Chapel and Music
The Chapel at LMH is an open and inclusive community and everyone, and ‘everyone’ really does mean everyone, is welcome.
About the LMH Chapel
The Chapel is part of the Deneke set of buildings and is hard to miss on the outside, but its entrance is easy to walk past if you are heads down and heading for the Dining Hall. Look left as you enter the main building and it is at the end of the corridor. The Chapel is open every day for prayer, (if you are the praying sort), silence, to light a candle or just enjoy the atmosphere.
All members of College - Fellows, undergraduates, graduates and members of staff - are welcome to attend services in Chapel, as are members of the public. These are Christian services, including a termly Roman Catholic mass; please see the Faith at LMH dropdown for more information on non-Christian faith religions, and places to worship in Oxford.
Chapel Services and Life
Choral Evensong (Fridays in term from 6.00- 6.50pm)
Our main act of worship each week is:
Choral Evensong – every Friday in full term, 6.00- 6.50pm in the Chapel
Evensong is a traditional Christian service, almost entirely sung and centred around The Magnificat (Song of Mary) and the Nunc Dimittis (Song of Simeon). Passages from both the Old and New Testaments are read and said prayers offered. The congregation has an opportunity to relax and allow the worship to wash over them. It is one of the jewels of the Anglican tradition and a beautiful experience as well as a deeply prayerful one. Everyone is welcome to attend, whatever your faith or belief. The service is followed by the Friday Formal in Hall.
Check out the Chapel Term Card (link below) for this term's events
Readings and Music
Readings and music form a key part of our Chapel services. Find out more about what is planned for the term by downloading the Term Card below.
Using the Chapel
During the week the Chapel is open for students and staff alike to find moments of peace and quiet during a busy day.
On the table near the effigy of Lady Margaret Beaufort — the reclining figure holding a book, which is a replica (except for the book!) of her effigy in Westminster Abbey — you may light a candle as a sign of prayer offered or sought and there is a prayer board for you to write prayer requests right outside the chapel in the corridor, aka 'heaven's passage'.
Oxford is full of opportunities to experience worship of all traditions and sorts, Christian and many other faiths too. Some of the best choirs in the world offer worship on a weekly basis in the Chapels and Churches of the city, great scholars and theologians live here, preach and teach all across the University. Do look out for notices of forthcoming events, speakers and services.
LMH Community Prayer Board
The LMH Community Prayer Board is situated on the table near the vestry, in the Chapel corridor (aka 'Heaven's passage'). Just pin your prayer on the board and it will be read at services during the week. If you are currently away from College but would like to offer prayers, you are most welcome to do so by sending an email to the Chaplain.
Faith at LMH
LMH is home to people of many different faiths, religions and beliefs, of the spiritual but not religious and to those of no faith. There are groups of students representing many of those groups and their contact details can be found below, alongside information about where many different faith groups worship here in Oxford. You can find out more about other faith groups in Oxford and where to worship by visiting the websites below.
Resources for faith at LMH and Oxford
The Chaplain: The Revd Dr Stephanie Burette
As Chaplain, Stephanie oversees the College Chapel activities: services as well as other events taking place in the Chapel. She is particularly interested in matters of diversity, inclusivity, equity, religious literacy, interfaith conversations and the arts. Stephanie is here for all members of the College community, whether they come to Chapel or not.
She leads worship in collaboration with the Director of Music and the Organ Scholars at Choral Evensong, our weekly regular service, and Compline (Wednesday evenings as per the Term Card). She also leads said services (midday prayer or eucharist on Thursday), as well as curates events involving meditation, poetry, instrumental music, and the arts.
The LMH Chapel is an inclusive space and we believe that it is God who welcomes all of us. Gender, age, ethnicity, race, physical or mental abilities, or sexuality are no barriers to God’s love and acceptance. Everyone is welcome to participate in all services. If you have any questions or would like to be involved in a particular way (reading, setting up, organizing activities, etc.) do please reach out to Stephanie: stephanie.burette@lmh.ox.ac.uk.
Stephanie’s research was originally on French literature and paintings, specifically seventeenth- and eighteenth-century art criticism and art theory. She is now researching the works of early twentieth-century British artists, who revisited Christian imagery in the inter-war and post-World War II period, either in England or abroad, often wrestling with theological questions in extreme situations.
Stephanie is also the College EDI Lead, and the Keeper of Pictures.
In addition to her role at LMH, Stephanie is also the Chaplain for Corpus Christi College.
Chapel Team
Chaplain: The Revd Dr Stephanie Burette
Director of Chapel Music: Paul Burke
Senior Organ Scholar: George Ke
Junior Organ Scholar: Scarlett Jenkins
Choirs and Scholarships
Find out more about LMH's Choirs, and about our Organ and Choral Scholarships.
