OBU Celebrates the Season with Annual Christmas Chapel Dec. 4

OBU students, faculty and staff celebrated the season together during the campus’s annual Christmas Chapel Dec. 4. Dr. Dan Reeder, Albert J. Geiger Professor of Finance, assumed his perennial role as the master of ceremonies. This tradition is beloved by all and is filled with student musical performances, memories from the year and funny videos.

Reeder opened Christmas Chapel with karaoke, roaming the aisles of Raley Chapel’s Potter Auditorium to select students and faculty to sing sections of classic Christmas songs.

The service then featured the University Ringers. They performed “Joy to the World,” and the popular B. C. Clark Jingle.

Students and faculty them turned their attention to the 2019 Christmas Chapel video. It featured Kirt Henderson, director of student success, and Dr. Pat Taylor, interim president, along with many OBU professors, including nursing and theology professors. The video parodied the popular 2019 song, “Old Town Road.”

The Bisonettes then performed “Sleigh Ride,” and the Symphonic Winds played an OBU variation of “’Twas the Night Before Christmas,” featuring an OBU-themed poem read by senior Hannah Key. OBU’s acapella group True Voice then performed “Caroling, Caroling,” and the bison Glee Club performed “The Twelve Days After Christmas.”

Reeder then presented the top five Christmas Chapel ideas that included professors from the nursing program and the College of Business dancing, as well as funny memories from the semester.

Finally, the Bison Jazz Orchestra performed “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” and the University Chorale performed “Up on the Housetop.” The Gospel Choir and 519 Collective performed “Celebrate.” To close out the service, Dr. Lee Hinson, professor of church music, and 519 Collective led worship with, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.”

A highlight of every academic year on Bison Hill, Christmas Chapel is the most popular chapel service of the year, where students and faculty gather together in Potter Auditorium to celebrate the season and attend the final chapel of the fall semester.