CHAUTAUQUA–If you haven’t read John Whittaker’s page-one story on Chautauqua Institution in the July 19-20 edition of this newspaper, please pull it out of your recyclables.

This well-written story is worth reading.

Twice, maybe thrice.

Chautauqua Institution is an extraordinary place. People from all over come to Chautauqua Institution during the nine-week summer season, and we’re fortunate to have the institution in our backyard.

Yet Chautauqua Institution has challenges to meet.

What’s striking about the Whittaker story is that Kyle Keogh, the institution’s interim chief executive, has his head thoroughly around the financial challenges, plus the smarts and the determination to help right the financial ship.

His understanding of Chautauqua Institution is enhanced by his having spent summers here since he was a boy.

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Chautauqua Institution needs to thrive, financially and otherwise. It can.

In turn, its thriving, financially and otherwise, is good for Chautauqua County.

Those of us who live in these parts year round other than on the grounds of Chautauqua Institution need to take part in good things offered at the institution.

You, faithful reader of this column, know that this column has particularly encouraged you to attend Advocates for Balance at Chautauqua, or ABC, events, usually at 3 p.m. Mondays in the Athenaeum Hotel parlor.

On June 20 and 27, you read here of a new collaboration–during Keogh’s tenure, no less–between Chautauqua Institution and ABC.

ABC focuses on a nonfinancial challenge facing Chautauqua: Formed in 2018, ABC’s mission is “to achieve a balance of speakers in a mutually civil and respectful environment consistent with the historic mission of Chautauqua” Institution. ABC is its own Section 501(c)(3) organization, legally separate from the institution.

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But there’s more. Much more.

Here we’ll focus on just one aspect of just one day of the week.

Many locals have attended the Sunday-morning worship service in the amphitheater.

Yet another Sunday amphitheater worship service is also worth attending. It’s one that many locals overlook: The sacred-song service on Sunday evenings.

Before the service begins, all lights in the amphitheater except the aisle lights are dimmed.

At 8 p.m., the organ sounds with what becomes the introduction to the opening hymn, “Day is dying in the west.”

As the congregation sings the first of two verses, the Massey memorial organ and then the choir loft, are gradually illuminated.

During the second verse, the stage is gradually illuminated.

The service, which lasts about an hour, has readings, hymns, choral anthems, and often a homily.

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The service varies from week to week.

On July 13 was the annual service of remembrance, during which those attending were invited to write–in books on the edge of the amphitheater stage–the names and perhaps brief memories of those who have died during the previous year.

No one, though, will tear out your entry honoring someone who died more than a year ago.

The July 20 service was called “an old-fashioned hymn sing.” The service featured readings and hymns from throughout the church year: Advent, Nativity, Epiphany, Lent, Passion, Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost.

The nativity reading, for example, was from Chapter 2 of Luke, which isn’t exactly a common reading during summer months.

Yet there are a few occasions when it works, and a service featuring readings and hymns from throughout the church year is one of them.

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The service concludes with the hymn, “Now the day is over.”

The postlude since the organ’s dedication on Aug. 7, 1907, has been Georg Friedrich Haendel’s Largo from the opera Xerxes.

The entire service, though not casual, has an easy, comfortable feel to it.

And, no, you don’t need to wear Sunday clothes.

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According to worship-service bulletins, Chautauqua Institution invites those experienced in singing in choirs and who can read music to join the Chautauqua choir. Members need to attend one of three weekly rehearsals, yet attending two or three is preferred. The preference is also for members to sing on both Sunday morning and Sunday evening, yet it’s possible to sing for only one service.

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Chautauqua Institution has no gate fee on Sundays and no parking fee before 5 p.m. on Sundays.

Those arriving before 5 p.m. on Sundays and staying through the sacred-song service can spend their parking-fee money on ice-cream cones, or whatever.

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Randy Elf likes the ice-cream cones too.

COPYRIGHT (c) 2025 BY RANDY ELF