Arianna Griffiths, Editor-in-Chief–

St. Luke’s Church in Granville recently began a new program for Denison students called Canterbury Club. The club meets weekly, inviting students to explore their faith and share home-cooked meals as well as be engaged in service to the local communities.

The Rev. Julia Joyce-Miesse is the new rector of St. Luke’s Church and is at the forefront of this initiative to welcome students of all backgrounds.

“We want everyone to know that they are very welcome and they are safe,” Joyce-Miesse said. “We invite all people, however you identify.”

“The model of Canterbury is a weekly dinner, and so it’ll be home cooked meals of different things every week, which just gets a little change out of being on campus for meals. Community: as a Christian organization, we look at the life of Jesus and modeling the life of Jesus is looking at how Jesus lived, and Jesus went and sat with, He talked with, He ate with, He listened to, then he taught, then he sent,” Joyce-Miesse said. 

The first meeting of the Canterbury Club for this semester was on Sept. 14. 

Joyce-Miesse emphasized the importance of community and togetherness as some central themes of Canterbury Club’s mission.

“For us, it’s really important because in a world where there is a lot of push towards rugged individualism, we believe that community is imperative,” Joyce-Miesse said. 

Joyce-Miesse also highlighted the club’s desire to meet the students where they are on their journey. 

“We don’t expect you to come and join us where we are, because we, again, have all different life stories that have navigated us to where we are now. And so, it’s a chance to come together to listen to each other, to see what’s important, what are people concerned about, what do people want to talk about,” Joyce-Miesse said.

Kait Barno ‘28 has been a part of St. Luke’s Church and Canterbury Club, and encourages her peers to join.

“Canterbury Club at St Luke’s is a great way to meet people from Denison and people in the Granville community,” Barno said. “All students are welcome, and St. Luke’s is an accepting place, and I’m not just saying that because I grew up going there. During our meetings we just talk about whatever is on our mind, eat, and do service projects.

“It’s a great way to get off campus and give back to the community.”

Social action is another key part of St. Luke’s involvement in the local community, and Denison students and Canterbury Club members are welcome to participate as well. 

St. Luke’s Church runs the Market Street Pantry in Newark to alleviate hunger, and they do so as a way of following Jesus’ teachings.

“When Jesus was speaking to the leaders who were oppressing others, He was speaking for justice for people who were hungry, justice for people who were being oppressed, justice for people who were being pushed to the outside,” Joyce-Miesse said.

“And so the stories of ‘I was hungry and you fed me’ and ‘I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink’ – these are things we model in our social action. So St. Luke’s runs the Market Street Pantry in Newark, a very, very active food pantry for anyone facing food insecurity.”

“A lot of times what we see in our pantry, often, are rural poor who are retired, who have saved their life savings and expected it to be able to get them through, and actually what they found is life is getting more and more expensive, and they are having to make choices between medications or house payments or tax payments and food. And so, we are a dignity model, so when you come in, the Licking County food pantry requires us to tell us a name and tell us how many people are in their household, and that is just so that they  – Licking County – can deliver food to us and try to keep up with numbers as best they can across the board with all pantries.”

Joyce-Miesse explained the importance of volunteers in the running of the food pantry and its culture.

“And after you come in, once you come in once, our volunteers are going to know you, and you will feel like you’re just going into your neighborhood grocery store, because you get a cart and you go up and down the aisles and you choose what you want.”

Joyce-Miesse added that All Saints Church in New Albany has begun a Garden for All initiative that has high tunnels, which are greenhouse-like structures that allow for growing fresh foods throughout the year in Ohio. 

“We can grow fresh produce all year long and get quality food into people. Often what we find with our friends who are facing food insecurity is you are buying from the aisles in the center of the store. I was an emergency room nurse for 23 years and that was my calling before seminary, and I know that when we eat from the center of the store, what we know is…it’s high in preservatives, it’s high in salt, high in sugars, things that are going to increase heart issues, diabetes. But at the end of the day when your kid is hungry, putting something in the belly is super important.”

That is why St. Luke’s Church encourages volunteers to participate in the food pantry as well as going to the Garden for All in New Albany to grow fresh, healthy, whole produce to give to our neighbors. 

“We’re open on Wednesdays and Saturday mornings…and there is everything from just greeting folks to making sure that we can help folks that might need help getting something from the top shelf or, you know, just being a friendly face, to stocking the shelves so that there is food for everybody, to helping people load groceries into their trunks…that extra level of service that makes them feel seen,” Joyce-Miesse said.

Additionally, the Garden for All grows beautiful flowers to the food pantry to give people a little extra joy. 

“They cut the flowers and those are also at the food pantry to give away because if you are trying to decide whether to buy bread, you’re not going to buy flowers, but we know that having flowers makes a difference in our day,” Joyce-Miesse said. 

Denison Chaplain Stephanie McLemore said: 

“I hope that Canterbury Club provides a home for  students of the Episcopalian flavor, and who connect with the progressive mainline Christianity of the current group. I hope that Canterbury Club can support students in study, worship, service and social justice work.”

McLemore also serves as an advisor to many religious organizations on campus, and while Canterbury Club is being established on campus, she stated her support of finding new interested members of the student body to join and help lead the organization.  

“I am happy to be supportive and work with students to find an advisor. I am assuming that student leadership will arise from the Canterbury Club at St. Luke’s,” McLemore said.

McLemore echoed Joyce-Miesse’s notion of meeting students wherever they are in their journey.

“Sometimes the perception of the Spiritual Life Center is that the staff and the space at Gilpatrick House are exclusively for students with religious backgrounds. We are committed for resourcing religious traditions, but our mission is to nurture spirituality and meaning-making across the Denison community,” McLemore said.

Both McLemore and Joyce-Miesse encourage students to discover their beliefs during college. 

“College is an important time for exploring one’s own beliefs, examining values and figuring out how you will make your own meaning in the world.” McLemore said. 

“We want this to be a place where, however you are, you are very welcome to come,” Joyce-Miesse said.