” she said, mentioning Navy Wounded Warrior Safe Harbor, Fleet and Family Service Center, Navy Marines Corps Relief Society, and Warrior Transition Brigade, among others with offices in the building. “They’re going to find out all kinds of news and what we want to do is offer them a space where they can be able to reflect; where they can be able to call out to the Lord or to whomever.”
Whalen said after she diagnosed with cancer, she was pushing a cart around a supermarket as a place for quiet reflection while she took in that information. She said people need places where they can “take a deep breath and say ‘What do I do next?’
“I see that chapel as a way to contribute to helping them to get to a place of wholeness and healing that they need here,” Whalen said.
While they aren’t expecting to hold a Sunday service, Whalen said she is working to get a “Worship on Wednesdays” service during lunch time going as well as a Catholic mass weekly.
Mostly, the chapel will be a quiet place for people to come to during their workday.
“It’s a chapel that serves the meditation and spiritual needs of people who live, work and visit here,” she said.
She wants to start up Bible studies as well and encourage people to book the conference room next to her office.
She envisions the chapel and the downstairs chaplain’s suite being used by members of all religions. She said she is working on procuring a room for Muslims to worship.
“We want people to come here and hang out with us,” Whalen said. “I want them to feel like the can let their guard down, they can be comfortable, and they don’t have to be ‘at attention.’ We have a responsibility to support the mission of this base – and that’s the business of healing.”
| Date Taken: | 09.21.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 09.22.2017 11:50 |
| Story ID: | 249259 |
| Location: | BETHESDA, MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 54 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, New Chapel to be a Place for Quiet Meditation, by Andrew Damstedt, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
